□ DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) announced that a research team led by Jinhyo Joseph Yun, Principal Researcher of ABB Research (concurrently serving as lead professor of the Open Innovation Academy), has published a study in the internationally renowned journal Science, Technology and Society. The study reveals the mathematical principles through which business models (BMs)[A1] bridge advanced technologies and real-world markets. This research is significant in that it identifies the principles through which a surge of advanced technologies is transformed into convenient services in everyday life, thereby providing a policy foundation for enabling the public to benefit more rapidly from innovative technologies.
□ No matter how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) or innovative technologies may be, it is difficult for these tools to reach people’s everyday lives without a BM that determines how they are delivered and marketed. Traditionally, BMs have had limitations, as the models have been regarded merely as “managerial tools” for companies to generate profit. However, this study newly highlighted BMs as the “critical links” that enables technologies to penetrate into everyday life rather than becoming obsolete in the digital era.
□ In particular, the research team interpreted a BM as a “nudge”[1] that naturally guides people’s choices, and derived three key findings. First, when a BM functions as a nudge and surpasses a specific threshold (the Chesbrough Point), the costs and resistance faced by the public in seeking out and adapting to new technologies decline sharply. Second, beyond this point, the scale and diversity of the market expand explosively, broadening consumer choice. Third, the study revealed that a long and sustained period (referred to as the long tail) was still required for innovative technologies to become fully embedded in the everyday lives of the population without exclusion.[A2]
□ This study is significant in that it objectively demonstrated, through a rigorous mathematical framework (definitions, axioms, and theorems), that BMs function as a structural mechanism linking technology and market dynamics. It provided a mathematical formalization of how the 2025 Nobel Prize–winning concept of “creative destruction” generates new markets. Furthermore, it theoretically proved that when technology and markets are combined in a creative manner, they are capable of creating entirely new ecosystems on a much larger scale that goes[A3] beyond merely replacing existing markets.
□ In particular, as national competitiveness is determined by the ability to design BMs in the era of digital transformation (DX), this study highlighted the need to establish systematic research and education systems for BMs at the university, research institution, and national innovation system levels[A4] .
□ “This research represents a first-of-its-kind study to mathematically demonstrate the structural role of BMs in linking technology and markets,” stated Jinhyo Joseph Yun, Principal Researcher at DGIST. “It will provide an important reference point for the formulation of industrial and policy strategies in the era of digital transformation and AI.”
□ Meanwhile, the study was jointly conducted by Jinhyo Joseph Yun (Principal Researcher, ABB Research, DGIST), Hyobi Cho (Senior Researcher, DGIST), Heungju Ahn (Chair of the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences, DGIST, co-corresponding author), and Kyungbae Park (Professor at Sangji University). The findings were published in the leading international journal Science, Technology and Society under the title “The Role of Business Models in Bridging Technology and Market: Mathematical Modelling and Its Applications.”
[1] Originally meaning “a gentle push with the elbow,” the term refers to subtly guiding people’s choices without coercion or regulation. In this study, it describes how business models—such as “free first-month trials” or “free basic features”—function as catalysts that lower initial cost burdens or psychological entry barriers for the public, thereby naturally encouraging the adoption and use of new innovative technologies.
[A1]The abbreviation was defined at its first instance. Following this, only the abbreviation was used.
[A2]The original “Third, the study revealed that even so, it still takes a long and sustained period (referred to as the long tail) for innovative technologies to become fully embedded in the everyday lives of the entire population without exclusion” was changed to “Third, the study revealed that a long and sustained period (referred to as the long tail) was still required for innovative technologies to become fully embedded in the everyday lives of the population without exclusion” for better readability.
[A3]Added “that goes” for better readability.
[A4]The original “levels of universities, research institutions, and the national innovation system” was changed to “university, research institution, and national innovation system levels” for grammatical accuracy.
