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Putting “ecology” back into digital ecosystems - 02 Oct 2024

Associate Professor Attila Márton (Copenhagen Business School) visited us for a research seminar at the House of Innovation, where he presented his recent research on digital ecosystems.

Paper title and abstract

Putting “ecology” back into digital ecosystems

Abstract: There is a long-standing tradition in drawing on ecological concepts for the study of digital organization, innovation, and infrastructures. While such concepts had fallen out of favour for a few decades, there has been a resurgence of using ecological metaphors for conceptualizing the radically complex dynamics of digitalization. Particularly, the metaphor of “ecosystem” has, in business-economic terms, inspired research into new business models; and in engineering terms, it has led to important insights into the design and governance of innovation platforms. However, more recently, a third take has emerged that approaches digital ecosystems as literal rather than metaphorical ecological systems. In this presentation, I will discuss the epistemological disposition of this third approach and its implications for the study of the dynamics of digitalization. I will then sketch the contours of digitalization research and practice that is more ecological and, thus, more responsive to a world increasingly marked by runaway precarity.
 

About Attila Márton

Attila Márton is Associate Professor at the Department of Digitalization at Copenhagen Business School. He works as a digital ecologist at the confluence of digital sociology and information systems to make digitalization serve humanity. To this effect, he is currently studying the political ecology of digital ecosystems, platform labour and AI, and responsible digitalization.

House of Innovation Digitalization Innovation Research methods Strategy Lunch seminar Research seminar