The curators

Roberto Verganti is Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics and at the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, where he is a co-founder of Leadin’Lab, the laboratory on the LEAdership, Design and INnovation. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School, Copenhagen Business School and California Polytechnic University. Roberto serves on the Advisory Board of the European Innovation Council, at the European Commission.

Roberto is the author of “Overcrowded. Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash with Ideas”, published by MIT Press in 2017, where he provides processes and methods to create breakthrough visions. He is also the author of “Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating what Things Mean”, published by Harvard Business Press in 2009, which has been selected by BusinessWeek and by the Academy of Management among the best books of the year. Roberto has also published more than 150 articles in leading scientific journals and his research has been awarded the Compasso d'Oro (the most prestigious design award in Italy).

Roberto, together with his team of likeminded researchers-consultants, has served as advisor to executives and senior managers at a wide variety of leading firms including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Gucci, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Ferrari, Porsche, Ducati, Zappos, Microsoft, IBM, Vodafone, Nestlè, L’Oréal, Bausch&Lomb, Prysmian, ARUP, SKY NewsCorp., Deloitte.

Mattia Bianchi is Professor of Business Administration, especially Innovation Management, at the House of Innovation of the Stockholm School of Economics.

Starting from 2010 Mattia is responsible for the courses in innovation, new product development and entrepreneurship, in the Master and EMBA programs of SSE. For his pedagogical efforts, he has been awarded MSc Teacher of the Year by the SSE student union in 2018. Mattia is also former director of the Master of Science in Business and Management at SSE and is currently Area Principal in Operations at the Stockholm School of Economics in Russia. Mattia also teaches at MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Management and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa.

Mattia’s research on innovation management focuses on how iterative, flexible models for innovation, such as Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, and Agile development, can help organizations be more creative and efficient in their R&D processes. This research has been published in several leading management journals and has won the Corporate Partnership Program’s Research Award in 2015, assigned by SSE corporate partners.

In 2019, Mattia has received the award ”Best Under 40 Italian Professor” by ASFOR, the leading professional association on management education, and by the Associazione Gianluca Spina.

Mattia holds a BSc, MSc, and PhD in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering from Politecnico di Milano. He also studied at Imperial College London, UK, and at University of Calgary in Canada