Professor, School of Management

brain

Research

Current research projects and working papers

Teaching

Current courses and program management

Projects

Current projects and working papers

newspaper

Press & Media

Press coverage of research

Files

CV and resources to download

Contact

Office, mail and email

Research

Economics of Science and Innovation

Chiara Franzoni is Professor at the School of Management of Polytechnic University of Milan. Her long-term area of specialization is the Economics of Science and Innovation.

She is currently studying Grant Peer Review and the way in which experts take decisions in conditions of uncertainty, such as choosing which research projects to fund. She is particularly interested at the judgment of high-risk high-reward research. Her current work, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and by the Novo Nordisk Foundation involves a mix of method, including data analysis, lab and field experiments.

In the past, she has studied the incentive system of scientists in academia and the international mobility of scientists.

Selected publications:

 
Crowd and Citizens Science

New technologies have made it possible for scientists and citizens to interact through the web. This has led to the emergence of Citizens Science, i.e. research projects led or participated by citizens, Crowd Science, i.e. research projects led by scientists whose methods and participation are open to the public and Crowdfunding of Science, i.e. distributed online donations of citizens to specific research projects. Dr. Franzoni is currently working on the preferences of citizens for societal benefits and on their attitude towards fringe sciences. The research is conducted in collaboration with the organizers of the crowdfunding platform www.experiment.com.

Selected publications:

 
Entrepreneurial Finance

Prof. Franzoni has studied crowdfunding of technological innovation in the early years of its inception. She is currently interested in the response of the crowd to affectively-charged messages and fake news in science.

Selected publications:

 
Intellectual Property Rights

Patents and Intellectual Property (IP) are important means to enable investments in R&D. Dr. Franzoni has done research at the intersection of IP policy and academic incentives. She and her team are now working on how counterfeiting impacts the performance of innovative companies.

Selected publications:

Teaching

Academic courses at Polytechnic University of Milan
  • 056992  Patents and Intellectual Property Management, M.Sc. Management Engineering (English)
  • 057071  Innovation in Action Lab, M.Sc. Management Engineering (English)
  • 086446/8  Organizzazione di Impresa, B.S. Mechanical Engineering (Italian)
 
Teaching at the POLIMI Graduate School of Management
  • Intellectual Property Management, MBA, Executuve-MBA, and Master in Innovation & Entrepreneurship (English, Italian)
  • Forecasting the adoption of radically new products (English)

Projects

ImPROGRESS. Improving Peer Review within a Science of Science Funding  (with Paula Stephan). A project supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at the NBER. 2021-2024.

ImPRO-RISK. Improving Peer Review of High Risk High Gain science. A project supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. 2022-2027.

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Recently-completed projects:

Risk acceptance in the crowdfunding of science. Sponsored by the Science of Science Funding Initiative of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (with Henry Sauermann). Closed in 2021.  

ALTFinator. A project to support Alternative Finance. Sponsored by the European Commission (with Giancarlo Giudici).  Closed in 2020.

Press & Media

Press and media coverage about Dr. Franzoni’s research (selected):

OfficinaItalia (Rai3), April 10, 2021

Nature, January 11, 2019

La Repubblica, May 23, 2019

Vox, February 14, 2019

Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2018

Journalist’s Resource, April 25, 2018

Science, March 26, 2018

Folha de S. Paulo, May 19, 2017

Science, February 20, 2015

Symmetry, February 19, 2015

Nature jobs, December 4, 2013

Courrier International (Le Monde), April 22, 2013

Die Zeit, April 18, 2013

Corriere della Sera, October 28, 2012

Nature, October 18, 2012

IEEE Spectrum, September 22, 2012

Times Higher Education, May 24, 2012

Inside Higher Education, May 15, 2012

Files

GLOBSCI data project. Directory with full data downloads and documentation

Online Appendix to Colombo, Franzoni, Rossi-Lamastra, ETP, 2015.

Dictionaries used in Franzoni, Tenca, ETP, 2023. (affective passionpreparedness).  

Funding Risky Research (Santa Fe, Oct 31, 2023)

Curriculum Vitae (scientific styleprofessional style)

Contact

Telephone: [+39]-02-2399-4823

Email: chiara DOT franzoni AT polimi DOT it

In person:

School of Management, Building BL26, Office 3.17

Via R. Lambruschini 4b, Milano ITALY

Mailing address:

Politecnico di Milano. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale

Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32

20123 Milano ITALY