WAICI 2025 →

The Second Workshop On

AI and the Future of Collaborative Innovation

2026 Theme: Agents, Productivity, and the Future Workforce

📅 When

Workshop ⚙️: October 1 & 2, 2026
Reception 🍷: October 1, 2026

📍 Where

NYU Stern School of Business
Washington Square Campus, NYC

Call for Participation

2026 Theme: Agents, Productivity, and the Future Workforce

Submit your work on AI and collaborative innovation. We welcome both completed research and work in progress from scholars across information systems, marketing, strategy, economics, and related disciplines.

Submission Deadline: June 20th, 2026

Acceptance Notice Sent: July 14th, 2026

Submit Your Work Submission deadline has passed Program Registration

About the Workshop

The Workshop on AI and the Future of Collaborative Innovation (WAICI) brings together scholars from information systems, marketing, strategy, economics, and related fields to study how artificial intelligence is changing the way people, teams, and organizations create and share knowledge. We welcome rigorous empirical and theoretical research on how generative AI and AI agents affect collaboration, productivity, and innovation across firms, platforms, and institutions.

Plenary Fireside Chat with Invited Guests

How to think about publication in this brave new world?

Ravi Bapna

Ravi Bapna

University of Minnesota, Carlson School

Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Business Analytics & Information Systems. Co-author of "Thrive: Maximizing Well-Being in the Age of AI" (with Anindya Ghose). Studies how AI and digital platforms reshape collaboration, innovation, and well-being, and how academic research can credibly inform industry practice.

Gordon Burtch

Gordon Burtch

Boston University, Questrom School

Allen and Kelli Questrom Professor in Information Systems; also a Research Scientist at Meta. Leading expert on crowdfunding, online labor markets, the gig economy, and the impact of digital platforms and AI on online communities.

Olivia Sheng

Olivia Sheng

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School

W. P. Carey Distinguished Chair and Professor of Information Systems; Co-Director of ASU's Center for AI and Data Analytics. Past President of the INFORMS Information Systems Society and a longtime mentor to junior faculty and PhD students in IS and analytics.

Arun Sundararajan

Arun Sundararajan

New York University, Stern School

Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics; Director of the Fubon Center for Technology, Business and Innovation. Author of "The Sharing Economy" and a leading expert on AI governance, platform economics, and digital transformation of work.

The Applied Economist's Playbook: AI, Markets, and Policy Beyond Academia

Anindya Ghose

Anindya Ghose

New York University, Stern School

Heinz Riehl Chair Professor and Director of the MS in Business Analytics program. Author of "TAP" and co-author of "Thrive" (with Ravi Bapna). Works at the intersection of academia and industry on how generative AI is transforming knowledge work, collaboration, and innovation in organizations.

Sonia Jaffe

Sonia Jaffe

Microsoft, Office of the Chief Economist

Principal Researcher at Microsoft. Leading expert on the economics of generative AI, studying how AI tools shape worker productivity, labor markets, and the future of knowledge work.

Beibei Li

Beibei Li

Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz College

Professor of IT and Management. Recipient of multiple NSF grants and faculty research awards from Amazon, Google, Facebook, Adobe, and the Marketing Science Institute. Applies AI, machine learning, and econometrics to study how technological disruptions transform markets.

Future of AI and Innovation Research

Vasant Dhar

Vasant Dhar

New York University, Stern School & Center for Data Science

Professor at NYU Stern and the Center for Data Science, where he was a founding faculty member. Author of Thinking with Machines and host of the Brave New World podcast. Studies trust, risk, and governance of AI in society.

Inbal Yahav

Inbal Yahav

Tel Aviv University, Coller School

Professor and co-chair of the Coller Lab for AI and Business Analytics. Develops ML and NLP architectures and drives interdisciplinary research linking data science with law, public health, and policy.

Ahmed Abbasi

Ahmed Abbasi

University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College

Joe and Jane Giovanini Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations. Over twenty years of experience in human-centered AI, with research funded by NSF, AWS, Microsoft, eBay, and Oracle.

