Director of ISUFI

Full Professor of Economics and Innovation Management, University of Lecce, Italy

e-mail: aldo.romano@unile.it - aldo.romano@miur.it

Synthetic profile of Aldo Romano

Currently:

• Full Professor of Innovation Management at the Faculty of Engineering - University of Salento (Lecce, Italy);

• Director of the Scuola Superiore ISUFI - University of Salento;

• Director of the “Advanced International Summer School” focused on “New Management Theories and Practices”

• Director of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership program founding the “Mediterranean School of Advanced Studies in e-Business Management”, established in partnership with Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (Morocco). The School involves also the Confédération Générale des Entreprise du Maroc (CGEM), The University of Jordan, Tecnopôle Elgazala of the Ministry of ICT in Tunisi. The partnership program aims to realize a network of Centres specialized in Higher Education and Research activities, to promote Digital Innovation and Change Management practices.

• President of the Technological District DHITECH in Apulia region.

From 2001 to 2007:

• President of the Italian Technical-Scientific Commission of FIRB (Fund for Investments in Basic Research), at the Italian Ministry of University and Research.

From 1989 to 1997:

• Full Professor of Innovation Management at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Rome II – Tor Vergata (Italy);

From 1970 to 1989:

• Full professor of Physics at the Department of Science, University of Bari (Italy).

Awards

In acknowledgement of his scientific activity, Aldo Romano has received two awards from the President of the Italian Republic:

• He has been awarded the Gold medal of Merit for Culture, School and Arts;

• He has been appointed as Italian Republic’s “Grand Officer of Merit”.

Aldo Romano’s activity may be grouped into three main areas:

• Research activity in High Energy Physics, with a first phase of scientific training at the Department of Physics - University of Bologna. Moreover, he has participated in numerous scientific experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. As a conclusion of this phase, he has become Full Professor in Physics at the University of Bari (Italy).

• Scientific, cultural, and political commitment to the development of innovation, especially in the South of Italy. In 1981, as Visiting Professor at the Stanford University (California – USA), he studied the phenomenon of Silicon Valley, and in 1984 he founded the First Italian Scientific and Technological Park (Tecnopolis Novus Ortus). His experiences and foresights on innovation-based local development are described in two books: “Mezzogiorno 1992” and “Mezzogiorno chiama Schumpeter”;

• Scientific and operative commitment to issues concerning Internet-enabled organizational changes, with special reference to the analysis of the “Digital Divide”. This scientific work has been documented in two books: “Net Economy” and “Creating Business Innovation Leadership”.

Because of his well known interdisciplinary cultural base, his abilities to apply his cultural background to the real contexts, and his commitment to research-innovation-local development, he has been involved as “expert” in elaborating, planning and evaluating a large number of strategic programs and projects, promoted by Regional, National and International Institutions, focused on Innovation, Scientific and Technological Policies.

Scientific Publications

• Many scientific publications on International Journals (i.e. Physical Review Letters, Nuovo Cimento, etc) concerning the results of the research activity in High Energy Physics carried out in the period 1960 – 1975.

• Publications of books and papers on National and International journals concerning the relationships between innovation and development of Mezzogiorno region. Many of these publications have been collected in the book “Mezzogiorno 1992-Le nuove economie esterne per lo sviluppo competitivo”, edited by Franco Angeli, in 1998.

Recent Publications (1996-2008)

1. Romano, L. Marasso, M. Marinazzo (2008) “Italia chiama e-Government - Molta tecnologia, poca innovazione, ancora troppa distanza dal cittadino”, Ed. Guerini e Associati.

2. G. Elia, A. Margherita, C. Petti, A. Romano (2008), “Can ICT-enabled Networks Streamline e-Business Adoption in SMEs?”, Proceedings 2^ International Conference on “Information System, Technology and Management”, March 6-8, 2008, Dubai (UAE).

3. A. Romano, M. Marinazzo (2005) “Puglia in declino? - Immaginare il futuro ed investire per il cambiamento- ”.

4. A. Romano, G. Passiante, C. Petti, G. Secundo (2005) “Creating Human capital suitable for leading the 21st century organisations: the case of the e-Business Management School”, 11^ International Conference on “Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management”, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, April 23–25, 2005.

5. Romano, M. Giannotti, T. Massari (2004) “Digital Divide – A partnership strategy between Northern and Southern Mediterranean Area”.

6. Romano (2004) “Exploring new Business Innovation Leadership paradigms”, in P. Andriani, G. Passiante “Complexity Theory and Management of Networks” Ed. Imperial College Press.

7. E. Bartezzaghi, M. Raffa, A. Romano (2003), "Knowledge Management e Competitività", Ed. Scientifiche Italiane.

8. Romano, G. Passiante, C. Petti (2003) “Recent approaches to strategic entrepreneurship” Proceedings of 3th International Conference on Entrepreneurial Innovation, Bangalore, India, 6-8 March

9. Romano, G. Passiante, G. Secundo (2003) “E-learning for creating business innovation leadership: the e-business management school case.” Proceedings of the 4th World Congress on the Management of Electronic Business, Hamilton (Canada) January 15 – 17

10. Romano, (2002) “Recenti Approcci alla Strategic Entrepreneurship”, Relazione su invito alla XIII Riunione Scientifica della AiIG, su Impresa e Competizione Knowledgebased, Lecce, 7-8 Novembre;

11. Romano, V. Elia, G. Passiante (2001) “Creating Business Innovation Leadership: an ongoing experiment” Ed. Scientifiche Italiane

12. Romano, G. Passiante, V. Elia (2001) "New sources of clustering in the Digital Economy", Journal of Small Business & Enterprise Development, vol. 8, n. 1, Spring

13. Romano, G. Passiante (2000) “Un modello per la gestione innovativa dei Sistemi Economici locali - Il Sistema Innovativo Virtuale”, in E. Valdani, F. Ancarani "Strategie di marketing del territorio" Ed. EGEA, Milano, pagg. 83-112

14. Romano, G. Passiante, V. Elia (2000) “ Modelling growth clusters in the new Web Economy” Proceedings of the 45th International Conference on Small Business (ICSB) World Conference 2000, Brisbane (Australia) 7-10 giugno

15. Romano, M. Marinazzo (1999) “Dalla Deriva all’Approdo” il Mezzogiorno in competizione fra economia tradizionale ed economia della conoscenza, Ed. Cacucci Editore

16. Romano, G. Passiante, V. Elia (1999) “The Web Economy: towards a new spatial context for learning and innovation processes in the business environment” Proceedings of the Regional Science Association 39th European Congress, Dublino 23-27 agosto

17. Romano, G. Passiante (1998) “Electronic market as a strategic lever of an Innovation Territorial System- an integrative approach to territorial innovation management”, Proceedings of the Regional Science Association 38th European Congress, Vienna 28 agosto – 1 settembre

18. Romano, G. Passiante (1996) “La centralità della politica dell’innovazione per lo sviluppo competitivo dei Sistemi economici locali”, atti del VI Convegno Internazionale di Economia e politica dell’innovazione su “Reti di imprese e reti informatiche”, Piacenza, 5-6-7 giugno

19. Romano, G. Passiante (1996) “Il Mezzogiorno chiama Schumpeter - per una strategia di sviluppo alle soglie del terzo millennio”, Ed. RIREA.