Research news and blogposts from DIG.
The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 reaffirmed the importance of continuing to bridge the gap between groundbreaking technology and practical, sustainable market applications, reports Professor Tor W. Andreassen from Las Vegas.
As we approach the conclusion of 2023, the Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth (DIG) team would like to take a moment to extend our warmest wishes to all our partners, friends, and followers. It has been an eventful year, and we are excited to share some of our highlights and plans for the upcoming year.
While the typical entrepreneur might be a young tech-savvy individual, the successful entrepreneur is more likely to be a mature midlife person.
The phd-course «Front lines on adoption of digital and AI-based services” was organized for the first time this semester. Professor Tor W. Andreassen was the course responsible and many researchers at DIG contributed to the course.
CEO of Innovation Norway, Håkon Haugli, has been appointed DIG Fellow 2023.
In challenging times, when money is scarce, businesses must innovate in areas that cost the least but mean the most to key customers.
The Norwegian government has allocated one billion Norwegian kroner over five years for research on artificial intelligence (AI). The question is how we can best utilize this potential. Should we research the development of AI, or should we research how to best reap the benefits of AI in businesses?
Change is the only constant in life. In all our roles—as citizens, employees, customers, investors, or leaders—we must navigate the ever-present currents of change, even as we yearn for stability. This tension can be taxing, and regrettably, it doesn't become any easier with age.
During the past spring semester, AI and large language models have made their entrance into the educational sector, including business education. With the growing presence of AI, students need to move beyond basic familiarity and engage more deeply, questioning and adapting to these tools.
In the spring and summer of 2023, Ivan Belik embarked on an enriching research visit to Canada, representing both NHH and the DIG Center. This visit proved to be a remarkable opportunity for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and expanding our network within the international research community.
The DIG Annual Meeting 2023 kicked off with a warm welcome from Director of DIG Bram Timmermans, setting the stage for a day filled with enriching presentations, reflections, and updates
In our relentless pursuit of fostering digital innovation for sustainable growth, understanding the constraints and facilitators becomes paramount. Non-compete clauses, while essential in the US dialogue, have lost traction in Norway since our 2016 legislative shift. We aimed to recenter this discourse, spotlighting its potential to influence growth.
BEST in Retail is a research program at the research center DIG, at NHH. The goal is to explore how the retail industry can organize itself through concepts like ecosystems, with the aim of creating additional value for customers. This falls within DIG's broader research on new business models.
Arendalsuka is the largest political gathering in Norway held annually in mid-August since 2012. For five days, the city of Arendal is filled with an interesting and educational variety of exhibitions and events.
Eirik Sjåholm Knudsen has been promoted to full professor at NHH Norwegian School of Economics.
Well back from inspiring and wonderful days at HEC and Station F in Paris we reflect on new insights and key takeaways.
Interacting with our partners is a great inspiration for the DIG research agenda. This blogpost reflects on our latest corporate workshop on the topic of sustainable value creation, organized in cooperation with DIG partner KPMG.
Organizational culture is created by employees and leaders, together, over time. Now, ChatGPT can inadvertently destroy it.
DIG - Digital Innovation for sustainable Growth - is hiring 4-5 students as research assistants to several research projects.
3rd April 2023, the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) hosted the presentation of the 2022 results of the first Spanish Innovation Index (ÍEI).
The Norwegian Innovation Index (NII) 2022 was presented on Wednesday 8 February in partnership with BEKK Consulting at NHH's campus in Oslo.
PhD candidate and DIG affiliate Rujuta Vaidya has been on a research visit to the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at David Eccles School of Business, Salt Lake City. In her travel letter to the DIG community, she reflects on how the stay made an influence on her own research and teaching.
The RaCE project – Radical Technology-Driven Change in Established Firms – together with corporate partners has just returned from Singapore, where they learned to sense and explore pathways to innovation.
The Norwegian Innovation Index 2022 was presented on Wednesday 8 February in partnership with BEKK Consulting at NHH's campus in Oslo. The index measures how innovative Norwegian companies are – as seen from the customers' perspective. See our summary of what was discussed and the results of the index for 2022.
