Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari 

e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna

Scuola Sant’Anna (SSSA) is a special-statute public university active in the field of applied sciences. In 2018, Times Higher Education World University Rankings SSSA is ranked #9 in the Young University Ranking. Students are given the opportunity to use the laboratories and research facilities of the six Institutes of SSSA operating in different fields (BioRobotics; Law, Politics; Life Sciences; Communication, Information and Perception Technologies, Economics; and Management). The innovative educational programs conducted by the Institutes allow university students, PhD students, and post-docs to actively participate in research activities, considered the basis for the development and creation of entrepreneurial ideas, innovative technologies and new enterprises. An example is the master degree in innovation management, a two-year full-time program that equips students with advanced knowledge of innovation management, practical experience and personal skills.

Partners of the project is the Innovation Management (MAIN) research group of the Istituto di Management (IdM). The IdM is active in the field of management in the context of private and public organizations as support to a renewed entrepreneurship, in a synergetic perspective, among business, institutions and research.

Specifically, research carried out by scholars in the MAIN area aims at describing, understanding, explaining and facilitating the management of innovation in private businesses, public administrations and cities/regions. Innovation processes are studied from a technological, managerial, organization, cultural and institutional perspective. In fact, in a globalised knowledge economy innovation is more than ever a crucial source for the competitive advantage of firms, other organizations and territories. Organisations of different types need to continuously adapt to technological turbulence and disruption from both the demand and the supply side, and possibly influence them. This is also a relevant issue for public administrations and cities/regions.

MAIN research is particularly international oriented thanks to the intense cooperation and collaborations developed with academic and entrepreneurial partners such as:

• In China University of Chongqing, Chinese Academy of Science and Tsinghua University. In South Korea the Sogang University. In USA the Centre for Open Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley. In UK the Stragic and Technology Innovation Management (STIM) Consortium at the University of Cambridge.
• a continuous interaction with small and large established firms, which partecipate to both executive education programmes (Master and PhD courses) and provide new ideas and funds for collaborative research activities;
• a fruitful collaboration with other Institutes at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in different technological fields, such as robotics, engineering and life sciences;
• the active participation of MAIN professors and researchers in networks and organizations where scientific research and theory meet practice and policy making, such as regional and national government initiatives and international institutions.

For more information please visit: https://www.santannapisa.it/en/institute/management/institute-management