Technology

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Cristobal Garcia Herrera — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:47:54 +0000

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Cristobal Garc… Wed, 22/07/2026 - 20:47

23 July 2026

Wicked problems, such as climate breakdown, geopolitical fragmentation and demographic transformation, do not yield to single-sector solutions. Demanding new coalitions, new models, and new levels of ambition, this annual symposium exists to address exactly that.

This year, attendees discovered that while wicked problems are AI-resistant, the technology could still play a part in accelerating their resolution.

The event, organised by Wicked Labs, a collaboration between ImperiaBusiness School and the Royal College of Art, was made up of five sessions:

Geopolitics, wars and new policy approaches;
The pace towards net-zero society;
Corporate venturing and AI;
The future of education, industries and governments; and
Industrial futures

Through these, attendees were exposed to four key practical insights:

Look at past tech revolutions to envision emerging futures;
Embrace the AI revolution and run continuous experiments in education, companies and governments;
Foster learning ecosystems to leverage collective intelligence; and
Train curious, emphatic and resilient leaders

A unique forum for addressing how organisations can adapt in the face of disruptions, such as AI, the Wicked Symposium has also become a community of people who refuse to accept that the world's hardest problems are unsolvable.

Artificial Intelligence

Climate Change

Digital Transformation

Strategy

Technology

Digital transformation

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Off

External

Off

The sixth Wicked Symposium gathered policymakers, investors, scholars, corporate innovation managers and experts to explore what happens to wicked problems when AI enters the room.

Fergus Burnett/ImperiaBusiness School

1 minute read

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

Lou Lee — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

Lou Lee Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

23 October 2026 News

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

22 October 2026 News

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

9 October 2026 News

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

23 October 2026

The inaugural Technology Leader Speaker Series event brought AI infrastructure leader Dr Omar Mir to ImperiaBusiness School to share his career journey from a coffee shop idea to a leader of a multi-billion-dollar global business and a senior advisor for some of the world’s largest institutions and organisations. Explaining that this was achieved with young people and a solid people-first focus, he also gave his advice for students entering an ever-changing jobs market outlining the importance of having strong principles of good culture and respect.

ImperiaBusiness School launched its new student event series on 20 October 2026, welcoming Dr Omar Mir for an evening of candid conversation about leadership, ethics and the future of AI.

Co-created with Dr Mir, a member of the School’s Advisory Board and Visiting Professor of Practice, the series is designed to bring technology leaders into the heart of business education at ��. It gives students direct access to people building and shaping the industries they are preparing to enter. Professor Peter Todd, Dean of ImperiaBusiness School, led the conversation in front of a packed audience of students, alumni, staff and guests.

The launch capped a significant day for Dr Mir’s relationship with ��. Earlier that afternoon, Professor Hugh Brady, President of ��, and Professor Todd unveiled Dr Mir’s place on ��’s Circle of Benefactors installation, recognising his support for the university.

From a coffee shop to a global business

A computer scientist by training, Dr Mir led the international expansion of World Wide Technology (WWT), growing its presence to be truly global. It started with almost nothing. He said: “…and now it has scaled to the world.”

He credited that growth to people and values rather than technology alone. Culture, a duty of care and integrity along with the basic business fundamentals such as net contributions were the foundations, he said, and WWT will even walk away from clients who do not share the right core values and culture of integrity.

“Don’t lose your moral compass”

Asked how students should navigate the ethical grey areas of AI, from intellectual property to sustainability, Dr Mir urged them to scrutinise technology like a lawyer and to think like a ‘problem architect’, deciding carefully which tasks to automate and which must stay in human hands.

He used the example of an airline pilot. He said: “Ninety per cent of the time, the plane is flown normally. But when it comes to the mission-critical moment of landing, it’s a human who makes that decision.”

He described AI as the latest in a line of revolutions, after the agricultural and industrial, and warned that its disruption is easy to overlook because it is less visible. His message to students was direct. He said: “When you walk out that door of ��, don’t lose your moral compass, because the more money, the more power, the less empathy.”

“When you walk out that door of ��, don’t lose your moral compass, because the more money, the more power, the less empathy.”

Dr Omar Mir

Visiting Professor of Practice and member of the ImperiaBusiness School Advisory Board

An AI frenzy, and the case for independent regulation

With the International Monetary Fund recently warning of the risks of an AI market correction, Professor Todd asked whether we are in an AI bubble. Dr Mir offered a different word. He said: “I think AI frenzy is the best way to put it. And eventually we will hit the AI winter.”