Assistant Professor and DIG affiliate Aruna Divya Tatavarthy has been on a research visit to Foster School of Business in Seattle. Here's her report.
On 25 January, The Digital Transformation HUB@NHH in cooperation with DIG partner Eviny organized a corporate workshop on the topics of innovation and adoption of innovations.
PhD Research Scholar Olivia Kim and NHH student Harald Stensaker share their impressions from The HUB Summit earlier in November.
DIG researchers Ivan Belik and Tor W Andreassen have both spent time in Australia recently, presenting Dig’s research at different institutions.
Research is very much a social activity where our work gets stronger when interacting with others. In the DIG research centre we are active to invite guest from other universities and business schools to share their ongoing research.
DIG’s Principal Investigators have appointed Tone Wille, CEO in Posten, as DIG Fellow 2022.
Professor Paul N. Gooderham retired from his position on October 1, 2022.
Increased export of services could kill three birds with one stone: by moving up in the industrial value chain, we can better fund the welfare state, keep people employed, and finally transform and grow a more sustainable economy by decoupling growth from CO2, writes Professor Tor W. Andreassen.
This year, DIG partner Norwegian Open AI Lab (NAIL) celebrates their 5th anniversary. This milestone was marked with a whole-day event at NTNU.
Being a DIG Master student, students will be part of The DIG Deeper master program. DIG aims to help students and expects them to contribute to DIG themes. The target is to deliver practical, relevant, and thorough Masters' theses, preferably in collaboration with DIG partners.
13 September at NHH Campus Oslo some of the latest research on partnerships was shared and discussed among participants.
In all the DIG breakfast meetings, DIG partner meetings, HUB gatherings and the board seminar I included small segments of “looking back” and “looking ahead”. The end of summer term, the start of the academic year and subsequently this The HUB newsletter is a good occasion to shortly reminisce on the last 6 months, and to lift a veil on plans and ambitions for the next term.
15 June, we organized the first edition of the DIG PhD conference. During this conference 12 PhD students from the Department of Strategy and Management presented their work and received feedback from fellow PhD candidates and senior faculty.
From 9 to 13 July Professor Bram Timmermans and PhD candidate Nicolas Gibney participated in the annual R&D management conference in Trento, Italy.
NHH and DIG, as well as DIG partners, organize and participate in various debates, panel discussions and presentations during Arendalsuka 2022.
NHH employee, Assistant Professor Vidya Oruganti, secures EU Horizon grant funding within the area of health data and ecosystems. The project is very timely given the compelling need to consolidate efforts and resources in the health care industry.
Today, policymakers, employees, consumers, investors, and citizens are expecting a new responsible business policy and management practice that does service to the world, writes Professor Tor Wallin Andreassen.
Recently, passengers were stranded at Schiphol Airport, Atlanta airport, and Manchester airport. Airline companies cancel thousands of departures. Restaurants are hoping for a cold and wet summer. The chaos is due to a lack of qualified labor. Unfortunately, the crisis in the BEACH sector was foreshadowed.
The Norwegian government’s announcement of cuts will result in difficulties and uncertainty with long-term implications for the Norwegian research sector, writes head of DIG, Professor Bram Timmermans.
The role of emotions during change was the topic at the DIG and HUB Corporate Workshop on May 24 in Oslo.
How did De Historiske- Historic Hotels and Restaurants manage to ride of the corona-storm in 2020 as well as they did? CEO Niels Henrik Geitle explained at the HUB Conversation.
“Under the right conditions Artificial intelligence (AI) could prompt a seismic shift that reverberates throughout the entire economy. But good decisions will have to be made,” writes Jan Oskar Bolin, from his research stay at the University of Maryland.
Intelligent technologies will not replace businesses, but businesses that use intelligent technologies will replace those that do not.
When so many innovation ideas and entrepreneurs flop in the market, could one reason be that firms and start-ups fail to early include the customer in the equation?
