Architect, she was born in Milan where she graduated in 1991. In 1996 she obtained a PhD in Industrial Design with a dissertation on innovation processes published by Etas in 1999 with the title Mappe dell'innovazione. Il cambiamento tra tecnica economia e società.

From 2002 to 2010 she was Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Design at the Politecnico di Milano where she was, from 2004 to 2010, President of the Product Design Degree Course.

Her main areas of research: design as an engine of socio-technical innovation dynamics; the nature of design knowledge and the ways in which it is codified and transmitted, particularly in the educational sphere; the relationship between innovation, design and imaginaries.