He was cautious about large technology companies calling on governments to regulate them, noting that those with the deepest pockets are best placed to shape and absorb new rules, while startups may struggle. Instead, he called for independent, third-party oversight agreed internationally, with every major power at the table.

He compared it to the car industry. He said: “A car can’t come off a production line and be roadworthy if its steering and brakes haven’t been independently tested. So how can you let something out without the brakes being tested?”

What employers are looking for

For students preparing to enter the workforce, Dr Mir was clear about what he looks for when hiring. He said: “People who are creative but also very inquisitive. Ask the questions constantly. Don’t take things at face value anymore.”

He encouraged students to make the most of the resources around them at Imperiaand to get hands-on. He said: “Start trying to build your own AI agents. Curiosity is the key.”

His most practical advice came during the audience Q&A, when a student asked which skills to master. His answer was to go back to business fundamentals. He said: “Truly understand the principles of a balance sheet, audit, compliance, regulation and showing a return on investment. That is the fundamental for me.”

Sovereignty, trust and the UK’s opportunity

Responding to a question from an alumnus on building trust in AI, Dr Mir warned against governments and organisations depending on a single technology provider. He urged them to run smaller proof-of-concept projects in parallel, as a safeguard. He said: “If you are going to hand over the keys to your Fort Knox, why don’t you have a disaster recovery model?”

He also argued that the UK’s strength in AI comes from its human capital and institutions such as ��, but that more must be done to keep great ideas and startups in the country.

Building trust in the creative industries

To show what people-first AI looks like in practice, Dr Mir invited two guests to join him: Anne Biondi Simonds, Founder and CEO of Muse System Enterprises, and Brian Gary, its Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. Muse builds AI tools that help writers and creative professionals harness technology while keeping control of their work and intellectual property.

Anne, who has spent her career in the entertainment industry, explained that Muse began as a lab inside her own Hollywood studio five years ago. She said: “Machine learning, actually built right, is a very, very powerful cognitive unlock.”

Brian, who chairs the Writers Guild of America’s technology committee, said trust had to come first in an industry where many creatives fear AI. He said: “It wasn’t enough to build tools. We had to build trust.”

He also offered students a way to think about their own value. He said: “My commodity is not words, my commodity is time. Curiosity is my currency.”

His advice for anyone learning with AI was simple: use it to challenge your thinking rather than replace it. He said: “Don’t shortchange your process of learning and discovery.”

Back to basics

Closing the evening, Professor Todd reflected on a common thread running through the discussion. He said: “We’re on this frontier, bleeding edge of technology, and almost every message that comes from these technology leaders is about getting back to basics. It’s about the core human experience, core values and core business principles.”

What’s next for the series

The Technology Leader Speaker Series returns in 2027, with sessions planned for February and April. Speakers will be announced soon, and Dr Mir gave the audience a hint of what to expect, promising that the next event will dig deeper into geopolitics, the frontiers of chip technology and business, with one of the world’s leading figures in tech joining the panel.

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Artificial Intelligence

Big Tech

Digital Transformation

Innovation

Technology

Digital transformation

Off

External

Off

5 minute read

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Lou Lee — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Lou Lee Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

23 October 2026 News

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

22 October 2026 News

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

9 October 2026 News

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

1 July 2026

To mark the publication of their new book, China's 'Everything Online' Company: The Unique Innovation Model of Tencent, Professor George Yip, Emeritus Professor of Marketing & Strategy at ImperiaBusiness School, and co-author Professor Xiaolan Fu, Professor of Technology and International Development at the University of Oxford, shared insights from their research into one of the world's leading technology companies.

Introduced by Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology, the event traced Tencent's evolution from its early instant messaging platform QQ to the creation of WeChat and its vast digital ecosystem spanning social media, gaming, payments, cloud computing and AI.

Drawing on years of research, Professor Yip and Professor Fu explained that Tencent's success stems not only from technological excellence, but also from the way it encourages new ideas to emerge. Their book introduces the company's distinctive OCEAN framework: Openness, Coopetition, Empowerment, Autonomy and Attentiveness as a way of managing stakeholder needs. Together, these principles help Tencent operate more like a connected ecosystem than a traditional corporate hierarchy, encouraging experimentation while allowing new ideas to scale quickly.

