Aleksi Aaltonen

Biography

I am an Associate Professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, where I mostly study data and data-based innovation and organizing using quantitative and qualitative methods. My research has been published in top academic journals such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, and Journal of Management Information Systems.

My current projects revolve on the following themes:

• Data and data-based innovation and organizing
• Open knowledge collaboration
• Platform competition, multihoming and ecosystem evolution
• Generative AI, work and data
• Gender and data

In July 2024, I started as an Associate Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology and I was also appointed as a Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Journal of Information Technology starting 2025. I moved to Stevens from the Fox School of Business, where I spent 2018–2024 as an Assistant Professor. Before moving to the US, I was at Warwick Business School, where I held an Assistant Professor position since 2014 after selling my company to Facebook in 2014 and completing my PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2012.

I am an award-winning teacher. In my teaching, I draw from my entrepreneurial experience and from working for private and nonprofit organizations.

I have designed, built, and managed digital services for organizations such as Nokia, and the CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation founded by the Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. In 2012, I cofounded and helped to raise 1.7 million euros funding for an activity tracking app Moves. Apple chose Moves as the Best App of 2013 in the Fitness Revolution category, and the company was acquired by Facebook in April 2014.

From 2009 to 2016, I was the Chairman of the Board at Demos Helsinki think tank. The organization more than doubled its turnover; established itself as an influential actor in the Finnish society, and expanded its operations abroad during my tenure.

I am available to give talks and to write about my research for broader audiences as much as being a father of a nine-year-old boy allows.