Vinnova Grant for “Digital Business Innovation Studio” Project

Congratulations to MMTC researchers Daved Barry, Mart Ots, and Henry Lopez-Vega for receiving a 1,2 mkr grant for the Digital Business Innovation Studio (DBIS) initiative from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova.

DBIS focuses on creating new digital business solutions, and on using digital tools to interconnect stakeholders across distances and knowledge domains. One of the project goals is to find ways to join “in-the-room” innovation methods (e.g., corporate innovation centers) and “out-of-the-room” methods (e.g., open innovation) and still keep the advantages of both. Henry Lopez-Vega is the project director.

DBIS connects to two other MMTC projects focussing on digital business innovation. One is “DATAMINE”, which was awarded 3,3 mkr from the Jönköping Regional fund. DATAMINE includes Ulf Johansson (project director) and others from JTH, and Mart Ots and Daved Barry from JIBS. The other project is “DPer News” (digital personalization of the news using studio-led methods). This project was awarded 4.8 mkr from the Swedish Knowledge Foundation, and includes Daved Barry and Mart Ots from JIBS, and Ulf Johansson and Anette Johansson from JTH. Mart Ots is the project director.

The three projects are designed to complement one another. Both DBIS and DPer News advance the concept of studio-led innovation that is digitally focused and enhanced, and both use news media as a testing ground. DATAMINE focuses on new approaches to mining big data, again within the test site of news media. The hope is to use the discoveries from all three to create digital innovation methods that can be applied to other industries and domains, and with this advance the “T” (transformation) side of MMTC.