This year saw the inaugural summit of The European Digital Platform Research Network, EU-DPRN, at Bocconi University. Platform competition expert, UCL School of Management’s Joost Rietveld was one of the four organisers of the event which bought together leaders in the field and showcased new and exciting research emerging in this space.

The aim of the summit it to provide a forum for European researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds such as; strategy, entrepreneurship, marketing, information systems and economics to share their latest research and deepen their professional networks.

The event was a great success with keynote speakers from leading global universities sharing their expertise on topics including; Ecosystem Governance, Platform Strategies, Principles of Platform Markets and Ecosystems and much more. The two day event gave the spotlight to PhD students to present their latest papers and receive invaluable feedback from senior scholars in their field. There were a further ten paper presentations and discussions for each, six fascinating posters, a keynote and two stimulating panels.

As a part of the founding group and organising committee Joost Rietveld said “Academic interest in platforms and ecosystem has really taken off in the last few years, including in Europe. With this event and the ensuing community we are trying to give European scholars a ‘platform’ to come together and share their best and latest work on this exciting yet complex phenomenon.”

The programme featured a curated set of high-quality papers from a mix of junior and senior faculty. Panels include speakers from inside and outside of academia, including practitioners and regulators.

Showcasing the expertise and knowledge in their field, School of Management’s PhD alumni Joe Ploog delivered an excellent presentation on his paper “Network effects by choice: Evidence from the board games industry.”, and Joost Rietveld sat on the panel to discuss “Moving beyond the obvious: How to build relevant platform research questions and navigate the publication process.”

The EU-DPRN summit will be an annual event organised at different European locations, with UCL School of Management hosting in 2024.