Simone Ferriani

Simone Ferriani is a Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Bologna and holds an Honorary Professorship at Bayes Business School (City, University of London). He is also a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Organizational Innovation and a Fellow of Clare-Hall College (University of Cambridge). His work focuses on the social and cognitive foundations of innovation, combining qualitative methods with large datasets. Ferriani has secured funding from the European Research Council, Italian National Science Foundation, H2020, and Swiss Science Foundation.

Education: PhD in Management from the University of Bologna. Professional roles include co-founding the Medici Summer School (with HEC Paris and MIT Sloan), founding ReActor (a school fostering entrepreneurial talent), and serving as a visiting scholar at institutions like Wharton, NYU, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Research interests include networks in innovation ecosystems, recognition dynamics in creative fields, and historical methods to study entrepreneurial support mechanisms. His articles appear in top journals like American Sociological Review and Strategic Management Journal.

Recognitions include two European Commission Seal of Excellence awards and being named a finalist for European Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year (2022). He has supervised numerous doctoral students who now hold senior academic positions globally.