A closer read on several of the recently published reports on the State of AI delivers one overall conclusion. In Europe, and yes very much included Norway, we are struggling to transform our research-based knowledge on AI/ML into commercial marketable goods, services and solutions.
Consumers have come to expect more innovations that benefit society. Thus, business model innovation with a focus on social innovations was the topic at DIG and the HUB’s Corporate workshop 5 April.
The growing demand for innovative solutions, sustainable practices and digital experiences has challenged the brand landscape. Can corporate brands win over their competitors by prioritising one of these areas in their strategy?
While there are many things that digitalization can enable us to achieve, digitalizing your research visits might mean missing out on some essential social factors of collaboration, notes digitalization expert Casandra Grundstrom, who recently visited NHH and DIG.
Professor Tor W Andreassen represented DIG at the POMS College of Service Operations member engagement spring event.
Everything that can be digitized will be digitized - they say. But should everything that can be digitized, be digitized? What can we learn from Starbucks?
Bram Timmermans has temporarily taken over as leader of DIG. Tor Wallin Andreassen has decided that it is time to step down as leader but will still be involved in the research center.
"Being part of a knowledge network like DIG is important because it gives us the opportunity to get updated knowledge about what works and does not, and to develop the right competence for the future together with all the other partners," says Rune Skjelvan from KPMG.
Business communities have high hopes for artificial intelligence (AI), but will the current stage of evolution of information technology (IT) meet their expectations? Most likely not, writes Ivan Belik and Derrick Neufeld in a post in LSE Business Review.
As part of DIG dissemination activities, DIG researcher and Assistant Professor, Vidya Oruganti conducted a digital lecture on the topic “Insurance Innovation & Automation”. This event was a collaboration and joint effort between DIG and one of its key partners, NCE Finance Innovation.
At Innovation 2022 in Oslo earlier in February, The HUB@NHH, DIG and partner BEKK presented the results and winners from NII 2021. Here you can watch a recording of the event and view the NII presentation.
How can established businesses strike a balance between their current operations and the need to innovate to prepare for the future? This is the topic of a new book on innovation capacity authored by four DIG RaCE researchers and affiliates.
DIG is most pleased to present Aruna Divya Tatavarthy as a researcher at the centre. Read more about her background and research interest.
The innovation year 2021 shows that companies have fought a hard battle to survive. Short-term survival innovations more than long-term positioning innovations have been the preferred option for many.
DIG congratulates Magne Angelshaug with his recent defence of his PhD dissertation on business model innovation in established firms and the role firm’s top management team plays in facilitating such efforts.
Tor W. Andreassen has been appointed to ISSIP Ambassador to NHH Norwegian School of Economics’ research center Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth.
Retail has had an upswing during the pandemic. But this gives them no reason not to worry about the time to come. On the contrary. In this note, I point to four phenomena that can lower or lift the actors.
When CEOs of established companies are asked, “What really changes the rules of the game in your industry or business?” they almost always answer: “Technology X disrupts our business” or “Startup business Y disrupts our business.” But when the diagnosis is wrong, the choice of medicine and treatment plan is also wrong.
Despite all good intentions, things will go wrong - occasionally. In this podcast we address, among other things, how to turn a negative incident into a positive experience?
The time since March 2020 has forced us all to explore new areas - areas that we believe are better for society, business, ourselves, and others.
‘An amazing day of dialogue, discussions and knowledge sharing between academia and our partners and members from business and government’, says Tor W. Andreassen, director of the research center Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth.
DIG Fellowship is an honorary position at the research center Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth at Norwegian School of Economics. The fellowship was announced as part of The HUB Summit 2021 on November 4.
NHH’s new AI-server that is made available to the DIG center, is NHH’s first Deep Learning-capable platform, poised to enable researchers and DIG partners to develop AI-driven insights into digital transformation.
How does a traditional service provider like Posten continue to be relevant in a time where users are increasingly digital and demands higher speed and efficiency? By combining traditional services with digital innovation of course.
Coop announces four scholarships in connection with their partnership with the DIG project "Best in Retail".
