2021 MIT IDE Annual Report

2021 ANNUAL REPORT
Racing into the future

2021 IN REVIEW
A Pivotal Year for the World,
a Prolific One for the IDE
IDE Director Sinan Aral shares his thoughts on the past year
Sinan Aral
Director, MIT IDE
In 2021, we continued to lead the way forward
despite an ever-changing digital landscape.
How can technology effect positive change?
CONTENTS
03 ACHIEVEMENTS
04 RESEARCH
06 AWARDS
07 EVENTS
09 EDUCATION
10 TEAM
11 SUPPORTERS
It’s often difficult to measure the impact of
academic accomplishments, but at the IDE
we repeatedly get to see how our diligence is
making a difference. 2021 was a pivotal year for
the world and a prolific year for our outstanding
faculty, researchers, and students.
Recent recognition and accolades are just one
reflection of our work’s value. I was humbled to
be named the top digital thinker by Thinkers50,
joining other IDE researchers and scholars—past
and present—on this list, including Geoffrey
Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne, Andrew McAfee,
and Erik Brynjolfsson. I’m also privileged to work
with Maria Ressa, IDE fellow and CEO of Rappler,
who received the Nobel Peace Prize for her
staunch advocacy of press freedom and defense
of truthful information around the globe. The
leading-edge research of many other IDE leaders
was also recognized this year, which is fulfilling
and energizing.
At the same time, 2021 was much more than
a year when IDE scholars won awards; it
allowed us to be at the epicenter of international
business and policy discussions about the
significant implications of digital technologies
like AI and social media, and the increasing
impact of fake news.
When I began my study of social media and
marketing more than a decade ago, I knew it
was a growing phenomena. Still, it’s startling
today to see the profound power wielded by
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon,
and Google. As I point out in my book, The Hype
Machine, technology and society have fused
into one conversation. Should social media be
regulated? And if so, how? Can we safeguard
personal privacy and democracy? Can we stem
the flow of misinformation? The critical nature
of these issues explains why we had more than
20,000 people join us for the virtual Social Media
Summit at MIT in April 2021—the largest event at
MIT, ever.
I look forward to 2022 and the new areas of the
digital economy that we will study rigorously.
We’ll shed light on the promise—and the perils—
these technologies may bring.
The IDE’s goal is to explore how people and
businesses will work, interact, and prosper
in an era of profound digital transformation.
We can only achieve that goal with the support
of our members and sponsors. Even when we
can’t meet in person, we continue to deepen
our collaboration and relationships with you,
our stakeholders. Thanks for joining us on this
wild journey.
02

ACHIEVEMENTS
2021:
The Pandemic-
Fueled Reliance
on Technology
Resulted in
Resilience and
Reinvention
FPO
RESSA WINS NOBEL
PEACE PRIZE
IDE Digital Fellow Maria Ressa won the 2021
Nobel Peace Prize “for [her] efforts to safeguard
freedom of expression, which is a precondition
for democracy and lasting peace.” A journalist in
Asia for 35 years, Ressa co-founded Rappler, a
digital news site that’s leading the fight for press
freedom in the Philippines. As the company’s
executive editor and CEO, Ressa has endured
constant political harassment and arrests by
the Duterte government—and was forced to
post bail nine times to stay free. Rappler’s battle
for truth and democracy is the subject of the
2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary, A
Thousand Cuts. Ressa has contributed to IDE
events, including her keynote talk at the 2021
IDE Annual Conference and Social Media
Summit @ MIT.
In 2021, social media truly took center
Reuters / Alamy
stage. No longer a benign fad, platforms
became enmeshed with the ongoing
NEW RESEARCH ABOUNDS
A-LAB DRIVES BENEFITS
COVID-19 crisis, government upheaval,
COVID-19 RESEARCH REPORT
The IDE research team worked tirelessly to provide timely,
accurate, and data-informed analysis of the pandemic and its
effects– even as it unfolded. The goal was to offer actionable
solutions for policymakers, business leaders, and citizens.
