Over 43 highly motivated Ph.D. students and a rich plethora of experts from academia and industry were attracted to the Ph.D. Colloquium ahead of the R&D Management Conference and engaged in critical but constructive discussions on their research ambitions.

Professors Vittorio Chiesa, Federico Frattini, Davide Chiaroni, Simone Franzò and Angelo Cavallo monitored the Ph.D. weekend with great success and enthusiasm. R&D Management Conference 2018 in Milan has been a forum where academics and practitioners have been collaborating to push forward the frontiers of our knowledge on R&D and innovation topics.

The papers and discussions focused on a broad variety of topics of interest to our community, such as, to mention some of them:

• Big Data Analytics for R&D management
• Business model innovation
• Collaboration and networking
• Digital platforms and digital technologies
• Disruptive Innovation and Organisational Change
• Implementing open innovation: from theory to practice
• Innovation dynamics and organizational performance: novel strategies and approaches
• Innovation ecosystems
• R&D management and international business
• Regional innovation management: perspectives from enterprise, clusters and ecosystems
• Team, leadership & organization for creativity and innovation
• University-industry collaborations

This wide and diverse set of research topics offered fertile ground for enhancing our mutual insights into how new societal and technological trends are changing the way in which innovation and R&D are managed, opening up new opportunities for established organizations and new ventures.

Many bonds grew across research interests and across continents. Amongst the participants, more than 30 countries were represented.

The “Night Life”

During their stay, the participants were able to enjoy various social activities in the historic setting of the city of Milan, spreading from Villa Necchi to Just Cavalli for the classic Milanese Aperitif to the Museo della Scienza for the Gala Diner. The mix of research and social events proved to be an exciting and valuable one.

The Keynote Speeches and the Executive Roundtables

The keynotes were followed by a lively discussion that set the tone for the many parallel sessions that followed.

Specifically, the Academic Keynote speeches were delivered by:

• Melissa Schilling, Professor of Management & Organizations at New York University, USA

Title: The Multifaceted Roles of Collaboration in Innovation

• Frank Piller, Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University (DE)

Title: Innovation in the Age of Smart Products & Services: How the Industrial Internet of Things and Digitalization are changing our innovation system

• Annabelle Gawer, Professor of Digital Economy at Surrey Business School, UK

Title: Digital platforms and ecosystems: Innovation, competition, and power in the digital economy

• Gianvito Lanzolla, Professor of Strategy, Cass Business School, City University of London

Title: Capturing value from innovations in digital environments

The Executive Keynote speeches on “Digital Transformation & innovation” were delivered by:

• Christopher Bishop, Technical Fellow and Laboratory Director, Microsoft Research Cambridge
• Carlo Purassanta, Area Vice President at Microsoft

The Executive Roundtable on “Innovation, Sustainability and the Future of Work” saw the participation of the following speakers, moderated by Luca de Biase, Innovation Editor at IlSole24Ore and Nòva24:

• Carlo Capè, Co-Founder and CEO of BIP
• Manlio Ciralli, Chief Brand & Innovation Officer Italy, Eastern Europe, EMEA, India at The Adecco Group
• Massimo Della Porta, Group CEO of SAES Group
• Neil Sholay, Vice President Innovation EMEA and J-APAC at Oracle

The Executive Keynote speeches on “Innovation in the Era of Exponential Technologies” saw the participation of the following speakers, moderated by Maurizio Melis, Broadcast Presenter of “Smart City” Radio 24:

• Giovanni Tagliabue, Director of Business Innovation & Development at ‎Edison SpA
• Matteo Codazzi, CEO of CESI
• Clive Higgins, Chief Operating Officer of Exaptive Inc.

Thematic Workshops

The workshops were intended as cross-fertilization events where to discuss the transformational challenges caused by technological and societal trends, mixing academics, practitioners and companies. The workshops were Co-chaired by a Company expert and an academic professor. Here below the topic and the sponsoring company of the workshops delivered:

• Design Thinking: Blending Design, Creativity and Innovation

Sponsor: BIP

Academic Speaker: Roberto Verganti

• Innovation and the Future of Work

Sponsor: Adecco

Academic Speaker: Mariano Corso

• New materials applied to the energy generation from Renewable Energy Sources

Sponsor: Enel Green Power

Academic Speaker: Prof. Dotelli

• Orchestrating Platforms for Innovation

Sponsor: Oracle

Academic Speaker: Giuliano Noci

• Open Innovation: New Challenges and Opportunities

Sponsor: Pirelli

Academic Speaker: Federico Frattini

• Innovating the Innovation Process: Tools and Methods for R&D Management

Sponsor: SAES Getters

Academic Speaker: Simone Franzò

• Building digital cities that facilitate innovation

Sponsor: Exaptive

Academc speaker: Davide Chiaroni

•  Innovation in operation & quality: a focus on additive manufacturing

Sponsor: Zeiss

Academic Speaker: Antonio Ghezzi

• Digital innovation in education

Sponsor: Fadpro

Academic Speaker: Federico Frattini

• Organizing for Innovation: Responding to a Fast-Changing Digital Environment

Sponsor: Edison

Academic Davide Chiaroni

• Digitally-Enabled Business Model Innovation: the case of the Energy Sector

Sponsor: Cesi

Academic Speaker: Antonio Ghezzi

Many thanks

Let me conclude this brief overview of an exciting 2018 conference by thanking RADMA and the R&D Management Journal, in particular Ellen Enkel, Letizia Mortara and Jeremy Klein for their continuous support and advice, all the reviewers and session chairs who were instrumental in bringing together a high quality group of researchers and papers, the Cambridge colleagues who enabled a smooth and efficient conference transfer, and last but not least, Simona Strepparola, Mirja Calgaro, Marta Re Ferre’, Martina Ulzega , Giorgio Forestiero, who ran an exemplary conference organization. They all did an excellent job and we are thankful to them.

So, we are ready to move to Paris. Looking forward to seeing you all in Paris next year. Success to the Paris team!

Post written by Vito Manfredi Latilla on behalf of the Organizing Committee.

Click here to read more about the keynote speakers.

The program is available to view here.

More details about the conference are available here.