Kesko CDO Anni Ronkainen: “Tips from advisors for focusing research”

– I hope that the views provided by the advisors make it easier, for example, to select research topics. The field of digitalisation is beyond extensive, and we have highlighted certain themes that are particularly topical for companies. For example, platform economy, which is essentially connected to digitalisation, and its impact on our business is a topic that all companies are currently focusing on. It is good that these things are being studied at the university, Ronkainen says.

At the Digital Economy research platform, various research topics are discussed from different perspectives of the digital economy. According to Ronkainen, it is good that the research topics have been grouped together into larger entities under various research programmes.

– Focusing and packaging research topics into larger entities also makes it easier to communicate them to stakeholders.

Ronkainen has found it fascinating to explore the perspectives of different disciplines on the innovations made possible by new technologies and their impact on business life and society at large. She herself is interested in digitalisation in general, and she finds it particularly interesting how technology, data and analytics can be harnessed for the benefit of companies and society.

– Our discussions are made particularly rewarding by the slightly different approaches that the corporate world and the research community have. Companies tend to be more results-oriented and often have fairly strict guidelines on what can and cannot be done. Professors and researchers, on the other hand, have a certain freedom to contemplate and focus their research areas.

We have highlighted certain themes that are particularly topical for companies.

Teksti: Matti Remes