We collaborated with companies like Facebook, Safegraph,
Praekelt, and Graphika Inc. to analyze millions of data points
to help stop the coronavirus spread and advise global leaders
on critical next steps. Our report, Our World Accelerated:
COVID-19 and the Impact on Our Digital Economy, outlines the
key findings from multiple IDE research projects.
As always, IDE researchers focused on the most
crticial digital economy issues affecting the
world today– as well as the future. We tackled
thorny topics such as: How AI drives decisionmaking;
what the world of work will look like
post-pandemic, and when and how quantum
computing will replace traditional computing.
ACCENTURE DEEPENS COLLABORATION
Accenture, an IDE founding member, invigorated
our collaboration this year. With the establishment
of the MIT and Accenture Convergence Initiative
for Industry and Society, our organizations
launched a rigorous new agenda of research,
events, and content development.
IDE EVENTS DRAW HUGE AUDIENCES
With virtual events now the norm, the IDE took
full advantage of this format yielding excellent
response and participation. We launched
new events like the Social Media Summit and
continued our heritage events: the Platform
Strategy Summit and Annual Conference. Overall,
we engaged more than 25,000 viewers and
attracted new members and partners.
The IDE’s flagship educational offering – the
Analytics Lab (A-Lab) – continues to be highly
sought by students and project hosts alike.
In this graduate seminar, student teams engage
with host organizations to use analytics,
machine learning, and other analysis
methods. Their results diagnose, enable, or
uncover solutions to real business issues and
opportunities. This year’s class included 98
graduate students and 25 projects hosted by
19 companies.
IDE RESEARCHERS GARNER ACCOLADES
Our team of researchers continues to
receive recognition on the international
stage for cutting-edge work on the digital
economy. The list of accolades speaks to the
contributions of our researchers to academia,
industry, and the public sector. For example,
Dean Eckles provided testimony on algorithmic
transparency and assessing the effects of
algorithmic ranking before the US Senate
Subcommittee on Communications, Media,
and Broadband.
and related misinformation campaigns
worldwide. These topics also informed
the research agenda at the IDE. The
more technology’s role in society was
top-of-mind and hotly debated, the
more relevant our work became.
PRESS & MEDIA COVERAGE SOARS
IDE research and events continue to attract global
attention from the press and media, advancing
the public understanding of the digital economy.
Our channels experienced widespread growth as
we launched informative content across Twitter,
LinkedIn, Medium, Instagram, and our newly
revised website and video. Our audience has
grown to more than 4,000 followers on Medium.
IDE Director Sinan Aral was a sought-after
commentator on national and global media—
including CNN and Yahoo Finance—on topics
ranging from the January 6 invasion of the US
Capitol to big tech monopolies.
03

RESEARCH
Our Research:
A Strong
Foundation
Research is at the core
of everything we do
at the IDE. Our team
continues to examine
the critical issues facing
the world today and in
the future.
RESEARCH GROUPS
The IDE leadership team focuses on six research group topics.
Misinformation & Fake News
David Rand is advancing the fight against online
misinformation and driving truth in our digital lives.
In the research project, The Psychology of Fake News, Rand writes,
“There is…a large disconnect between what people believe and what
they will share on social media, and this is largely driven by inattention
rather than by purposeful sharing of misinformation.”
The Human/AI Interface
Renée Richardson Gosline is optimizing the human
and AI division of decision-making and preventing bias
in algorithms.
During the MIT Sloan Experts series, Gosline discussed “Human-
Centered AI,” which examines the consequences of how and when
people trust bots and algorithms to help them make decisions, and
what it means for society at large.
Data-Driven Societies
Sandy Pentland is building data and AI ecosystems
and infrastructure in which all partners—citizens,
companies, and government—are winners.