“I hope people left with fresh insights into how Tencent combines technology, organisation and ecosystem thinking to create innovation at scale, and why those lessons matter well beyond China.”

Professor George Yip

Emeritus Professor of Marketing & Strategy

Reflecting on the event, Professor Yip said: "The enthusiasm and engagement from the audience showed just how much interest there is in understanding one of the world's most innovative companies. I hope people left with fresh insights into how Tencent combines technology, organisation and ecosystem thinking to create innovation at scale, and why those lessons matter well beyond China, even to the UK's next Prime Minister."

The evening concluded with a lively audience Q&A exploring the future of innovation, digital ecosystems and China's rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Professor Yip and Professor Fu's book offers fresh insights for business leaders, policymakers, researchers and students interested in innovation, digital platforms and the future of technology.

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Artificial Intelligence

Big Tech

Brand

Consumers

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation

Entrepreneurship

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Marketing

Off

External

Off

ImperiaBusiness School welcomed business leaders, academics and alumni for the launch of a new book offering a rare insight into how Chinese technology giant Tencent became one of the world's most innovative companies.

2 minute read

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Lou Lee — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Lou Lee Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

23 October 2026 News

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

22 October 2026 News

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

9 October 2026 News

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

29 June 2026

Delivered in collaboration with General Atlantic, the event reflected the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment's (CCFI) growing role as a convenor of interdisciplinary expertise on climate risk and finance. Discussions explored how climate-related risks such as extreme weather are increasingly affecting economic stability, infrastructure, and investment decisions, and how organisations are adapting their approach to managing these risks over the long term.

The event opened with a keynote from Abigail Ng, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), who highlighted climate resilience as a key part of protecting economic security. This was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Rowan Douglas CBE, Honorary Practice Fellow at CCFI, and featuring Kemal Erçevik (Bank of England), Natasha Fowlie (General Atlantic), Paul Munday (S&P Global), Julian Wentzel (HSBC).

A central theme throughout the conversation was the need to integrate climate and nature risks into the core functioning of financial systems, rather than treating them separately. Speakers highlighted the importance of better data, shared standards, and clearer ways of measuring risk in order to improve decision-making across banking, insurance, regulation and investment.

“This is what CCFI is all about: a platform that brings together scholarly excellence and leading market participants to deliver effective solutions at scale.”

Dr Enrico Biffis

Academic Director of CCFI and Professor of Actuarial Finance

Rowan Douglas commented: “We now have our resilience priorities confirmed and an excellent community of financial-sector partners to mobilise with CCFI and ��’s School of Convergence Science. Our mission is to help retrain the invisible hand to value resilience and better protect exposed assets and communities in the years and decades ahead.”

In closing remarks, Dr Enrico Biffis, Director of CCFI and Professor of Actuarial Finance and Academic, said: “This is what CCFI is all about: a platform that brings together scholarly excellence and leading market participants to deliver effective solutions at scale.”

The event underscored CCFI’s role within ImperiaBusiness School as a bridge between academic research and industry practice, and highlighted ongoing collaboration with MAS and other partners to strengthen resilience in the face of growing climate challenges.

Panel speakers (from left to right): Natasha Fowlie (General Atlantic), Kemal Ercevik (Bank of England), Julian Wentzel (HSBC), Paul Munday (S&P Global), and Rowan Douglas (ImperiaBusiness School).

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Banking

Centre for Climate Finance and Investment

Finance and institutional resilience

Sustainability and climate change

Research Centre

Centre for Climate Finance & Investment

Academic area

Finance

Economics & Public Policy

Off

External

Off

The Centre for Climate Finance and Investment (CCFI) brought together leaders from finance, insurance, law, technology, policy and academia for an event on Climate Resilience & Economic Security during London Climate Action Week (20-28 June).

Abigail Ng and Rowan Douglas at London Climate Action Week

2 minute read

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at ImperiaBusiness School

Rebecca Pike — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:31:29 +0000

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at ImperiaBusiness School

Rebecca Pike Tue, 04/03/2025 - 09:31

24 October 2026 Student blog

What is Full-Time MBA student life really like? Navigating work-life balance

Work-life balance is more important than ever. We spoke to Full-Time MBA student Rajeshwari about how to balance your workload whist studying at ImperiaBusiness School.

