Love, Resilience, Passion: Fostering Research | Dr. Emanuele Laurenzi | NinjaTalks Episode 12
welcome back to the ninja talks podcast
a show for curious minds highlighting
learning and tips that helped experts
evolve better do you know what it
actually takes to pursue research as a
profession well that’s exactly what we
are going to talk about in episode 12
love resilience passion fostering
research this is snay and this is Ria
our today’s ninja guest is Dr Emmanuel
Lorenzi senior researcher lecturer and
Innovation coach at University of
applied sciences and arts Northwestern
Switzerland co-founder of startup
focused incubator impact lab and a
leading research
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[Applause]
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figure thank you thank you very
much and for having me thank you we’re
glad to have you on our show so as you
from from a research background you are
a leading research figure what is it
that you do as an innovation coach or
how do you implement strong leadership
and collaboration skills in the team
through coaching
techniques yeah thank you very much very
interesting question it all started when
I was studying at the Master Level where
I got introduced to ontologist this
amazing word of how to represent
knowledge in a way that is is not only
interpretable by humans but also by
machine and this is indeed the subfield
of AI that is symbolic reasoning the
counterpart I would say of machine
learning right so where you have the
data driven approaches on the one hand
we have this knowledge engineering and
knowledge experts and the other hand we
have the data driven approaches and now
an exciting journey into AI is how can
you create intelligent systems so that
you combine the strength of the both the
data driven approaches and the expert
system so this is just to give you a
little bit an idea how I started so
starting from these expert systems and
then I got fascinated about that I
pursued a PhD that focused on the
seamless integration between Enterprise
models that is providing some human
interpretability and these ontologies
that are providing machine interpr
ability the interesting part was like
how do you ensure that what the human
perceive understands can also be
understood by the machine and for this I
came up with a yeah with an approach
that has been then validated in into one
prototype and now this prototype is
continuously being developed at the
University where I supervise massive
thesis and we try to to push it recently
actually there was a colleague who built
an interesting research on top of this
which went towards creation of business
model canvas using this prototype so
that you can have all the possible
business model canvas not only
interpretable for Innovation coaches or
entrepreneurs but also they could be
interpreted by the machine and in this
case now imagine that you have all these
thousands of business model canas that
you can simply reuse you can find
patterns for Innovation and so on so
there is a huge potentiality there and
and indeed you won the best paper award
in this conference called poem so it’s a
really focusing on the practice of
Enterprise modeling and combining it
also with with AI so this is the
research part and now obviously I yeah
in general I’m always Keen for getting
to know new things new approaches and
like talking to people being inspired
I’m a fan of TED talks for example or
even podcast and I just want the more
input I get the better and this is you
know it’s driven by Passion I would say
and therefore this comes Now The
Innovation flavor uh that is injected
into this research profile and this
combination has led me to propose this
impact lab we call it so it’s an
incubator that helps out students at FW
to the university where I work to to
found startups but we take them into the
journey no matter which stage they are
maybe they are in the in the very first
idea or maybe they have created already
a business model canas that is solid and
uh bulletproof but still there is always
room for improvements and therefore we
just our aim is to take them to the next
level which can be maybe a better
business model C or peit ready to to
raise money in front of investors and so
on great so definitely outstanding
insights to know and very happy to know
like know how other things are getting
involved in the research and how it’s
growing its focus area and wonderful
what was the turning point when you
realize you need to lead something like
impact lab you want to push your
community forward with these initiatives
what was the realization when you
thought like okay let’s take this up for
the students or you know for the
Learners
mhm yeah well obviously education plays
a fundamental role because whatever I do
is also conveying towards giving
providing best education the best
learning conditions that I could ever
provided by default what I have is I
love to transfer knowledge in a easy
effective efficient way I would say this
is what I always liked and now I had the
opportunity to practice it at school by
being a lecturer right now if obviously
if you know about you know interesting
stuff like AI how to explain it to
business people and then how to Intrigue
the people so on the one hand being
persuasive and on the other hand really
providing some content that is
Meaningful so this is the is the driver
which is then rewarded by the interest
of students because yeah I wouldn’t
really like I assume not Professor
lecturer would like to teach something
and uh just for the purpose of conveying
something but then when you receive this
you know feedback or maybe constructive
discussions that this is where the magic
happens and and you just like it’s fuel
for us for for those who are doing this
job and that’s wonderful you know how it
shapes an entire community and a thought
gets turned into reality so beautiful so
for me for me I would say if I may add I