Alex “Sandy” Pentland, is among the contributors to Remaking the
World—The Age of Global Enlightenment. The joint initiative by the
Boston Global Forum and the United Nations Academic Impact features
two articles by Pentland: “The Cycle of Prosperity: Ensuring Equal
Opportunity” and “Our Digital Future: from the Internet to the Interledger.”
Tech for Good
Andrew McAfee is accelerating and ensuring the broad,
positive progress that innovation drives in our economy,
society, and environment.
McAfee’s insights continue to illuminate the paradoxes and the
potential inherent in technology’s ability to promote a more positive
future. Read “Don’t Misunderstand Earth Day’s Successes” in Wired.
Accenture Deepens Collaboration with IDE
As a founding member of the IDE, Accenture
has embarked on an extensive program of
research and activities with IDE faculty, scientists,
and staff. Currently, we are working closely
together on four streams of research: Quantum
Computing; Digital Decoupling; Responsible AI,
and Productivity and the Cloud.
Social Networks & Digital
Experimentation
Dean Eckles is uncovering how new technologies and
means of social interaction and contagion impact all
facets of life.
Industry decision-makers often want to identify interventions, such
as marketing campaigns, that will maximize a desired outcome, but
often this outcome can only be observed in the long-term. Eckles
and his co-authors’ research finds methods for identifying optimal
interventions in the near term using statistical surrogacy and offpolicy
learning literature.
AI, Labor Economics, and
Online Marketplaces
John Horton explores how the design of online
marketplaces and computer-mediated transactions
can create widespread benefits for all.
Horton’s forthcoming working paper, “The Death of a Technical Skill,”
examines when the demand for a skill falls—or will foreseeably fall.
Workers with that skill must make a choice. Using Apple’s decision in
2010 to no longer support Adobe Flash, Horton uncovers the effect of
this decision on the workforce.
04

RESEARCH
New Projects for a New Age
The IDE research engine revved up in 2021 to focus on today’s dominant topics
as well as the themes that will loom large tomorrow.
VIEW OUR LATEST RESEARCH PROJECTS AT IDE.MIT.EDU
DEEP LEARNING’S PRESENT &
QUANTUM COMPUTING’S FUTURE
Quantum Computing continues to gain attention
as a super-charged collaborator to classical
computing, but when and how we will reach
quantum advantage remains a pressing
question. IDE researchers are closely analyzing
quantum advancements and other AI technology
breakthroughs–as well as their limitations.
Current research includes:
How Fast Do Algorithms Improve?
“One way to improve computer performance
is to change their algorithms—the step-bystep
procedures used by computers to solve
problems. While many claims have been made
about the rapid pace of algorithmic progress,
there is a wide discrepancy across algorithms.”
Deep Learning’s Diminishing Returns
“Faced with rising economic and environmental
costs, the deep-learning community will need
to increase performance without causing
computing demands to go through the roof.
If they don’t, progress will stagnate. But don’t
despair yet: Plenty is being done to address
this challenge.”
Quantum Computing for Business Leaders
This article published in Harvard Business Review
“examines the way quantum computers will not
only upend digital security, but spur investment,
reshape industries, and spark innovation.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media and its effect on our world
continues to provoke actions and reactions
by businesses, governments, and individuals.
For IDE researchers, that means constantly
offering data-based insights about the potential
ramifications of social media in areas such as the
platform economy, healthcare, and elections. We
take an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing
the behavioral, as well as the economic, impact
of technology. A few examples of recent reports:
Field Experiments On Social Media
Online behavioral data, such as digital traces
from social media, may allow researchers an
unprecedented window into human behavior.
However, research using such data is often purely
observational, limiting its ability to identify causal
relationships.
Influencer Video Advertising on TikTok
Influencer videos on the TikTok online platform
have emerged as a multi-billion dollar force
in marketing. We explore what differentiates
influencer videos that drive many sales from
those that drive only a few.
Online Platforms Have Become Chaos
Machines. Can We Rein Them In?
