Digital Business Ecosystems connect an intricate network of organisations, technologies, and individuals. Daniel Chen Hsi Tsai explored the performance of such systems in his PhD studies, and one of the cases was taken from the Swedish healthcare system. Creating a Digital Business Ecosystem can support the active participation of individuals and better coordination of organisations.
When Daniel Chen Hsi Tsai planned his PhD studies in Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University, his background in Health Informatics at Karolinska Institutet inspired him to explore Digital Business Ecosystems (DBEs) further. In his thesis, defended in December last year, he studied how knowledge-intensive organisations are entangled in networks of suppliers, competitors, customers, and other actors.
– Digital Business Ecosystems are socio-technical environments where technologies, individuals, and a network of organisations (independent and interdependent) interact for business, collaboration and innovation, explains Daniel.
Daniel highlights Amazon, Skippo and Health Integrator as examples of DBEs:
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Within the global Amazon ecosystem, consumers, sellers, advertisers, logistics partners, developers, and regulators, collaborate and use technology, including the web-based marketplace, cloud infrastructure (AWS), and artificial intelligence to sell and distribute different goods worldwide.
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Skippo is a tool for sailors and navigation in the Nordic region. Here the DBE integrate boaters, maritime service providers, insurance providers, different data sources, and artificial intelligence.
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Health Integrator provides an ecosystem of digital health services.
What aspects of Digital Business Ecosystems have you studied in your thesis?
– We have established a method called DBE-map for analysing and (re)designing DBE, focusing on aspects we believe to be essential regardless of the business domain, says Daniel. DBE-map works like a lens that focuses on different parts of the system, helping us to measure outcomes, analyse and understand how the ecosystem works, explains Daniel.
– What we could see was that DBEs are subjected to changes and evolve constantly, which makes them dynamic. New actors with different capabilities are included regularly, and the aim is always to combine and utilise resources more efficiently. The resilience of a DBE is essentially about the viability, continuity, and stability of the ecosystem and a key to success is to understand how the DBE operate continuously in line with the dynamics, says Daniel.
How can Digital Business Ecosystems be used in and develop healthcare systems?
–The concept of a DBE brings “ecosystem thinking” into healthcare systems. This can help healthcare to achieve a systematic understanding of the roles of each organisation in a shared environment and hence facilitate collaboration, explains Daniel.
– We can take health-related data as an example. With the use of wearable and digital devices, individuals (patients or citizens) collect valuable personal health-related data. Health-related data also exists within different organisations, such as healthcare service providers, clinics, public health agencies, gyms, etc. Creating a DBE can support the context of sharing the data from these different sources. When done in accordance with regulations and securing personal integrity, this could enable new possibilities of combining these data, and creating value and meaningful usages, Daniel continues.
One example of a DBE in health care is Health Integrator, a digital health solution that prevents lifestyle-related diseases. Fredrik Söder is the founder of Health Integrator.
What is your company, Health Integrator, offering?
– Health Integrator provides an ecosystem of digital health services, including personalised coaching and preventive and health-promoting services, to help personalise individuals manage chronic conditions, improve lifestyle habits and measure health outcomes, explains Fredrik.
Health Integrator conducted a pilot study in Region Stockholm, and the outcome shows that more than half of the users with long-term blood glucose levels indicative of pre-diabetes are out of the risk zone of developing diabetes type 2 after 24 months of using the services of Health Integrator (https://www.healthintegrator.se/region). Region Stockholm estimates a yearly saving of 1,4 billion SEK if the service was used broadly in the region. This money could then be reallocated to other healthcare needs.
Daniel, from your perspective, how do you think Digital Business Ecosystems will evolve in the coming five years?
– Many organisations already operate in DBEs without recognising or emphasising the concept. I think that DBEs and ecosystem thinking will become more prominent in the coming years. We will see a shift from the traditional hierarchical structure towards a more ecosystem-oriented structure in both business and enterprises.
More about Daniel Chen Hsi Tsai's research at Stockholm University's web >>