Nicola's research interests focus on comparative business law and policy and the interaction between law and innovation. His current research agenda centers on non-conventional copyright subject matters and also on the legal challenges posed by Algorithmic creativity.

Previous appointments include: visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall School of Law)(2003), Rotary Ambassadorial scholar at the University of Texas at Austin (2004/05); Research Fellow of the Stanford Center for Internet & Society (2005/06); Global Engelberg Research Fellow at the NYU School of Law within the Hauser Global Law School Program (2006/07); stipendiat at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich (2010); Erasmus Visiting Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, School of Accounting & Commercial Law, Wellington, New Zealand (2017); Visiting Research Fellow at the S. Horowitz Institute for Intellectual Property”, Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, Israel (2018); Visiting adjunct Professor at the University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Italy (2019).

He is member of the Marie Curie Alumni Association, of the AIDC (The Italian Association of Comparative Law) , IASC (The International Association for the Study of the Commons), ATRIP (International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property), ESIL (European Society of International Law), EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property) and The Swedish Section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR-Sweden).