Symplatform is the place where academic knowledge meets the practice world to foster a critical discussion on what platforms are, how they work and what they can become for people, organizations and our society.

Symplatform is a yearly conference taking place in a phygital format.

Calls for Abstracts and

for Special Sessions are now open here

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Red Folded Ribbon Illustration

SYMPLATFORM

Daniel Trabucchi

Tommaso Buganza

Matching SCHOLARS and Practitioners

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SEP 3-5, 2024, onlinE

SEP 6, 2024 in Lecco (Lake COMO)

Laurent Muzellec

Sébastien Ronteau

Calls for Abstracts and

for Special Sessions are now open here

Call for Abstracts

Open here - Deadline: April 30th, 2024

Symplatform welcomes academic research that deals with platforms from various perspectives and disciplines.

Possible topics are related (but not limited) to:

  • Platform-based business models and strategies
  • Platform-related technologies (Web 3, Metaverse, AI)
  • Platforms’ implications (gig economy, labour market)
  • Platforms and data (privacy concerns, ...)
  • Platform and sustainability (circular economy, ...)
  • Platform in B2B settings

Accepted papers will be communicated by May 15th, 2024.


Symplatform is a hybrid conference Presentations can take place:

  • Or virtually (September 3rd to 5th, 2024)
  • Or in presence (September 6th, 2024)



Call for SPECIAL SESSIONS

Open Here - Deadline: April 30th, 2024

Symplatform welcomes professionals, managers, startuppers and consultants who explore platform thinking in any way.

In partnership with Platform Thinking HUB, the Observatory part of Osservatori Digital Innovation of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, the 2024 edition will promote Special Sessions aiming to facilitate the communication between scholars and practitioners in the field of platforms.


Special sessions may be related (but not limited) to:

  • Round tables
  • Collaborative workshops
  • Templates and Tools presentations
  • Hackathons

Accepted Special sessions will be communicated by May 15th, 2024.

Special sessions will take place in presence on September 6th, 2024.



practical info

The event will take place:

  • Online on September 3rd, 4th and 5th between 1 and 4 pm CEST
    • These sessions will focus on papers’ presentations
  • In Lecco, at the Politecnico di Milano Campus, on Lake Como on September 6th, 2024 all day long.
    • This day will focus on keynotes, special sessions and papers’ presentations.

The agenda will be available at the end of May.

Registrations will open at the same time.


Fees are:

  • 89 for online participation on September 3rd, 4th and 5th.
  • 189 for the full conferences (with coffee breaks and lunch).


Contact: daniel.trabucchi@polimi.it

Calls for Abstracts and

for Special Sessions are now open here

Board & Founders

Board & Scientific Committee

Daniel Trabucchi

Senior Assistant Professor

Politecnico di Milano

daniel.trabucchi@polimi.it

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Tommaso Buganza

Full Professor

Politecnico di Milano

tommaso.buganza@polimi.it


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Laurent Muzellec

Full Professor

Trinity College Dublin

laurent.muzellec@tcd.ie


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Sébastien Ronteau

Full Professor

Audencia

sronteau@audencia.com

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Scientific Committee

Andreas Hein

Assistant Professor

Technical University of Munich

andreas.hein@tum.de

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Hakan Ozalp

Assistant Professor

University of Amsterdam

h.ozalp@uva.nl

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Marin Jovanovic

Associate Professor

Copenhagen Business School

mjo.om@cbs.dk

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Andrea Patrucco

Assistant Professor

Florida International University

apatrucc@fiu.edu

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Ted Ladd

Professor

Hult International Business School

ted@tedladd.com


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Elizabeth Altman

Associate Professor

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Elizabeth_Altman@uml.edu

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Annachiara Longoni

Associate Professor

ESADE Business & Law School

annachiara.longoni@esade.edu

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Go Back

Mission & History

Symplatform was born in the Summer 2019, during the R&D Management Conference in Paris by an idea of Daniel Trabucchi, Tommaso Buganza, Laurent Muzellec and Sèbastien Ronteau willing to create a safe space to talk about platforms, taking both an academic and practical perspective.