27 May 2026 Student blog

The ROI of an ImperiaMBA: what I learned from the Chile Global Experience Week

��’s Global Experience Week offers students a chance to gain real-world experience, applying their learnings to global business challenges. As Naman Goyal reflects, the growth that takes place on these trips is long-lasting and impactful.

1 May 2026 Student blog

What I didn’t expect from ��’s Full-Time MBA programme

From leading a Careers event to connecting with industry experts and gaining experience through the Student Investment Fund, Sushrut Deo explores the value of engaging with experiences beyond the Full-Time MBA curriculum.

4 September 2025

Student blog

At ImperiaBusiness School, we believe that diversity plays an essential part in shaping the future of business and technology. For women working in the tech industry, building networks and supportive communities is especially valuable and is something that we actively encourage on our MBA programmes. In this blog, we hear from Sofia Baldomir, one of our Full-Time MBA Class of 2025 students, as she shares how her background in tech, combined with the opportunities available at Imperia– from collaboration with ��’s STEM faculties to Career focused clubs – has helped her to grow as a leader in tech innovation.

Choosing ��: a natural next step in tech leadership

My experience in an AI consulting company deepened my interest in the role technology plays in driving business growth and social impact. I’ve seen firsthand how technology is reshaping industries, unlocking new opportunities and improving lives. But to make a bigger impact in the industry, I knew I needed to expand my leadership skills and broaden my understanding of business strategies across different industries.

When I decided to pursue a Full-Time MBA, I wanted to immerse myself in an environment that would help me stay at the forefront of this innovation. ImperiaBusiness School stood out to me because of its reputation for research and innovation, as well as its strong emphasis on STEM. The opportunity to engage with both tech experts and business leaders within the Business School’s dynamic environment felt like the perfect place to hone my skills.

Being awarded the Latin American Scholarship from ImperiaBusiness School and the Chevening Scholarship from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from the UK government further reinforced that this was the right move for me. I’m extremely honoured to have been selected by these two prestigious awards and given the opportunity to contribute to the Imperiacommunity with knowledge from my background and experiences.

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at ��

The collaboration between classmates has been excellent. Even before the programme officially began, many of us connected through Unibuddy. My Full-Time MBA cohort includes students from a wide range of nationalities, industries and professional backgrounds, which has led to dynamic conversations and new ways of thinking.

The collaborative spirit of the programme goes beyond the classroom too. In one professional development session, we were asked to present a goal and identify the types of people we needed to connect with in order to achieve it. I was touched by how quickly my classmates offered support; it was a clear indication of ��’s collaborative nature.

This was further reinforced by networks like the Women in SET (Science, Engineering & Technology), which allows students to connect with and advocate for women who have similar career ambitions in STEM.

And the wider Imperiacommunity – including peers from engineering, data science and AI – has offered further invaluable learning opportunities. Projects like the ImperiaInnovation Challenge allow students to immerse themselves in cutting-edge advancements that are shaping the future of business and helps to sharpen problem-solving skills and deepen understanding of tech applications across various industries.

Empowering future female leaders in the tech industry

I believe that self-knowledge and self-awareness are key to becoming a successful leader. And whilst the tech industry continues to be a male-dominated field, it is an area full of opportunity for women ready to lead and innovate.

Through ��’s LEADS initiative (Leadership, Ethics, Awareness, Diversity, Society), I’ve had the chance to gain a deeper understanding of my personal leadership style and how to inspire others effectively. Understanding our individual strengths and areas for development in terms of leadership capability is essential for excelling in the business environment.

Taking the lead through the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club

A particularly rewarding experience has been serving as President of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club. Career Clubs play a central role in the student experience at Imperiaand offer an opportunity to take on leadership roles and grow professionally outside of the classroom.

My involvement in the TMT Club has allowed me to connect with students from other programmes who also share a passion for technology and innovation. Collaborating on events that bring together peers and industry professionals has been a brilliant way to learn directly from leaders in the field. As a growing European tech hub, London also offers unparalleled access to innovative companies and cutting-edge developments that we can access through the Club.

Advice for future female tech leaders

For women working in the tech industry who may be about to embark on their MBA journey or are considering studying a Full-time MBA, my advice is simple: trust yourself.

