The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has awarded 28 MSEK to a new research program focused on digital innovation, combining scientific excellence with societal impact. The program will be conducted at the Swedish Center for Digital Innovation (SCDI), with nodes at the Stockholm School of Economics House of Innovation, Umeå University and the University of Gothenburg. SCDI partners with RISE Digital Innovation for the project.

When organizations grow too fast, they expose themselves to several risks. In the past, research has shown that people who try to move forward without careful evaluation is often associated with unethical decision-making, while taking time to evaluate consequences is associated with ethical decisions. Does this same rule apply also to organizations?

Digitalization is changing many service industries. Nowhere is this more apparent than in standard business-to-consumer services. But also, business-to-business services are also being increasingly blended with digital technologies. Little is known about how this latter type of service is being changed by the onset of robots and artificial intelligence.

Today’s international markets are saturated with overwhelming concerns about issues related to the environment, specifically with issues related to how business intersects with environmental conservation. Consumers are becoming more and more prone to purchase products that consider the environment and sustainability, and they are more willing to pay the premium price tag that comes along with supporting those sustainability efforts. This growing concern has inspired manufacturing firms to develop more effective environmental management practices as they innovate newer and better products.

Design is central to innovation. It refers to the way that people create ideas and solve problems. So far, innovation has been something that human beings alone do. But more recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has slowly begun to be used in innovation, saving people from doing the work of innovation, and freeing up human ingenuity to focus on the bigger picture of why we innovate.

Syrian refugees living in Lebanon today are facing limited freedom of movement, limited access to services, and constrained labor rights. For these people, mobile phones serve as essential tools for rebuilding social networks shattered by involuntary displacement.

Is it possible to use old knowledge to create new inventions? New research on knowledge recombination from House of Innovation researcher Holmer Kok suggests that so is the case.