Big Data can help streamline a company’s production or improve our welfare services. But we cannot make the most of Big Data until we have learned to harness the vast amount of information. This is the conclusion of a new international White Paper based on the input from 130 researchers and practitioners and developed by the research centre ICOA at Aarhus University in collaboration with Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, IBM and the Organisation Design Community. The report has been sent to the European Commission and a number of governments.

• Read the White Paper ”Unleashing the potential of Big Data”

More than 130 participants from academia, industry, and government, representing 26 countries, met up at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne 1 in Paris to discuss the future of Big Data and Organisation Design. The aim and scope was to create an action-oriented and participant-driven workshop, share the latest knowledge in the field, build valuable relationships and develop ideas for further initiatives.

Together, IBM, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne 1, ODC, and ICOA wanted to initiate and exclusive event created by the invited participants from academia, industry, and government. The keynotes, distinguished speakers, and working groups were aimed at giving an insight into university, business and public driven applications, data challenges, impacts on organisation design, and how to organise partnerships and fellowships. The conference had an interesting lineup of keynotes and distinguished speakers, and participants engaged in active discussion, networking, and collaboration.

Five workgroups had been working virtually prior to the conference on key topics within: 1) University/Business driven Applications, 2) University/Public driven Applications, 3) Data Challenges, 4) Impacts on Organisation Design, and 5) Partnership/Fellowship. The groups met up in Paris to finalize their presentations and will turn these into a final workgroup report on each topic. The Organising Committee will use these reports to create a white paper than will contribute a number of ideas and recommendations on how Big Data can have an effect on business performance and development, new services in both the private and public sector, and future research.

Big Data is predicted to become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and competiveness.

Big Data also holds great potential for the public sector both in terms of operational efficiency improvements and the development of new services.

To grasp these opportunities the design of the organisation has to support and drive the value creation of Big Data.

It is our ambition to create an action-oriented and participant-driven workshop of approximately 100 researchers and practitioners.

To ensure the maximum outcome of such a unique gathering, we have designed a workshop process based on a high level of pre-workshop interaction of all participants. Everybody will be asked to contribute to the pre-workshop actions in five working groups, developing workgroup reports on the most relevant perspectives of Big Data and Organisational Design.

When we meet in Paris in May, the five working groups will present their workgroup final reports, allowing us to make the most of our time, share the latest knowledge in the field, build valuable relationships and develop ideas for further initiatives.

• Contribute to development of ideas for future initiatives to unleash the societal and business potential of Big Data
• Provide understanding of the architecture of the organisation and how it supports the use of Big Data
• Initiate research, innovation, and curriculum development proposals on Big Data to be submitted to the European Union and national governments for funding
• Initiate projects and papers to be published in the Journal of Organisation Design
• Outline projects and plans for developing graduate-level courses and curricula in Big Data
• Develop a professional networks of scholars, researchers, and practitioners

• Be part of the future of Big Data and how it can be leveraged to create value and solutions to societal challenges, for business, public organisations and research
• Get a broad picture of the newest Big Data and organisation design trends and perspectives
• Get a deep insight into opportunities and challenges
• Get a unique opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary and cross sector group
• Build a collaborative global network of experts and peers for further cooperation