Roberto Verganti Expert Professor of Management of Innovation, Politecnico di Milano

Professor Verganti is the Director of MaDe in Lab, the laboratory for advanced education on Marketing, Design and Innovation of MIP-Politecnico di Milano, where he also serves as the Scientific Director of the Master in Strategic Design. Professor Verganti’s research interests are in the field of management of innovation, with a special focus on the management of product innovation, design, and research policy. His most recent research has been focusing on three closely related streams. (1) Design Driven Innovation: how firms may change the rules of competition by radically innovating what products or services mean for users. An innovation of "meaning" that has been practiced by leading firms such as Apple, Nintendo, Alessi; (2) Technology Epiphanies: how to find new market applications that can create and capture most of the value for breakthrough technologies. A “Technology Epiphany” is the identification of a more valuable application that can be associated to a technology rather than mere substitution of an older technology. (3) Collaborative Innovation: how a firm can design and manage collaborations with a network of outsiders to boost its innovation capabilities.

Professor Verganti has delivered executive courses for, and served as an advisor to senior managers at companies that include Ferrari, Ducati, Volvo Group, Same, Ferretti Group, Hewlett-Packard, ST-Microelectronics, Ericsson, Vodafone, Telia, Samsung, Whirlpool, Indesit Company, Barilla, Nestlè, Unilever, Kraft, Rackitt-Benckiser, Solvay-Solexis, Landis & Gyr, Sandvik-Coromant, Tetrapak, Masco. He has been a keynote speaker in several scientific conferences and has been awarded the Compasso d'Oro (the most prestigious design award in Italy) for the research project "the Italian Design System."

Professor Verganti is well published and has lectured around the world. His work has appeared in a number of journals including the Harvard Business Review and Management Science. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Design Management Institute. He has lectured in several business schools (including HBS, IAE, Copenhagen Business School, Stockholm School of Economics). His most recent book, "Design Driven Innovation" is published with Harvard Business Press (spring 2009).

Professor Verganti holds a degree in electronic engineering from Politecnico di Milano.