With technological and scientific capabilities changing and growing daily, there’s more room for innovation and exploration than ever before. Creating new technologies and uses for them impacts all industries and sectors—and business is not exempt! New technologies can shake up production and supply chains, often sparking questions about the broader implications. When these innovations become available for public use, marketing and consumer well-being come into play. The intersection of innovation and business takes many forms, making it particularly interesting to Kogod professor of management Anna Fung.
“There are just so many questions that I’m interested in studying empirically,” Professor Fung says. “How do breakthroughs happen, and how are they incorporated into business practices? What happens to the people and firms who create them? What are the implications towards sustainability?”
Fung’s interest in technology and innovation as they pertain to business stems from a technology-focused professional life. After earning her bachelor’s degree in management science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fung spent several years at the consulting firm Sapient, where she learned about the technical aspects of her projects and their interactions with multinational businesses and project management. She was well-versed in how technology and business work together when she pursued her PhD at the University of Washington. Fung was motivated to learn more.
Now, her expertise is being put to work at the international level. The National Science Foundation in China recently awarded Professor Fung and her research team a $65,000 grant to support their research of innovation in manufacturing. “We’re interested in understanding the digital economy and how it drives innovation, and we have many questions about this context,” Professor Fung explains.