Ana García Granero

Grenoble École de Management
INGENIO felt like and still feels like home to me. I landed at the institute as a naïve student, trained as an economist, with a master’s degree in strategy and business administration and with a relatively short experience in the private sector. Naivety is common when one starts a PhD since the reality never matches the initial expectations, and progressing through the thesis towards understanding what science is about (eureka!) is hard. INGENIO´s research staff were really helpful in guiding me through this journey. I managed to shout out loud “eureka!” after completing a thesis based on the analysis of organizations, corporate innovation and the role of openness and external agents in this process. INGENIO provided me with multiple opportunities to build a research portfolio in line with contemporary academic market needs. For example, I had the chance to participate in a public research project, which sought to answer questions related to the role of openness, R&D, strategy and management practices and innovation in Spanish manufacturing companies. INGENIO also encourages junior researchers to travel abroad in order to learn from different work environments and broaden professional networks. This freedom to pursue research visits allowed me to visit Rotterdam School of Management and Copenhagen Business School, where I engaged in fruitful collaborations with world’s leading scholars, which significantly helped me in becoming competitive in the international arena. Not by chance I had the opportunity of a post-doctoral position at Grenoble Business School, where I am currently developing my scholarly interests on open innovation, university-industry collaborations, management practices and composition of Top Management Teams.