Research project
Stars have no gender : female inventors and teams
The project examines the factors that underlie the success of women inventors in obtaining patents by looking at the peer effects that support the development of “stars”, i.e. outstanding innovators.
The exposure to specific innovation networks is key to the making of successful innovators and to overcome discriminations, bias and underrepresentation. Top inventors rely on networks, role-models and peer support like all innovators, but the evidence for female top inventors is scant.
In this project, we investigate the peer effects that favour the success of women in achieving the status of `star innovator’ through a variety of indicators describing their network. We explore these factors both in “gendered” technology sectors (STEM) and in fields with a higher presence of women, such as health care and sustainability and green innovation.
Researchers
Dr. Jörg Franke
Federico Caviggioli is Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Production Engineering (DIGEP) of Politecnico di Torino. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics and Management of Technology at the University of Bergamo in 2011.
His research focuses on economics of innovation and, in particular, technology strategy, market for technologies, patent data intelligence, and quality of patent systems. Quantitative analysis and patent data treatment are among his main skills. He published in international journals such as Research Policy, Industry and Innovation, Technovation, and Technological Forecasting & Social Change.
Chiara Ravetti holds a Master and PhD in International Economics from the University of Geneva – IHEID, and a BSc in Economics from the University of London – SOAS. Until 2018 she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies (OxCarre) in the University of Oxford. Afterwards, she joined the Department of Management and Production Engineering (DIGEP) of Politecnico di Torino with a Swiss National Fund Advanced Mobility Fellowship. Her research and teaching focus on issues related to sustainability: green innovation, sustainable management and development, circular economy, climate change and energy transitions. She teaches Sustainable Management in the Master of Climate Change, and Energy Economics in the MSc Energy Engineering. In 2020 she was tutor on the experimental teaching lab “Circular Economy-The right loop”, organized by the Contamination Lab and Innovation Kitchen.
Alessandra Colombelli
Associate Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre and Research Associate, CNRS-GREDEG, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis
Alessandra Colombelli is Full Professor at Politecnico di Torino, where she teaches Strategy and Organisation and Business Management. She holds a PhD in Economics and Management of Technology and an MSc in Management Engineering from the University of Bergamo.
She is member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre (EIC at the Politecnico di Torino, Research Associate at the CNRS-GREDEG-University of Nice Sophia Antipolis and the BRICK, Collegio Carlo Alberto. She serves as Technical Assessors at the I3P (the incubator of Politecnico di Torino). She was formerly Marie Curie Fellow at the Manchester Business School, research associate at the University of Cagliari, post-doc fellow at the University Lumière Lyon2 and the University of Turin. She is Editor of Regional Studies and member of the Editorial Review Board of Small Business Economics.