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.
SYMPLATFORM
Matching SCHOLARS
and Practitioners
SEP 1-2, 2025, onlinE
SEP 4-5, 2025 in Lecco (Lake COMO)
Organized by
REGISTRATION
Registration is now open here.
Fees (Early Bird till end of June 2025) are:
€129 for online participation.
€229 for the full conferences (with coffee breaks and lunch on September 4th and 5th). + €60 for the social dinner on September 4th (optional)
Contact: daniel.trabucchi@polimi.it
DATES
The event will take place:
Online on September 1st and 2nd 2025 between 2 and 4 pm CEST
In Lecco, at the Politecnico di Milano Campus, on Lake Como (and online) on September 5th and 6th, 2025 all day long (9.00-17.45 CEST)
Lecco is close to Milan, the biggest city in the Northern part of Italy, and innovation capital of the Country. Lecco welcomes one of the Politecnico di Milano’s campuses – the leading technical university of the Country.
Lecco campus was established in 1989 thanks to Politecnico di Milano’s interest in being near the local industries and to Lecco’s need for an advanced research and training center that would foster its competitive development.
Lecco campus combines the qualified teaching and the research valorization skills of the most important Italian technical university with the features of a rich business and entrepreneurial land of international relevance.
Lecco campus stands out for an educational offer unique inside Politecnico, tailored on the industrial context and attentive to the specific demands of the job market.
The campus stretches over 40'000 square meters dedicated to teaching, research, e students services. An avant-garde facility consisting of classrooms for innovative didactics, research labs, and comfortable areas for students that live and study within the campus.
LOCATION
Location (September 6th): Politecnico di Milano - Polo territoriale di Lecco
Via Gaetano Previati, 1/c, 23900 Lecco LC
Suggested Hotel (walking distance from the venue): NH Lecco Pontevecchio
JOINING INSTRUCTION
By plane:
From the Linate and Malpensa airports: daily bus service from the airport to the Central Station of Milan, with a bus every 25 minutes (from Linate) and every 30 minutes (from Malpensa). From Malpensa, there is also a railway connection that leads directly to Milan Central Station, from there you take the train to Lecco (see below).
From Bergamo-Orio al Serio Airport: bus nr 1 (ATB) to the railway station of Bergamo. From the station trains to Lecco running every hour (travel time: 40 min)
By train (Trenord):
From Milan: Central station and Porta Garibaldi train line Milan – Sondrio – Tirano. Travel time: 40 minutes for the express train and 1 hour for the local one
From Bergamo: train line Brescia - Bergamo - Lecco. Travel time: 40 minutes for the express train
Once you reach Lecco, the campus is roughly 11minutes (walking) from the train station.
An important note from the organizers: joining Symplatform you will have the chance to enjoy the beauty of Lake Como, with a very short travelling time from the major Milan airports or train stations. Still…you will have the chance to visit Milan while arriving or leaving the conference!
We hope you'll enjoy your stay in Italy!
Monday Sep. 1st, 2025 | Tuesday Sep. 2nd, | Wednesday Sep. 3rd, 2025 | Thursday Sep. 4th, 2025 | Friday Sep. 5th, 2025 | |
Digital Matching Scholars & | Digital Matching Scholars & | Travel Day | Live in Lecco + Pure Academic Day | Live in Lecco + Matching Scholars & | |
Morning | Opening + | ||||
Papers (Both for Scholars | |||||
Lunch Time | Symplatform as a Ideas Incubator & | Symplatform as a Networking Matching Scholars | |||
Afternoon | Keynote | Keynote | Pure Academic (Only The | Corporate Project Powered by | |
Papers | Papers | Publishing in the (Only The | Special Sessions | ||
Dinner | Networking Matching Scholars |
Special Sessions |
Paper Presentations |
Keynotes/Plenary |
AGENDA
(2025 edition. Details will be released in late May)
Platforms as a Catalyst for Innovation
Present at the conference and get early feedback to submit
to the call for papers (Final Paper Submission to journal by
December 1st 2025) on:
Research-Technology Management
More info on the Special Issue here.
Guest Editors:
SPECIAL ISSUE
Daniel
Trabucchi
Tommaso
Buganza
Andreas
Hein
Pia
Hautamäki
Politecnico
di Milano
Politecnico
di Milano
University of
St. Gallen
LUT
University
Go Back
Board & Scientific Committee
Board & Founders
Scientific Committee
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.
Mission & History
Sharing knowledge and collaboration between scholars in the field from various perspectives (management, innovation, marketing, IT, human resources, and all other fields impacted by digital platforms) presenting and discussing papers.
Discuss with and involve managers and entrepreneurs in the conversation, bringing forth their perspectives to guide future research and have a real-world impact.
Bridging the gap between these two sides creates a knowledge sharing platform where traditional papers, presentations, and keynotes speeches are enriched by collaborative workshops that bring scholars and managers together.
Go Back
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.
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 5 kicked off on September 3rd online with digital sessions on September 3rd, 4th and 5th with 7 papers
presented and two keynotes, by Seth Berman and Ted Ladd.
On September 6th we managed the closing phygital day in Lecco with 10 papers presented, a keynote speech by Annabelle
Gawer, the presentation of 3 corporate projects on platform thinking and 4 special sessions (welcoming Peter Evans, Marina
Planas, Anna Noakes Schulze, Miljia van’t Noordende, Bob Gravestijn, Andrea Urbinari, Simone Franzò, Valeria Portale,
Giacomo Vella, Davide Ghezzi, Fleur Boos, Davide Sala & Shurat Ashurov) on Blockchain, Circular Economy, Building
Platforms & The Trends in Platforms and Ecosystems.
We had 100 people, coming from 22 countries, 56 practitioners and 44 scholars.
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.
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 December 3rd, 2024 Daniel Trabucchi, Tommaso Buganza, and
Marina Planas hosted “Platforms Galaxy” the second International
Event to close the second 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 Elizabeth J. Altman and Gabriele Rosani,
presenting their work.
The full recording is available here.
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
© @bylulikibudi
Platform Thinking
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.
Digital Business Models