Chiara Franzoni

Professor, School of Management

Research

Economics of Science and Innovation

I am Professor at the School of Management of the Polytechnic University of Milan, where my long-term area of specialization is the Economics of Science and Innovation.

My current research explores how experts make funding decisions under uncertainty, with a particular focus on high-risk, high-reward projects. This work, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, combines data analysis with laboratory and field experiments.

In the past, I have studied the incentive systems of scientists in academia and the international mobility of researchers.

Selected publications:

Uncertainty and Risk-Taking in Science. Meaning, Measurement, and Management in Peer Review of Research Proposals
Funding Risky Research
Topic choice, gendered language, and the under-funding of female scholars in mission-oriented research
Context Factor and the Performance of Mobile Individuals in Research Teams
Foreign-born Scientists. Mobility Patterns for 16 Countries
Changing Incentives to Publish
The Mover’s Advantage
Academic Tenure, Risk-Taking and the Diversification of Scientific Research, combines data analysis with laboratory and field experiments.
In the past, I have studied the incentive systems of scientists in academia and the international mobility of researchers.

Crowd and Citizens Science

New technologies have made it possible for scientists and citizens to interact through the web. This has given rise to new forms of collaboration: Citizen Science, where citizens lead or participate in research projects; Crowd Science, where scientists open their methods and participation to the public; and Crowdfunding of Science, where citizens support specific research projects through online donations.

I am currently studying social expectations towards science. Some of my research in this area has benefited from collaborating with the organizers of the crowdfunding platform experiment.com

Selected publications:

Entrepreneurial Finance

I have studied the crowdfunding of technological innovation since its early days. More recently, my research has turned to crowd responses to affectively charged messages.

Selected publications:

Intellectual Property Rights

In earlier work, I explored the role of patents and intellectual property (IP) in enabling investments in R&D, focusing on the intersection of IP policy and academic incentives.

Selected publications:

Teaching

[In sabbatical leave 2025/26]

Academic courses at Polytechnic University of Milan

057046 Economics of Innovation and New Technologies, M.Sc.
056992 Patents and Intellectual Property Management, M.Sc.
057071 Innovation in Action Lab, M.Sc.

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. 2021-2026.

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.