Industry event | Learning across industries: how firms share innovation practices and knowledge - 21 Apr 2026
This event offers a practice-oriented forum for executives, practitioners, and faculty interested in how organizations learn from outside their own industry. Through a combination of research-based framing, practitioner-led discussion, and an interactive workshop, participants explore what makes cross-industry learning effective, scalable, and worth the investment. The session is designed to move beyond inspiration toward actionable insight that participants can take back to their organizations. Please register below to secure your seat.
Starttid:
2026-04-21 at 15:00
Sluttid:
2026-04-21 at 17:30
Plats:
Stockholm School of Economics. Registration required.
Many firms face constant pressure to innovate, adapt, and reinvent their ways of working in order to remain competitive, and in some cases, to survive. To meet these demands, managers increasingly look beyond their own organizations and industries for new ideas, practices, and ways of thinking. As a result, cross-industry learning is becoming a strategic imperative rather than a choice. In practice, however, such learning is rarely straightforward. Leaders often struggle to determine what is actually transferable, how learning can be organized across very different contexts, and how external inspiration can be translated into tangible business value rather than isolated experiments.
By bringing together research insights and practitioner experiences, this session equips participants with a clearer understanding of how cross-industry learning can be translated into meaningful practice. Participants will leave better able to articulate what current research tells us about learning across industries and where gaps remain between theory and managerial application. They will also reflect on how such learning unfolds in real organizational settings, drawing on practitioner insights and workshop discussions to assess their own initiatives more critically. Finally, participants will develop a more informed view of when and how external ideas and practices may support innovation, while becoming more aware of the organizational conditions and common pitfalls that determine whether these efforts create value.
The event is structured in three consecutive steps:
The event begins with a concise and accessible overview of what current research tells us about Learning Across Industries, offering a shared point of departure without academic jargon or abstract theory.
This research perspective is complemented by a panel discussion with senior practitioners from different industries—estate and construction, video games, and pharmaceuticals—who reflect on their personal journeys and concrete experiences with organizational and cross-industry learning.
During the final part, participants will actively connect research insights and practitioner experiences with their own challenges, collectively creating a take-home best-practices cheat sheet.
Program
15:00 - 15:15 | Welcome and coffee
15:15 - 16:45 | Program (incl. research insights, panel discussion & workshop)
16:45 - 17:30 | Mingle & networking
Research insights
Natalie Aleksić
PhD Candidate, SSE House of Innovation
Natalie is a PhD candidate in Business Administration at the Stockholm School of Economics, House of Innovation. Her research explores how Artificial Intelligence transforms innovation and performance, with a particular focus on the life sciences and pharmaceutical drug discovery. She is an affiliated PhD within WASP–HS, the Wallenberg Foundation’s program on AI, autonomous systems, software program – humanity and society, and holds a master’s degree with distinction from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Pär Mårtensson
Associate Professor, SSE House of Innovation
Pär works as Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), House of Innovation and is the Academic Strategy Lead for Teaching and Learning at SSE. He is the Chair of the consortium International Schools of Business Management and a faculty member and coach in the Internaitonal Teachers Program. He has written or co-edited eight books and published a number of journal articles and book chapters and is a frequent coach and advisor to business leaders.
Panelists
Helena Andersson
Sanofi
Helena is one of the leads for program management at Sanofi R&D, a biopharma company developing new medicines. She serves as a strategic partner to senior leadership and global cross-functional teams, driving end-to-end asset strategy and advancing potential medicines from one phase to the next in the pipeline. Previously, she directed scientific communication strategy, managing relationships with external stakeholders and orchestrating 170+ annual publications. She also served as Strategy & Operations Lead, driving organizational effectiveness and digital transformation. Earlier in her career she led the management and execution of 25+ clinical trials within Pharma and Contract Research Organisations. Helena holds a PhD in Haematology from Imperial College London and brings 20 years of experience from academic research and pharmaceutical development to marketed medicines.
Johanna Frelin
CEO, Riksbyggen
Johanna serves as the CEO of Riksbyggen, a company focused on developing and managing housing, a position she has held since 2020. Prior to this, she was the CEO of Tengbom Architects and Hyper Island. Johanna began her career as a journalist and spent many years at Swedish Television. She holds a BA from Luther College, USA, and an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. In 2017, Johanna was named “Most Innovative Leader” by Chef magazine, and in 2013 she was awarded “CEO of the Year” in the small-company category. She is a frequent speaker and panel participant and currently serves on the boards of Folksam and Addnode.
Soraya Hölper
Project Manager for portfolio and strategy in the large molecules research area, Sanofi
Soraya is the Project Manager for Portfolio and Strategy in the Large Molecules research area at Sanofi R&D, where she leads analytical strategy and mass spectrometry-driven developability assessment for complex biotherapeutics. In this role she partners with cross-functional teams to drive characterization and optimisation of multispecific antibodies and other modalities from early discovery to clinical readiness. Prior to this, Hölper established and led mass spectrometry platforms and analytical workflows for protein sciences. She holds a diploma in biochemistry from Goethe University Frankfurt and completed her PhD in biomolecular mass spectrometry at the Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research, bringing deep expertise in analytical science to translational biopharmaceutical research.
Thomas Andrén
Managing Director, Massive Entertainment
Thomas has spent more than 20 years leading teams and organisations across media, technology and the games industry. Today, he serves as Managing Director of Massive Entertainment, where he leads one of Europe’s foremost AAA studios and works closely with its leadership teams to shape the studio’s creative and operational direction. Before joining Massive five years ago, Thomas acted as COO at Red Bee Media, where he was responsible for complex international operations and large-scale transformation work. That experience continues to shape how he leads, with a focus on clarity, steady execution and creating an environment where talented teams can do their best work. Thomas is known for his structured approach and his belief that strong results come from aligned teams, clear priorities and trust at every level of the organization.
