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The application deadline is February 1, 2023 (CET).

House of Innovation (HOI) is a vibrant, cross-disciplinary, collegial research environment with a focus on excellence and impact. Applicants interested in working within HOI should apply for the PhD in Business Administration, specializing in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology (DEIT).

HOI/DEIT is located in the center of Stockholm, a worldwide top-ten environment for tech-based entrepreneurship and innovation. SSE is ranked as the top business school in the Nordics, with excellent access to the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem, as well as to many world-leading companies operating in and from Stockholm.

Our students are highly talented and motivated, and our programs are highly regarded (FT world rankings: Executive open programs #10, Master in Management #4, Master in Finance #20).

HOI/DEIT accepts applications in all areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology. For our 2023 intake of PhD students, we particularly encourage applications for the following focus areas:

The adoption and use of AI in organizations and society

Given today’s rapid digital transformation and the proliferation of data, the development, adoption, and use of AI by organizations create new types of behaviors, interactions, and governance. These bring with them a plethora of challenges and opportunities that need to be better understood.

Leading researchers at SSE House of Innovation (HOI) are exploring novel phenomena such as human-algorithm collaboration and decision-making, and the reshaping of strategy and work as AI technologies enter and permeate the workplace. They also adopt behavioral perspectives on AI, such as micro-foundations of strategy and organizational learning. This includes the ways in which resources, principles, and priorities are used to guide how, where, and why AI is employed in the organization, and what the associated outcomes are on the individual, group, and organizational levels.

As a PhD student, you will work with Magnus Mähring, Anna Essén, Sebastian Krakowski, Elmira van den Broek, and other scholars to explore questions such as:

What determines the adoption and successful use of AI by organizations and managers?
How do AI use dynamics evolve over time, and why?
How can beneficial, human-centered AI be developed and applied in organizations and society?
How does AI (re)shape professional work and societal values?

The PhD position is affiliated with the Wallenberg Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanities and Society (WASP-HS) – a national research program, which tackles the challenges and impacts of upcoming technology shifts and contributes to the development of theories and practices of human and societal aspects of AI and autonomous systems. This is an exciting field in rapid growth and with high demand for academic expertise.

For more details regarding the research project, please contact Sebastian Krakowski, Elmira van den Broek, or Anna Essén. For questions about the application process, please contact the admissions team.

Family Enterprise

Most businesses globally are operated or owned by families, and they contribute greatly to economic and societal development. Family enterprises, and increasingly family offices, are engines of innovation and entrepreneurship and often stand out with their long-term orientation, commitment to sustainability, and active and responsible ownership. Representing the major contributors to GDP and employment, as well as many of the most famous brands throughout the world, academic research into the challenges and opportunities facing family offices and family enterprises is an important priority.

This PhD position is affiliated with the newly established SEB Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Business and the Center for Family Enterprise. As a PhD candidate focusing on family enterprise, you will engage in research within one or more of our focus areas:

Innovation & Entrepreneurship, exploring family offices as investors in entrepreneurial companies, from founder- to family-led business transitions and the development of entrepreneurial capabilities of owner-families and their businesses across generations.
Ownership & Governance, exploring families as owners, e.g., how owners organize and exercise their involvement in private and publicly listed companies, the professionalization of ownership and governance in growing and complex family enterprises, family office structures, and the challenges and opportunities associated with succession and ownership transitions are in focus in this research area.
Philanthropy & Impact Investment, exploring how family enterprises and family offices have an impact beyond financial performance, i.e., combining profit and purpose, through sustainable business practices and integrating non-financial goals in their legacy as well as various forms of family philanthropy and impact investing.

This PhD candidate position offers an exciting opportunity to make high-impact contributions to research in the research areas above. The link to the Center for Family Enterprise offers unique access to both quantitative and qualitative data. For questions about the center and suitable projects, please contact Mattias Nordqvist or Erik Wetter. For questions about the application process, please contact the admissions team.

Transformative Innovation

Complex, large-scale innovation initiatives are coming into focus as an important but understudied force for the transformation of industries and societal sectors. Often motivated by grand challenges and with pronounced sustainability intentions, such initiatives often require multi-actor collaboration, complex knowledge recombination, and changes in industry structures and sometimes even societal structures. Several research projects are under preparation in this area, in addition to ongoing research by HOI faculty members.

As a PhD candidate focusing on transformative Innovation, you will work within our new Transformative Innovation Center, a major new initiative at the House of Innovation. Topics of interest include, for example:

How does knowledge transfer occur within and across new technology-driven industries?
What are the determinants of innovation ecosystem formation and impact, and what characterizes their development trajectories?
How does innovation occur in alliances and networks?
Through what processes and structural mechanisms can major transformative initiatives be funded and governed?

This position presents an exciting opportunity to make high-impact contributions to research in Innovation Management and related fields. For questions about the center and suitable projects, please contact Holmer Kok or Anna Essén. For questions about the application process, please contact the admissions team.

About Stockholm School of Economics

Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) is one of Europe's leading business schools, with a unique business-community network. Our research is internationally recognized, and many of our researchers are among the leading figures in their respective fields. SSE offers educational programs at the bachelor, master, EMBA, executive education, and PhD levels. Please read more here www.sse.se