Sampsa Samila

Sampsa Samila received his PhD from Columbia University (New York, NY, USA) in Mathematics and his MSc from Helsinki University of Technology (Espoo, Finland; now part of Aalto University) in Mathematics and Economics. He has taught previously at Columbia Business School, Brock University (St Catharines, ON, Canada), and the National University of Singapore. At IESE, Sampsa teaches artificial intelligence, innovation strategy, and competitive strategy in a range of programs from MBA and EMBA to senior executives. He is particularly focused on how new technologies like AI enable new business models, the challenges of organizing to develop the capabilities and deliver the value, and how to change the mindset of executives to understand the changes brought by these new developments. As the Academic Director, he designs and leads the Artificial Intelligence for Executives open enrollment program for senior executives. He has written a number of cases on Scribendi, Siemens, Uber, Amazon, and others. He is currently writing cases on AI business transformation in different industries. Sampsa also speaks extensively on AI and advices companies. Sampsa’s research focuses primarily on artificial intelligence, innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategy. He is currently engaged in studying the causes and consequences of AI adoption in firms and in a large-scale study of female inventors and inventions. A recent working paper finds that women are more likely to invent for women and that inventions for women are likely to come from inventor teams with women. His other projects include ethnic integration in innovation as well as trust and social networks. His prior work has studied for instance how success persists in venture capital, how venture capital generates innovation and economic growth, and how networks shape the path of commercial development. His work has been published in highly-respected journals such as American Sociological Review, Management Science, Research Policy, and Review of Economics and Statistics. His work has been discussed in Institutional Investor, Slate, Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, IESE Insight, and elsewhere.