Heidi Hietala

Dr. Heidi Hietala is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oulu's Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, affiliated with the Empirical Software Engineering in Software, Systems and Services (M3S) research unit. Her work bridges digital transformation theory and practice through three core lenses: collaborative dynamics in service ecosystems, regulatory impacts on technological innovation, and cognitive biases in software engineering.

• Digital Service Ecosystems
• Collective Ambidexterity
• AI Regulation (particularly EU AI Act)
• Software-Defined Vehicle Ecosystems
• Stakeholder Collaboration in Public-Private Innovation

Current research projects include:

• MICOBISE: Mitigating cognitive biases in software engineering
• HAL4SDV: Hardware abstraction layers for European software-defined vehicles
• OXILATE: Operational excellence through actionable expertise
• WWData: Municipal wastewater data ecosystems

Her work appears in journals like Information and Software Technology and Government Information Quarterly, as well as top conferences including ECIS and ICIS. She has received multiple conference recognitions, including Best of Track and Best Paper nominations.