Guendalina Anzolin is Research Associate at the Center for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM). Her interests lie in technology adoption and diffusion mechanisms, studying them through the lenses of global value chains and ecosystems. The Center is an applied policy research unit exploring what makes national innovation systems effective at translating new science and engineering ideas into novel technologies and emerging industries. 

Guendalina focuses her research on industrial economics and technological change, the determinants as well as the barriers. Specifically, she contributed to two main strands of this research field: the analysis of technological change at the country, sectoral and firm level with a focus on the determinants and the effects of automation and new technology adoption on existing production systems; the analysis of countries’ structural change and the role of industrial policy to direct that change. Finally, she investigated the role of industrial policy in emerging economies, and more recently, also in major advanced economies.

Before joining the IfM, Guendalina was Research Associate at King’s College London and since 2021 she was a postgraduate teaching assistant at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL). She completed her PhD in Industrial Economics at the University of Urbino (Italy) in March 2021. Before the PhD, she obtained an MSc in Global Economic Governance and Policy at SOAS University of London. During her PhD, she spent research periods at SOAS (UK) and at the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development in Johannesburg (South Africa).

Guendalina had several experiences in policy-related consultancy work, including: digitalization patterns in emerging economies and policy making training for UNIDO, supplier-related policies within mining global value chains for the Interamerican Development Bank, sector specific impact of automation technologies in automotive and garment sector for the European Commission. Between 2020 and 2021 she was Economic Expert in the Prime Minister Office in Italy.

Selected publications

What is driving robotisation in the automotive value chain? Empirical evidence on the role of FDIs and domestic capabilities in technology adoption (2022), Technovation, Co-authored with Antonio Andreoni and Antonello Zanfei.

Automation and its employment effects: A literature review of automotive and garment sectors (2021)- JRC Working Papers Series on Labour, Education and Technology N. 2021/16

Three Dimensions in Green Industrial Policy in the context of climate change and sustainable development (2021), European Journal for Development Research. Co-authored with Amir Lebdioui

Local Content Policies in the Mining Sector: The Need for Consistent Policy Packages (2021), The Extractive Industries and Societies. Co-authored with Dr. Carlo Pietrobelli.

Robot adoption and FDIs driven transformation in the automotive industry (2020), International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management. Co-authored with Antonio Andreoni and Antonello Zanfei.

A revolution in the making? Challenges and opportunities of digital production technologies for developing countries (2019), UNIDO Working Paper Series (from IDR 2019). Co-authored with Antonio Andreoni