Sinan Aral continues to be the go-to expert on
social media. In this Harvard Business Review
article, Aral answers tough questions about
unchecked social media.
FAKE NEWS
JOURNALISM AGAINST MISINFORMATION
If we study the truth behind fake news, we may help
combat this dangerous and unintended byproduct
of the digital world. A team of IDE researchers
probed misinformation from various angles to
understand why and when people both believe and
share fake news and how to correct it.
Timing Matters When Correcting Fake News
“Countering misinformation can reduce belief in
that moment, but corrective messages quickly fade
from memory.”
The Psychology of Fake News
“There is…a large disconnect between what people
believe and what they will share on social media,
and this is largely driven by inattention rather than
by purposeful sharing of misinformation.”
Scaling Up Fact-Checking Using the Wisdom
of Crowds
“Crowdsourcing is a promising approach for
helping to identify misinformation at scale.”
To affirm our commitment to journalistic freedom,
the IDE created a research collaboration with
Rappler’s Maria Ressa with support from the New
Venture Fund.
This project is intended to bring truth to what’s
happening in the Philippines. The primary
purpose of the project is to document the use
of misinformation and cyberattacks to silence
journalist opposition to the Duterte regime.
We also aim to scientifically analyze the online
dynamics of how such attacks unfold and why
they succeed or fail. Our research team has
started to analyze a large data set that includes
Rappler’s data, as well as detailed data on the
last 20 years of election results in the Philippines
to statistically analyze the spread of online
misinformation and how it quells fair elections
and democracy.
05

AWARDS
The World
Takes Notice
Members of the IDE community continue
to change the world and earn accolades
along the way.
“Sinan Aral is a clear
and persuasive guide to
the new tech reality.”
-Thinkers50
THINKERS 50
Under IDE Director Sinan Aral, recently named top digital
thinker by Thinkers50, our award-winning researchers worked
at the intersection of computing, social science, digital
experimentation, and economics to decipher and explain
unprecedented events.
Aral received the Digital Thinking Award, as someone who has
done the most to convert “the digital language of 0’s and 1’s into
useful human insight.” Says Thinkers50: “Sinan Aral is a clear
and persuasive guide to the new tech reality.”
Also topping the 2021 Thinkers50 list were IDE Visiting Scholar
Geoffrey Parker and IDE Co-Director Andrew McAfee. Former
IDE Fellow Marshall Van Alstyne also made the list.
Geoffrey Parker and Andrew MacAfee were recognized by Thinkers50.
PARAMVEER DHILLON
Former IDE Post-Doctoral Fellow and MIT Sloan PhD
Paramveer Dhillon won the Davis Young Scholar Award from
the Institute for Operations Research and the Management
Sciences. Dhillon is now on faculty at the University of
Michigan.
DEAN ECKLES & AVINASH COLLIS
As part of its Foundational Integrity Research proposal process, Facebook
(now Meta) awarded funding to Dean Eckles and former MIT Sloan PhD
Aviansh Collis. Of 446 proposals, Meta selected 19 winners, including
Eckles’ proposal on “Measuring the Impact of Social Influence on Belief in
Misinformation” and “Does Whatsapp Increase Polarization?” by Collis.
MARIA RESSA
Maria Ressa, IDE fellow and CEO of Rappler, was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for her staunch advocacy of press freedom
and truthful information around the globe.
DAVID RAND
David Rand was named one of the top business school
professors under 40 years old by the annual Best 40 under 40
list by Poets&Quants, which honors young professors teaching
in MBA programs.
JOHN HORTON
John Horton won the 2021 INFORMS Slaughter Early Career
Award and the AI/ML Rising Star Award at the 2021 AI, ML and
Business Analytics program.
06

EVENTS
MIT IDE Seminar
Series
FEATURED SEMINAR
KATY MILKMAN
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Mega-Studies Improve the Impact of
Applied Behavioral Science
Our informal seminars spotlight
early results from current research
projects and provocative new ideas.
