Professor Formica is a Thought Leader and a Senior Research Fellow of the Innovation Value Institute (www.ivi.ie) at Maynooth University (Ireland) and a Professor of Knowledge Economics at the MOIM—Open Innovation Management, University of Padua (Italy).

Professor won the Innovation Luminary Award 2017, granted by the Open Innovation Science and Policy Group under the aegis of the European Union "for his work on modern innovation policy". In 2024, he received the Magister Peloritanus Award, issued by the Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, founded by the University of Messina in 1729, for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Professor Formica has published extensively on knowledge economics, entrepreneurship and innovation. His works include:

• The Experimental Nature of New Venture Creation: Capitalising 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;
• Il Bazar delle Follie: Pensieri sull'Italia nell'età della conoscenza, DuePuntoZero di Ad Maiora Editoria, 2018;
• Parole e Voci dell'Innovazione: Per una Cultura del Cambiamento, il Mulino, 2019;
• Innovation and the Arts: The Value of Humanities Studies for Business, Emerald Publishing Group, 2020;
• Econaissance: The Reimagined School and the Culture of Entrepreneurialism, Emerald Publishing Group, 2020;
• Nature's Voice: Health and Humanities, bioGraph, Chicago, 2020;
• La Voce della Natura: Cultura della salute e cultura umanistica, bioGraph, Chicago, 2021;
• IDEATORS: Their Words and Voices, Emerald Publishing Group, 2022;
• ONE HEALTH: Transformative Enterprises, Wellbeing and Education in the Knowledge Economy, Emerald Publishing Group (March 2023);
• SCIENCEPRENEURSHIP: Science, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Economic Growth, Emerald Publishing Group (March 2023);
• Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence: Exhibition at the Mind Gallery, Edizioni Pendragon (2024).