AI capability building in Kymenlaakso region : organizational challenges and regional collaboration
Paththamesthrige, Ferdina (2026)
Diplomityö
2026
School of Engineering Science, Tuotantotalous
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20260621100695
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20260621100695
Tiivistelmä
In many peripheral industrial areas, organizations understand the strategic value of AI, but lack the ability to develop AI capabilities. While internal AI challenges and regional innovation ecosystems have been studied individually, an integrated understanding has been underexplored. This study fills this gap by examining the experiences of organizations in the Kymenlaakso region in Finland with capability building in AI and their perceptions and interactions with the region’s support actors.
The study adopted an exploratory qualitative design. Using semi-structured interviews, nine managerial informants from industrial and logistics organizations were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis generating six empirical themes: strategic uncertainty and leadership gaps, structural and governance constraints, inadequate training provisions, cultural and behavioral barriers, collaboration gaps and barriers, and enabling conditions and regional value.
Synthesizing these themes, the study highlights a recognition-action gap, reflecting a pre-absorptive state, where organizations are aware of the importance of AI but do not have the strategic clarity, leadership commitment, structured training and knowledge, and established relevance to their work. One of the main challenges is a perceived lack of relevance rather than active resistance where employees don’t see how AI applies to their work compounded with a lack of peer visibility. Notably, job displacement is not a significant concern for the studied organizations. Regionally, Kymenlaakso has an active collaboration culture in other fields, but AI specific collaboration is under-activated. It is hindered by subsidiary governance constraints, internal unreadiness of firms, two-sided awareness gaps and generic one-off trainings. Organizations consistently prefer for low commitment formats, peer learning, onsite support and a sustained intermediary.
The study demonstrates that internal recognition action gap and regional under activation are mutually reinforcing, forming a recursive process, and sustained intermediary as a leverage point. This is presented in an empirically grounded conceptual framework. Theoretically study contributes socio technical systems, absorptive capacity and regional innovation systems theories. In practice, the results will guide managers, regional organizations and policy makers who want to support develop AI capabilities in peripheral regions.
The study adopted an exploratory qualitative design. Using semi-structured interviews, nine managerial informants from industrial and logistics organizations were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis generating six empirical themes: strategic uncertainty and leadership gaps, structural and governance constraints, inadequate training provisions, cultural and behavioral barriers, collaboration gaps and barriers, and enabling conditions and regional value.
Synthesizing these themes, the study highlights a recognition-action gap, reflecting a pre-absorptive state, where organizations are aware of the importance of AI but do not have the strategic clarity, leadership commitment, structured training and knowledge, and established relevance to their work. One of the main challenges is a perceived lack of relevance rather than active resistance where employees don’t see how AI applies to their work compounded with a lack of peer visibility. Notably, job displacement is not a significant concern for the studied organizations. Regionally, Kymenlaakso has an active collaboration culture in other fields, but AI specific collaboration is under-activated. It is hindered by subsidiary governance constraints, internal unreadiness of firms, two-sided awareness gaps and generic one-off trainings. Organizations consistently prefer for low commitment formats, peer learning, onsite support and a sustained intermediary.
The study demonstrates that internal recognition action gap and regional under activation are mutually reinforcing, forming a recursive process, and sustained intermediary as a leverage point. This is presented in an empirically grounded conceptual framework. Theoretically study contributes socio technical systems, absorptive capacity and regional innovation systems theories. In practice, the results will guide managers, regional organizations and policy makers who want to support develop AI capabilities in peripheral regions.