Hasselblad and the Shift to Digital Imaging

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the high-end Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad struggled to integrate its product lines with emerging digital imaging technology. Hasselblad’s history illustrates how digital technology emerges in various high-end niche applications and later enters the mainstream markets and displaces incumbents. The Hasselblad case exemplifies how incumbent firms encounter difficulties when such technologies render their skills and products obsolete.

Directionality in Innovation Policy and The Ongoing Failure of Green Deals

Book chapterPublication

Sandström, C., & Alm, C.

Publication year

2022

Published in

Questioning the Entrepreneurial State, 251.

Abstract

Environmental policy is no longer only about imposing regulations onindustry. It is increasingly regarded as industrial policy. Both the European Union and national governments are taking more active roles in initiating green deals and various technologies aiming at sustainable development. In this chapter, we describe and discuss some recent experiences of green innovation policies. Historical examples concerning efforts in both biogas and ethanol are combined with a more contemporary description of fossil-free steel, i.e., steel made using hydrogen instead of coal. We argue that the presence of large public funds from different funding bodies such as the European Union, various government agencies, and municipalities has distorted incentives, making it rational for firms to pursue technologies without long-term potential. The result has been an absence of sustainable development, mounting debt, and financial problems for the actors involved. We explain these results and draw policy conclusions concerning the risks related to green deals. Relatedly, we argue that the European Union’s current efforts in hydrogen gas face similar challenges.

The chapter can be accessed here.

Hur uppstår gröna bubblor? Lärdomar från etanolbubblan som sprack

Article (without peer review)Publication

Sandström, C. & Björnemalm, R.

Publication year

2022

Published in

Ekonomisk debatt, 2022(5).

Abstract

Sandström, C. & Björnemalm, R. (2022). Hur uppstår gröna bubblor? Lärdomar från etanolbubblan som sprack. Ekonomisk debatt, 2022(5).

Digital innovation and the effects of artificial intelligence on firms’ research and development – Automation or augmentation, exploration or exploitation?

Article (with peer review)Publication

Johnson, P. C., Laurell, C., Ots, M., & Sandström, C.

Publication year

2022

Published in

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 179, 121636.

Abstract

Digitalization has altered many assumptions underpinning research on innovation management. At the early innings of exploring how digital innovation management stands out, there is a need for further studies in this area. Previous research on how firms use artificial intelligence has distinguished between automation and augmentation of human activities. In this paper, we explore how firms implement artificial intelligence within research and development. Utilizing an international news database spanning 956 articles from 122 newspapers published in 2020, we find that artificial intelligence is primarily adopted to augment human activities (55%) within research and development, rather than to automate matters (11%). We observe differences across sectors where automation is more common in government, information and communication technology (ICT), and technology and software. Our systematic coding shows that artificial intelligence is primarily adopted for exploration research and development (64%), rather than exploitation (5%). Based on these findings, we conclude that research and development from artificial intelligence primarily focuses on novel markets and areas of operations, rather than enhancing existing product markets and activities. Moreover, it augments human labor rather than replaces it; hence, job losses related to artificial intelligence do not seem to be taking place within research and development.

The article in total can be read here.

Abstract

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