really believe in the power of having
this Loop between industry and education
so in the industry where you get to know
the problematics that are out there and
also being aware of new technologies how
to use them because yeah nowadays they
are it is not any longer only used for
reducing cost right it’s an enabler
enabler of new business models now if
you have all these new business models
like multi-sided business model for
example where Facebook or Google where
you have the users which are not charged
by money but you have also customers
such as companies that put their ads
there and they are charge based on the
on the clicks on these ads so these
these are new business models obviously
that the the advances in Technologies
allowed and now if you are aware of what
is going on and you’re Keen to absorb
these Innovation you can provide great
values to students and then also the
Great Value that you get back from the
students perhaps you know like the
interest or also the critical thinking
that I also try to convey to them like
okay try all the time to be you know
critical at something and not just byy
default okay this is the only way to go
for because someone said that no just
think on your own right and then yeah
talk to people challenge them and being
challenged there is nothing better than
that to grow absolutely I agree with
that and what actually goes being in a
research field as you started your
journey from Academia like being a
research intern then doing a bunch of
other things then educating people doing
for community and people leading
research doing a double master’s degree
doctorate degree so what are the things
that you witnessed during a journey in
the research domain and what are some of
the things that people who want to jump
into that domain should
realize thank you for the questions
there many many interesting questions
I’m glad to receive them what would I
suggest I would suggest so if someone is
Curious by theault then definitely is
already a sign that he or she can be
Keen to jump into research and U
research can also be tough especially in
the beginning because if you are someone
who is always used to see things on a
fast pace like delivering things on a
fast pace so like uh having an idea
applying it and then seeing receiving
the feedback and then continuing this
look then it could be a little bit
frustrating especially at the beginning
in research why because there is so many
things to learn there are different
layers right you you might you start to
get to know something and then maybe
passionate about that but then when you
really Embrace this vertical uh Journey
then this is
where also the the journey with yourself
start so the challenge is also how to
cope with your with your emotions or
with with the fact that sometimes uh
maybe hypothy hypothesis that you that
you’re having that they might be wrong
or maybe test that you have believed
that would have provided positive
results they they actually do not
deliver positive results so you just
keep going and try to you know have the
Hope believe in yourself always because
the light is always at the end of the
tunnel and then you just have to run
like a horse doing a race not being
distracted yeah focus on your goal and
you have to run as fast as possible to
reach this goal and meanwhile enjoying
the ride enjoying the ride what does it
mean means take the time to talk to the
people to be inspired to to to get
inputs from even different people not
only those who are working on your field
it’s very enriching to have
diversification interdisciplinary talks
so not only participating in conferences
that are address in your field but
perhaps also why not participating in
tedex events and so on so that you can
discuss even your idea with someone that
has a totally different background and
enriches you that’s wonderful inside
Emanuel you focus on your goal meanwhile
balancing everything enjoy their life
ride and by talking to diverse kind of
people as diversification is also
important so being a part of different
country and various cultures you have
witnessed diversity so would you like to
give few tips to the young folks who
plan to study and research abroad and
what are some groundbreaking truths and
not so known facts from the research
industry yeah so thank youa for this
question actually let me tell you that
although my CV looks that I many many
International I would say experiences
this only came after I turned 24 so
before I was only always in Italy and
indeed until the age of 20 24 I was not
even able to speak English I would say
and then I just gave it a try I say okay
now I really want to push myself I want
to pursue this master in Switzerland
that was back then in English and then I
would start to learn English and at the
same time learn the subjects and I would
really close myself in the college like
yeah studying and then going to to class
and then back to study I remember back
then you know in this college
environment yeah there were most of the
other people who English level was way
better than mine right way way better I
was the worst I don’t feel ashamed to
say that also in that case I pictured I
visioned the end of the tunnel this
light and then I say I want to get there
and I have to there is no way that I get
distracted there is no way that now this
would have been something distracting
from achieving my goal I said okay I can
do that but once I’m done once I’m out
of this tunel then I can I can enjoy and
then this is what I did in then and then
it was much much more rewarding and and
uh yeah much much better like joy that
you have in celebrating because you are
having like the little party you know
what you are celebrating for probably
there are many more aspiring figures out
there but in my case I’m the clear
example that everyone even if born from
a little town from nowhere and I’m the
case right so I’m From Italy and my
