11 March 2020
Innovating the first Italian Masters in Innovation Management. This is the challenge taken up by the Scuola Sant'Anna of Pisa, which launched the first program in Italy back in 1991, focusing on the management of technological change, the dynamics of innovation within the company, and strategic collaborations for the development of products and services. At the time, even the "university master's degree" formula was experimental for Italy. Today, the new edition of the Masters is presented in an executive version, with courses concentrated on Friday and Saturday mornings. The Master will take place in Florence, and the teaching modules are organized and delivered in collaboration with Stanford University (Stanford Center for Professional Development). The lessons, in English, will start in mid-September and the application deadline is on 27 April.
FS Italiane has chosen to support the Scuola Sant'Anna in this challenge by becoming a partner and joining the Steering Committee of the MIND Masters.
"Experimentation, today as in the 90s, is in the DNA of the Scuola Sant'Anna, a university that has some unique features in the Italian academic scene, which place it in a good position to act as a forerunner on new projects," says Professor Andrea Piccaluga, now director of the Institute of Management, and who collaborated with the creator of the Master, Professor Riccardo Varaldo, thirty years ago.
Today the challenge is different. The range of university education on offer has evolved a great deal. Top university courses promote the "fusion" between the different languages necessary for innovation management, to be "ready to face the challenges and learn in the field what it means to manage business development processes, to develop a marketing strategy for new products, to transfer the results of research to the market," stresses Alberto Di Minin, the Director of the MIND Master.
Starting from the 2020-2021 academic year, the Institute of Management will therefore be launching the new Executive Masters in Management & Innovation Design - MIND.
This new program builds on the expertise of the Institute of Management in managing innovation, and complex organisations, in the circular economy. Stanford University contributes to the program by offering the best in design thinking, business development and entrepreneurship management.
In addition, the Masters Faculty embraces skills that promote personal reskilling by providing expertise in areas such as digital technologies (Big Data, Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Robotics), the main drivers of social change, public management, human resources management and much more.
The MIND Master’s program is completed by a full immersion of one week divided between Stanford University and Silicon Valley, which will see managers, entrepreneurs and public executives involved.
The path of co-development that is taking shape together with the partner companies in the Steering Committee meetings, has made it possible to design an educational offer in line with the needs of the human resources and business development teams and the innovation centres of the institutions that have decided to support the Sant'Anna and Stanford in the launch of the MIND Master's degree.
The formula chosen for the MIND Masters includes lessons on Friday and Saturday mornings in the centre of Florence, and intense use of the most advanced distance learning methodologies developed by Stanford University. All this will allow participants to continue working for their companies and institutions during the 18-month course. Moreover, the support of the academic tutors and the exchange with the other participants will allow them to put immediately "on the ground" the contents, models and ideas that emerged in the classroom during the individual Project Work path and more generally in their professional activity.
For information on courses, admission and scholarships, please refer to the Masters landing page.