Information Systems & Operations Research Seminar – Professor Ke Rong

Title: Understanding the Evolution of the Digital Economy and its Ecosystem

Date:  27 October 2023

Time: 14:00-15:30

Location: NUBS.2.10

If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:

Understanding the Evolution of the Digital Economy and its Ecosystem

Speaker: Professor Ke Rong, Tsinghua University

Professor Ke Rong is the Deputy Director at the Institute of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, China. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge after completing his bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University. Prof. Ke Rong is also a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. His primary research interests include the internationalization of Business and Innovation Ecosystems, Digital Economy, and Data Ecosystems. He has authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles in esteemed journals such as the Journal of International Business Studies (UTD24), Production and Operations Management (UTD24), Management and Organization Review, and the Journal of International Management. He has also been the Principal Investigator for more than 20 research projects funded by the National Science Foundation of China, the British Academy, and leading companies like Huawei, Bytedance, Haier, Tencent, and China Mobile. These projects have investigated business ecosystems and platform strategies across various emerging industries on a global scale, including the digital economy, integrated chips, data markets, 3D printing, electric vehicles, mobile internet, and the sharing economy.

In recognition of his academic achievements, Professor Rong has received several awards, such as being named a Distinguished Young Scholar under the prestigious Changjiang Scholars Programme of China’s Ministry of Education and earning the Highly Cited Chinese Researchers distinction from Elsevier from 2021. He also holds the position of Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Digital Economy and serves on the editorial boards of leading journals like Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Business Policy, Management and Organization Review, and Long Range Planning. Additionally, Prof. Rong is a member of one of China’s top think tanks, providing policy advice to the central government, and is part of the Expert Network of the World Economic Forum.

Abstract

The shift from the industrial economy to the digital economy brings about tremendous changes in terms of new production factors, new organizations, new models, and new contexts. It
becomes important to understand the current development and the future landscape of the digital economy. This talk will introduce the IBCDE framework for digital economy research from
five dimensions: digital infrastructure (I), to-B industry platforms (B), to-C two-sided platforms (C), the data ecosystem (D), and empowering scenarios (E). By relating the current practices of
the digital economy to existing literature, this talk will discuss several important directions for future research, including big tech, data governance, AI, and large language models. The talk
will also provide a brief introduction to the Journal of Digital Economy