Program

Day 1 — Thursday, October 1st, 2026
9:30 AM
Arrival & Meet (invited Junior Faculty Forum participants and Mentors only)
9:45 AM
Introduction
10:00 AM
– 12:00 PM
Mentorship Session — 2 parallel tracks, Junior Faculty Forum participants present their work (invited only)
12:00 PM
– 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM
– 3:15 PM
Career Vision & Impact — Mentor Feedback Session (invited only)
3:15 PM
Arrival & Check-in (General Attendees)
3:15 PM
– 4:15 PM
Plenary Panel 1: How to think about publication in this brave new world? (open to all attendees) · Panelists: Ravi Bapna (UMN Carlson), Gordon Burtch (BU Questrom), Olivia Sheng (ASU W. P. Carey) · Moderator: Arun Sundararajan
4:30 PM
– 5:15 PM
Plenary Short Presentations — 8 presentations × 5 minutes each
5:15 PM onwards
Opening Reception — Networking, Food, and Drinks
Day 2 — Friday, October 2nd, 2026
8:00 AM
– 9:00 AM
Light Breakfast
8:30 AM
– 8:55 AM
Plenary Short Presentations — 4 presentations × 5 minutes each
9:00 AM
– 10:15 AM
Plenary Panel 2: The Applied Economist's Playbook — AI, Markets, and Policy Beyond Academia · Panelists: Anindya Ghose (NYU Stern), Sonia Jaffe (Microsoft), Beibei Li (CMU Heinz) · Moderator: Raveesh Mayya
10:15 AM
– 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM
– 11:45 AM
Parallel Sessions I — Concurrent Tracks (75 mins, Regular Faculty Presentations)
11:45 AM
– 12:45 PM
Lunch
12:45 PM
– 2:00 PM
Plenary Panel 3: Future of AI and Innovation Research · Panelists: Vasant Dhar (NYU Stern), Inbal Yahav (TAU Coller), Ahmed Abbasi (Notre Dame) · Moderator: Gal Oestreicher-Singer
2:00 PM
– 2:15 PM
Break
2:15 PM
– 3:30 PM
Parallel Sessions II — Concurrent Tracks (75 mins, Regular Faculty Presentations)
3:30 PM
– 4:00 PM
Coffee Break
4:00 PM
– 5:15 PM
Parallel Sessions III — Concurrent Tracks (75 mins, Regular Faculty Presentations)
5:15 PM
– 5:40 PM
Plenary Short Presentations — 4 presentations × 5 minutes each
5:40 PM
Closing Remarks

Workshop Organizers

Gal Oestreicher-Singer

Gal Oestreicher-Singer

Tel Aviv University

Vice Rector
Mexico Professor, Coller School of Management

Raveesh Mayya

Raveesh Mayya

New York University

Assistant Professor of Technology
Stern School of Business

Research Topics

We invite submissions on topics related to how modern AI technologies are affecting collaboration and innovation, including but not limited to:

Human–AI Creative Collaboration
How people and generative models co-produce ideas, content, and innovation
AI and Workplace Innovation
AI agents as teammates; intra-team dynamics; heterogeneous adoption
Productivity & Performance with AI
Real vs. perceived productivity gains; measurement of AI's effect on knowledge work
AI Agents in Markets and Marketplaces
Agentic buyers/sellers, market design, and platform economics
Foundation Models & Input Innovation
Prompting, fine-tuning, open-source LLMs, and data/API access
Marketing and Engagement Innovation
GenAI in advertising, content, recommendations, and consumer interaction
AI and Workforce Transformation
Skills, careers, labor markets, and the future of work in an agentic era
AI in/and Policy Innovation
Algorithmic fairness, governance, and regulatory impacts of AI
Methodological Innovations with LLMs
Synthetic respondents, data annotation, simulations, and AI-augmented research

Registration

Join us for this exciting workshop bringing together leading researchers and practitioners in AI and collaborative innovation. Registration includes access to all workshop sessions, networking reception, and workshop materials.

🎤 Speakers

$100 USD
Special rate for speakers selected to present at the workshop

🎓 Academics

$150 USD
Faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from academic institutions

🏢 Industry Partners

$250 USD
Professionals from industry, consulting, and private sector organizations

Please register with your official institutional email. In accordance with the NYU Campus Safety Office, registration does not automatically grant building access. Organizers must manually verify each participant's affiliation and add them to the NYU JRNY building-access system. That access email may arrive closer to the event, so thank you for your patience.

Sponsors & Partners