Imperial College Business School launches new Centre for Digital Transformation

The Business School has launched a new research centre which is designed to help grow the digital economy.

The Centre for Digital Transformation will be positioned as the meeting point between industry and academia—enabling the Business School’s academic experts to help businesses address and capitalise upon the challenges, implications and opportunities brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

Watch Christopher Tucci, Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation discuss the work of the Centre in this video.

The Centre will structure its work around four key activities:

• Research: The Centre will support and facilitate research projects that help organisations take advantage of digital technologies, to better meet their business and wider social objectives. To share such expertise directly with businesses, the Centre will seek to publish white papers, establish a seminar series, and develop a new Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship Lab where ideas can be put into practice. 

• Public outreach and engagement: The Centre will host public events such as conferences and guest speaker lectures, inviting both companies and academic experts to present their ideas and share insights on hot topics with a wider audience. 

• Teaching: The Centre will use its research findings and innovations to develop tailor-made organisational development programmes and design new open programmes at the Executive Education level, as well as supplementing the Business School’s Full-Time and Global Online MBA programmes, enabling industry professionals to better understand digital transformation and utilise new technology within their working lives. 

• Fundraising: The Centre will actively engage in various fundraising efforts to support its various research projects and the development of new technological innovations.

The Centre also aims to establish a Community of Practice - forging a network of forward-thinking industry professionals, academic leaders extending beyond Imperial College Business School to the wider Imperial College London, and investors who can come together to harness the digital revolution for positive change and social betterment.

"Disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence need to be applied in a fashion that serves society, and in our work at the Centre we will be helping translate university ideas in these areas into real-world impact." David Shrier Professor of Practice, Business School

The Centre is led by Christopher Tucci, Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation at Imperial College Business School. The Centre recently welcomed futurist David Shrier, CEO of Esme Learning and separately CEO of Adit EdTech (NYSE: ADEX.U), who joins Imperial College Business School as a Professor of Practice, specialising in AI and technology innovation.

Professor Tucci said: “Many companies are almost paralysed when it comes to digital transformation. There’s so much happening right now they either don’t know where to start, or how to make the maximum amount of impact with what tools they already have. The Centre for Digital Transformation will help businesses appreciate the far-reaching organisational implications of the digital revolution, harness new and emerging digital technologies, and understand how they can be exploited to meet both business and social objectives.”

The launch of the Centre will further bolster Imperial College Business School’s reputation as a leader in digital and technological education and innovation. Imperial’s existing strengths in digital technology can be seen through the work of its Edtech Lab, through which it was able to custom design and launch its successful online education platform, as well as the Data Observatory, a pioneering project housed within the College’s Data Science Institute. Imperial also runs two Executive Education programmes themed around digital transformation - Digital Transformation Strategy and Digital Transformation: 5 Game-Changing Technologies for Business.  

David Shrier believes Imperial College Business School to be a natural fit for this new venture.  Commenting on the launch of the new Centre he said: “I am pleased to help build the Centre for Digital Transformation as we assist businesses and governments to answer critical questions of how to evolve and thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence need to be applied in a fashion that serves society, and in our work at the Centre we will be helping translate university ideas in these areas into real-world impact.”

To find out more information about the Centre for Digital Transformation visit the Business School website.