The path you’ve taken in tech is valuable and your experiences are unique. The diversity and inclusivity of ImperiaBusiness School means that every perspective has value, so embrace what makes you stand out. An MBA can provide space to expand on those strengths and gain new perspectives.
Engage with alumni, student clubs and networks like the Women in SET and TMT Club – these resources are designed to help you grow, build confidence and connect with other students who will support you on your professional journey.
Collaborate with those around you. I’ve been amazed by the willingness of everyone to share their insights and experiences, and that’s a testament to the collaborative spirit of the Business School.

Discover more about our programme

Full-Time MBA

Programme

My journey from AI and Fintech to an MBA

4 minute read

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:53:54 +0000

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 10:53

23 January 2025

Technology

Big Tech

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:58:57 +0000

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:58

28 January 2025

Digital transformation

Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation

Technology

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:49:09 +0000

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:49

27 January 2025

Digital transformation

Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation

Technology

The Times features ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 12:05:17 +0000

The Times features ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 27/01/2025 - 12:05

22 January 2025

Digital transformation

Technology

Digital Transformation

Education and Learning

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Ying-Ying Hsieh — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Ying-Ying Hsieh Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

More blogs

2 November 2026 Knowledge

The corporate sustainability actions that reward investors

15 October 2026 Knowledge

Investing in nature: Why markets haven’t caught up yet

7 October 2026 Knowledge

Could working from home strain your relationship?

9 September 2026

Article at a glance

Intended to democratise organisational governance, new research from Ying-Ying Hsieh, Phanish Puranam and Noam Gelman-Hofstadter suggests power in most DAOs is rather centralised.
Autonomy is often used to mean both automation and independence. DAOs promise decisions executed by code and freedom from external control, but most still rely on human judgement and third-party platforms.
DAOs stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance, offering lessons for conventional companies seeking to democratise decision making and decentralise power.

DAOs are a blockchain-based alternative to traditional governance structures. Rather than a conventional hierarchy of executives and managers, DAOs aim to give members a more direct role in decision making, with some decisions executed automatically by smart contracts.

The idea is that decisions are voted on, self-executed, and recorded on a blockchain, making them visible to all members to ensure transparency and accountability at scale. This in turn reduces bureaucracy and administrative overheads, making the organisation more democratic, innovative and agile.

Take MakerDAO as an example. In March 2020, a crash triggered by COVID-19 left the organisation with serious liquidity issues. Rather than executives deciding what to do, a novel solution that surfaced informally in a community channel was debated by risk assessors, smart contract code reviewers and ordinary members, and was then approved through a formal vote.

But has the DAO model really resulted in power being shared more democratically across the board? Our research, the largest systematic empirical examination of DAOs to-date, addresses this question.

Surprisingly centralised

We found that more than 80 per cent of voting rights in the average DAO are controlled by less than 1 per cent of addresses (and multiple addresses may be controlled by single members). That means power is concentrated within a small group, though unlike in a conventional firm, this emerges through token ownership and low turnout rather than deliberate structure.

Another factor is the gap between membership and participation. We observed that the average DAO has 5,024 members, but only 709 voters and 10 proposers, with over half of all proposals receiving fewer than 12 votes. While everybody is entitled to vote, having lots of members does not necessarily mean lots of people have a meaningful say.

“While everybody is entitled to vote, having lots of members does not necessarily mean lots of people have a meaningful say.”

Whales and delegates

One key issue is the existence of ‘whales’ and ‘delegates’, i.e. those who control a large number of voting tokens. Whales hold their tokens outright, and are free to vote however they like, including on their own proposals. Delegates, by contrast, are granted voting power on behalf of other members, but this power is conditional: they can lose their delegate status if they vote against the wishes of those they represent

This distinction matters. Whales pose a greater threat to true decentralisation than delegates, because their unconditional voting power answers to nobody but themselves. And because holdings are visible on the blockchain, the position of whales may be known beforehand, which can make the result of a vote feel like a foregone conclusion. Delegates, despite holding real voting weight, rarely use it unilaterally, as going against their delegators’ wishes risks their position.

Whales can also buy more tokens to sway contested decisions. In many cases, a large share of voting tokens are locked in vesting arrangements held by founders and early investors – in the average DAO, vesting tokens equal 38 per cent of liquid holdings. When these are unlocked, voting power can be further concentrated, exacerbating the issue.

Autonomy and algorithmic governance

There is a question as to how autonomous DAOs really are. ‘Autonomy’ can mean two different things: automation, i.e. decisions executed without human involvement, and independence, i.e. freedom from outside control.

