Research center
established by:

KTH, Stockholm University and RISE
A moderator speaks to four panellists standing behind a table with water jugs and glasses at a Digital Futures event. The panellists wear badges and face the moderator in a studio with blue lighting.

Digital Futures: Societal-Scale Digital Transformation: Triple-Helix or Triple-Crux?

The traditional workhorse of innovation in society has been academia leading transfer projects with industry and public entities. Societal-scale pick-up of such innovations has been largely determined by the slowest-moving entity in such triple-helix constellations.

Nevertheless, in the digital era, one observes diverging adoption velocities among these three stakeholders: Industrial research challenges academic research in terms of state-of-the-art, while globally operating corporations are less and less dependent on adopting new technologies by the public sector. At Digitalize in Stockholm 2022, Digital Futures organized a panel titled Societal-Scale Digital Transformation: Triple-Helix or Triple-Crux, discussing the challenges and opportunities arising from this trend, trying to predict the role of triple-helix 20 years from now.

Moderator:
James Gross – Professor, KTH & Associate Director Partner Programme, Digital Futures

Panellists:
Gesche Joost – Professor of Design Research, Berlin University of the Arts
Jiang Hu – Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University
Pei Wang –  Associate Professor, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Temple University
Ulf Håkansson – Technical Manager, Skanska Sweden AB

Link to talk on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ybBy60t074k

Link to Digitalize in Stockholm 2022 panels: https://digitalizeinsthlm22.se/panels/

More news

A man in a grey shirt and jeans stands smiling in a modern office corridor with wooden walls, a blackboard covered in writing, and a window labelled digital fut.

Paul Walton reflects on an interdisciplinary stay at Digital Futures

18/09/2026

As his time as Scholar-in-Residence at Digital Futures comes to an end, Professor Paul Walton...

A group of about 25 people stand together on a wooden decking in sunlight, posing and smiling for a group photo. A rust-coloured metal wall and bright blue sky are in the background.

A summer of research and exchange: Steffen Leonhardt at Digital Futures

16/09/2026

This summer, Professor Steffen Leonhardt from RWTH Aachen University joined Digital Futures as a Scholar-in-Residence...

Aerial view of Shanghai at sunset, featuring the Oriental Pearl Tower in the foreground and modern skyscrapers, including the Shanghai Tower, in the background.

Shanghai AI research and innovation delegation visits Digital Futures

15/09/2026

On 15 September, Digital Futures welcomed a delegation from the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (SAIRI) and...

Swiss Federal Communications Commission visits Digital Futures

10/09/2026

On 10 September, Digital Futures welcomed a delegation from the Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) for a...