NHHs new research center, Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth (DIG), has been established with the ambition of becoming Norway’s leading research environment for innovation. The center will collaborate with 15 leading organizations and will launch in September 2020.
NHH establishes innovation center in partnership with NCE Finance Innovation
15. June, 2020
- Fintech is a focal point of innovation and disruption. For our members in banking, finance and insurance, the DIG initiative is an active way of increasing their opportunities to create value for their customers and reduce cost by collaborating through open innovation with the entire ecosystem. NHH is an important part of our ecosystem and will ensure that innovation is about new business models and value capture, and not just technical innovation and value creation, says Atle Sivertsen, CEO of NCE Finance Innovation.
With the establishment of DIG, NHH will along with a number of industry and research partners, contribute to the broader effort of digitalisation and innovation in society.
- DIG will contribute to the necessary push for digital innovation through excellent cross-field research made possible by collaboration with both the private and public sectors, says Tor W. Andreassen, professor at NHH and Head of DIG.
The new center is launching in September 2020 and will be located at NHH.
The research at DIG will focus on the following issues:
- How to implement digital innovation and achieve more commercial success?
- How to innovate company business models and what is best for them?
- How can we understand and navigate digital ecosystems?
- How can we prepare ourselves for transformation and radical changes?
- Our research will contribute to innovation and development of new products and services in existing organizations and lay the foundation for establishing new and profitable businesses, says Andreassen.
Big ambitions
The DIG-center is a continuation of Center for Service Innovation (CSI) at NHH. The center was allocated 80 mNOK in SFI (Center for research-based Innovation) financing from the Norwegian Research Council in 2011.
While the previous incarnation of the center focused primarily on service innovation, DIG will take on a broader approach by looking into digitalization of organizations, their business models and market offering. Additionally, it will be studied how artificial intelligence can be applied in interactions with customers to increase the value created for both the consumer and the company.
Collaboration with NTNU
The DIG center has been established with the help of 15 partners within academia, business and the public sector. The partners contribute with approximately 150 mNOK in funding.
The center recently entered an agreement with NTNUs research center, Norwegian Open AI Lab (NAIL), and will be a part of their network: Open AI Lab Bergen.
The competitive advantage of companies has moved from efficient production and logistics to knowledge about customers based on advanced algorithms and machine learning. NAIL has leading expertise within the development of technology in Norway. NHH and DIG will aim to become the best at understanding the value creation and retention of new technologies in companies.
- The collaboration will also allow the exchange of students and research employees – something that will strengthen both institutions, says Andreassen.
About the center
Digital Innovation for Sustainable Growth (DIG) is a new national research center at NHH.
Through interdisciplinary research and close collaboration with the industry, the center will help Norwegian companies to increase efficiency of innovation, develop new business models and adapt organizations to the new digital reality.
Partners are: Telenor, Posten, TietoEVRY, Gjensidige, Skatteetaten, Bergen kommune, BEKK, VIRKE, Abelia, SINTEF, NCE Finance Innovation, UiO/Institutt for informatikk, Norwegian Open AI Lab (NAIL), SNF and NHH.
