The Program that Teaches How to Innovate
MYRIAM MARIANI, DIRECTOR OF THE EMIT MASTER OF SCIENCE PROGRAMME, EXPLAINS HOW INNOVATION IS TRANSVERSAL AND COMMON TO ALL SECTORS AND TRADES, AND HOW IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL ENGINE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH. MORE AND MORE SKILLS ARE NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND WHERE IT ORIGINATES AND HOW IT IS CREATED"In this course we study the innovation process. We study how innovative ideas are born (product, process, but also in services, in business models), how they are realized, how they reach end users and their implications for consumers, for companies, for the economic system as a whole. Because," says Myriam Mariani, full professor at Bocconi University's Department of Management and Technology and director of the Master of Science in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology, "innovation has a huge impact on social systems and the economy."
The program by its nature is very dynamic and open to continuous updates in the courses and in the faculty, with a young average age and an international profile. "It combines the more theoretical aspects of economics with the more applied aspects of management in a perfect balance that is difficult to find in other programs. Students are confronted with stimulating training on the themes of economy and innovation strategy, management of technology and innovation processes at the level of individual companies and markets, entrepreneurship in technological sectors," continues Mariani, "supplemented by exercises, group work, hackathons, with the involvement of managers and companies." Another important peculiarity of EMIT is the rigorous scientific approach that is taught, each choice must be the result of a path based on theoretical reasoning and the development of hypotheses that meet the empirical tests downstream. One of the majors that EMIT offers in the second year is in fact in Big Data and Business Analytics.
The EMIT class is varied, very heterogeneous: "Our students come from every Bachelor program at Bocconi, many also from abroad, mainly from economics, management and data science but there are also those who have studied engineering. A lively mix, with everyone able to give the discussion a contribution from a different perspective," continues Myriam Mariani, "because by its nature innovation is pervasive and extends to all areas."
And even the employment opportunities are the most disparate. "Graduates have the opportunity to cover different roles related to innovative projects in large consulting firms, multinational companies, companies with a high rate of innovation, international organizations, bodies of authority and regulation of innovation and intellectual property, or even as a marketing researcher for the development and launch of new products i, and often, about 40%, find employment abroad", explains the director. She adds: "Emit is a program that also wants to welcome many women and can represent a different entry for them, through the economy and the management of innovation and STEM jobs in which the share of women is unfortunately still low."
by Davide Ripamonti
