A DEPARTMENT OF EXCELLENCE FOR ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT IN THE ERA OF DATA SCIENCE

EMbeDS is an acronym that, refering to a notion of embedding and inclusion, represents our overarching goal of exploiting opportunities fostered by Data Science (DS) in the disciplines of Economics (E) and Management (M) – leveraging data and tools to bridge the gaps that still exist between complex models, their empirical validation, and their use in policy.

Within the path delineated by research funding and engagement initiatives at the Italian, European and United Nations levels, our scientific aim is to better understand the relationships between innovation, employment, growth, environmental and social sustainability. Our policy aim is to identify public- and private-sector strategies to manage socio-economic and environmental change, and the corresponding evolution of our welfare systems.

These aims build upon four broad areas in which the Institutes of Economics and Management of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies have a strong record of research, education and engagement with private and public institutions: (1) Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution; (2) Industrial Dynamics, Competitiveness and Financial Markets.; (3) Economies as Evolving Complex Systems; (4) Environmental and Social Sustainability (with a particular focus on healthcare systems for the latter).

For each of these areas, opportunities and challenges afforded by contemporary big data are key. Data availability, as well as the possibility of integrating information from multiple sources, are rapidly growing. Exploiting these opportunities to spur major research progress requires sophisticated modeling approaches and state-of-the art statistical and computational tools to gather, integrate and analyze big data. Our groups pioneer many such approaches and tools.