Luca Molà teaches history at the University of Warwick. His research interests focus on the history of industrial production and trade during the Middle Ages and the early modern period, on the migration of skilled technicians, and on the political economies of European states in favour of innovation. He is completing a study on patents and intellectual property rights for inventions in Italy during the Renaissance and working on a book on the history of the Italian silk industry from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.