Bocconi Knowledge: A Research Hub on the Web
Bocconi has decided to disseminate its research to the public by launching Bocconi Knowledge, a multimedia, bilingual Internet site (www.knowledge.unibocconi.eu) whose aim is to bridge the gap between economic research and the business and political organizations that can benefit from it in their decision-making.
Bocconi Knowledge uncovers the complex and scarcely known world of research within the University, with its 8 Departments and 19 Research Centers. Each year, more than 700 conferences, seminars, and workshops take place in Bocconi, each presenting fresh research studies and reports. Bocconi hosts major international scientific symposia (seven in 2010), where hundreds of research papers are presented and discussed. There currently are 60 active research projects, financed by the Italian government, the European Commission and international sponsors. The result is that articles by Bocconi faculty members get published on major international academic journals.
Navigating the site, there is an unmistakable sense of intellectual adventure. For instance, we can see three scholars (Emanuele Borgonovo, Lorenzo Peccati and Stefano Gatti) applying to an investment project a mathematical tool that has been employed by NASA in the risk analysis of space missions, or the demographer Francesco Billari, who, together with two colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, has discovered a major inversion in the fertility trends of wealthier countries, which is the groundwork for an article recently published on Nature.
The layout of the site gives priority to major research contributions on emerging issues, while a news section provides updates on the undergoing research activities at Bocconi and the participation of Bocconians in international conferences. The website also features a "People" section, highlighting Bocconi researchers who have earned research awards and other titles of distinction, as well as sections reserved for "Articles" and "Working Papers", listing the abstracts of the latest research output by the Bocconi faculty.
An important feature of the website lets users appraise the quality of research at Bocconi: in the "Videogallery", researchers illustrate the results of their most innovative research studies on camera.
"It's important for the public to realize the importance and relevance of research in the social sciences," Bocconi Rector Guido Tabellini argues, "since empirical findings in this domain are fundamental for the organization of a free and democratic societies, where individual civil and economic rights are respected, and the economic agents of a market economy can thrive."