Marco Catucci | Executive Master in Technology and Innovation Management
15 February 2023Marco Catucci is a Research Business Developer at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. His is a high-profile scientific background that he chose to enrich and complete through a Master’s degree in the Tech area at BBS. A particular path we asked him to tell us about it because it represents a perfect example of two fundamental values for the School: lifelong learning and transdisciplinarity.
Your professional profile has developed around cellular and molecular biology themes with in-depth bioengineering and immunotherapy studies. What prompted you to embark on a training course such as the Master in Technology and Innovation at BBS?
During my years in the lab, I have often asked myself these questions: how can the results of scientific research be transformed into drugs and cures that can improve everyone’s lives? How can the process that leads a scientific discovery to become an innovative product be enhanced and accelerated? How can I contribute to this? These questions, together with my constant curiosity, sparked a desire to acquire knowledge and skills that could open up a new path for me in my professional career toward a different way of contributing to scientific progress, learning how to manage innovation paths, understanding the value of new technologies (in my case biotechnology) and take them outside research centers, to improve everyone’s lives.
Can you tell us about your experience during the Master’s course? What were the most challenging moments for you?
I never thought I would enjoy myself so much when I was 38 years old! Without a doubt, attending the Master’s course while still managing work commitments required commitment and sacrifice (especially when exam dates were approaching). But what stayed with me throughout the Master’s course was, above all, a deep sense of gratification. I felt I was doing something useful and important for my career and life. It was a feeling I had not thought about for a long time.
This course is aimed at professionals with different backgrounds related to multiple sectors. How did you experience this aspect of the Master’s program?
This was one of the aspects I appreciated most. This Master prepares us for a world of work that requires interdisciplinarity and the ability to navigate in complex environments. Studying and confronting myself with fellow Master’s students with a different background from mine helped me understand that to realize innovative solutions, it is necessary to combine other skills. Creating connections between seemingly distant fields is undoubtedly one of the goals of those who want to innovate and is one of the aims of this Master’s course.
What has this course meant in terms of professional growth for you? What have you brought from the Master’s course into your work?
Certainly, in my work, I have brought a wealth of knowledge and skills that have helped me to change my role and objectives. Remaining in the world of scientific research, thanks to the training I received during the Master’s course, I was able to start a new career path in the field of Technology Transfer and Business Development. It is a mistake to think that a Master’s degree is just a set of notions to learn. The Master enabled me to realize that I could still grow professionally and gave me the tools to do so. I realized that my career path was not fixed but a road I could build. One of the mottos of BBS says: ‘Multiplying Opportunities.’ The Master’s program made me aware that the world of work offered me many more opportunities than I had imagined and gave me the tools I needed to seize them.
