Finnish Hub for Digitalization (FHDi)

Finnish Hub for Digitalization (FHDi)

Finnish Hub for Digitalization is a research and education powerhouse for digitalization and digital innovation. We take a multidisciplinary approach and integrate resources from various fields to conduct world-class research. In addition, we offer cutting-edge practice-oriented education in collaboration with our students, the Finnish industry, and society.

Building bridges between research, education and business

We facilitate digitalization and digital innovation research collaboration nationally and internationally, and strengthen the bridge between research, education, and the business world. .

FHDi addresses the challenges of digital transformation in society. We form a community of 150-200 researchers and a strong industry network in Finland, which we maintain through annual academic and industry meetings. Our networked research hub plays a key role in the research of digital and cyber-physical service experiences and value creation, as well as the digitalization and digital transformation of organizations and companies in Finland. We also offer training in the field of digital service innovation in collaboration with leading experts in the field.

FHDi is based on the collaboration of the Ģ��ֱ��, LUT University, Tampere University, Aalto University, Vaasan University, and the University of Eastern Finland, where each partner contributes in its own area of expertise. In addition, FHDi collaborates with international partners, such as the House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics and the Center for Service Leadership at Arizona State University, and coordinates inspiring research talks for the network from international visitors.

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FHDi in social media

People at JYU

Main contacts in partner universities

Matti Rossi

Professor of Information Systems Science
Aalto University | matti.rossi@aalto.fi

Marko Seppänen

Professor of Industrial Management
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampere University | marko.seppanen@tuni.fi

Tero Vartiainen

Professor of Information Systems
University of Vaasa | tero.vartiainen@uwasa.fi

Kari Smolander

Professor of Software Engineering
LUT University | kari.smolander@lut.fi

Tommi Laukkanen

Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior
University of Eastern Finland | tommi.laukkanen@uef.fi

Areas of Expertise and Faculty

The operation of the Finnish Hub for Digitalization (FHDi) is based on national cooperation in which each of the partners gives a specific excellence as an input.

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The Ģ��ֱ��'s Faculty of Information Technology's mission is to shape the future digital society through research. Our nine interdisciplinary research groups create new technologies and study them in organizational, societal, and living systems, focusing on their design, strategy, business, adoption, use, experiences, and impacts at all levels - from individuals to society. All these views are needed in our strongest profiling area, cybersecurity as well as used in our other profiling areas, decision analytics, multidisciplinary research on learning and teaching, and emergent work in the digital era.

More about our research

Our Value Creation for Cyber-Physical Systems and Services (CPSS) research group leads the development of the FHDi in our faculty. CPSS combines the worlds of bits and atoms, and promise to transform existing logics of people, organizations, and entire industries. Examples range from wearables in the areas of health, work or entertainment, artificial intelligence based Internet-of-Things (i.e, IoT), or new forms of open distributed information technology architectures to co-create private and public value. Use of these technologies has substantial impacts on organizational practices and human behavior.

For more information:

CPSS Homepage| |

Tuure Tuunanen

Professor of Information Systems
Jyväskylän yliopisto
tuure.t.tuunanen@jyu.fi
+358 408054628

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At the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, interdisciplinarity serves as a foundation for our activities. We examine and study the society and environment around us, as well as the relationships between them, from a multitude of scientific perspectives. We are home to an exceptionally broad selection of disciplines, including the humanities, business studies, natural sciences, law, health sciences, and social sciences. This allows us to seek diverse solutions to local, regional and global issues, and we build a sustainable future while taking economic and environmental aspects into consideration.

Our Marketing and Consumer Behavior research group examines consumer behavior and business success factors in the marketplace. The research themes cover issues arising from a range of factors including product and service innovations, sustainability, bioeconomy, e-commerce, digital technology, data analytics, sensory marketing, brands, international markets, and entrepreneurial behavior. Quantitative market research serves as a cross-cutting theme for the research group. The purpose of the research group is to undertake impactful research in the marketing and consumer research domains, and transfer this knowledge to academic community and business practice.

More about us:

Tommi Laukkanen

Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior
Itä-Suomen yliopisto
Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
tommi.laukkanen@uef.fi
+358 50 4387423

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The focus areas of LUT Software Engineering include Software Development, Digital Transformation and User-Centred Design. We improve practices and software technologies that enhance software quality, increase software development productivity, and introduce new innovations in software. We also support and study sustainable business through digital transformation, by applying new digital technologies and innovations. We empower users, developers and the public in co-design and other approaches to create and modernize software and systems.

The Software Development research focuses on software and systems development challenges in the digitalizing society. The research conducted is driven by empirical evidence and focuses on IT artifacts produced and used by professionals, citizens and organizations, at the workplace, in the society and in the marketplace.

