Sussex-Bocconi partnership will drive innovation
Researchers at Sussex have teamed up with Italian academics to drive innovation in the world of business.
An inaugural workshop was held on the Sussex campus last month to launch the Intrapreneurship Hub, a joint research initiative between Sussex’s School of Business, Management and Economics and the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy.
Researchers at the Hub will partner with firms to develop a greater understanding of factors affecting entrepreneurship across a range of industrial sectors.
More than 50 academics and businesspeople from the UK, Italy, Austria and Finland attended the workshop, which was supported by the University’s International Partnership Development Fund, established to encourage strategic initiatives with partners overseas.
The workshop was introduced by Tina Ambos, Professor of Strategy at Sussex. Professor Ambos commented after the event: “We were very excited about the inspiring debate between practitioners and academics. Our aim was to provide a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration, and participants contributed with a lot of enthusiasm.”
Academic Director of the Hub Dr Monica Masucci, a lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Sussex, said: “The launch of the Intrapreneurship Hub marked an important step in the School’s strategy to enhance engagement with the business community. The Hub partners with industry members to advance the study and practice of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation across a range of industrial sectors.”
Industry participant Wolf-Dieter Hohl MBA, Head of Market Development at the steelmaking company voestalpine Steel Division, added: “Innovation is the key success factor for profitable long‑term growth. This Intrapreneurship initiative is a good opportunity to analyse and optimise interlinkages and networks of the 'innovation producers' in a company, and to create entrepreneurial behaviour based on personal leadership.”