little town is called amandola which is
on the opposite side of Rome nobody
knows where it is very small you know
how many citizens we have not even 4,000
so very small everyone knows about
everyone and when I go back for
Christmas holiday or Easter for example
you you just greet everyone because you
know everyone you go to the square you
don’t need to make appointments with
your friends you know you just go to the
square you find someone and you talk
with with with those someone in a big
city this is Unthinkable right now I
live in zri and if I do not make an
appointment with a friend then there is
no way that by coincidence I meet
someone that I know in the in the street
right so this is the reality I was
coming from and then there was like
almost no internationalization so only
people from that place place and
speaking only Italian or dialect of
Italians but then there was this sort of
cold this inner voice of just stepping
out and and you know getting out of this
comfort zone and experiencing and doing
as many experiences as possible and just
being opportunity driven you get
challenged you challenge in the other
you are open for New Opportunities and
then and then you just go step by step
you do one step and then you reassess
the situation okay what do I do next you
do another step and then and this is
what happened if you see a little bit
the the career that I had like okay the
university there in in my region and
then I wanted to have an international
flavor so it’s okay let me go outside
like I go for this I aim for this dual
degree program that allows me to go to
Switzerland I came to Switzerland zero
knowledge in English and then I worked
start to finish the the degree and then
guess what I got the best Mark for the
master thesis which was back to my peers
or fellow was like Unthinkable when they
had thought like how I would speak
English two days before and then so that
was a big achievement and then from
there again next step reassessing now
what’s next what’s next for me I decided
to do a little bit of industry
experience back in Italy but then I said
now it’s time perhaps to go back to
Switzerland because I actually like the
the Synergy between University and
Industry here especially in this
University of applied science that are
existing only in Switzerland Austria and
Germany they are different than their
University that we are all used to and
then plus there are University of
applied science that are more practice
oriented so then I came back again next
step was in
San only as a research dealing with inos
swis projects there alsoo research
project all in Switzerland and then I
reassess again about what I said okay
now I would like to get broer experience
with the research so let me aim for
European research projects and then from
there I had the opportunity to jump into
the fnw where I am now where I could
work on F on European projects I could
also lead a small team where we could
work on our things we are good at part
of AI that aims to provide machine
interpretation to Enterprise models and
then from there again a reassessment
which was in terms of lecturing so now
let me try to practice this passion is
transferring knowledge and uh and then
dealing with people and therefore new
challenges and now the really last step
was this the foundation the funding of
the startup the impact lab that is being
funded wonderful so as you said
initially that initially you used to
don’t know about English and you took
your weakness to transform into strength
so what is the one motivation that work
for yourself no if I have something is
lacking I had to work for it and you
took it in a very positive way while
walking that path so what do you want to
share to the young folks regarding that
to keep self motivating and to to focus
on what is the weakness if you can work
on it you can actually achieve
Excellence
resilience resilience is one key word
and always believe in yourself and be
surrounded by positive people so try to
avoid those who are dragging you down
and and then telling you no you cannot
do it okay maybe one or two are needed
because they boost your motivation they
give you some few sometimes you need
these kind of people to say okay you
know I’ll prove that you are completely
wrong so it’s good to have sometimes but
in general to really you know to have
like a nice constructive lifestyle I
would say or like to keep up the pace I
would say to make good things in life is
good to be surrounded by positive and
and similar people like you who are who
having a a dream sharing a dream and try
to do things it’s like the same for for
your podcast right I’m sure that at some
point you say okay let’s give it a try
we all believe in this you have an
objective that what I understood is to
inspire young people right and I found
this cause brilliant and that’s why I
did not hesitate even one second to
accept your invitation because I think
this is the Great
initiative and please just you know
continue and I wish you to be as
successful as possible thanks a lot they
are delightful words for us so you have
been in various research practices how
do you see the research as a profession
evolving what do you see the future of
it the vision behind it yeah thank you
SN also a very very interesting question
so how do I see it I see that there is a
continuous need to push and to invest on
Research clear sign that is sent by the
most developed countries so now I have
the fortune to to live and work in
Switzerland which is which has high
standard and one of the most developed
country and they really focus and
believe in research this is one of the
key driver for keeping your nation
Innovative and to allow the citizens to
continuously benefit out of this new
approach is the new technologies I don’t
see it’s an end process at the end I
don’t see that so research is just
ongoing it’s a continuous process it’s
evolving so it’s the great thing is that
you just build on top of what is
