GHD joins D^3 Frontier Firm initiative to amplify AI innovation

Harvard Business School faculty, in collaboration with Microsoft and its clients, will study human-AI work, publish evidence-based blueprints, and deliver custom workshops for executives to rapidly reinvent global businesses as Frontier Firms.

Global professional services company GHD is joining forces in a bold, strategic collaboration between the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard (D^3) and Microsoft, designed to accelerate the transformation of enterprise organisations into AI-native institutions.

The D^3 Frontier Firm initiative brings together world-class academic faculty from Harvard Business School and real-world enterprise insight to explore how artificial intelligence can be deeply embedded into core business functions to drive measurable performance gains. 

As an early adopter of AI tools, GHD is the only inaugural Frontier Firm in the engineering, architecture and construction sector. Through shared insights, research, tools, and ongoing executive education, participants aim to accelerate transformation with agentic AI at the core.  

As defined by the D^3, Frontier Firms are companies that put AI at the core of their strategy to transform operations, accelerate innovation, and amplify human capacity. 

“Being a Frontier Firm means seeing AI as more than a technological challenge, requiring exploration and reflective thinking on leadership, organisational and cultural aspects of AI.  We have a responsibility to our clients and communities to unlock capacity for new, better and smarter infrastructure globally. This is why we are seeking to maximise the potential of our people in tandem with the unique capabilities of technology,” Paul Murphy, GHD’s Chief Information Officer commented. 

The research into the journey of Frontier Firms will be a catalyst for redefining long-held paradigms of work. Hosted by the D^3, this Initiative will develop applied research on human-AI collaboration, upskill global C-suite leadership, and deliver new insights and tools to disrupt conventional business thinking. 

“Executives that go all in on AI without a clear path forward risk falling into a frustrating cycle of pilots that don’t deliver value and have no impact,” said Karim Lakhani, Chair of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard and Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS). “With this Initiative, we are collaborating with trailblazing companies who are pushing the limits of agentic AI to deliver value to their customers, reimagine work patterns, reinvent operations, and generate new business models. Together in collaboration with Microsoft and its customers, we aim to create rigorous, evidence-based blueprints for high-performing human-AI workplaces, bridging the gap between ambition and true competitive advantage.” 

Jared Spataro, Chief Marketing Officer, AI at Work at Microsoft articulated, “It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ AI is right for business—leaders today are grappling with ‘how’ to become a Frontier Firm. This Frontier Firm AI Initiative is addressing a critical gap in the marketplace, giving leaders the education and practical tools they need to help their people and organisations navigate this transformation.” 

Companies will participate in large-scale field-based experiments in AI that explore AI-first work patterns as well as take part in custom workshops that translate the results of the research into practical guidelines for companies innovating their operating models with AI. 

About GHD

GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 165 offices located on five continents.