Caught In The Middle: The Bias Against Startup Innovation With Technical and Commercial Challenges
The DEMS Management Seminar series is proud to host
Andrea Fosfuri
(Bocconi University)
ABSTRACT:
Startups in IT and life sciences appear to be flourishing. However, startups in other sectors, such as new materials, automation, and eco-innovations, which are often called "deep tech", seem to struggle. We argue that innovations with both technical and commercial challenges, typical of deep tech innovations, are especially disadvantaged in a startup-based innovation system. We develop an analytical model where startups are more efficient at solving technical challenges and incumbents are more efficient at solving commercial challenges. We find that the startup-based system works better for "specialized" innovations, where only one type of challenges is significant. Startups which face both technical and commercial challenges are disadvantaged because they capture a smaller fraction of the value they create. We discuss the implications for various public policies that have been proposed to encourage deep tech.
BIO:
Full Professor of the Department of Management and Technology since September 2012. Previously, he was Full Professor and Chair (2009-2011) of the Department of Business Administration of University Carlos III (Madrid). He has taught at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University and IESE Business School, and has been research affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). He is Associate Editor of Management Science (Strategy Division) since 2009 and Associate Editor of Strategic Management Journal (2013-2019). Since November 2019 he is the Dean of the PhD School.
The seminar will be in person (Aula Pagani, U7, 3rd floor)