existing just like building an house you
build all the fundamentals they there
and then Brick by Brick build on top of
it and then think about an endless house
that is built right so this is the way I
see Arch at some point there is no point
where it will stop and it’s a continuous
Evolution and every research is worth it
to to be carried
out wow this is wonderful Insight so you
did a double master’s degree and you
were a student for a long period of time
so the those are the two sides of a coin
I would say so how does your experience
as a student frame to current job role
that you are leading and how did you
manage both the studies
parallell yeah so the tip is the
following do what you love and love what
you do oh wonderful in a nutshell I’m
lecturer and to be honest yeah this this
is going to be perhaps the next level
Next Step I’m still assessing it because
I’m still open for professorship on the
other hand but also why not industry
maybe getting shifting more towards
industry and then coming back this is
still to be decided but yeah just a
little remark but in in general yeah how
do you cope with different things so
your passion for example what I also do
at F&W is I organize and coordinate a
networking event which is called be and
beer so be stands for business
Information Systems what do we do there
we connect people and we let them
inspired by professionals that are
coming from industry so now obviously we
are passionate about Information Systems
in general and I work also for the
master in business information system so
all the topics revolve around this then
what I do I call some experts from the
industry maybe talking about AI maybe
blockchain iot and so on so half an hour
of talk question and answer session to
stimulate students and to create
interesting sparkly atmosphere and then
later on the networking is actually
taking place that everyone can can drink
something and
exchange uh TOS unfortunately after the
covid-19 outbreak this was not possible
anymore but yes as soon as this is over
we will be more than ready to resume it
and this applies also in the impact Club
you know it’s not only about helping to
found companies but it’s also inspiring
so providing like some knowledge that
are around Innovation and for this we
are going to create events even online
events the last one was where I invited
two speakers I created an event the
first one actually where I announced
together with my co-founder the impa
club and there yeah there was a
co-managing director of venture Ki which
is a swis suppored organization that is
also so aiming to support startups with
funding mainly so they did talk about
options for funding and then another
speaker was the CEO of Selma Finance
which is a startup created from an FW
alumni and uh what they do they offer
digital assistant about financial
aspects so now if you are if you don’t
know how to manage your money or where
to invest virtual digital system that is
supporting you in doing that so you see
like this also goes in the direction of
creating events that allows a community
to be formed and then to be inspired
very insightful I must say really
amazing to listen to you one interesting
thing that comes to my mind out of
curiosity is since you are heavily
involved in so many activities you also
organize events network with people and
try to bring in knowledge interaction
and so how do you see the dots
connecting between the Academia and
Industry yeah very good questions now so
I there has to be more and more dots
being connected because it’s very highly
valuable so if you go to the S Bal
indeed it’s like all about connecting
universities research centers with
Hightech companies corporates but also
startups with this winning
forming this winning ecosystem right so
we have a perfect example there and then
let’s replicate it right because this is
like really something that anyway I see
also here in general in in in Europe to
be uh one of the key success factor of
how you can bring a society to the next
level so creating this this loop as I to
which I really believe as I said the
beginning between research where you are
discovering new advances not only in
technology but also approaches combining
maybe things that you you someone else
has discovered but transferring it into
a new uh domain right on the other hand
the industry where you where they have
the they apply the things they have
their own customers they have their
problems to be solved and then so see
there is a perfect matchmaking here
between the industry and the and the
research that if it’s perfectly fitting
then I’m it provides generates an
extremely high
value yes absolutely agree with you it’s
all about the blending two sectors and
coming out something fruitful and which
is beneficial for our society in terms
of development so yeah glad to have you
I hope this valuable insights will help
the Young folks who will listen to this
and yeah thank you so much and what is
the one message that you want to say so
the message is love what you do and do
what you love thank you it was pleasure
to have you thank you very much for
having me and a lot of success to you
and that’s a wrap of another insightful
episode 12 on the ninja talks podcast
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then signing off
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The conversation that gives you a refreshing perspective and energy to overcome all the odds in your life with resilience. That’s exactly how you’ll feel on tuning in to our latest episode with Dr. Emanuele Laurenzi, Co-founder at ImpactLab & Senior Researcher at University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland FHNW.
Bringing you, episode 12: Love, Resilience, Passion – Fostering Research on NinjaTalks podcast!
Available on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, and more. Tune in now!
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