It is now quite well accepted that innovation can be modelled as an evolutionary process in a complex space involving patents, countries, innovators, assignees, companies and products. Forecasting innovation trajectories and emerging value chains would be of paramount importance to mitigate and manage the innovation risks and their impact.

Building on these facts, a scientifically-sounded exploitation strategy for technological breakthroughs could be based on the analysis of the patent network and of market data, applying machine learning and data mining algorithms to allow an anticipatory approach to innovation.

The purpose of our conference is therefore to investigate these issues, eventually discussing them in relation to the innovation practices of both public and private sectors (public and large firms, start-ups, financial entities, etc.), which shape the various innovation ecosystems.