The Digital Transformation research on software engineering focuses both on technology and its use in business environments. The research topics include not only business activities, organizations, and innovation, but the group's important expertise lies in technical development as well. We explore economic, social, psychological, ethical, and regulatory aspects of digitalization and digital transformation from the vantage points of individuals, organizations, and societies.

The User-Centred Design research is concerned with understanding and improving the way that individuals and communities design, use and evaluate software products. We work within both organizational and societal settings with a focus on engaged and impactful research alongside users. We have a particular focus on processes, data-intensive and intelligent systems. We have a strong portfolio of national and international research projects.

More about us:

Kari Smolander

Professor of Software Engineering
LUT yliopisto
Software Engineering Department
kari.smolander@lut.fi
+358 40 546 3493

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Our School of Technology and Innovation include many fast-growing areas of technology such as information technology, automation, telecommunications, and industrial management together with energy technologies and mathematics.

The research in our computing sciences team spans from hardware and software to information systems topics. Our major information systems topics are as follows.

Our cybersecurity research considers cybersecurity in smart grids and healthcare, for example. Taken smart grids we aim to develop parts of smart grids to prevent cyber-attacks and to recover from the inevitable attacks and learn from them. For this purpose we develop a real-time simulation based platform.

User eXperience (UX) research focuses on accessibility and online learning. Our research on accessibility focuses on developing theories and practices of human abilities in user interface design. Related to online learning we focus on the learning experience and usability of online learning environments.

Digital transformation research considers business model transformation, process transformation, and sector transformation. This area also includes sustainable innovation management practices in organizational transformation, as well as educational perspectives on digital transformation. Enterprise architecture research focuses on how it is adopted in both the public and the private sector.

Last but not least, our research considers variety of social issues in digitalization. These studies consider information systems artefacts, digital financial literacy, computing education, and computer ethics, for example.

More about us:

Tero Vartiainen

Professor of Information Systems
University of Vaasa
tero.vartiainen@uwasa.fi
029 449 8588

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The research at the Department of Information and Service Management is broadly divided into three disciplines: information systems science, business analytics, and logistics.

Information systems science (ISS) focuses on managing and developing business processes using information systems and networks. Our research topics include strategic management of information and communications technology (ICT), digital services, ecosystems, ICT enabled platforms and business models, adoption and use of ICT by consumers, companies, and society at large, as well as software business and their strategic applications.

We use multi-disciplinary approaches and apply theories from several reference disciplines, including management, organization sciences, marketing, and economics. Wide range of both qualitative and quantitative methods are used and often triangulated. We have a strong focus on empirical studies and active cooperation with companies. Besides theoretical contributions, ISS studies often emphasize practical relevance. For example, a summary of our research on Tesla drivers’ trust in automation appeared in the practice-oriented LSE blog posting . Most projects have both national and international partners, and the results of our research are targeted at top tier academic journals.

More about us:

Matti Rossi

Professor of Information Systems Science
Aalto University
matti.rossi@aalto.fi
050 3835503

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Tampere University (TUNI) is a multidisciplinary university formed in 2019 when the University of Tampere and Tampere University of Technology merged. At TUNI, strength in research lies in the fields of health, technology and society. The Management and Business faculty conducts research on business studies, administrative sciences, politics, industrial engineering and management, and information and knowledge management.

Research at Information and knowledge management unit focuses on knowledge-based value creation from three intertwined perspectives: Management of Information Systems, Knowledge-based Management, and Management of Digital Business. Knowledge-based management includes classic knowledge management, intellectual capital, and business and data analytics, complemented with managerial view to data-based decision-making. Management of Information Systems covers various information systems topics ranging from their management and use to their implementation and adoption, as well as details related to information management activities. Management of Digital Business deals with the digitization of processes and services, the development and exploitation of business models, the data economy, ecosystems, various business support platforms and platform technologies. The perspectives are not exclusive but complement each other and support multidisciplinary and broad view on different knowledge intensive topics at the era of digital transformation.

More about us:

Marko Seppänen

Professor, Vice Dean for Education
Faculty of Management and Business
Tampereen yliopisto
marko.seppanen@tuni.fi

Participating universities

For Companies

Would you be interested in collaborating with us on research? Some of our research collaboration opportunities include:

Master's thesis assignments
Commissioned research projects
Publicly funded research projects

We have experience collaborating with businesses and the public sector, conducting research that is meaningful for both the business world and society. Our research collaboration ranges from small bilateral research tasks to extensive international consortia. We also involve other disciplines in our research projects.

For instance, we have experience in implementing research projects funded by entities such as the European Union, the Academy of Finland, Business Finland, foundations, and the business community. We always plan our research in collaboration with our partners in joint research projects. You can find examples of our research projects here.