Francesco Rentocchini - Economic Analyst and Associate Professor

Francesco Rentocchini is Senior Economic Analyst at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Associate Professor in Business Economics and Innovation at the Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at the University of Milan (IT). He was previously Associate Professor in Strategy and Innovation at the University of Southampton (UK).

He has an established research record in innovation studies. He works in the fields of applied industrial economics, economics and management of innovation. His main area of research relates to bi-directional flows between the generation of knowledge know-how and the development of technological innovation. His research interests include innovation in high-tech industries, environmental economics, industrial dynamics (growth and survival of start-ups and SMEs) and university-industry collaborations.

His articles have appeared, among the others, in Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change and International Journal of Industrial Organization. He was Associate Editor for the European Management Review (2016-2020) and has been guest editor for Industry and Innovation and Small Business Economics.

He contributed to several research projects, both at national and international level, and enjoyed research periods abroad in various internationally recognised research centres (e.g. Manchester Institute of Innovation Research in the UK, UNU-MERIT research centre in the Netherlands, INGENIO in Spain).

Since 2020, he is a member of the External Faculty Board of the PhD programme in “Regional Science and Economic Geography” of the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI).

Francesco holds a doctoral degree from the University of Bologna