Francesca DAL MAS

Published on 01/10/2024

Si riportano di seguito i possibili temi per tesi di laurea magistrale.

Please see the following tentative topics devoted to Master's dissertations

Developing Tools for Venture Building

The thesis aims to develop new innovative tools for Venture Building, enhancing start-up success through strategic frameworks. The thesis starts with a structured literature review of academic and practice sources (namely, using both academic journals and documents, posts, and recommendations taken from Linkedin, entrepreneurial societies and organizations, renowned public and private incubators and accelerators, consultancy firms, ….)

Tentative content:

• Definition of venture building and its significance in today’s entrepreneurial landscape;
• The importance of strategic frameworks and tools in supporting start-ups;
• The identification of the existing literature and frameworks in venture building and the effectiveness of current tools and methodologies;
• The definition of new tools or adaptations of existing tools to improve venture-building processes;
• Case studies.

Start-up creation in the Biodiversity field

Biodiversity represents all the different kinds of life in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up the natural world. Each of these species and organisms works together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. Biodiversity supports everything in nature that humans need to survive, as food, clean water, medicine, and shelter (source: WWF).

Biodiversity is one of the next frontiers in business. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to:

• Understand the concept of biodiversity from a business perspective and the opportunities for potential products and/or services related to it;
• Understand the new venture creation pertaining to biodiversity, including the potential business models and their features;
• Understand the venture-building processes that may follow.

In particular, the following phases connected to potential start-ups in the field of biodiversity should be analyzed:

• Scouting of ideas and definition of a start-up project proposal through a first business plan;
• Incubation;
• Acceleration, once a prototype is obtained and/or the first stakeholders’ feedback is reached;
• Technical translation from a lab scale to a production scale (scaling up)
• Fundraising.

Start-up creation in the dual-use field

Dual-use items are goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications (source: Europa.eu).

Dual-use is one of the next frontiers in business. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to:

• Understand the concept of dual-use and the opportunities for the development of products and/or services with a double use, including the related technologies;
• Understand the new venture creation related to dual-use products and services, including the potential business models and their features, also considering the different perspectives (civilian markets vs military organizations and their boundaries – e.g., NATO secret policies, …)
• Understand the venture-building processes that may follow.

In particular, the following phases connected to potential start-ups should be analyzed:

• Scouting of ideas and definition of a start-up project proposal through a first business plan;
• Incubation;
• Acceleration, once a prototype is obtained and/or the first stakeholders’ feedback is reached;
• Technical translation from a lab scale to a production scale (scaling up)
• Fundraising.

Future Farming

The agricultural sector has a global value of $3.6 trillion and contributes to 4% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). In some developing nations, it accounts for more than 25 percent of the GDP. It stands as a vital industry as it assures food security.

Still, agriculture is undermined by hardly predictable risks like weather conditions (drought, hail damage, flooding, frosts, unseasonal weather), crop-destroying pests, and diseases, often fostered by climate change and desertification.

New innovative farming techniques have emerged, such as vertical farming, aquaculture, insect breeding, and precision agriculture.

Ensuring a sustainable future for agriculture is of utmost importance.

New frontiers in agriculture are embedded into the concept of future farming. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to:

• Understand the opportunities for the development of products and/or services connected with the future of agriculture, including the related technologies;
• Understand the new venture creation related to agricultural products and services, including the potential business models and their features;
• Understand the venture-building processes that may follow.

In particular, the following phases connected to potential start-ups should be analyzed:

• Scouting of ideas and definition of a start-up project proposal through a first business plan;
• Incubation;
• Acceleration, once a prototype is obtained and/or the first stakeholders’ feedback is reached;
• Technical translation from a lab scale to a production scale (scaling up)
• Fundraising.

Start-up creation in the Deep Tech field

In the current technological scenario, scholars have identified two main groups of technologies: deep-tech and shallow-tech. While shallow tech emphasizes leveraging technology to innovate business models, deep tech is defined as the next frontier, as it leads to significant technological advancements to address societal, environmental, and economic challenges. The convergence of deep and shallow tech can effectively support a green shift, providing a new perspective to the so-called twin transition.

Deep-tech requires a multidisciplinary approach to innovation, involving niche yet disrupting fields like future farming, biodiversity, space economy, and quantum computing.

Deep tech is one of the next frontiers in business. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to:

• Understand and define the concept of deep-tech and the opportunities for the development of products and/or services, including technology scouting;
• Understand the new venture creation related to products and services in the deep-tech domain, including the potential business models and their features,
• Understand the venture-building processes that may follow.

In particular, the following phases connected to potential start-ups should be analyzed:

• Scouting of ideas and definition of a start-up project proposal through a first business plan;
• Incubation;
• Acceleration, once a prototype is obtained and/or the first stakeholders’ feedback is reached;
• Technical translation from a lab scale to a production scale (scaling up)
• Fundraising.