Two New Honorary Doctors to be Appointed to Oulu Business School

The University of Oulu will inaugurate 17 new honorary doctors at its 12th Doctoral Conferment Ceremony held on May 17-19, 2024. Being awarded an honorary doctorate is the highest recognition that the university can give to a person.
On a dark blue background there are separate portrait pictures of Artistic Director of Helsinki Festival Marko Ahtisaari (on the left), and Professor Henry Chesbrough (on the right).
Artistic Director Marko Ahtisaari (left, photo: Saara Autere) and Prof. Henry Chesbrough (right) will be inaugurated as honorary doctors of the Oulu Business School.

People who are internationally distinguished in the disciplines represented at the University of Oulu have been invited as honorary doctors. Many of them have made significant research collaborations with researchers at the University of Oulu. Additionally, honorary doctorates have been awarded to individuals who have significantly contributed to society and the activities of the University of Oulu.

The honorary doctors of 2024 of the Oulu Business School are:

Professor Henry Chesbrough

Henry Chesbrough is known for his research on open innovation. He introduced the concept of open innovation in 2003 and has since then actively developed related theorizing. According to the core idea of open innovation, organizations should make more use of outside ideas and allow ideas created in the organization to go beyond their borders for use by others. The concept has been applied in numerous contexts, and the original idea has been refined e.g. In the active Open innovation research community started by Chesbrough.

Artistic Director of Helsinki Festival Marko Ahtisaari

Marko Ahtisaari works as the artistic director of Helsinki Festival. He is also a board member of the CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. Ahtisaari's career is characterized by working at the interfaces and intersections of technology, design, arts and philosophy. Ahtisaari worked in the years 2009–2013 as a director responsible for design at Nokia Oyj. He has served on the board of the Martti Ahtisaari Institute of the University of Oulu Business School since the institute was founded and is currently the chairman of the board. Ahtisaari has played a key role in the promotion of digital business research and education at the University of Oulu Business School, and especially in the construction of business analytics research and development activities and degree training.

Honorary doctorates in the field of business and economics have been appointed at the University of Oulu since 1994. See below for a full list of honorary doctorates in business and economics.

The 4th Conferment Ceremony (1994)

  • Governor Ahti Pekkala

The 5th Conferment Ceremony (1998)

  • Professor Per-Olov Johansson
  • CEO Martti Ursin

The 6th Conferment Ceremony (2002)

  • Professor Erkki Koskela
  • Professor Hal Varian

The 7th Conferment Ceremony (2006)

  • Professor Joshua Livnat
  • Kauppaneuvos (Finnish honorary title) Matti Pörhö
  • Professor Hersh Shefrin

The 8th Conferment Ceremony (2009)

  • Professor John Hassard
  • Professor Wesley J. Johnston
  • Kauppaneuvos (Finnish honorary title) Ilkka Lantto

The 9th Conferment Ceremony (2013)

  • Kauppaneuvos (Finnish honorary title) Taisto Riski
  • Professor Jan-Erik Vahlne

The 10th Conferment Ceremony (2017)

  • Professor Gautam Gowrisankaran
  • Councilor of Commerce, CEO Timo Levo

The 11th Conferment Ceremony (2022)

  • Professor Eli Amir
  • Professor Eva Liljeblom
  • CEO Risto Murto
Last updated: 17.5.2024