Maurizio Sobrero holds a Ph.D. from the MIT Sloan School, and a Laurea summa cum laude in Economics from the University of Bologna, Italy. He is a lifetime member of the Production and Operation Management Society of America, as the recipient of the Honorable Mention, 1991 W.Abernathy Best Paper in Management of Technology Competition. In 2001 he joined the School of Economics of the University of Bologna in Rimini as the youngest Full Professor of Management in Italy. Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Management at the School of Engineering of the University of Bologna between 1998 and 2001. He has been Vice-Chancelor for Research Activities and a member of the Rector’s Executive Committee between 2009 and 2012. He currently chairs the the Department of Mangement at the University of Bologna. In 2001 he was one of the founders of the University Business Plan Competition, which was used as a model all around the country and is now present in over 50 universities in Italy. In the same year he was one of the founders of Bologna Business School, the first Business School opened within a public University in Italy, and of Almacube, the University’s start-up incubator.

Prof. Sobrero’s research touches upon both the management and the economics aspects of technologica innovation. On the management side, he examines the role of inter-organizational relationships as structural arrangements to overcome individual limitations and resistance to change. In particular, he has examined the organizational aspects of the division of innovative labor within R&D consortia, supplier-manufacturer relationships in new product development and small firm networks. On the economics side, he has studied the relationships between corporate governance structure and R&D investments, focusing on the effect of privatization programs and innovation. His works have appeared in Management Science, Research Policy, Organization Studies, Journal of Management and Governance, Journal of Business Venturing, Strategic Management Journal, Industriala and Corporta Change, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Scientometrics, Journal of Technology Transfer and all major italian journals. He is the author of 5 books in Italian, and with Mario Calderini and Paola Garrone, “Corporate Governance, Market Structure and Innovation”, with Edward Elgar in 2003. Prof. Sobrero has an extensive experience of executive education having tought in several programs in Europe, China and South America. In 2005 he was invited to contribute to the United Nations World Investment Report and as consulted for several national and international organizations and firms. Between 2012 and 2016 he contributed to the start up of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology as Distinguished Founding Faculty focusing on the Center of Entpreneurship and Innovation.