The Research Collaborative on Digital Transformation and Regulatory Technologies for Sustainability and Compliance Excellence
Our research projects investigate themes such as:
- The relationship between digitalization and compliance pressures
- The influence of sustainability regulations on corporate operations and businesses
- Evolution of the RegTech (regulatory technology) industry, globally and in Sweden & Finland
- Compliance and innovation capabilities offered for financial services firms and listed companies (focus on SDG compliance) by RegTech providers
- The influence of sustainability regulations and compliance demands on corporate operations and businesses
Researchers
Aalto University
Dr. Robin Gustafsson is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Department of Industrial Engineering. His research focuses on strategy, organization, and policy in industry and market disruptions, how digital is disrupting existing industries and markets, successful digital platform strategies, new sources of competitive advantage arising from digitalization, regulatory-driven shifts, open digital platforms and multi- sided platforms, and corporate digital strategies. He has successfully led many research projects, Business Finland, Academy of Finland, and EU (H2020) funded, in collaboration with international research partners and Finnish and foreign companies producing both new important innovation and science policy and corporate strategy know-how as well as a large number of publications in top-tier international peer-reviewed journals, such as Research Policy, Science and Public Policy, Information Systems Research, Academy of Management Journal, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Organization Studies.
Dr. Nomi Byström is Senior Researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. Her recent publications include: ‘Artificial intelligence solutions to accelerate impactful data-driven cancer innovation and research: a deep dive into data challenges’ (Byström & Gustafsson, 2023) and ‘Fostering Sustainable Finance and Corporate Sustainability by Means of Well Operating Informational Infrastructures’ (Byström, Gustafsson & Lipiäinen, 2023). Previously, she has worked at the Department of Computer Science as post-doctoral researcher (2014-2020), where she taught the courses Law in Digital Society, Law in Network Society, and IT Law. She has a PhD in political science and has graduated from the University of Helsinki. At Aalto University, she has worked in the following research projects: STN DDI Digital Disruption of Industry; New Business XEnt Data New Business from Cross-Enterprise Data; DHR Digital Health Revolution and SAICS Situation Awareness in Information and Cyber Security. Regarding EU regulation, she has also written on AI, data protection and cybersecurity rules.
Anita Golzarjannat is Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. Her research focuses on the role that IT-based solutions, such as RegTech, can play in enhancing regulatory compliance processes, in particular sustainability regulations.
Stockholm School of Economics
Dr. Karl Wennberg is Professor of the Barbara Bergström chair at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), and scientific director of SSE’s new House of Governance and Public Policy (GaPP) leading scholars in business administration, economics and finance collaborate in policy research and teaching. Dr. Wennberg’s research focuses on Entrepreneurship, Organizations, and Economic Development, often with a policy component. Currently, he pursues four streams of research: demographic diversity and organizational outcomes; regulation and industry change; innovation and entrepreneurship policy as well as impact evaluations, and, fourth, causal mechanisms in social systems. He has written 65 peer-reviewed articles in high-ranked international journals, 11 monographs, and over 70 reports and book chapters. His research has been awarded several prizes for novelty and has been cited over 11,000 times on Google Scholar. Dr. Wennberg is also involved in the practical and policy implications of his research and has authored case studies, research notes, public policy papers, and articles for public debate. He has held faculty positions and visiting positions at various universities in the EU, the UK, and the US. Regarding international engagement, he is a member of editorial review boards in leading management journals and is currently an adjunct professor at Linköping University and Munich Technical University.
Dr. Åke Freij is a RegTech specialist at the House of Innovation of Stockholm School of Economics. He has studied how institutional changes influence companies in the financial industry since 2009. In 2017 he defended his dissertation 'Mastering the impact of regulatory change'. His publications include: ‘Using technology to support financial services regulatory compliance: current applications and future prospects of regtech’, Journal of Investment Compliance, (Freij, 2020); ‘New entrant or incumbent advantage in light of regulatory change: a multiple case study of the Swedish life insurance industry’, European Management Review, (Sköld et al., 2020), awarded EMR Best paper award by the European Academy of Management; and ‘Regulatory change impact on technology and associated mitigation capabilities’, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, (Freij, 2022).
Ongoing projects
Technologies for improving compliance and innovation in sustainable finance: The evolution and future path of RegTech and SupTech capabilities in Sweden and Finland, funded by the Peter Wallenberg Foundation (2023-2025).
Stockholm School of Economics and Aalto University
Navigating Compliance and Competitiveness: Capabilities for Success in the Regulatory-Driven Sustainability Turn, funded by the Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto) (2024-2026).
Aalto University
Digitalization and regulatory compliance: an unexpected combination for competitive advantage and sustainable customer relationships,funded by Länsförsäkringar & Johan and Jakob Söderberg Foundation (2023-2026).
Stockholm School of Economics
Selected output
Publications
Robin Gustafsson et al. Informational Infrastructures for Impactful Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy. Aalto University Policy Brief (2024).
Robin Gustafsson et al. The multiplex of value creation and capture logics. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2023).
Nomi Byström, Robin Gustafsson et al. Fostering Sustainable Finance and Corporate Sustainability by Means of Well Operating Informational Infrastructures. Aalto University Policy Brief (2023).
Karl Wennberg et al. Knowledge Accumulation in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (2022).
Åke Freij. Regulatory change impact on technology and associated mitigation capabilities. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management (2022).
Karl Wennberg et al. Policy for innovative entrepreneurship. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (2021).
Working papers, conference presentations, etc.
Åke Freij. The Management of Regulatory Waves: Five Areas of Conflicts or Synergies. Presentation at Global Regtech Summit 2024, London, May 2024.
Anita Golzarjannat and Robin Gustafsson. Enhancing Sustainability Compliance Through Regulatory Technology: Insights and Challenges from a Multivocal Literature Review.
Nomi Byström and Åke Freij, EU companies’ sustainability shift meets emerging technologies.
Anita Golzarjannat and Åke Freij. Assessing the Current State of Support from Regulatory Technology for digitalization of Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance.
Databases
Global RegTech database of over 700 RegTech companies
Sweden and Finland RegTech monitor, 30 RegTech companies
Contacts in Finland
Contacts in Sweden
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