eBRF 2003

The third e-Business Research Forum eBRF 2003 brought more than 170 researchers, representatives of business life and business development organizations from 14 countries to Tampere, Finland to exchange views and ideas on e-business in the knowledge society. The annual conference builds new, increasingly versatile dialogue between the scientific community, business life and government.

“Due to the cross-disciplinary nature of the field of research, the conference brings together scientists representing traditional schools of business economics and researchers who study the field from a more technological angle. Additionally, the conference facilitates an increasingly fruitful dialogue between research project parties that is researchers, businesses, research financers and research and development organizations from the public and private sectors. Bringing businesses and the academic world closer to each other is particularly important in business economics, where businesses represent both the object and end-user of the research,” says Director of eBRC and Co-Chair of eBRF 2003, Marko Seppä.

The presented research projects and business and public sector cases characterized the most interesting themes currently emerging, such as business intelligence, the status of SMEs in the knowledge society and new business models and strategies. The conference was divided into four tracks: consumers and communities, managing knowledge and ICT in business, from venture to capital, and business models and value networks.

“50 research abstracts out of the 74 sent were selected for presentation at the conference. According to the review board, the level of the abstracts had risen remarkably from previous years,” Seppä says.

Beside the research and case presentations, several interesting keynotes were heard at the conference. The conference was opened by Finland’s former Prime Minister Esko Aho, who currently operates in the field of consultancy. His speech focused on the tripartite interaction between business life, universities and government and the future of the global IT society.

Kari Neilimo, Chairman of the S Group, the second largest retail group in Finland, gave a keynote speech on strategic management in a network organization. Other keynote speakers at eBRF included Project Officer Enrica Chiozza from the European Commission’s e-Business Unit, CIO Jorma Saarikorpi from UPM-Kymmene and Professor Piero Formica, Dean of International University of Entrepreneurship, Amsterdam.

Links

2003 program (pdf-file)

Speakers comments:

Esko Aho: “The second wave of the IT revolution will be built on new content and a new societal model”

Kari Neilimo: “Networking combines flexibility with the advantages of volume”