The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has become a strategic priority for organizations of all sizes, driven by pursuit of process optimization, efficiency gains, and enhanced decision-making. Yet, the effectiveness of AI depends not only on technological implementation but on how organizations integrate it with human-centric values –a challenge that remains underexplored in the context of corporate governance and innovation ecosystems.
This paper explores how corporate governance functions as an instrumental factor in institutionalizing human-centric AI adoption, comparing practices across large organizations, SMEs, and startups within the Rome Technopole (RT) innovation ecosystem. We argue that governance plays a critical role in fostering ethical AI adoption, yet human-centricity should not be treated merely as an afterthought. Instead, it must be a constitutive principle, embedded in the design of the innovation ecosystem itself. Using data from the Rome Technopole Observatory on AI, this exploratory study investigates how organizational size shapes AI strategies and perceived alignment with human-centric values. Findings reveal that structural changes (e.g., dedicated AI teams in large organizations) do not necessarily lead to more human-centric practices or perceptions that AI is aligned with human values. This underscores a critical gap: widespread AI adoption does not guarantee alignment with human-centric principles, which highlights the need for governance that fosters human-centricity at a foundational level.
To address this, based on Sangiovanni Vincentelli’s meet-in-the-middle principle, we outline the necessary conditions for developing an innovation ecosystem grounded in human-centric principles. Furthermore, we consider organizations as social, dynamic, and adaptable systems and the RT innovation ecosystem as a context-dependent ecosystem responsible for interactions between its organizations. This theoretical exploratory study paves the way for future empirical research into RT and others innovation ecosystems.
In conclusion, this study posits that corporate governance can be an instrumental mechanism for sustaining an innovation ecosystem in which human-centricity is constitutive. These insights are particularly relevant for organizations operating within collaborative innovation ecosystems, and the innovation ecosystem itself, as they emphasize the alignment between technological progress and societal values as a prerequisite for sustainable and integrative innovation.