Katy Milkman introduces the concept of a
megastudy, a technique that can accelerate
the pace of discovery in behavioral science
and enable scientists to more effectively
inform policy-makers about improving citizens’
decisions and outcomes.
WATCH SEMINAR
SPRING / FALL 2021 SEMINARS
Watch select spring and fall
seminars on our YouTube channel.
Johan Ugander
Stanford University
“Measuring Network Effects
Using Randomized Graph Cluster
Randomization”
Florenta Teodoridis
USC Marshall
“Could Machine Learning be a General
Purpose Technology?
Michael Schrage
MIT IDE
“Selvesware and The Next AI:
How ‘Augmented Introspection’
Transforms Recommendation”
Sarah Bana
Stanford HAI
“job2vec: Using Language Models
to Understand Wage Premia”
Tim Hwang
Georgetown Center for Security and
Emerging Technology
“Online Advertising is Broken. You
Won’t Believe What Happens Next”
Sebastian Steffen
MIT Sloan School of Management
“Occupational Skill Compositions and
the Values of Skills: Panel Estimates
from 200 Million Job Postings”
Nicholas Ashford
MIT Sloan
“Actions We Can Take to Address
Misinformation and Safeguard
the Freedom of Speech”
Sukwoong Choi
MIT Sloan
“How Does AI Improve Human
Decision-Making? Evidence from
the AI-Powered Go Program”
D.J. Wu
Georgia Tech
“Commercializing Smart and
Connected Products: A Value
Chain Perspective”
Jonathon Hazell
Princeton
“AI and Jobs: Evidence from Online
Vacancies”
Joshua Gans
Rotman School, University of
Toronto
“The Information Requirements of
Preparing for Covid-29”
Sendhil Mullainathan
Chicago Booth
“Algorithmic Behavioral Science:
Automated Discovery of Human
Bias”
Cuy Sheffield
Visa
“The Evolution of Crypto: From
Bitcoin to NFTs”
Ron Berman
UPenn Wharton
“False Discovery in A/B Testing”
Sonia Jaffe
Microsoft Research
“The Effects of Remote Work on
Collaboration Among Information
Workers”
Avi Goldfarb
Rotman School, University of
Toronto
“Quantum Economic Advantage”
Siddharth Suri
Microsoft Research AI
“Ghost Work: The Labor that
Powers AI”
Sophie Calder-Wang
UPenn Wharton
“The Distributional Impact of the
Sharing Economy on the Housing
Market”
Judith Chevalier
Yale School of Management
“Gig Work and Digital Platforms:
Future of Competition for Workers”
Hal Gregersen
MIT Sloan
“Managing the Human Side of
Digital Disruption”
07

EVENTS
High Impact,
High Visibility
Events continue to be our primary means
for spreading our research insights far
and wide.
CONFERENCE ON DIGITAL
EXPERIMENTATION (CoDE)
The ever-growing attendance at MIT CoDE
reflects the tremendous interest among data
professionals and academics in online testing
methods. This year’s two-day event was the
largest in its 14-year history, a testament to the
rise in these online testing methods.
500
REGISTERED
ATTENDEES
8
PLENARY
SPEAKERS
100
PARALLEL
SESSIONS
CoDE convenes leading researchers conducting and analyzing large-scale randomized experiments in digitally mediated
social and economic environments, in various scientific disciplines including economics and computer science.
VIEW SELECT SESSIONS
THE MIT IDE SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT
(SMS @ MIT)
SMS@MIT brought together social technology luminaries
to examine one of the most critical and compelling
issues of our time —the impact of social media on our
democracies, our economies, and our public health. The
ambitious vision of this first event was not just to identify
problems but to craft meaningful solutions to the social
media crisis that promote the promise of social media
and avoid its perils. The free event drew an impressive
20,000 attendees, the largest event ever hosted at MIT.
The SMS@MIT is now an annual IDE flagship.
