Digital Economy

DIGITAL ECONOMY
© Raimo Rudi Rumpler
The new Master’s Program in “Digital Economy” at
the Vienna University of Economics and Business pursues
an interdisciplinary approach to offer students
expertise in IT along with solid management training. The
4-semester program, which features our practice-oriented
Research & Industry Labs, is the ideal launchpad for those
wishing to make their mark in disruptive digital businesses.
At the same time, this research-led academic program aims
to provide students with state-of-the-art knowledge on
the rapidly developing digital environment. The program
director, Prof. Axel Polleres, and deputy director, Prof. Verena
Dorner, explain the entry requirements, the core content,
exciting industry collaborations and potential career options.
What qualifications do interested students need in order to
be accepted onto the English-language Master’s Program in
“Digital Economy”, and can you define the target group?
In addition to a bachelor’s degree or equivalent first
degree from a recognized educational institution, our main
requirement is sound technical and mathematical knowledge
or a background in business administration. Students
who don’t meet specific criteria can first attend our
bridging courses to acquire the requisite basic knowledge.
Our target group are students from diverse backgrounds,
who will be able to learn from one another and thereby
develop a “common language” – that’s a core concept of
our curriculum. Of course, students should also be prepared
to do hands-on work, diving into the nuts and bolts, so
to speak; or, if they already have a technical background,
to broaden their perspective to include the management
and strategy levels. This is a multidisciplinary program
that demands comprehensive training in a range of fields.
What content does the Master’s Program in “Digital
Economy” offer? Are there elective subjects that the students
can choose from?
The 4-semester master’s program is designed to provide skills
in governance as well as technical expertise and the ability to
lead change management processes in digital transformation.
In the first year, students are taught basic knowledge about the
digital economy in the areas of strategy, design, implementation,
and law. This is supplemented by methods in the field of
research and development. From the third semester onwards,
the students begin to specialize. They can choose between three
topics, namely “Information Systems”, “Digital Law and Economics”
or “Digital Strategy, Marketing and Transformation”.
What kind of employment opportunities do you see for
graduates?
The multidisciplinary program, leading to a Master of Science
(M. Sc.) degree, prepares students to work in the digital sector.
In particular, they are trained to understand the structure and
functioning of digital markets and the digitalization of existing
industries. Students learn to successfully negotiate their way
through the world of digital business. Their career prospects are
incredibly diverse: Our graduates
initiate, design, and implement
Career
prospects
are incredibly
diverse.
digital innovations in companies
and organizations or found their
own digital start-ups.
A concrete example of a career
path, depending on the chosen
specializations, is the profession
of data scientist or data architect,
i.e. experts who apply advanced analytical methods to prepare
the groundwork for corporate decisions or who design and operate
a company’s information and data architecture. Another
option is to enter the field of digital marketing and product
design, in which psychological models are used to explore how
certain algorithms influence decision-making behavior. Other
employment routes for graduates include IT consulting and, of
course, more general positions in companies and organizations
involved in the planning, management, and implementation
of various elements of digitalization such as blockchain.
Does the program also offer practice-oriented teaching?
In particular, do you collaborate with companies and
organizations as part of research projects?
We have a targeted practical component within our Research &
Industry Labs, which get underway in the third semester. This
is an integral and highly useful part of the program for students,
who are given the opportunity to work on innovative
research projects together with experts from companies and
organizations. We are delighted to have three strong partners
on board, namely ÖBB, VERBUND and WKO. In the
fall, we are launching the first concrete projects with ÖBB
and WKO. We hope that students will be able to apply
their very different skill sets and various fields of
expertise. The aim is not only to realize purely technical
projects in digitalization but also to incorporate
knowledge on the management
of organizational change. Ideally,
these projects should always
encompass both aspects.
WKO is an important partner for us because it provides a link
to SMEs in specific industries. Let’s take a company in the field
of electronics, for example, to serve as a practical case for the
students. How can such an enterprise optimize its business
to reflect the digital transformation? What does the market
demand? To what extent should businesses adapt their services?
Here we certainly have to consider the massive disruption
caused by Apple or Google in the smart home sector.
With ÖBB and VERBUND, we have two strong partners on board
who can provide students with exciting practical cases. Clearly,
transportation and power generation are two closely intertwined
industries, which are both being transformed by digitalization
processes. Here the goal of sustainability is becoming
ever more relevant. So, for example, we can investigate in realworld
cases how to optimize the transportation of goods and
people or how energy generation and consumption pathways
can be made completely transparent. And we can ask how supply
chains can be streamlined to boost sustainability.
The synergies in these areas are particularly exciting. We are
delighted that ÖBB and VERBUND have helped us set up a
newly endowed professorship for “Data Ecosystems for Environmental
Accountability”, which will take a holistic view of
this field while integrating WU’s focus on sustainability and
digitalization.
We are always open to further collaborations with the hope of
establishing long-term partnerships. Here the plan is to expand
our industrial network. From an initial cohort of 60 students,
we now aim to enlarge the program to 120 places each year.
With the simultaneous expansion of our portfolio of partners,
industries, and projects, we will be able to provide students
with valuable, practice-oriented experiences while pursuing
the goal of research-led teaching. Moreover, this means that
companies will directly benefit from new synergies and innovations
from WU research. This will create a win-win situation
for the students, for WU as a research institution and, in particular,
for the participating firms or organizations.
Univ-Prof. in Dr. in Verena Dorner ist Leiterin des IInstitute for Digital Ecosystems am Department für
Wirtschaftsinformatik und Operations Management der WU und stellvertretende Programmdirektorin
des Masterprogramms „Digital Economy“. Ihre Expertise liegt in den Bereichen Data-Science, Digital
Nudging und Human-Computer Interaction.
Univ-Prof. Dr. Axel Polleres ist Leiter des Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management an der
WU, dem er seit September 2013 als Professor für den Bereich „Data and Knowledge Engineering“
angehört. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte reichen von Datenbankabfragesprachen über Semantic-Web-
Technologien und Linked Open Data bis hin zu verschiedenen Anwendungen künstlicher Intelligenz.
© WU
Prof. Verena Dorner is head of the WU’s Institute for Digital Ecosystems at the Department of
Information Systems and Operations Management as well as deputy academic director of the Master’s
Program in “Digital Economy”. She is an expert in the fields of data science, digital nudging and humancomputer
interaction.
© WU
Prof. Axel Polleres is head of the WU’s Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management,
where he has been a professor in the field of “Data and Knowledge Engineering” since September
2013. His research interests encompass database query languages, Semantic Web technologies, Linked
Open Data and various applications of artificial intelligence.
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