Maryam Zehtabchi, Moving Between Math and Economics

IRANIAN, STUDIED IN SWEDEN, GOT A PHD FROM BOCCONI, ZEHTABCHI WORKS IN THE ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS DIVISION OF THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION

“The most recent project that I’m working on is a research project on industrial design in three Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia”, says Maryam Zehtabchi, Project Officer in the Economics and Statistics Division (ESD) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). “Based on our statistics, we’ve noticed that resident applicants in this region are using industrial design way more than other middle-income countries. Research on industrial design is a relatively unexplored teritory in economics, which makes it both very attractive and challenging at the same time. Now we’re going deeper to try to understand how applicants make use of industrial design, and the economic value of the phenomenon. It means travelling to those countries, conducting interviews, talking with local designers and intellectual property lawyers, collecting qualitative and quantitative data, and finally analyzing those data”.

It’s what Zehtabchi calls a tailor-made job. After a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in Tehran, where she grew up, at the age of 23 she applied for Scandinavian universities, which offered programs in English and the opportunity to be exposed to a very different culture. She ended up in Sweden where she received a master’s degree in Statistics at Lund University before pursuing a PhD in Business Administration and Management at Bocconi University. “I was a newcomer to the world of economics and management. I didn’t know what to expect. It was a great learning experience. I focused on the topics of innovation, technology, and economic geography. Quantitative research on IP data allowed me to bridge the language of numbers and economics”. Her interest in intellectual property led her to WIPO as the main source of reliable data set and researches. “My job today is the exact continuation of my PhD thesis. Spending time in Milan and interacting with top level professors in Bocconi helped me a lot to develop the skills needed for critical thinking and conducting rigourous research. I appreciate the international environment I work in. I love dealing with different countries and cultures, and learning from them”.
 
 

by Claudio Todesco