Visit hbs.edu

Learning About Technology

We educate leaders who make a difference in the world. It’s what HBS does. And we at the DI are committed to equipping the leaders of today with the technical and business skills they need to succeed and lead in the digital economy.

The Interplay of Integration and Delegation in Firm Organization

In today’s complex global economy, some businesses grapple with fundamental decisions regarding their structure and operations. A core challenge lies in determining when to vertically integrate suppliers and when to maintain external contracts. Recent research by Harvard Business School Professor, Laura Alfaro, and a research team (see the bottom of the page for author details) […]

Shaping the Future of Innovation: Insights from PyTorch’s Governance Transformation

In the rapidly evolving world of technology and open collaboration, companies face a paradox: how much control to maintain over the technologies they develop while providing access to foster innovation and attract external contributions. In their study, “Igniting Innovation: Evidence from PyTorch on Technology Control in Open Collaboration,” authors Daniel Yue, Assistant Professor at the […]

A Framework for Effective Social Protests

In an era defined by increasing social activism, understanding the mechanics of effective protest is essential for researchers and “social actors,” or organizers of social protests, as well as for politicians, policymakers, and journalists navigating social change. A review of literature, “When Are Social Protests Effective?”1, by Eric Shuman, a postdoctoral fellow at New York […]

The AI Revolution in Software Development: How Generative AI is Reshaping Coding Practices

The integration of artificial intelligence, such as generative AI, into daily workflows is helping workers streamline their approach to all sorts of tasks. “Generative AI and the Nature of Work” by Manuel Hoffman, postdoctoral fellow at Laboratory of Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH), Sam Boysel postdoctoral fellow at LISH, Frank Nagle, an Assistant Professor in […]

The Transformative Impact of Data, Analytics, and AI on Business: Insights from Industry Leaders

As artificial intelligence (AI), data, and analytics reshape industries worldwide, leaders in the Middle East are forming our understanding of these technologies and their impact, both in their own region and globally. On November 7, 2024, the Harvard Business School Digital Data Design Institute (D^3) hosted a panel featuring prominent voices from sectors such as […]

Consumer Crypto: Opportunities for Businesses in the Digital Asset Age

In recent years, blockchain technology has sparked interest across industries, but mainstream adoption has largely remained elusive. However, adoption levels are beginning to change as these technologies are used in new ways. In their article, “The Rise of Consumer Crypto,” Steve Kaczynski, author and co-founder of dGen Network, and Scott Duke Kominers, HBS Sarofim-Rock Professor […]

Why NFT Royalties Matter for Business Professionals

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have sparked a revolution in how we think about digital and physical asset ownership. A key aspect of NFTs is their ability to generate royalties—payments that flow to the creators or owners whenever their NFT is resold. This system offers creators long-term financial benefits while changing how intellectual property (IP) is valued, […]

Navigating the Ripple Effects of Regulation: Lessons from China’s Tech Industry

With the rise of tech giants across the globe, there has been increasing concern about the consequences their dominance creates for market competition. Governments in various countries have responded by implementing antitrust regulations to curtail the power of these digital platforms. In China, the introduction of the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy in February […]

Revealing Value: The Economic Power of Open Source Software

Open source software (OSS) underpins much of today’s digital infrastructure, and is prevalent in everything from operating systems to cloud services. Thus, understanding the real economic impact of OSS is essential for fostering sustainable development and guiding strategic investments, especially for policymakers. To highlight the significant, yet often invisible, contributions of OSS on the global […]

Smarter Business Decisions with Mixture Adaptive Design (MAD)

In a rapidly evolving business landscape, decision-makers must be agile. In a recent paper, Biyonka Liang, PhD candidate in Statistics at Harvard University, and Iavor Bojinov, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at HBS and PI at D^3’s Data Science and AI Operations Lab, discuss their development of the Mixture Adaptive Design (MAD) to allow industry […]

Engage With Us

Join Our Community

Ready to dive deeper with the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard? Subscribe to our newsletter, contribute to the conversation and begin to invent the future for yourself, your business and society as a whole.