The goal was to have "a platform for platforms" based in Europe with a worldwide reach.

The project was created as a joint project developed by Trinity College Dublin, Politecnico di Milano School of Management, and Audencia Business School.

We planned a first edition in Dublin in April 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the plan...and Symplatform became a space for experimentation for digital, physical and phygital formats...that will continue.

Previous Editions

Symplatform was scheduled on April 16th and 17th 2020 @ the Trinity College Dublin. The COVID-19 pandemic changed our plants.

Our debut took place between June 29th and July 3rd 2020in a fully digital format, with the first Symplatform Week.

We had 2 great guest speakers (Roberto Verganti and Wim Vanhaverbeke), the chance to listen to 9 papers and 2 start-ups presenting their challenges. We had more than 150 registered participants and an uncountable number of feedback and reflections on the world of platforms.


Symplatform 2 took place between May 17th and May 20th 2021 in a fully digital format.

We had 2 special guests (Christopher Tucci and Pinar Ozcan), 4 speeches, the chance to listen to 19 papers and 2 start-ups presenting their challenges. We had more than 230 registered participants, more than 100 participants in the single session and an uncountable number of feedback and reflections on the world of platforms.


Go Back

Symplatform 3 took place between April 1st and 6th in a hybrid format. We had our first physical session live from Milan with the Platform Arena and the Platform Acceleration Lab.

We had 4 special guests (Carmelo Cennamo, Marina Planas, Philip Meier and Mareiki Möhlmann), 5 speeches, the chance to listen to 19 papers and 6 start-ups presenting their challenges. We had more than 300 registered participants, more than 100 participants in the single session and an uncountable number of feedback and reflections on the world of platforms.


Symplatform 4 kicked off on September 5th in Nantes (France) in a phygital format.

The session saw a collaborative workshop, a round table and various paper presentations, with the participation of TheNTWK (Marina Planas and Marta Agrech). It ended with a great networking dinner!

The following days continued with online sessions.

Overall, we had 24 papers presented

Thanks to Sebastien Ronteau for the local organization!


On November 20th, 2023 Daniel Trabucchi, Tommaso Buganza, and Marina Planas hosted “Platforms Renaissance” the first International Event to close the first edition of PlatformThinkingHUB, part of the Osservatori Digital Innovation of Politecnico di Milano where we aim to build a community of Innovation Leaders, fostering innovation through #PlatformThinking.


This was a partnership between Symplatform, Platform Thinking HUB and TheNTWK.


After the presentation of the results of the research done by the Observatory, we welcome guests like Annabelle Gawer, Marshall Van Alstyne, Geoff Parker and Peter Evans.


The full recording is available here.



© @bylulikibudi

Platform Thinking

What does Platform Thinking mean?

It is the ability to put platform-based mechanisms at the core of digital business transformations in any business.



Daniel Trabucchi and Tommaso Buganza, Professors at Politecnico di Milano, developed an ecosystem of initiatives that puts Platform Thinking at the center (among the others: a Book, 4 MOOCs, 2 Templates and many others).


Find out more at PlatformThinking.eu

Digital Business Models

A business model basically describes the way a company makes money. Yet, often we use digital services for free (e.g. Facebook, Google or WhatsApp) or for what seems to be a relatively minor price (e.g. Blablacar, Airbnb, and Amazon). Digital business models are different to traditional business models.

Digital Business Models explains the key challenges and characteristics of the various business models that are used by digital businesses. These companies can be a source of inspiration for traditional bricks-and-mortar companies that aim to go digital and/or revamp their traditional business model. Most businesses rely on some form of digital technology for their marketing communication, customer relationship management, supply chain or distribution, yet digital transformation entails a complete reassessment of the way value is created and captured. Digital Business Models details the successful customer acquisition tactics and the development of business ecosystems by digital players.


Free ebook avaiable here.

Contacts

Daniel Trabucchi

daniel.trabucchi@polimi.it