Irish Institute of Digital Business dotLAB research goes global

dotLAB digital business research lab adds partners in Brazil, Slovenia, France and Italy.

17th February 2021

DCU research institute the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB) has today announced its global expansion with the addition of strategic international partnerships in France, Italy and Slovenia to join an established partnership in Brazil. This expansion sees IIDB research transform into a global network of dotLAB research clusters, building capacity, specific expertise and global reach for research in digital optimisation and transformation.

IIDB, and its applied research activity dotLAB, were founded in Dublin City University in 2018, to conduct theoretical and applied research that investigates and accelerates the adoption of digital technologies and the transformation of business using these technologies. These technologies include cloud computing, AI, FinTech, machine learning, blockchain, and more. The creation of the IIDB global network will create groups of research clusters focused on digital optimisation and transformation, each with a specialised and complementary set of expertise or domain knowledge. For example, dotLAB Brazil is a collaboration among five Brazilian university partners (led from the University of Pernambuco) with a research focus on cloud computing, Internet of Things, and applications of machine learning and deep learning, while dotLAB France, based in Rennes School of Business, will tap into the French partner’s strengths in the application of AI to business opportunities. dotLAB Italy located at the University of Chieti-Pescara offers notable expertise in the areas of psychology, behavior and neuroscience, while dotLAB Slovenia located at the University of Ljubljana offers unique opportunities in FinTech and InsurTech, among others.

Under the dotLAB umbrella, applied research focus areas incorporate key enabling technologies that are catalysing digital transformation including cloud computing, social, mobile, analytics and blockchain technologies. The research activity is structured around five interconnected research labs:

finLAB @ IIDB explores the interface between digital technology and modern financial innovation.
learningLAB @ IIDB focuses on how digital technologies can transform learning experiences and business processes.
subculturesLAB @ IIDB takes a multidisciplinary approach in the examination of themes related to digital subcultures.
trustLAB @ IIDB examines the interfaces between people, organizations and technology.
workLAB @ IIDB takes a multidisciplinary approach to consider the ways in which digital transformation is transforming work.

Commenting on the international expansion, IIDB Director Professor Mark Cummins said

“This global expansion will bring hugely valuable additional capacity and research expertise across our five research labs along with the ability to truly go global, identifying and researching global challenges across several international partners, each with their own strengths to leverage. This is an especially exciting time for the Irish Institute of Digital Business, with the strategic partnerships opening doors to new research, industry engagement, and funding opportunities”

More information on the Irish Institute of Digital Business and the dotLAB Network can be found at https://iidb.ie/.

dotLAB Brazil

dotLAB Brazil is a scientific collaboration network composed of Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado (FMT-HVT) and Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas (FVS-AM). The main research focus of

dotLAB France

dotLAB France is the result of a partnership with the AI-Driven Business Research Centre at the Rennes School of Business. The AI-Driven Business Research Centre is a cross-disciplinary research area, which draws on faculty expertise across the entire school. The centre’s focus is on rigorous research, but also on applying this research for business improvements and also, critically, on integrating this research in the student learning to ensure students are the future business leaders best placed to take advantage of the power of AI-driven business opportunities.

dotLAB Italy

dotLAB Italy is the result of the partnership with the University of Chieti-Pescara, approved through the Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences. The Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences was born from a scientific project for the territory and the community. The Department is interdisciplinary and it is based on a common scientific and historical methodological foundation. In the Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences, numerous scientific-disciplinary sectors are integrated in an innovative way around a common research goal: the knowledge of the individual through the investigation of physical, historical, psychological, anthropological, cultural, and social aspects. Reflecting the multi- and inter-disciplinary nature, the Department offers a wide range of opportunities for cutting edge research at the interstices of related fields.

dotLAB Slovenia

dotLAB Slovenia is the result of a partnership with the School of Economics and Business at the University of Ljubljana. SEB LU is an integral part of the University of Ljubljana and the first institution in Slovenia and in the region to have been awarded EQUIS, AASCB and AMBA accreditations, thereby joining the elite group of Triple Crown schools. This achievement ranks it among the top 1% of business and economics schools in the world. Research is one of SEB LU’s core activities that support its mission and vision, and as such it is integrated in all strategic activities. SEB LU’s strategic direction is to contribute to the progress and sustainable development of wider community through impactful research, and it co-created value for the business community though applied research. SEB LU creates and disseminates knowledge to students by researchers sharing their findings as a part of the programme delivery, and by including students in research activities. In line with SEB LU’s strategy, research is international, multi- and-interdisciplinary, with a focus on sustainability topics, and in accordance with ethical standards. SEB LU has identified institutional focus areas around which the school plans its core ecosystem (educational programmes, research, community involvement), and has already established clear strengths and expertise within these areas. The SEB LU’s identified Areas of Distinctive Expertise are competitiveness, innovativeness and sustainability, leadership, knowledge management and work organisation, business process management in organisations and supply chains, and globalisation, trade and international financial markets.

The dotLAB network currently includes dotLAB Brazil (comprising Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado (FMT-HVT) and Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas (FVS-AM)), and has recently established further nodes: dotLAB Slovenia (University of Ljubljana), dotLAB France (Rennes School of Business) and dotLAB Italy (University of Chieti-Pescara).

Irish Institute of Digital Business

Founded in 2018, the vision of the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB) is to be an internationally recognised centre of excellence for theoretical and applied research that investigates and accelerates the adoption of digital technologies and the transformation of business using these technologies. The mission of the IIDB is to develop an academic research environment that will foster innovative and high quality multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research and support the development of both faculty and research.

The goals of the centre are:

To position DCU as a leader in theoretical and applied digital business research;
To provide and communicate an early and steady supply of world class innovative research in all aspects of digital business that provides insights to industry;
To develop an international leadership position by attracting new projects, funding and staff to develop and sustain a robust research centre;
To develop a cohort of high quality research professionals in digital business and to support their career development;
To develop a position of recognised international leadership in innovative digital business through collaborating with leading researchers and institutes worldwide and disseminating and publishing outcomes from the research.

IIDB also conducts research in partnership with and on behalf of industry, with notable partners including Irish Life, Viva Air and IBM.