Most DAOs attempt both, but often achieve neither. We found that only around 8 per cent use on-chain governance, where votes are recorded and executed automatically via blockchain. The rest rely on off-chain voting through third-party platforms, with humans viewing results and carrying out decisions – the opposite of blockchain automation, though not completely independent of all oversight.

This offers a wider lesson beyond DAOs. It is tempting to view the trend of businesses increasingly handing decisions to AI tools as a form of self-sufficiency, in which processes run themselves free of human oversight. But if DAOs are any guide, automating decisions does not bring independence – it substitutes reliance on people for reliance on digital infrastructure and the third parties who run it.

What businesses can learn

Ultimately, our evidence suggests that DAOs deviate from the decentralised, autonomous ideal organisation design they were built around. However, this is not to say that they fail as an innovation. Rather, they stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance. They are best understood as a distinct organisational form in their own right – something closer to a financialised community or an algorithmic commons than either a corporation or a traditional community.

Conventional companies can also borrow elements of the DAO model, experimenting with giving employees, customers and other stakeholders a more direct voice in decision making. The MakerDAO example shows how this can work in practice – collective decisions settled through proposing and voting – even under urgent conditions that would normally require centralised, top-down control.

This article draws on findings from “Neither community nor corporation? A deeper look at decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)” by Dr Ying-Ying Hsieh (ImperiaBusiness School), Professor Phanish Puranam (INSEAD) and Noam Gelman-Hofstadte (DeepDAO Ventures Ltd), published In Industrial and Corporate Change.

Big Tech

Data

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation

Entrepreneurship

Knowledge Categories

Management

Strategy & Leadership

Technology

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) promised an alternative to traditional hierarchies, but truly distributing power within them has proved more nuanced than it first appeared.

4 minute read

Off

Technology

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Share

The sixth Wicked Symposium gathered policymakers, investors, scholars, corporate innovation managers and experts to explore what happens to wicked problems when AI enters the room.

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

From a coffee shop to a global business

“Don’t lose your moral compass”

An AI frenzy, and the case for independent regulation

What employers are looking for

Sovereignty, trust and the UK’s opportunity

Building trust in the creative industries

Back to basics

What’s next for the series

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Share

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Share

ImperiaBusiness School welcomed business leaders, academics and alumni for the launch of a new book offering a rare insight into how Chinese technology giant Tencent became one of the world's most innovative companies.

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Dr Omar Mir launches ImperiaBusiness School’s Technology Leader Speaker Series with a call to put people at the heart of AI

ImperiaBusiness School’s gender equality commitment recognised with Athena Swan Silver Award

Making clean energy pay off for the communities that host it

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Share

The Centre for Climate Finance and Investment (CCFI) brought together leaders from finance, insurance, law, technology, policy and academia for an event on Climate Resilience & Economic Security during London Climate Action Week (20-28 June).

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at ImperiaBusiness School

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at ImperiaBusiness School

What is Full-Time MBA student life really like? Navigating work-life balance

The ROI of an ImperiaMBA: what I learned from the Chile Global Experience Week

What I didn’t expect from ��������’s Full-Time MBA programme

Choosing ��������: a natural next step in tech leadership

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at ��������

Empowering future female leaders in the tech industry

Taking the lead through the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club

Advice for future female tech leaders

Discover more about our programme

Share

My journey from AI and Fintech to an MBA

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review

Share

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek

Share

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market

Share

The Times features ��������’s new Venture Capital Fellowship

Share

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

More blogs

The corporate sustainability actions that reward investors

Investing in nature: Why markets haven’t caught up yet

Could working from home strain your relationship?

Article at a glance

Intended to democratise organisational governance, new research from Ying-Ying Hsieh, Phanish Puranam and Noam Gelman-Hofstadter suggests power in most DAOs is rather centralised.

Autonomy is often used to mean both automation and independence. DAOs promise decisions executed by code and freedom from external control, but most still rely on human judgement and third-party platforms.

DAOs stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance, offering lessons for conventional companies seeking to democratise decision making and decentralise power.

Surprisingly centralised

Whales and delegates

Autonomy and algorithmic governance

What businesses can learn

Share

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) promised an alternative to traditional hierarchies, but truly distributing power within them has proved more nuanced than it first appeared.

What I didn’t expect from ��’s Full-Time MBA programme

Choosing ��: a natural next step in tech leadership

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at ��

The Times features ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship