NI Lab is a research laboratory at SDA Bocconi School of Management, dedicated to exploring the role of inter- and intra-organizational networks, team dynamics, organizational contexts and individual cognitive processes in fostering innovation and performance.
In the Strategic Management Journal, Alessandro Iorio, Giuseppe Soda and Brandy Aven study a company that paid a bonus for becoming a knowledge hub. Employees doubled their contacts, and the most central became more likely to leave.
The lab's web app for exploring network data now opens directly on our website. Load a list of ties, find communities, size people by centrality and arrange the network, all in your browser.
Pier Vittorio Mannucci (Network Innovation Lab) participated in two public workshops titled “The Power of Creativity” on September 25th, 2026 at two libraries in Milan.
The mission of the Network Innovation Lab is to generate both academic and applied knowledge that helps scholars and decision-makers understand the mechanisms driving differences in creativity and innovation, two closely interrelated outcomes, among individuals and firms.
The question behind the Lab’s projects, research activities and the dissemination of its results is: holding investments in R&D constant, what makes organizations more innovative?
We believe that understanding this phenomenon takes a multi-level approach, focused on five research fields.
Between organizations
How alliances and ecosystems let organizations share knowledge, expertise and resources.
Within organizations
How informal ties among scientists, managers, engineers and creatives move ideas around.
Organizational context
How structures, processes, work design and culture create environments where innovation can happen.
Teams
How team composition, structure and processes sustain creativity.
Individuals
How cognition, personality, knowledge, motivation and leadership shape creative problem-solving.
We seek to understand what makes organizations more innovative by studying how organizations, teams, and individuals combine their knowledge, expertise, skills, and backgrounds to develop powerful new ideas and invent products, services, and technologies that create value for firms and society at large.
Co-director, NI Lab
Co-director, NI Lab
The Lab draws on current theories and research methods to foster a meaningful dialogue with organizations engaged in innovation and creativity.
NI Lab is generously supported by STMicroelectronics as its founding member. We are actively looking for strategic partners who share ST’s and our commitment to generating and disseminating knowledge that helps organizations become more innovative.
Founding partner
NI Lab was founded with a strong international focus, reflecting the global nature of its founding partner and research team, and through a strategic alliance with two of the most influential academic institutions in network research.
The Lab has signed a cooperation agreement with LINKS, the Center for Social Network Analysis at the Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, one of the world’s leading research centers for the study of social networks and organizations.
The alliance also includes the UCL School of Management at University College London, home to one of the most productive and influential research teams in the field of organizational networks.
The collaboration among the three partners includes:
The Lab investigates the multi-level mechanisms that shape innovation and creativity within and across organizations, combining academic research and applied exploration across networks, teams, and individual behaviors. The work is organized in research programs, each led by a scientific director.
Scientific director: Giuseppe Soda
Scientific director: Pier Vittorio Mannucci
Scientific director: Pier Vittorio Mannucci
Scientific director: Marco Tortoriello
Scientific director: Marco Tortoriello
Scientific director: Ronald Stuart Burt
Researchers and professionals with diverse backgrounds contribute to the development of the Lab's research agenda, combining academic insight and applied perspectives.
Senior Professor, Organization Design
Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior
Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior
Full Professor, International Management
Assistant Professor of Practice, Business Data Analytics
Web apps built at the lab. They open in your browser, with nothing to install.
An interactive tool for exploring and visualizing network data in the browser.
How it works and how to open it
With Organizational Network Analysis we map the informal networks inside companies and institutions: who people really turn to for information, advice and new ideas. The results show hidden talent, silos and bottlenecks, and where to act.
For research collaborations, partnerships and questions about the lab, write to research.sdabocconi@sdabocconi.it.
Network Innovation Lab, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Via Sarfatti 10, 20136 Milano, Italy
