Dr Simone Corsi

PhD (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies)

  • Senior Lecturer in International Business, Strategy and Innovation

Expertise: R&D management; innovation; international innovation; R&D alliances

Simone joined Loughborough University as Lecturer in International Business, Strategy and Innovation in 2019 from the University of Manchester, where he managed the Manchester China Institute and was Associate Member at the Manchester Institute for Innovation Research.

With a research background in R&D and innovation management, he conducts research in the field of innovation studies. Specifically, he has been looking into global innovation and reverse innovation dynamics, focusing on the dichotomy advanced vs emerging economies. More recently he has developed an interest in international R&D alliances and university-industry collaboration.

Prior to joining the University of Manchester, Simone was Research Fellow at the Lancaster University Management School, where he was also Programme Manager for the Lancaster China Catalyst Programme, a £5 million Lancaster University project which aimed at creating and supporting R&D partnerships between UK and Chinese organisations. During his time at Lancaster University Simone advised more than 60 UK SMEs on their China strategy.

He obtained a PhD in Management from Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (Italy) (2012), he has been visiting doctoral researcher at Tongji University (2011) and is currently senior researcher at GLORAD, an international independent research network and think tank on Global R&D and Innovation.

His work has been published in such journals as Journal of Product Innovation Management, British Journal of Management, R&D Management, Creativity and Innovation, Research-Technology Management.

Beyond his research interests, Simone has worked extensively with Italian, UK and Chinese Government institutions for the set up and delivery of cooperation programmes and organisations of official business delegations.

As the School’s Director of International Engagement, Simone is responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships and collaborations with international partners.

Current PhD students

Linus Roth, 'Geographical ambidexterity: an investigation into MNCs’ readiness for global innovation'.

Simone welcomes PhD applications in the areas of global R&D and innovation, reverse innovation, innovation in/for/from emerging economies, university-industry collaboration.

Grants and awards

  • October 2016: recipient of the Thomas P. Hustad Best Paper Award in the Journal of Product Innovation Management (with von Zedtwitz M., Veng Soberg P., Frega R.).
  • June 2015: conference support for the co-organization and co-chairing of a workshop titled 'China and Europe: Languages and Cultures of Innovation and R&D Management' at the 2015 R&D Management Conference in Pisa. The workshop was funded by the Confucius Institutes of Pisa, Lancaster and Florence.
  • March 2012: €10,000 grant from the Confucius Institute of Pisa for carrying out research and organizing an international workshop titled ‘Chinese Market as a Source of Innovation’ (with Di Minin A.).
  • February 2011: €7,500 research grant from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (SAF-China Program, A.Y. 2010-2011) for research activities to be carried out during a six month period at Tongji University, China.

Media contributions

Invited talks

  • ‘UK-China R&D partnerships and the role of universities in the internationalization of SMEs in China’ at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Course in ‘China Issues’, 10 May 2019.
  • ‘From Reversing to Co-Innovating: a (Personal) Journey into the Global Innovation Landscape through a China Lens’ at Centre for Integrative Innovation Management, University of Southern Denmark, 29 January 2019.
  • ‘Developing UK-China R&D Partnerships: Lessons Learned from a University-led Programme’ at the third Sino-UK Innovation and Development Forum organized by Oxford University and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 1 November 2018.
  • ‘A Typology of Reverse Innovation’ and ‘Exploring the International Dimension of University-Industry Collaboration: the Case of a UK-China Innovation Programme’ at School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University (China), 29 October 2018.
  • Chair of ‘China-Britain Business and Society Panel’ at Manchester Chinese Business Society Annual Conference, Manchester, 17 March 2018.
  • ‘Reversing the international flow of innovation: the Chinese market as a source of Innovation’ at Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester (UK), 29 February 2016.
  • ‘New product development in emerging economies: innovation in reverse from China’ at Lancaster China Management Centre, Lancaster University (UK), 4 December 2014.

Miscellaneous

  • Evaluation panel member for funding stream '2017 NERC Innovation Follow-On: Enabling Innovation in the UK and Developing Countries'.
  • Independent evaluator for the European Health and Digital Executive Agency, Horizon funding, EU Commission.
  • Co-organization and co-chairing (with Dr Alberto Di Minin) of workshop 'China and Europe: Languages and Cultures of Innovation and R&D Management' at the 2015 R&D Management Conference in Pisa.
  • Ad hoc reviewer for: Business & Society, Technovation, Journal of Business Research, Creativity and Innovation Management, International Business Review, Management Decision, European Journal of Innovation Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Chinese Management Studies, ERDKUNDE – Archive for Scientific Geography, Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management.
  • global innovation
  • reverse innovation
  • R&D internationalization
  • international R&D alliances
  • university-industry collaboration
  • (Corsi S., Feranita F., Hughes M., Wilson A.) 2022. ‘Universities as internationalization catalysts: reversing roles in university-industry collaboration’, British Journal of Management.
  • (Corsi S., Feranita F., De Massis A.) 2022. ‘International R&D partnerships: the role of government funding in reducing transaction costs and opportunistic behavior’, R&D Management, 52(3), 530-547.
  • (Corsi S., Fu X., Kulzer-Sacilotto C.) 2021. ‘Boundary spanning roles in cross-border university-industry collaboration: the case of Chinese multinational corporations’, R&D Management, 51(3), 309-321.
  • (von Zedtwitz M., Corsi S., Veng Soberg P., Frega P.) 2015. ‘A Typology of Reverse Innovation', Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(1): 12-28. Recipient of the 2015 Thomas P. Hustad Best Paper Award in JPIM.
  • (Corsi S., Di Minin A.) 2014. ‘Disruptive Innovation…in Reverse: Adding a Geographical Dimension to Disruptive Innovation Theory’, Creativity and Innovation Management, 23(1): 76-90.