Hello! I'm Ciro, an incoming Assistant Professor of Data Entrepreneurship at Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS), Tilburg University. I am part of the Data Entrepreneurship Unit, led by Alexander Vossen. I am also a member of the Editorial Review Board of Industry and Innovation, from which I received the Best Reviewer Award 2024 in recognition of my service.

My research

My research is at the crossroad of entrepreneurship and data science. I use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to explore how entrepreneurs succeed, particularly in securing new venture financing and forming strategic alliances. Prior to joining JADS, I conducted my PhD research at the University of Amsterdam, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. I held visiting scholar positions at Charles River Laboratories (2021) and the House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics (2022). In 2023, I was awarded a research grant by the European Academy of Management to investigate how exaggeration, detected through NLP, influences venture financing. Between 2023 and 2024, I also collaborated with the Informatics Institute of the University of Amsterdam. My work has been presented at leading management conferences and doctoral consortia, including Academy of Management (AOM) and European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), and published in Small Business Economics.

My teaching

Over the years, I have been actively involved in several courses within the Business Administration track at the University of Amsterdam. These include "Innovation Management", "Entrepreneurship in Science and Technology", "Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship", and "Digital Business Models". For more details on these courses, you can visit here.

My supervision

I’ve mentored 35 master's and bachelor's students on a wide range of topics that extend beyond my own focus, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Many of these students have engaged in thesis projects in collaboration with both the university and corporate partners, often leading to employment opportunities within the companies involved. Several of my students have also earned significant recognition, including a master's student who was named a top three finalist for the ASF Thesis Prize (€1500) in 2024. Furthermore, two of my master's students were finalists for the George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award (€1000) in both 2022 and 2023, sponsored by KPMG and the University of Amsterdam. For more details on the theses, you can visit here.

My background

I earned both my master's degree in Economics, Finance and International Integration and my bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management. My master's thesis, entitled "Empirical Testing of One-Factor Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory: Evidence from the Italian Stock Market", was supervised by Enrico Cotta Ramusino. During my studies, I worked as a private tutor in Mathematics and Physics, an academic tutor, a student guidance counsellor, and an assistant in the university's secretarial office. I also gained professional experience through an internship in public administration.