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Holding investments in R&D constant, what makes organizations more innovative?
NI Lab is a research laboratory at SDA Bocconi School of Management, dedicated to exploring the role of inter- and intra-organizational networks, team dynamics, organizational contexts and individual cognitive processes in fostering innovation.
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Event
Sample: Seminar on brokers and the flow of ideas
[Speaker name] of [University] presents new work on how people who bridge separate groups shape which ideas travel.
Publication
Sample: New paper on core and periphery in R&D collaboration
A study by [authors], forthcoming in [journal], looks at who ends up at the core of a firm's collaboration network and what that means for new ideas.
Mission
The mission of the Network Innovation Lab is to generate both academic and applied knowledge that helps scholars and decision-makers understand the mechanisms driving differences in creativity and innovation, two closely interrelated outcomes, among individuals and firms.
The question behind the Lab’s projects, research activities and the dissemination of its results is: holding investments in R&D constant, what makes organizations more innovative?
We believe that understanding this phenomenon takes a multi-level approach, focused on five research fields.
Between organizations
Inter-organizational networks and collaborative ecosystems
How alliances and ecosystems let organizations share knowledge, expertise and resources.
Within organizations
Informal intra-organizational networks
How informal ties among scientists, managers, engineers and creatives move ideas around.
Organizational context
Organizational contexts and human resource management systems
How structures, processes, work design and culture create environments where innovation can happen.
Teams
Team-level factors
How team composition, structure and processes sustain creativity.
Individuals
Micro-foundations of innovation
How cognition, personality, knowledge, motivation and leadership shape creative problem-solving.
Lab direction
We seek to understand what makes organizations more innovative by studying how organizations, teams, and individuals combine their knowledge, expertise, skills, and backgrounds to develop powerful new ideas and invent products, services, and technologies that create value for firms and society at large.
Objective
The Lab draws on current theories and research methods to foster a meaningful dialogue with organizations engaged in innovation and creativity.
NI Lab is generously supported by STMicroelectronics as its founding member. We are actively looking for strategic partners who share ST’s and our commitment to generating and disseminating knowledge that helps organizations become more innovative.
Founding partner
Partnership
NI Lab was founded with a strong international focus, reflecting the global nature of its founding partner and research team, and through a strategic alliance with two of the most influential academic institutions in network research.
The Lab has signed a cooperation agreement with LINKS, the Center for Social Network Analysis at the Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, one of the world’s leading research centers for the study of social networks and organizations.
The alliance also includes the UCL School of Management at University College London, home to one of the most productive and influential research teams in the field of organizational networks.
The collaboration among the three partners includes:
- Exchange of faculty, postdocs, PhD students, research assistants, and other personnel.
- Joint research projects.
- Co-authored papers.
- Social network conferences alternating between Kentucky, Bocconi, and UCL School of Management.
- Development of case studies and teaching tools, such as simulations and questionnaires.
Academic partner
LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis, University of Kentucky
Academic partner
Activities
The Lab investigates the multi-level mechanisms that shape innovation and creativity within and across organizations, combining academic research and applied exploration across networks, teams, and individual behaviors. The work is organized in research programs, each led by a scientific director.
- The social structure of innovation
Scientific director: Giuseppe Soda
- Where do good ideas come from?
Scientific director: Pier Vittorio Mannucci
- From idea generation to value creation
Scientific director: Pier Vittorio Mannucci
- Leveraging external connections to bring new knowledge inside the organization and innovate
Scientific director: Marco Tortoriello
- Increasing the global innovation footprint: moving to where new knowledge is and back
Scientific director: Marco Tortoriello
- Micro environments in the broader organization
Scientific director: Ronald Stuart Burt
People
Researchers and professionals with diverse backgrounds contribute to the development of the Lab's research agenda, combining academic insight and applied perspectives.
Alessandro Iorio
Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior
Leonardo Rizzo
Academic Fellow, Business Data Analytics
Manuel Gómez Solórzano
Professor, Organization & Strategy
Tilburg School of Economics and Management
Tools
Web apps built at the lab. They open in your browser, with nothing to install.
Network Visualizer
An interactive tool for exploring and visualizing network data in the browser.
nilab-network-visualizer.web.app
Contacts
For research collaborations, partnerships and questions about the lab, write to research.sdabocconi@sdabocconi.it.
Network Innovation Lab, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Via Sarfatti 10, 20136 Milano, Italy