The Geography of Innovation Winter School offers an intensive training programme for doctoral students and junior researchers from any background with interest in the field of geography of innovation. The school provides participants the opportunity to present their ongoing research and receive feedbacks from renowned scholars in the field.
This edition of the Winter School features the participation of 11 speakers coming from academia and EU research centres (JRC Seville), who will lecture on topics related to technological diversification, regional innovation policy, network science, economic complexity, green innovation, patent data.
Two data-lab sessions will be organised to: 1) introduce participants to relevant methods (using programming languages R and Python) in the fields of economic complexity and regional diversification; 2) introduction to relevant methods and techniques for network analysis using R.
Participants will have also a chance to discuss their publication strategies with speakers who are member of editorial boards and editors of international peer reviewed journals (e.g. Research Policy, Industry and Innovation, Economic Geography, Science and Public Policy, Regional Studies, Journal of International Business Policy).
The Winter School will admit a limited number of students.
Speakers
Ron Boschma is Full Professor in Regional Economics at University of Utrecht, and Professor II in Innovation Studies at Stavanger University. Boschma, among others, has laid the foundations of a new influential stream in Economic Geography, that is, Evolutionary Economic Geography. In the period 2013-2015, Boschma was director of the Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) at Lund University. Boschma has published in international journals on the geography of innovation, spatial evolution of industries, the structure and evolution of spatial networks, agglomeration externalities and regional growth, and regional diversification. Boschma has been member of the Research, Innovation and Science Experts (RISE) High-Level Advisory Body to European Commissioner Carlos Moedas 2015-2016.
Stefano Breschi obtained his PhD from the Department of Economics, Università di Pavia (Italy) in 1994. He is Professor of Applied Economics and Deputy Director of the Center for Research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy (ICRIOS) at the Università Commerciale L. Bocconi, Milan (Italy). His main research interests are in the economics of technical change, industrial dynamics, social networks, economics of science, economics of the patent system, economic geography and regional economics. He carried out several research projects for international (e.g. European Commission DG Research, DG Information Society) and national (e.g. ENEA, Confindustria) organisations. He is author of numerous articles in journals like Economic Journal, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Regional Studies, Journal of Economic Geography among others. He is Associate Editor of the journal Industrial and Corporate Change.
Nicoletta Corrocher is Lecturer in Applied Economics at Bocconi University and Research Fellow at ICRIOS (Invernizzi Center for Research on Innovation, Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship), Bocconi University. She obtained a PhD in Economics and Management of Innovation at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies and an MSc in Science and Technology Policy at SPRU, University of Sussex. Her main research interests concern the diffusion of innovations and industrial dynamics - particularly in ICT industries and service sectors – and the emergence of eco-innovations in the framework of sustainable development. She has published in international journals such as Research Policy, Regional Studies, Industry and Innovation, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Dario Diodato is an economist working at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. Between 2017 and 2019, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University’s Growth Lab. Before his PhD in Economic Geography at Utrecht University (2013-2017), he worked as a researcher in urban and regional economics at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (The Hague, 2009-2012). His research interests lie in the fields of technological change, structural transformation, migration and technology diffusion, cities and regions, human capital and skills, economic complexity and economic resilience.
Balázs Lengyel is an economic geographer whose research lies at the intersection of economic geography, innovation studies and network science. His work focuses on understanding how social interactions shape economic and technological progress across geographical space. He joined the Institute of Economics in 2013 and later established the ANET Lab. Previously, he was a visiting scholar at the MIT Human Mobility and Networks Lab. He holds a PhD in Economics from Budapest University of Technology and Economics and a Master’s degree from the University of Szeged.
Rosina Moreno is Full Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Barcelona and Director of the AQR (Regional Quantitative Analysis) research group. Her research focuses on regional economic growth, innovation economics and economic geography. She has extensive experience in European and national research projects, including EU Framework Programmes, Horizon 2020 and ESPON, and has coordinated projects funded by Fundación BBVA and the Spanish Ministry of Education. She was awarded the Doctoral Extraordinary Prize of the Faculty of Economics and Business and has been recipient of an ICREA Academia grant.
Andrea Morrison is currently Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia and Adjunct Professor of Innovation and Sustainability at the Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University. He is also research fellow at ICRIOS Bocconi University. He holds a M.A in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and a Ph.D. in Economic Development, Institutions and Sustainability from the University of Roma Tre. His research interests lie in the areas of evolutionary economics, innovation studies and economic geography. He has investigated extensively topics like system of innovation, industrial clusters and knowledge networks, global value chain, green innovation, high skilled migration.
Lucia Piscitello is currently Professor of International Business at Politecnico di Milano and at Henley Business School, University of Reading, where she is also Co-Director of the John H. Dunning Centre for International Business. Her research interests lie in the areas of international business, multinational enterprises, technological change and the geography of innovation. She has extensively investigated the internationalization of firms, the role of multinational enterprises in innovation processes, and the spatial dimensions of technological change. She is Associate Editor of the Global Strategy Journal and serves on the editorial boards of several international journals. She also acts as external expert for the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics. She is a Fellow, Past President and Chair of the European International Business Academy (EIBA).
Roberta Rabellotti is Professor of Economics at the Department of Political and Social Science, University of Pavia (Italy). After graduating in Economics at Università Bocconi, she got a Master of Science in Development Economics at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) and a Doctor of Philosophy at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
Roberta is an economist with experience in qualitative and quantitative research in the field of economics of innovation, economic development, and regional economics.
Throughout her career, Roberta participated in and led several research and consultancy projects. She has provided academic advice to, amongst others, the European Commission, the IADB, OECD; UNIDO; UN-CEPAL, UNCTAD, the ADB and various national and regional governments.
Prof. Rabellotti is in the scientific board of GLOBELICS and she is currently consulting editor of the International Journal of Business Policy. More information is available at https://robertarabellotti.it
Dalila Ribaudo is an applied economist with an interdisciplinary background in International Business and Economics. Her research focuses on foreign direct investment, environmental innovation and international R&D. She holds a PhD in Economics and International Business and an MSc in International Relations and Economic Development from the University of Pavia. Before entering academia, she worked in credit risk modelling in the FinTech sector. She collaborates with international organizations including the ILO, UNCTAD, the Asian Development Bank and the UK Department for Business and Trade. In 2024, she was named among the “5 Empowering Women in Manufacturing: Innovators and Leaders.”
Jerome Vicente is full professor of economics at the University of Toulouse (Sciences-Po Toulouse). He is a recognized specialist in industrial cluster theory and regional innovation policy issues, with a series of highly cited publications in the field, and a reference textbook (The Economics of Clusters – Palgrave Macmillan – 2018). He also develops research in structural network analysis methodology applied to the economics of institutions and industrial dynamics, and research in scientometrics. Theories and methods find evidence in aerospace and digital industry.
Organising Committee
Stefano Breschi (Invernizzi Centre of Research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy –ICRIOS- Bocconi University)
Nicoletta Corrocher (Invernizzi Centre of Research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy –ICRIOS- Bocconi University)
Andrea Morrison (Department of Political and Social Sciences – University of Pavia)
Roberta Rabellotti (Department of Political and Social Sciences – University of Pavia)
Dates and deadlines
September 19th, 2026 Applications open
October 24th, 2026 Applications close
Venue
The workshop will be held at the Department of Political and Social Sciences in Pavia. The venue will be revealed soon.
Apply and Register
Fees
The attendance fee is 350€, covering lunches and coffee breaks.
The Winter School registration fees are non-refundable.
Contacts
For information please contact: marco.perinotti@unimi.it
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