Read:
Social Media at a Crossroads, 25 Solutions from
the Social Media Summit
IDE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
It’s one thing to read new research
reports and analysis; quite another
to hear and see the author explain
their work first-hand, even if it’s
virtual. The goal of our annual
conference is to connect the dots
between scholarly data and the
IDE members and sponsors who
need actionable insights from our
research every day. Attendees had
the opportunity to interact with
researchers, discuss studies, and
determine how their organization—
or society as a whole—can benefit
from this cutting-edge work.
The day offered a fast-paced, winwin
interchange where members
gained access to IDE experts and
the IDE team learned lessons from
practitioners in the field.
MIT ANALYTICS LAB (A-LAB)
The MIT Analytics Lab offers an
opportunity for IDE stakeholders
to submit projects and data to MIT
graduate student teams that will
use analytics, machine learning,
and other methods of analysis to
develop results that will diagnose,
enable, or uncover solutions to real
business issues and opportunities.
The 2021 Pitch Day was
held on September 18. The
2021 Final Presentations
were held on December
DIGITAL MEDIA & PRINCIPLED
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN
GROWTH MARKETS
Maria Ressa, the Philippines’ first
Nobel Prize Laureate, joined the IDE
for a special, live event.
Ressa, who is the founder of
Rappler and IDE digital fellow,
spoke with Sinan Aral about the
impetus of founding Rappler and
how she and the company have
used principled entrepreneurship
to leverage their platform for
social change. She also shared her
successes and lessons learned as a
leader and public figure.
The November 17 event was
produced in conjunction with The
Legatum Center for Development
and Entrepreneurship at MIT.
PLATFORM STRATEGY SUMMIT
The IDE hosted the internationally
recognized Platform Strategy
Summit for the ninth year running.
An impressive lineup of engaging
leaders and researchers examined
how platform ecosystems attract
new business partners, streamline
operations, and optimize digital
technologies. Songtradr, the
world’s largest music licensing
marketplace, selected artists David
Davis and Alice Pisano to perform
live for our audience.
08

EDUCATION
Action + Learning =
The Future
As always, education is at the core of what
we do. We take pride in ensuring that the
insights derived by our researchers find
practical application and understanding for
our stakeholders and the broader community.
A-TEAMS DELIVER DATA-DRIVEN RESULTS
Successful implementation of business analytics requires
leading-edge tools and sophisticated data modeling skills—
exactly what MIT Analytics Lab (A-Lab) students know best.
This year, 25 student teams worked with their sponsor
organizations on a wide range of data-set problems—from
examining talent pipelines, to predicting real estate metrics,
and analyzing stock replenishment at local grocers. Their
analytical acumen yielded cost-saving results for the
businesses—and awards for the student teams.
Below (L-R): Kim Adler, Tiana
Cui, Grace Garbrecht, and
Zijin Wang of Lasso Ladies.
On December 3, the teams presented their semester-long
projects to a panel of judges that chose a winner based
on creativity, execution, and business value. The winning
student team worked with Atlassian, a maker of software
collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, and
AtlassianMarket. The students worked on a project titled
“Marketing Attribution: Uncovering the Most Influential
Campaigns.” They found that the most effective way to
convert leads to actual sales includes multiple intermediary
touchpoints such as webinars, trials, and website resources.
Congratulations to the winning A-Lab team ‘Lasso Ladies.’ representing Atlassian, who will have their
names etched on the silver winners’ cup. Above (L-R): Justin Fortier (Head of Data Science at ViralGains &
A-Lab Judge), Renée Gosline (IDE Research Group Lead & A-Lab Judge), Grace Garbrecht (student), Kim
Adler (student), Tiana Cui (student), Zijin Wang (student), Yael Davidan (Senior Director at Chewy & A-Lab
Judge), Sinan Aral (IDE Director & A-Lab Professor).
Executive
Education
In 2021, IDE faculty and
researchers continued to launch
and contribute to best-in-class
executive education courses.
