Francesco Gerli
Researcher and Assistant Professor
Francesco Gerli is PhD Candidate at the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano where he is affiliated to Tiresia since 2018. Francesco holds a MSc in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University. He gained experience on experimental research working at the Centre for Child Well Being and Development of the University of Zurich. In 2021 he will be visiting scholar at the Department of Organization at CBS Copenaghen. He is working on research and advisory projects in Italy, Europe and Africa. Currently his research focuses on problem-oriented innovation and social entrepreneurship
Research topics:
- social entrepreneurship,
- socio-tech entrepreneurship,
- problem-oriented innovation,
- social innovation.
Publications
- Gerli, F., Chiodo, V., & Bengo, I. (2021). Technology Transfer for Social Entrepreneurship: Designing Problem-Oriented Innovation Ecosystems. Sustainability, 13(1), 20. Link: Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Technology Transfer for Social Entrepreneurship: Designing Problem-Oriented Innovation Ecosystems (mdpi.com)
- Calderini, M., Fia, M., & Gerli, F. (2020). The Potential of Social Enterprises as Milestones for a Place-Based Inclusive Innovation Strategy. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2020, No. 1, p. 19088). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. Link: The Potential of Social Enterprises as Milestones for a Place-Based Inclusive Innovation Strategy | Academy of Management Proceedings (aom.org)
- Calderini, M., & Gerli, F. (2020) Innovazione, sfide sociali e protagonismo dell’imprenditoria ad impatto. Impresa Sociale saggi brevi, 10 (3). DOI: 10.7425/IS.2020.03.03 Link: Innovazione, sfide sociali e protagonismo dell’imprenditoria ad impatto (rivistaimpresasociale.it)
- Gerli, F., Bengo, I,. Calderini, M., Randazzo, R. (2020). La sfida della misurazione d’impatto nelle società Benefit. In Bellavite Pellegrini, C & Caruso, R. (edited by) Società Benefit. Profili giuridici ed economico-aziendali. Egea Bocconi, 2020 (Book Chapter), pp.58-69. Link: SOCIETA’ BENEFIT (egeaonline.it)
- Ratti A., Gerli, F., Bionda, A., Bengo, I.,2019 Interdisciplinary High-education in place-based social-tech: the experience of the Tambali Fii Project in Dakar in Piardi, S., 2019. Spreading good sustainability practices through temporary retail. In 3rd Lens World distributed Conference (Vol. 4, pp. 1370-1374). Edizioni. POLI. design.
- Calderini, M., Chiodo, V., Gerli, F., 2019. L’esperienza dei Cantieri Viceversa: L’incontro tra domanda e offerta come chiave per rafforzare l’ecosistema dell’impatto sociale in Italia. In Network Finanziari per il Terzo Settore – Fausto Lupetti Editore. Link: cantieriOk.indd (forumterzosettore.it)
- Chiodo, V. and Gerli, F., 2017. Domanda e offerta di capitale per l’impatto sociale: una lettura ecosistemica del mercato italiano. Impresa Sociale, (10), pp.86-96. DOI: 10.7425/IS.2017.10.07 Link: Domanda e offerta di capitale per l’impatto sociale: una lettura ecosistemica del mercato italiano. (polimi.it)
Meet our team
New Practices in Innovation
Imagine that your mission is to fight malaria. An excellent way to cut down the spread of malaria is to distribute mosquito nets in the most at-risk environments, but how do you ensure that the nets are used and people are made responsible? Is it better to give them to families for free, charge them in full, or ask for a small fee?
These are the kinds of questions Francesco Gerli – a Tiresia PhD student with a degree in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University, an Erasmus in Paris at Sciences Po, and a visiting at Copenhagen Business School – likes to answer. In addition to politics and mountains, he is passionate about cases where small mechanisms, such as setting a small price for mosquito nets or changing the competences of a municipal administration, manage to have macroscopic effects.
Francesco started working at Tiresia as an intern, thinking that he would work mainly in the field of welfare, but he soon discovered that there is a whole world related to social impact assessment and that it is not a field reserved for econometricians. He decided to start his PhD in Tiresia, in 2018. During the program, he focused on the relationship between the knowledge economy and a seemingly distant world: social enterprise and the third sector.
In recent years he has focused on the technological development of social enterprise and the third sector and how this could be the vehicle that will lead to a shift from ‘market-oriented’ to transformative approaches within innovation institutions. Innovation is not only about artefacts, but also about practices that can have social implications and find answers to what we call “great societal challenges“.
“Without Tiresia and without the continuous confrontation with Prof. Calderini, who is my supervisor, none of this would have been possible. I recognise that I have always had a great curiosity, which drives me by nature towards research. Still, without the comprehensive and futuristic vision that I have had access to by being in Tiresia I would never have been able to mature as a researcher.”