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New Digital Business Models

What new business models are made possible by digitization? How can entrepreneurs more quickly implement these models in ways that create widespread benefits for all?

The IDE works to define the basic principles and systems to help companies design successful platform strategies and facilitate the digital transformation of work and commerce. Our team of researchers examine how networked platforms— like the ones used by Uber, Airbnb, and eBay—are changing the way companies do business. Our research is redesigning the playbook for developing a successful platform strategy and focuses on how companies can maintain a competitive advantage in the digital age, even when they are not the platform provider.

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The long-awaited book, Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, hit bookstores in March. IDE researchers Marshall Van Alstyne and Geoffrey Parker, along with Sangeet Paul Choudary, penned this practical guide to the new economy that is transforming the way we live, work, and play.

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Featured Research Project

Trademarks & the Internet

During the past two decades, the rise of the internet has undoubtedly caused a spike in trademark registrations. With the help of Thomson Reuters, we set out to examine the demand of trademarks and trademarking activities in the digital economy. Our research uses statistical methods to determine how the internet has influenced the quantity of registered trademarks, as well as the number of firms searching for information about prior trademark registration.

Latest Publications

Research Papers Prioritization of Risks from Artificial Intelligence: A Delphi Study of 272 International Experts

Alexander K. Saeri

Jess Graham

Michael Noetel, et al.

 

This paper reports results from a three-round Delphi study conducted late 2025 with 272 international AI experts who rated 24 AI risks on harm probability and severity, sector and actor vulnerability, actor responsibility, and overall concern.

Working Papers General Social Agents

Useful social science theories predict behavior across settings. However, applying a theory to make predictions in new settings is challenging: rarely can it be done without ad hoc modifications to account for setting-specific factors. We argue that AI agents put in simulations of those novel settings offer an alternative for applying theory, requiring minimal or no modifications.

Research Papers Advancing AI negotiations: A large-scale autonomous negotiation competition

Michelle Vaccaro

Michael Caosun

Jared R. Curhan

 

This research reveals that principles from human negotiation theory remain crucial even in AI–AI contexts and that AI-specific technical strategies also create success. The results suggest the need to establish a new theory of AI negotiation that integrates classic negotiation theory with AI-specific negotiation theories to better understand autonomous negotiations and optimize agent performance.