In the midst of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was unfolding, OpenIDEO - an online open innovation platform focused on design-driven solutions to social issues - rapidly launched a new challenge to improve access to health information, empower communities to stay safe during the COVID-19 crisis, and inspire global leaders to communicate effectively. OpenIDEO was particularly suited to challenges which required cross-system or sector-wide collaboration due to its focus on social impact and ecosystem design, but its leadership pondered how they could continue to improve virtual collaboration and to share their insights from nearly a decade of running online challenges. Conceived as an exercise of disruptive digital innovation, OpenIDEO successfully created a strong open innovation community, but how could they sustain - or even improve - their support to community members and increase the social impact of their online challenges in the coming years?

In the October session of the AI in Enterprise series, HBS Professor and co-author of Competing in the Age of AI, Karim R. Lakhani and Roger Magoulas (Data Science Advisor) delved into O'Reilly's most recent survey of AI adoption in larger companies. The discussion explored common risk factors, techniques, tools, as well as the data governance and data conditioning that large companies are using to build and scale their AI practices. 

 

Read Hannah Mayer's recap of the event to learn more about what senior managers in enterprises need to know about AI - particularly, if they want to adopt at scale. 

 

While there are dispersed resources to learn more about artificial intelligence, there remains a need to cultivate a community of practitioners for cyclical exposure and knowledge sharing of best practices in the enterprise. That is why Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard launched the AI in the Enterprise series, which exposes managers and executives to interesting applications of AI and the decisions behind developing such tools. 

Moderated by HBS Professor and co-author of Competing in the Age of AI, Karim R. Lakhani, the most recent virtual session with over 240 attendees featured Rob May, General Partner at PJC, an early-stage venture capital firm, and founder of Inside AI, a premier source for information on AI, robotics and neurotechnology. Together, they discussed why we have seen a rise in interest in AI, what managers should consider when wading into the AI waters, and what steps they can take when it is time to do so. 

In the age of AI, traditional businesses across the economy are being attacked by highly scalable data-driven companies whose operating models leverage network effects to deliver value.