The Bocconi Research Centers: BIDSA

In 2016, when the Bocconi Institute for Data Science and Analytics (BIDSA) was established, Bocconi University was expanding beyond its traditional focus on social sciences to embrace a broader range of disciplines, including in the STEM area. BIDSA stood out as Bocconi’s response to the rapidly growing relevance of Data Science in several areas of research and to the increased demand for data scientists in research institutions and industry. Nine years later, BIDSA has successfully met the challenge and has established itself as an internationally recognized hub for data-driven research. This is further reflected in the numerous prestigious grants secured by its member – most notably those from the European Research Council - the success of young BIDSA researchers who land offers from top universities, and the center’s commitment to fostering students’ research.

A key pillar of BIDSA’s activities is precisely the training of students. The Center promotes, together with the fellow Bocconi research center IGIER, the Visiting Students Initiative (VSI), aimed at students in master’s degree programs who are particularly interested in pursuing research careers, both in academic and non-academic institutions. Selected students receive mentorship from BIDSA and IGIER faculty and actively engage in the centers’ activities such as, e.g., reading groups and seminars. The success of the initiative is also evident in the admissions of VSI students to prestigious doctoral programs.

Antonio Lijoi, who succeeded first director Igor Prünster at the helm of the Center at the beginning of 2025, is committed to consolidating the outstanding research results achieved so far in Data Science-related areas. Hence, the multidisciplinary approach that the Center has pursued since its inception will not change, and indeed it will have to grow stronger. As he explains, “It is unthinkable to do research in data science by reasoning in terms of watertight compartments. Statistics, mathematics and computer science are deeply interconnected and mutually enriching. This has always been the case, but today it is even more so. The real game changer has been the availability of unprecedented computing power, which has transformed the landscape by opening up new exciting research opportunities in increasingly complex settings. Modern data scientists must, therefore, master multiple disciplines - including mathematics, statistics, machine learning, computer science, economics- while also understanding the specific application domains of data science methods.”