Profile

I am Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I joined Newcastle University Business School in February 2021, and previously I worked at Alliance Manchester Business School. 

My research involves innovation and nascent entrepreneurship. It looks at the contribution of universities to entrepreneurship and the role of contextual determinants in nurturing sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. I study nascent entrepreneurship focussing on start-ups by students and recent graduates, HEI organisational mechanisms and incentives for entrepreneurship, and the broader impact of these new ventures on the place where they are established. This in involves considering a range of channels enabling knowledge creation and exchange, such as: the variety of entrepreneurial outputs generated by universities; the contribution of teaching to skills formation, and the diffusion and local retention of graduates/graduate ventures. 

Academic Qualifications

• PhD in Applied Economics, University of Ferrara (2012)
• MSc Applied Statistics, University of Manchester (2013)

Membership 

• British Academy of Management: Treasurer SIG Innovation (2023 to date)
• Fellow, Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (2023)

External Academic Roles

• Associate Faculty, Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto (https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ipl) (2023 to date)
• Honorary Fellow, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester (2021 to date)

Research Interests

• Nascent entrepreneurship
• Graduate Start-ups
• Entrepreneurial ecosystem 
• Knowledge exchange & knowledge creation
• Innovation management 

Projects

• ACTIION: Accelerating Transitions in Industrial Innovation Networks: Open and Ecosystems Oriented Innovation (ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, 2018) 
• Interdisciplinary research: triggers and misaligned incentives in Higher Education Institutions (UMRI, 2018)
• Old and New Metrics for Knowledge Exchange in Higher Education Institutions (Research England 2018)
• Industrial Innovation in Transition: innovation practices in entrepreneurial ecosystems (EU: H2020, 2016-2017)
• EUNIVATION: Measuring the contribution of Higher Education Institutions to innovation capacity (EU: DG Education. 2016)
• Interregional collaboration in Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (JRC Seville: 2015)
• SMEs Performance Review - Annual Report. (EU: DG Grow, 2013-2017)

Conferences

• 
  
• AoM, Seattle, August 2021
• DRUID - Copenhagen, October 2021
• GEOINNO – Geography of Innovation Conference, Stavanger (Norway) January 2020.
• REGIONAL INNOVATION POLICIES (RIP) Conference, University of Florence, November 2019.
• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SOCIETY Conference, University of Toronto, September 2019.
• BRITISH ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT, Birmingham, September 2019.
• GEOINNO – Geography of Innovation Conference, Barcelona (Spain) January 2018.
• TRIPLE HELIX CONFERENCE – Special Track organiser (Knowledge exchange frameworks in HEIs). Manchester (UK) September 2018
• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SOCIETY. Valencia (Spain), October 2018.
• RSA Winter Conference. London (UK), November 2018
• RSA - Regional Studies Association Conference, Dublin (Ireland) June 2017.
• EU-SPRI Conference: Special Track organiser (Entrepreneurial Ecosystems). Vienna (Austria) June 2017.
• SMARTER: Smart Specialisation and Territorial Development. Seville (Spain) September 2016
• ROYAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY London (UK) August 2016
• EURKIND (European Network on Knowledge, Innovation and Development). Valencia (Spain) June 2016
• INCHER: Academic Entrepreneurship, and Knowledge and Technology Transfer. Kassel (Germany) April 2016.
• RSA – Regional Studies Association Conference, 24-27 May 2015, Piacenza, Italy
• DRUID – 15-17 June 2015, Rome, Italy
• BAM – British Academy of Management – 8-10 September, Portsmouth, UK
• ISS – International Schumpeter Society Conference, 27-30 July, Jena, Germany

Module leadership:

• NBS8497 Entrepreneurship, Full time MBA
• NBS8606 Technology & Entrepreneurship, MSc Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability

• Articles

  • Zhang Q, Marzocchi C, Breznitz S. Educational diversity and work experience paths towards entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics 2025, epub ahead of print.
  • Angori G, Marzocchi C, Ramaciotti L, Rizzo U. A patent-based analysis of the evolution of basic, mission-oriented, and applied research in European universities. The Journal of Technology Transfer 2024, 49, 609-641.
  • Marzocchi C, Kitagawa F, Rossi F, Uyarra E. Reconceptualising knowledge exchange and higher education institutions: broadening our understanding of motivations, channels, and stakeholders. Studies in Higher Education 2023, 48(5), 673-682.
  • Kitagawa F, Marzocchi C, Sánchez-Barrioluengo M, Uyarra E. Anchoring talent to regions: the role of universities in graduate retention through employment and entrepreneurship. Regional Studies 2022, 56(6), 1001-1004.
  • Marzocchi C, Ramlogan R. Forsaking innovation: addressing failure and innovation behaviour variety. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 2019, 31(12), 1462-1473.
  • Marzocchi C, Kitagawa F, Sanchez-Barrioluengo M. Evolving missions and university entrepreneurship: academic spin-offs and graduate start-ups in the entrepreneurial society. Journal of Technology Transfer 2019, 44, 167-188.
  • Uyarra E, Marzocchi C, Sorvik J. How outward looking is smart specialisation? Rationales, drivers and barriers. European Planning Studies 2018, 26(12), 2344-2363.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Marzocchi C, Rizzo U, Ramaciotti L, Angori G. The content evolution of basic, mission-oriented, and applied research in European universities. In: Academy of Management. 2022, Seattle, Washington: Academy of Management.
  • Marzocchi C, Sanchez-Barrioluengo M, Kitagawa F. Contextualising entrepreneurship capital provisions for graduate start-ups: The university and the regional context. In: British Academy of Management. 2019, Aston University, Birmingham, UK: British Academy of Management.

• Reports

  • Marzocchi C, Uyarra E, Flanagan K. Understanding Innovation and Innovation Ecosystems - A technical report for the research on Innovation & Global Competitiveness. Manchester, UK: Alliance Manchester Business School, 2019. Greater Manchester Independent Prosperity Review.
  • Amanatidou E, Gagliardi D, Marzocchi C, Benaim M, Cox D. Perceived impacts of P2P supported policies: Era-Learn 2020, Strengthening Joint Programming in Europe. EU Commission: H2020, 2018. EU Commission: H2020.
  • Benneworth P, Consoli D, Uyarra E, Marzocchi C, Sanchez-Barrioluengo M, Kitagawa F. Measuring the contribution of higher education to innovation capacity in the EU. DG Education (EU), 2017.
  • Georghiou L, Dale-Clough L, Marzocchi C, Cox D. Industrial Innovation in Transition: good practice guide. EU Commission: H2020: EU Commission: H2020, 2017.
  • Gagliardi D, Marzocchi C. Annual Report on European SMEs 2016/2017. University of Manchester: Manchester, 2017. SMEs Performance review.
  • Gagliardi D, Marzocchi C, Ramlogan R, Cox D. Insolvencies and SMEs: the role of second chance. DG Grow (EU), 2016. SMEs Performance Review.
  • Gagliardi D, Marzocchi C, Ramlogan R, Cox D, Muller P, Caliandro C. Annual Report of European SMEs 2014/15: SMEs start hiring again. DG Grow (EU), 2015. In Preparation.
  • Gagliardi D, Marzocchi C, Ramlogan R, Cox D, Muller P, Caliandro C, Fritsch M. Annual Report on European SMEs 2012/13: A recovery at the horizon?. 2013.

• Working Paper

  • Sorvik J, Mindtkandal I, Marzocchi C, Uyarra E. How Outward-looking is Smart Specialisation?. JRC Technical report 2016, 16.