I’m an economist. My areas of expertise are the economics of innovation; economic development and regional economics.
I am Professor of Economics in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the Università di Pavia in Italy. I also hold a position as Assigned Professor at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, where I am associated with the IKE (Innovation, Knowledge and Economic Dynamics) Research Group (Department of Business and Management) in Copenhagen.
I regularly advise international organizations such as UNIDO,UNCTAD, IADB, OECD and the European Commission on questions related to economic development.
In the spotlight
Green Windows of Opportunity
A new Special Section of Industrial and Corporate Change edited by Rasmus Lema, Xiaolan Fu & Roberta Rabellotti.
Green Windows of Opportunity: Latecomer Development in the Age of Transformation towards Sustainability provides new empirical evidence on different renewable energy sectors in China, a country which is moving rapidly towards leadership in several of green technologies.
The introductory article will be available for free download.
Presentations
Innovation in GVC
Innovation in GVC
On the 6th of November 2020 I participated at an online conference organized by the Bank of Lithuania, talking about Innovation in Global Value Chains and I also was part of a panel discussing about The future of investments and innovation.
Here you can download the slides. Here is the video of the conference.
GVC and Innovation Co-evolution Trajectories. The case of the ICT sectors
La Cina sta comprando il mondo
La Cina sta comprando il mondo
On 3rd June I have participated as panelist at the webinar organized by Collegio Ghislieri on I rapporti tra Cina e Europa.
Here you can download the ppt and here the recording of the webinar..
Media
Le catene globali del valore e l’impatto del Covid-19
Le catene globali del valore e l’impatto del Covid-19
I have been interviewed by Società Italiana degli Economisti on the impact of Covid-19 on Global Value Chains. Here you can see the video.
Publications
Uganda STI Policy Review
Uganda – Science and Technology Policy Review
I have contributed to the chapters on the agri-food industry and on the ICTs sector in the UNCTAD recently published Uganda STI Policy Review.
The full report can be downloaded here.
Innovation in global value chains
Innovation in global value chains
With Rasmus Lema and Carlo Pietrobelli I have contributed to the Handbook on Global Value Chains with a chapter presenting a new conceptual framework for investigating how GVCs and ISs jointly contribute to innovation in developing countries. It can be downloaded here.
Local sourcing in developing countries: The role of foreign direct investments and global value chains
Local sourcing in developing countries: The role of foreign direct investments and global value chains
This paper, co-authored with Vito Amendolagine, Andrea Presbitero and Marco Sanfilippo and published in World Development, investigates whether and how participation and positioning in the global value chains (GVCs) of host countries is associated to local sourcing by foreign investors in 19 Sub-Saharan African countries and Vietnam. The article is open source and can be downloaded here.