Matteo Cantamesse

Matteo Cantamesse (PhD) founded Spice Research in Milan. He teaches consumer psychology, digital media psychology, and UX research at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

He started in 2002 studying trust in e-commerce, then spent years digging into the social dimensions of “new” media: VR, AR, MMORPG, mobile. After his PhD, he moved from academia to industry to apply methodological rigor to consumer insights.

The evolution went from copytests to creative digital communities to crowd-sourced ethnography. 25 years focused on what people actually do, not what they claim in surveys. The goal has always been the Aha Erlebnis moment: that’s what drives the work.

He is currently testing where AI genuinely adds value in qualitative research and where it’s oversold. His clients include local and global brands looking for a deep understanding rather than aspirational narratives.

Starving for data, insights, and new ideas.