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The Building Expertise for Innovation conference, hosted by Aalto University from 25 to 27 April, will delve into the nature of digital disruption and its effects in different fields and in society at large.

The conference is organised by the Strategic Research Council's research projects Platform Value Now and Digital Disruption in Industry, which are led by Professors Ahti Salo and Martti Mäntylä from the Aalto University School of Science. The main speakers at the conference include Director-General of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission Vladimir Šucha, President of the European Committee of the Regions Markku Markkula, Professor George Wright from Strathclyde University and Professor Luca Iandoli, President of the International Council for Small Business. Also sharing their views will be Member of Parliament Jyrki Kasvi, Executive Director of The Finnish Family Firms Association Leena Mörttinen and Chief Policy Adviser Janica Ylikarjula from the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK.

Also participating in the conference will be the EU’s COST Action IS1304 Expert Judgment Network: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Uncertainty and Evidence-Based Decision Making, which will bring to the meeting dozens of international participants. This network supports scientific evidence based decision making by promoting the use of systematic procedures when handling expert opinions.

Digital disruption – revolutionary power

The conference will focus on how digital disruption, as a technological and revolutionary force, transforms industry, services and society. During the conference, different application cases will be considered which show how systematic procedures provide a foundation for decision-making on issues relating to technology, strategic choices, business models and innovation.

‘Digital disruption usually takes place in stages, and its nature often varies from one field to another. What is now possible in the new digital consumer business does not work in the same form in, for example, traditional industrial fields, where optimal application of digitalisation requires expertise in the field and trust in the technology and its suppliers,’ explains Research Director Ilkka Lakaniemi from Aalto University’s Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR).

The research community, businesses and public sector are all warmly welcome to the conference to participate and network. To view the conference program and to register, just visit the .