The GDBC Thesis Awards Digital Business 2022 were presented on Friday the 7^th of October. This second edition of the Digital Business Awards was once again a great success. Three young talented alumni of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) were selected to present their thesis topics and outcomes to an expert jury and audience. Chris Remijn was awarded the first prize, Zoë Zwarts received the second prize and Dylan Meyer won the third prize.

The three young talents were chosen from the twelve (ex) students that sent in their master’s theses on topics related to digital business. These theses had been assessed by the expert jury (Consisting of Rolinde Weide of de province of Groningen, Antje Meindersma, founder of Alledaags en and on behalf of NOO, Viktoriya Degeler on behalf of UG’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, David Langley on behalf of the Faculty of Economics and Business, and Tammo Bijmolt, director of the GDBC).

Service robots

The event took place in cinema Kinepolis, where Zoë Zwarts kicked off after an opening by host Bas Baalmans (project leader at GDBC) and Pepper (a service robot). Zwarts obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and two master’s degrees at FEB: a degree in Marketing Analytics and Data Science and a degree in Change Management (with Digital Business as focus area). Her master’s thesis for Marketing Analytics and Data Science was about the influence of robot anthromorphism on the willingness to pay for services. In her research she focused on the question what consumers are willing to pay for service provided by service robots. After she acquainted the audience with different types of service robots and presented the highlights of her research, Dylan Meyer took to the stage.

Dynamic pricing

Meyer obtained a bachelor’s degree in International Business and two master’s degrees at FEB: in Business Administration – Strategic Innovation Management and in Marketing Analytics and Data Science. His master’s thesis for the latter degree was about dynamic pricing and the influence of business communication strategies. After Meyer shed new light on this topic for the audience, it was Chris Remijn’s turn to present his research.

CEO’s attention for digital transformation

Like Zwarts, Remijn studied Business Administration and Change Management at FEB. For his master’s thesis, he investigated when and why digital transformation attracts the attention of the CEOs of America’s largest companies. Remijn presented his comprehensive and ambitious research well, using Lego as a compelling example. Due to the comprehensiveness and quantitative quality of Remijn’s research, the jury decided to award him with the first prize of 2000 euros. The second prize (1000 euros) went to Zwarts and the third prize (500 euros) to Meyer. Having presented the awards, the jury stressed that all presentations were of a high academic level and touched upon highly relevant topics.

Let’s get Digital

Between the presentations by the nominees and the announcement of the jury verdict, special guest Ruben Haring shared his thoughts and ideas about entrepreneurship and digitalization in the event industry, based on his experiences as co-founder of the company Let’s get Digital. Haring started the company with friends in 2017 and obtained a master’s degree in Supply Chain Management at FEB in 2019.

After the presentations and jury verdict, it was time for food and drinks. GDBC looks back on a successful event and looks forward to a new edition in 2023 with more inspiring research and interesting presentations on digital business from UG alumni.

Background of the award

The GDBC Thesis Award Digital Business is a follow-up of the existing Aart Bosman prize that has been awarded to young researchers in the field of Information Systems for some time. The GDBC, in collaboration with the Ubbo Emmius Fund of the University of Groningen, revived the initiative in 2020 and renamed it into the more suitable Digital Business award. This award is intended for graduate Master’s students of the University of Groningen who have written a thesis on a subject related to the field of ‘Digital Business’. The field of Digital Business is interpreted broadly. The subject can be related to all disciplines within business and management, including accounting, finance, HRM, innovation management, marketing, supply chain management and operations.

Aftermovie

Watch the aftermovie of the event below.