For the past two decades, Design Thinking has been a driving force in business innovation, helping companies improve products and services. Yet, Design Thinking has serious limitations, according to new research by HOI researcher Roberto Verganti, with co-author Elizabeth Bowie Cristoforetti of Harvard, published in The Design Journal. Its extreme and close focus on user needs (or user-ism, sometimes becoming a face-lifted version of consumerism), can lead businesses to overlook broader systemic challenges, from sustainability to social responsibility. The authors argue that design must evolve—moving beyond being purely reactive to market needs and instead becoming an active shaper of a positive future.

A new ranking by Family Capital Publishing names HOI Professor Mattias Nordqvist the most respected family enterprise scholar in the Nordic region. A leading expert in family business innovation and governance, Nordqvist is also the founder of the Center for Family Enterprise, further cementing his influence in the field.

Serial entrepreneur Stefan Krook has been appointed as Practitioner in Residence at SSE’s House of Innovation. His goal is to strengthen the School’s connections with the business community and explore new paths towards a more sustainable market economy.

In a globalized world, competition between medicine approval agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Europe’s European Medicines Agency (EMA) significantly impacts the development and availability of innovative drugs. A new study by HOI researcher Stefan Haefliger published in Drug Discovery Today suggests that Europe must modernize its regulatory processes to become the destination of choice for groundbreaking medical innovation.

SSE researcher Sebastian Krakowski has been selected for the Thinkers50 Radar 2025, recognizing 30 emerging thought leaders expected to shape the future of management. The annual list, introduced in 2016, is a key indicator of influential ideas in the field.

The Stockholm School of Economics has appointed Isabel Keulen the new CEO of its fund SSE Ventures and startup incubator SSE Business Lab. The change in leadership is happening at the same time as the incubator and the fund will move into the School’s new premises at Norrtullsgatan. The plan is to build a new hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The House of Innovation (HOI) at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) is inviting applications for the PhD program in Business Administration, specialization in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology (DEIT).

Algorithms increasingly guide public sector decisions, yet their impact on fairness is often overlooked. Researchers from SSE have examined how public institutions may ignore the injustices of algorithmic decision-making. The research project has been selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) as one of the most promising projects this year.

In June 2024 the EU invited Ukraine to start formal membership negotiations. As part of the new Swedish strategy for recovery and reform cooperation with Ukraine, Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) has received a government grant from the Swedish Institute to launch a collaborative project with the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine (DAU), a division of the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

SSE has a long-standing commitment to both culture and wellbeing. These efforts are now becoming evident at the School’s startup incubator: more than half of the new ideas are focused around art and health.