Emerging Technology as a Catalyst for Business Transformation
Speaker: Prof. Katina Michael, Arizona State University and a Senior Global Futures Scientist with the Global Futures Laboratory
Date: 8th April, 12:00-13:15
Location: Online
Organiser: Newcastle University
Abstract
In this seminar, Katina Michael explores emerging technologies as catalysts to business transformation. She presents a series of case studies incorporating digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML), the blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics, and describes the organizational benefits that have ensued. She challenges the very essence of what should drive technological change by referring to broader concepts of humanity-centered design, incorporating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) analysis. Together with her students, she presents results from an MBA class at the University of Wollongong where the motivation for the adoption of new technologies is driven not by determinism, but a hope in the recalibration of business strategy toward the public interest. The innovative services proposed by the diverse practice-based cohort represent the marked shifts occurring in business globally.
About the speaker
Katina Michael is a professor with Arizona State University and a Senior Global Futures Scientist with the Global Futures Laboratory. She has a joint appointment with the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, and is the director of the Society Policy Engineering Collective. Katina also holds an honorary professorial appointment in the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Wollongong Australia, her alma mater. In her interdisciplinary business research, she studies humanity-centered design approaches, digital transformation, artificial intelligence/ machine learning and algorithmic bias, cloud and edge computing data breaches, public sector information systems failures, and corresponding organizational and social implications. Prior to academia, Katina was employed by Nortel Networks as a network and business planner, and by Andersen Consulting and OTIS Elevator Company as a systems analyst.