Energy leaders tout the benefits of network effects and collaborative ecosystems
Most large businesses find it’s not that easy to be green — especially at the pace required to keep global carbon emissions in check. But a panel of energy-industry leaders, whose businesses must lead the transition to cleaner alternatives, explained that digital platforms can be part of the solution.
At the July 15 2021 MIT Platform Strategy Summit, the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) engaged several leading energy corporation CEOs — prominent experts on global energy trends — to participate in the panel ‘Energy Platforms: Accelerating the Great Energy Transition.’ …
At MIT event, leading investor describes how tenacious competitors continually vie for dominance
By Paula Klein
Will U.S. and Chinese platform leaders battle it out for market domination? Kai-Fu Lee, author and `CEO of the Chinese venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures, doesn’t think so.
Chinese entrepreneurs would do well to prioritize new technologies for local markets where they understand the culture, language, and where there are great opportunities, he said at the recent MIT Platform Strategy Summit.
Lee has strong opinions — and predictions — about the Chinese technology market, AI, and digital platforms. In his 2018 book AI Superpowers, he wrote that the U.S. …
The secrets? Good working relationships between data teams and business units — and a clear focus on tangible value.
By Thomas H. Davenport and Ren Zhang
Companies embarking on AI and data science initiatives in the current economy should strive for a level of economic return higher than those achieved in the early days of enterprise AI.
Several surveys suggest a low level of returns thus far, in part because many AI systems were never deployed: A 2021 IBM survey, for instance, found that only 21% of 5,501 companies had “deployed AI across the business,” while the remainder said they are exploring AI, developing proofs of concept, or using pre-built AI applications. Similarly, a VentureBeat analysis suggests that 87%…
MIT event will focus on post-COVID trends and what’s ahead
Global businesses are grappling with a number of distinct but interlocking forces: The shocks and aftershocks of COVID-19; regulatory forces that are gathering steam across the globe, and the increasing call to reduce the carbon intensity of the economy. Digital platforms are no exception to these forces.
New entrants are prodding their way into established business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets while dominant platforms — notably Google, Amazon, and Facebook — have been called out for anticompetitive practices.
At the same time, platforms and the data layers they control, have the potential to strengthen global supply chains and reduce the…
Once a risky option, leaders now look to cloud providers to keep data safe
Cloud-based technologies and Cloud Service Provides (CSPs) can play a major role in improving the nation’s cybersecurity. Over the years, CSPs have invested billions in cloud security, hired thousands of top cyber experts, and developed an array of new tools and methods.
CIOs generally agree that the security on cloud platforms is superior to that of in-house data centers, a major reason why the top IDC prediction for the post-pandemic new normal was that “By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned, 80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure…
Researchers developed an algorithm to help determine which influencer videos not only entertain, but also sell products
By Peter Krass
Does TikTok hold a key to high-profit sales? It seems headed in that direction. Everyone’s favorite dance-craze platform is poised to become the next big thing in advertising and e-commerce too.
The global social-media platform for short videos clearly has the scale and scope advertisers crave with over 1.4 billion active users worldwide. It’s also a big and profitable business. ByteDance Ltd., the privately held Chinese company that owns the TikTok app, doubled its annual revenue in 2020, hitting $34.3 billion, while gross profit rose 93% to $19 billion, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
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What are the alternatives to today’s attention-economy platform model? Will subscriptions and paywalls prevail?
By Sara Brown, MIT Sloan
With congressional hearings and negative public opinion, pressure is mounting for social media companies to change some of their practices. Concerns range from how to regulate speech and stop the spread of misinformation, to whether and how to address antitrust issues, and how to balance data privacy and company transparency.
The business models of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are at the heart of the issue. …
Siemens, Mastercard, and John Deere are using AI as one more tool for competitive advantage
By Beth Stackpole, MIT Sloan
As artificial intelligence continues to move into the mainstream, companies are combining AI and big data to build and design better products, react faster to changing market conditions, and protect consumers from fraud.
According to experts at EmTech Digital, MIT Technology Review’s annual event on artificial intelligence, big data plus AI creates a foundation for more intelligent products and services — ones that initiate maintenance procedures before something breaks, perform more precise operations, or automatically recalibrate resources to meet changing demand and usage patterns.
Cryptocurrencies shift from anarchy to acceptance
The acceptance of cryptocurrencies by government banks is revolutionizing global finance — is it a good thing?
By Irving Wladawsky-Berger
A decade after Bitcoin was created in October of 2008 with the release of Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, The Economist concluded that it and other cryptocurrencies were “useless.”
“Bitcoin, the first and still the most popular cryptocurrency, began life as a techno-anarchist project to create an online version of cash, a way for people to transact without the possibility of interference from malicious governments or banks,” the publication argued. “A decade on, it is barely used for its…
Technology companies are testing anti-misinformation accuracy prompts developed by an MIT research team
The spread of inaccuracies on social media — including political fake news, and misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines — has led to a plethora of problems in areas as disparate as politics and public health. To combat the spread of false and misleading information, MIT Sloan School Professor David Rand and his colleagues have been developing effective interventions that technology companies can use to combat misinformation online.
A study just published in The Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review by Rand and other researchers at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Political Science Department and Media Lab, as well as the University…
MIT IDE
Addressing one of the most critical issues of our time: the impact of digital technology on businesses, the economy, and society.