Renée Richardson Gosline launched her
new course, Breakthrough Customer
Experience (CX) Strategy. In this highly
interactive program, Gosline demonstrates
how state-of-the-art behavioral economics
can be combined with leadership strategy
to develop innovative marketing strategy
and competitive advantage.
Sinan Aral taught Executive Education
courses on Digital Marketing Analytics
and Social Media Strategy. Participants
gained practical insight into how to
apply digital marketing measurements
and analysis and how to harness social
media effectively and ethically.
MIT Digital Fellow Michael Schrage
and Douglas Ready, a senior lecturer at
the MIT Sloan School of Management,
taught the executive course,
Reimagining Leadership: A Playbook for
the Digital Economy in February.
09

TEAM
IDE Team
The IDE relies on the
expertise and dedication
of a committed group of
individuals.
LEADERSHIP
Sinan Aral
Director, MIT IDE
Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
Andrew McAfee
Co-Director and Principal Research Scientist,
MIT IDE
RESEARCH GROUP LEADS
Dean Eckles
Associate Professor, MIT Sloan School of
Management
Renée Richardson Gosline
Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of
Management
John Horton
Associate Professor, MIT Sloan School of
Management
Andrew McAfee
Co-Director, Principal Research Scientist, MIT IDE
Alex “Sandy” Pentland
Professor, MIT Media Lab
David Rand
Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
RESEARCHERS
Daron Acemoglu
Professor, MIT Economics Department
Wang Jin
Research Associate, MIT IDE
Kristina McElheran
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Geoffrey Parker
Professor, Dartmouth College
Georgios Petropoulos
Research Scientist, MIT IDE
Jonathan Ruane
Visiting Scientist, MIT IDE
Neil Thompson
Research Scientist, MIT IDE & CSAIL
DIGITAL FELLOWS
Timothy Aeppel
Reporter, Reuters
Matt Beane
Assistant Professor, Technology
Management Program, University of
California, Santa Barbara
DIGITAL FELLOWS (CONTINUED)
Seth Benzell
Assistant Professor, Argyros School of Business
and Economics, Chapman University
Thomas Davenport
Professor, Babson College
Alan Davidson
Digital Economy Director, U.S. Department of
Commerce
Paramveer Dhillon
Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
Apostolos Filippas
Assistant Professor, Gabelli School of Business,
Fordham University
Joshua Gans
Professor, University of Toronto Rotman School
of Management
Shane Greenstein
Professor, Harvard Business School
David Holtz
Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business,
University of California, Berkeley
John Irons
Senior VP & Head of Research, Siegel Family
Endowment
Tod Loofbourrow
CEO, ViralGains
Christos Nicolaides
Assistant Professor, University of Cyprus
Claudia Perlich
Data Scientist, Two Sigma
Maria Ressa
CEO, Rappler
Daniel Rock
Assistant Professor, Wharton School, University
of Pennsylvania
Michael Schrage
Visiting Fellow, Imperial College Department of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
John Van Reenen
Professor, London School of Economics
Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Visiting Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems
PhD CANDIDATES &
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
Nuruddin Ahmed
Postdoctoral Associate
Sukwoong Choi
Postdoctoral Associate
Zanele Munyikwa
PhD Candidate
Sebastian Steffen
PhD Candidate
Hong-Yi TuYe
PhD Candidate
Yuan Yuan
PhD Candidate
VISITING SCIENTISTS
Tamay Besiroglu
University of Cambridge
Erik Metz
BASF
Leonardo Serra
Capgemini Consulting
STAFF
Joanne Batziotegos
Finance Administrator
Tammy Buzzell
Associate Director
Devin Cook
Associate Director
Paula Klein
Contributing Writer and Editorial Content Director
Adjovi Koene
Administrative Assistant II
Aileen Menounos
Senior Administrative Assistant, MIT Sloan
A-Lab Coordinator
Carrie Reynolds
Assistant Director of Communications and
Marketing
David Verrill
Executive Director
10

OUR SUPPORTERS
Thank You
We are grateful for the ongoing
support of our advisors, donors,
and corporate members. Thank
you for joining our IDE community.