Why are some services and technologies widely adopted, while others fail epically? DIG Professor Helge Thorbjørnsen is curious about how new digital services influence the cognition, affect and decisions of humans.
DIG's strategy for 2021-2023 is now published. The goal remains: to become Norway’s leading research centre on digital transformation and innovation for sustainable growth.
Service dominates the latest of Shugan’s Top 20 Marketing Meta Journal ranking. DIG researcher and co-authors ranked 11th.
While governments, citizens, and investors are increasing their ESG focus, companies are failing according to customers.
Beyond a conceptual model, this empirical study shows that innovations in social and environmental dimensions drive customer loyalty to the brands.
If we are to succeed in strengthening our national innovation rate, we must increase Norwegian leaders’ will and courage to lead innovation processes in the context of challenging changes. But which innovation leadership competencies do they need to develop?
Virtual reality can influence consumer behavior in powerful ways; however, less is known about the how and why.
Are ecosystems a useful concept in the world of business, or should they be consigned to the dustbin of history like so many forgotten buzzwords of bygone eras?
Have you ever wondered how to kick off your team? Setting the stage for great performance might not be as complicated as you believe. The recipe: Discuss expectations and make a team charter.
"When services make up 80% of most modern economies’ GDP, we need to see and measure value creation through new lenses" says DIG Professor Tor W. Andreassen.
People are more negative about renting an Airbnb home if the landlord comes from a minority group according to a new DIG publication. The discrimination disappears if the host has received top marks from other tenants.
To survive and thrive, organizations have to balance many conflicting demands. What theories can help us to understand this complex and intricate balancing act?
Technologically driven change, particularly in well-established firms, is not actually (just) about the tech. It requires a serious look in the mirror to find out whether this new company profile ‘is still us’? And if it isn’t, how can managers and staff make their peace with, move on and rewire.
For 40 years “The Shareholder-first” doctrine has prevailed. Has it worked? What annual return on invested capital have the shareholders had in the period where they were “the chosen ones” compared to a period where they were not?
Working in a team is not always easy. It did not get any easier after we were not allowed to meet face to face. But what does research tell us about digital teamwork that can help us in the ongoing corona pandemic?
What causes disruption? And more importantly: how can your business deal with disruption? Undoubtedly complicated and increasingly relevant questions for all businesses.
This book on how AI is creating the era of empathy, discusses among others, how AI is embracing analytical and intuitive tasks, examines how management and consumer behavior are impacted by AI and the moral, ethical and governance implications of The Feeling Economy.
Customers are the company's only natural source for funding. The mantra is quality-goods and services for money! Increasingly, customers are investors who invest in companies based on their sustainability goals. The emerging mantra is sustainability for money!
To know what to innovate, you have to know something about services!
Does digitalization make competitive advantage more or less sustainable?
DIG’s Professor Tor W. Andreassen represents NHH as the only Norwegian business school in a prestigious alliance of European universities. ENGAGE.EU opens a unique opportunity to educate and inspire a new generation of citizens who will contribute to making Europe a global referent in how to tackle societal challenges.
Access to capital and competence are two main obstacles to creating growth in new businesses in Norway. What should be done to give growth companies a greater chance of success?
Among the GAFA companies (Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple), a war is now being fought between Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, and Tim Cook, Apple, which in the worst-case scenario could lead to Facebook leaving the market. This is a war where Goliath (Apple) is fighting Goliath (Facebook) on behalf of David (the customers).
Moving from a strategic decision to executing on that new strategy is a significant challenge for most companies. Anecdotal evidence suggests that 50%-90% of strategic decisions made are never implemented. What makes it so difficult to implement strategy?
The Corona pandemic has accelerated our digital habits, which most people have now embraced. However, have we - and especially the retail trade - realized that this also will change our city centers?
What characterizes the companies that are top of their innovation class and what can other companies do to get there?
The Digital Transformation HUB and DIG-partner Bekk, are delighted to present a 2 hour webinar featuring sustainable innovation strategies based on findings from the Norwegian Innovation Index 2020.
