Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR)’s 15 Years Celebration Workshop
Research Challenge of Business, Economic and Social Renewal
August 20-21, 2014
Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki, Finland

CKIR will again organize its annual CKIR workshop on August, 20-21, 2014. This year CKIR will simultaneously celebrate its 15 years in business.

The workshop will focus on the ongoing societal, economic and technological transformations and their impacts on people, firms, civic sector and their dynamics from the research point of view. It discusses the consequent challenges and opportunities for industries, cities and policy makers. What are the national strategies for creating new sources of competitiveness and exploiting the existing assets? How does the new role of firms in society challenge the current thinking of efficient knowledge economy strategies, mandates, structures and operations?

Value is created increasingly in new forms of local and global ecosystems, where the interfaces with policy makers and citizens are re-defined. This challenges our perception of the sources of productivity, efficiency and competitiveness. The workshop addresses the trends, dynamics and enablers underlying the changes, and discusses emerging technology enabled opportunities, global value networks and management models. Furthermore, the workshop argues for the importance of public-private collaboration and policy interventions in solving major societal challenges of our time.

The workshop wishes to create shared understanding about the future research challenges and questions. The ongoing business, economic and social transformation may offer even an opportunity to further develop research methodologies for transformative change and experimentation.

The workshop takes place at the Nokia Hall in the Main Building of the Aalto University School of Business, Runeberginkatu 14-16, 00100 Helsinki, Finland.

Workshop program can be found at the end of this invitation.

For registration: https://eage.aalto.fi/?fs/en/ckir_2014 <https://eage.aalto.fi/?fs/en/ckir_2014> or send your inquiry to ckir-workshop-biz@aalto.fi
Workshop website: ckir.aalto.fi/en/about/ckir_workshop/ <http://ckir.aalto.fi/en/about/ckir_workshop/>

We look forward to seeing you in August – Welcome!
Dr. Petra Turkama and Dr. Seija Kulkki

Aalto University School of Business
Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research

Program:Wednesday, August 20, 2014
8:30-9:00          Coffee and registration

Opening Key Notes:
9:00-9:20          Role of business sciences in societal transformation.
Dean of the Aalto University School of Business, Ingmar Björkman
9:20-10.00       How to Unleash the Knowledge Potential of a Nation?
Professor (Emeritus) Ikujiro Nonaka from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
10:00-10:30      Societal Transformation through Addressing the Wicked Problems
Dr. Mikko Kosonen, President of the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra)
10:30-11:00      Governance Challenge of Complexity.
Yves L. Doz, Professor (Emeritus) of Strategic Management and the Solvay Chaired Professor of Technological Innovation, INSEAD, France

11:00-11:30      Coffee

11:30-12:00      How to Facilitate Industrial Renewal?
                           Dr. Timo Hämäläinen, Senior Research Fellow, Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra)
12:00-12:30      Increased Prosperity Using the Gift of Complementary Problems
Dr. Bruce W. Ferguson, Head, Institute Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
Professor of Practice, Engineering Systems and Management, Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates

12:30-13:30    Lunch

13:30-14:00     Open Innovation 2.0 and the European Innovation System.
Bror Salmelin, Adviser for Innovation Systems, Directorate General for Communication, Networks, Content and Technology (DG: Connect), European Commission
14:00-14:30     The black swan startup: understanding successful entrepreneurship in unsuspected places
Dr. Sami Mahroum, Academic & Executive Director, INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative, Insead, Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates
14:30-15:00     Panel: The challenge of firms and society

15:00-17:00     Panel on the challenges of firms and business models
The panel discusses the firms’ new socio-economic role globally and locally, and the ways it challenges the current thinking of strategies, structures and operations models? The expectation for the firms is to proactive build environmental, social, institutional and economic sustainability and engagement with the surrounding society. The emerging new sources of knowledge and innovation are exploited in new collaborative networks. This includes public-private partnerships and engagement with customers, social networks and policy makers.

Thursday, August 21, 2014
8:30-10:00       Panel on cities for solving societal challenges
The thematic panel on cities for solving societal challenges may challenge the role of cities, locally and globally, in contributing to human-centric, smart, all-inclusive and sustainable growth and job creation through solving major societal challenges of our time. The cities – locally and as part of global city networks – are places of life where societal challenges such as health, demographic change and wellbeing, food security, secure, clean, renewable and efficient energy, green housing, smart, green and integrated transport, inclusive, innovative and secure societies, clean air, water and climate action, resource efficiency, poverty, immigration, unemployment and many other societal problems may be met and solved. The cities may – by adopting the policy of focusing on solving societal challenges of our time – turn out to be sources for new social and economic dynamism that balances the shortcomings of urbanization and even ‘fills the gaps’ of financial market and corporate driven global economy. Cities may – over years to come – create the foundations towards human-centric and sustainable socio-economic model which aims at wellbeing and quality of life. However, do the cities have the role and means for this? How should we organize for this development? Who takes the lead?

10:00-11:30     Panel on human, social and institutional impact of technology
The thematic panel discusses the new strategies emerging from the innovative application of advanced technologies. The industry is changing in unprecedented pace, and the companies and policy makers must continuously look for the next big thing. Digitalization, industrial internet and servitization are the latest trends shaping the industry through new value creation models, customer-driven innovations and shortening of business cycles. The solutions and offering are becoming increasingly complex and networked, which has led to the industry to increasingly apply operational and management models from faster moving, knowledge intensive sectors. This includes introduction of joint technology platforms and the use of data from installed base (big data) for new value creation.

The panel also discusses the human, social and institutional ‘driven’ approaches to the technology, as businesses, devices or technology platform.

11:30-13:00     Panel on research methodologies for experimentation and transformation in social, management and organizational studies.
With the research methodological panel, we aim at discussion of the state of the art in research methodologies that are ‘inclusive’, engaging and for experimentation and transformation; they may be action or participative methods, interactive methods such as the dialogical methods or design methods (even urban and service design methods) and methods for prototyping (rapid prototyping or prototyping for ‘low volume’ production’) close to real life phenomenon. We address the nature of research methodologies in social, management and organization sciences from the viewpoint of: how do the research and research methodologies contribute to innovation, change, experimentation and transformation?

Thematic Panels consist of short (10 min.) thematic key notes and research presentations. After individual contributions we have a panel discussion where also the participants of the workshop may join.