Research Projects

Governance, Strategy & Reporting

Grand Challenges and the Role of Business Firms

Grand challenges represent global societal challenges of ecological or social nature, such as the transition to a carbon-free economy, fighting global inequality, and tackling precarious working conditions that are emerging as a result of digitalization and robotization. These challenges are complex and thus require the coordinated and sustained effort from several public and private actors, including business firms.

Social norms & behaviors

Socially Inclusive Technologies for Shared Prosperity

How can disruptive technologies be made socially non‐disruptive ? The question is important because it pertains to the contribution of basic research to human development and shared prosperity, both in the most advanced economies and in the Global South. The question is complex because it calls for close collaboration between natural scientists, engineers and social scientists.

Environmental policy & strategies

Evidence-Based Environmental Policy Advice

The purpose of this platform is to contribute to the debate in politics and media in Switzerland and abroad regarding environmental policy-making. It does so by providing a timely overview of the best economic research addressing the issue being debated, in terms that non-specialists can understand.

Innovation – Work & leadership, Data & AI

Automatic Detection of Leadership from Voice and Body

Whether facing dire and urgent crises at national level or leading an organization toward success, political and organizational leadership shapes our society. For instance, leadership might determine how a country can successfully face a great health issue (e.g., COVID19 pandemic).

Research – Work & leadership

Shaping the future of work

New developments in technology – artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things (IoT), robotics and virtual assistants – are challenging the current world of work. Workers may see their job “taken away” by automation- focused technology. But technological advances also offer huge potentials to do work differently and do different work. Changing technological setups at the workplace require organizations and workers to often and quickly embrace new tools, new forms of interaction and new forms of work. These changes will also likely have a fundamental impact on our society and social fabric.