**Contents**


#### **About the Special Issue Editors**

**BeiBei Song** is the founder of Essinova, an interdisciplinary creativity and innovation academy, with 20+ years of prior corporate and entrepreneurial experience in technology, healthcare, sustainability, financial services, media and higher education, in the U.S., China and Europe. She is also an executive educator contracted with Stanford University Graduate School of Business, a gues<sup>t</sup> lecturer at The Wharton School Executive Education, and a certified NeuroLeadership coach.

Throughout her multi-faceted career, Ms. Song has arbitrated international business disputes, developed strategic partnerships with technology, financial services and life science companies, and managed clinical trial contracts for cardiovascular medical devices. Spearheading media campaigns for America's Cup, she dramatically boosted brand awareness in China for the premier international sailing race.

As host and producer, Ms. Song was widely recognized for "Essinova—Innovation for the Wellbeing of Humanity", a media platform providing thought-leadership, insights and trends on health and environmental innovation. That journey led to the discovery of art as a transcending force, and the realization of the power of human mind as complementary to technological solutions. She then launched and curated Essinova—Art+Science, an online gallery featuring the intersection of art, science, culture and technology. She is now a leading champion of interdisciplinary development and a forward-thinking creative catalyst, leveraging art thinking, neuroscience, creative leadership and Renaissance learning, to drive innovation and transform individuals and organizations.

BeiBei Song holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BEcon from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. A popular speaker on creativity and innovation, she was honored as a Mandarin Leader, an award recognizing excellence in North America's Chinese community, highlighting exceptionally creative or philanthropic leaders. She is an Argentine tango and contemporary dancer, among other artistic dabblings.

**Piero Formica** began his career as an economist at the OECD's Economic Prospects Division in Paris.

Founder of the International Entrepreneurship Academy, he was a professor of economics, with a particular focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, at the Jonk ¨ ¨oping International Business School, Jonk ¨ ¨oping University, in Sweden. From 2010, he has been a Senior Research Fellow of the Innovational Value Institute at Maynooth University in Ireland. At the business school ESAM in Paris and at the C LAB in Veneto, born out of the collaboration between the Universities of Padua and Verona (C LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory for the development of innovation projects between the universities and businesses), Piero Formica, in the role of professor and mentor, conducts experiments for the development of innovative projects by students who attend the lab.

He received The Innovation Luminary Award in June 2017 from the Open Innovation Science and Policy Group under the aegis of the European Union, for his work on modern innovation policy.

Professor Formica serves on the Editorial Boards of Industry and Higher Education; the International Journal of the Knowledge Economy; the International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development; the Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research; the South Asian Journal of Management; and Frontiers in Education. He currently writes for the digital edition of the Harvard Business Review. He has published extensively in the fields of knowledge economics, entrepreneurship and innovation. His most recent published works include 'The Experimental Nature of New Venture Creation: Capitalizing on Open Innovation 2.0', Springer, 2013; 'Stories

of Innovation for the Millennial Generation: The Lynceus Long View', Palgrave Macmillan, 2013; 'The Role of Creative Ignorance: Portraits of Path Finders and Path Creators', Palgrave Macmillan, 2015; 'Grand Transformation Towards an Entrepreneurial Economy: Exploring the Void', Emerald Group Publishing, 2015; 'Entrepreneurial Renaissance: Cities Striving Towards an Era of Renaissance and Revival', Springer, 2017; 'Exploring the Culture of Open Innovation: Towards an Altruistic Model of Economy', Emerald Publishing Group, 2018; Innovation and the Arts: The Value of Humanities Studies for Business', Emerald Publishing Group, 2020; and 'ECONAISSANCE. The Reimagined School and the Culture of Entrepreneurialism. Emerald, August 2020.