FOUNDATIONS
Center for Global Enterprise
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Ford Foundation
Google.org
Joyce Foundation
JPMorganChase Foundation
MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab
CORPORATIONS
Accenture (Founding Member)
Deutsche Bank (Founding Member)
3M
AB InBev
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Staying Focused in
a Spinning World
The IDE team adapts to digital changes all around us.
David Verrill
Executive Director
Nasdaq
BASF
ADVISORY BOARD
Mitchell Baker
Chairwoman and Co-Founder, Mozilla
Carl Bass
Former President and CEO, Autodesk
Marc Benioff
CEO, Salesforce
Mary Callahan Erdoes
CEO of Asset and Wealth Management,
J.P. Morgan
Reid Hoffman
CEO, Linkedin
James Manyika
Director, McKinsey Global Institute
Marissa Mayer
Co-Founder, Lumi Labs
Eric Schmidt
Technical Advisor, Alphabet
Robert Solow
MIT Professor of Economics and
Nobel Laureate
Michael Spence
NYU Professor of Economics and
Nobel Laureate
New Venture Fund
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
TDF Foundation
INDIVIDUALS
Nobuo N. Akiha
Wesley Chan
Aaron Cowen
Joe Eastin
Michael Even
Ellen and Bruce Herzfelder
Reid Hoffman
Richard B. Homonoff
Edward S. Hyman, Jr.
Gustavo Pierini
Gustavo Marini
Tom Pappas
Jeff & Liesl Wilke
and other individuals who prefer to
remain anonymous
Benefitfocus
Boston Globe Media Partners
Bruegel
Capgemini
Center for Global Enterprise
Dell EMC
Facebook
General Motors
Grant Thornton
Graphika, Inc.
IRC4HR
KPMG
MassMutual
Modis
Microsoft
Schneider Electric
The SWIFT Institute
Despite the continuing pandemic
in 2021, our remote yet technologyenabled
world continued to spin.
We embraced the circumstances
as best we could. I am so very
proud of our staff, who have
not only remained unbelievably
productive, but empathetic to the
inevitable issues of an existential
change to the way we work and
live. Finance Administrator, Joanne
Batziotegos; Associate Director of
Finance, Tammy Buzzell; Associate
Director, Devin Cook; Editorial
Content Director, Paula Klein; and
Assistant Director of Marketing
and Events, Carrie Reynolds: You
are all amazing. This small team
packages, promotes, and presents
our ideas for a broad audience –
from our generous stakeholders
(the individuals, corporations, and
foundations named above) to
academia, public policy pundits,
and the press.
2021 was a year in which we
deepened our focus on six
new areas of research: Renée
Richardson Gosline leading The
Human/AI Interface; Dave Rand
leading Misinformation & Fake
News; Dean Eckles heading
up Social Networks & Digital
Experimentation; John Horton
focusing on Labor Economics &
Online Marketplaces; Andy McAfee
driving Tech for Good; and “Sandy”
Pentland leading our Data-Driven
Societies efforts. And we launched
several new research projects,
including Quantum Computing
(Neil Thompson, Andy McAfee,
and Jonathan Ruane) and the
Metaverse and Digital Assets
(Sinan Aral). Watch for more on
these in 2022.
The IDE continues to be at the
forefront of how new technologies
impact individuals, industry, the
economy, and society. We don’t
shy away from difficult or politically
fueled topics. We analyze
them. We put them into context.
And we do so with a directive for
positive change.
The IDE is unique, essential,
and ever-more needed in our
accelerating digital world. We
appreciate the support of our
stakeholders and the MIT and MIT
Sloan ecosystems that allow us to
thrive.
May the coming year treat us all
well.
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