Soumitra Dutta

Soumitra Dutta brings a unique perspective on business and technology strategy in a global world. With a PhD in artificial intelligence and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley, Dutta brings a deep grounding in data sciences and advanced technologies. Having spent more than three decades of his career in leading business schools across the Atlantic (University of Oxford, INSEAD and Cornell University) he has conducted extensive research in and consulted with leading global firms on building effective technology and innovation strategies. As the co-founder and founder respectively of two major global technology/innovation indices, the Network Readiness  Index (published for 16 years by the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (published for 12 years by the World Intellectual Property Organization), Dutta has worked with several governments on formulating national technology and innovation policies. Having served on the boards of major international corporations including Sodexo, Dassault Systemes and ZS Associates, he is at home dealing with strategic business issues at the highest levels. He also enjoys working with smaller startups (many started by his students) and he has co-founded two technology startups – Fisheye Analytics (a social media analytics firm that was sold to the WPP Communications Group in 2013) and Igesia (an Edutech firm started in 2019). He is deeply involved with non-profits and is on the boards of several global business schools including Centrum Catholica (Peru), HEC Montreal, University of Los Andes (Colombia), ESADE (Spain) and others. He has chaired the largest business school accrediting agency, AACSB and is currently the chair of GBSN (the Global Business School Network). He has been involved for more than a decade with the activities of the World Economic Forum and has served as the co-Chair of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems. He is a powerful public speaker and brings a refreshing global perspective from his deep personal knowledge of Asia, Europe and the Americas. In 2017, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Soumitra Dutta has co-written several important books on technology and business innovation:

• Soumitra is the co-author (with Dan LeClair) of the book The World After Covid that brings together reflections on how the world is changing after the global pandemic.
• Soumitra is the founder and co-editor of sixteen editions of the Global Innovation Index (http://www.globalinnovationindex.org) which is published with the World Intellectual Property Organization (a specialized UN agency focused on innovation and patents) and is leading global assessment of national innovation capabilities.
• He has co-edited sixteen annual reports of the Global Information Technology Report for the World Economic Forum on the impact of information technology on development and national competitiveness, the most authoritative and comprehensive assessments available (http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-information-technology). The Global Information Technology Report has been rebranded and published as the Network Readiness Index since 2019 by Portulans Institute.
• His recent co-authored book, Entrepreneurship and the Finance of Innovation in Emerging Markets, explores the important emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging markets.
• His book, Ask, Measure, Learn: Using social media analytics to understand and influence customer behavior, distills experience from the real world of applying big data techniques to social media to provide valuable insights for executives.
• His co-authored book, Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom reveals how online social networking is transforming our personal lives, our organizations, and our behavior as consumers and citizens.
• In Innovating at the Top, he distills proven ways that senior executives can improve innovation performance from interviews with the CEOs of nine highly-innovative international corporations.
• In his co-authored book, The Bright Stuff: How innovative people and technology can make old businesses new, he shares secrets of successful innovation so that you learn the skills and attitudes of the digital economy innovators. Innovation is imperative not just for growth, but for survival.

Soumitra Dutta is currently the Peter Mores Dean of the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. Previously, he was a Professor of Management and the former Founding Dean of the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. He is also the founder and President of Portulans Institute, a Washington DC based non-partisan non-profit institute focused on research and outreach on technology, talent and innovation.  Prior to July 2012, he was the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD and the founding director of eLab, a center of excellence in the digital economy. Professor Dutta obtained his Ph.D. in computer science and his M.Sc. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a graduate of the BTech in Computer Science program of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

His current research is on artificial intelligence, technology strategy and innovation policies at both corporate and national levels. He has won several awards for research and pedagogy and is actively involved in strategy and policy consulting. His research has been showcased in the global media and he has received several awards including the Light of India Award ‘12 (from Times of India media group), the Global Innovation Award ’13 (from INNOVEX in Israel) and the Distinguished Alumnus award (2017) from his alma mater IIT Delhi. He is one of the very few faculty members around the world who has been invited to Davos for more than 12 years. He has been a member of the privileged “Davos Circle” group of participants. He served as the Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems for the World Economic Forum, Switzerland.

Soumitra Dutta brings a unique global perspective to his research and thinking. Born in India, he has studied, lived and worked in Asia, America and Europe. His research on global innovation and technology strategy has spanned national boundaries. He has worked with multiple governments in both developing and developed regions to assist them with their national policies for technology and innovation competitiveness. He has also consulted with several leading multinationals including Alstom, Alcatel-Lucent, General Electric, Accenture, McKinsey, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Lafarge, American Express and others.