“Addressing the climate challenge presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all.”Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Humanity is pushing the earth system beyond its natural limits. Rapid population growth and exponential consumption exert synergistic and compounded strains on our planet. Evidence of the untenable nature of this strain abounds, in the form of accelerated, widespread and intensifying climate change (United Nations, 2021), drastic reduction in biodiversity, overexploitation and depletion of natural resources, and degradation of ecosystems. Calculated by the Global Footprint Network, the Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) succinctly and illustratively captures this divergence between humanity’s ecological footprint and earth’s biocapacity. The EOD marks the point in the year when humanity’s demand for resources in a given year exceeds what the earth can replenish in that same year, and has come earlier and earlier since first calculated in 1971. In 2023, it fell on August 2 (Global Footprint Network), leaving us in an ecological deficit for the remaining part of the year. The science-based planetary boundaries framework developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre is another powerful visualisation of the state of our planetary systems. Their 2023 assessment reports that six of the nine planetary boundaries (e.g. freshwater change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, novels entities such as plastics, etc) have been transgressed, thereby heightening the risk of large-scale, abrupt, and irreversible environmental changes. (continued...)

The Internet economy and computer-aided innovation enable improvements in the quality and quantity of outcomes of innovation processes. Traditional “research pipes” are often too slow to fit with contemporary business logic. In this paper, we focus on the intersection of innovation and automation and the potential they create together. Innovation automation represents a next generation of automation that has structural implications. Automation in the innovation context is about maintaining the richness of creative innovation processes while also absorbing a greater amount of data, information, and knowledge inputs and producing more holistic outputs that meet customer needs better and are faster on the market. The paper builds a novel academic “playground” for the research on innovation automation as the efficient and effective use of co-creative intelligence—the fusion and mixture of artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and the intelligence of crowds. Covering the wide field of innovation automation requires various future research programs. The main focus areas in this paper are related to understanding innovation automation, enabling the way to new management of innovation and ecosystem development. We also propose relevant research themes for the future.

As the world goes digital, many companies have found that their performance improves when they digitize their operations. This is especially true in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies must rely more on digital tools to survive. Our paper aims to examine the connection between digital competitiveness and the financial performance of 86 digital businesses at the country level before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic over the period 2017--2021. Unlike previous findings that relied on qualitative methods, our research relies on quantitative methods. More precisely, we empirically examine the impact of digital competitiveness (i.e., an index) on financial performance (i.e., measured by return on assets) through linear regression models and panel data regressions for three specific periods (2017-2019 pre-pandemic, 2020 pandemic, and 2021 post-pandemic). We found that COVID-19 allows firms to adopt digitalization. More specifically, comparing the three periods, we discovered that digital competitiveness positively influences business financial performance in the post-Covid era. Looking ahead to the post-Covid world, it is clear that companies must prioritize digital competitiveness to ensure their long-term success. Governments can learn important lessons from this research on how to help companies digitize."

There is an ongoing debate about the use and scope of Clayton M. Christensen´s idea of disruptive innovation, including the question of whether it is a management buzz phrase or a valuable theory. This discussion considers the general question of how innovation in the field of management theories and concepts finds its way to the different target groups. This conceptual paper combines the different concepts of the creation and dissemination of management trends in a basic framework based on a short review of models for the dissemination of management ideas. This framework allows an analysis of the character of new management ideas like disruptive innovation. By measuring the impact of the theory on the academic sphere using a bibliometric statistic of the number of academic publications on Google scholar and Scopus and a meta-analysis of research papers, we show the significant influence of disruptive innovation beyond pure management fads.

This article delves into the evolving landscape of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education, a dynamic pedagogical paradigm that amalgamates “Arts” into the realms of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Focusing on the critical dimensions of skill development and learning approach, this study undertook a systematic literature review spanning 2018 to 2022. The examination of contemporary literature sheds light on students' evolving attitudes and perceptions toward integrating Arts within STEM subjects. To augment this exploration, an empirical survey was conducted, gathering insights from students from diverse European countries and spanning various levels of pedagogy. This combined study unveils intricate correlations between specific forms of Arts and the skill sets essential for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Additionally, it delves into the learning approaches that resonate with students as they navigate the complexities of this transformative pedagogy. As education evolves, this article encourages readers to delve into how students view STEAM education. It provides insights into how STEAM education can help shape versatile innovators and entrepreneurs ready to tackle future challenges.

Collaboration has been increasingly recognised as a key for enhancing capacity, effectiveness, and spurring innovation in the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to study empirically how different perceptions and roles within an organisation handle a proposal from strategic management related to engaging a large municipality in collaboration with social entrepreneurs. The primary focus of attention is middle managers, as they stand out as a central counterpart to the administrative and political leadership. The data collection included in-depth interviews, observation and documents. An abductive analysis that combined empirical findings with theoretical insights showed that middle managers controlled positional and professional power bases, enabling them to block the formal lines of authority. The paper contributes to view innovation as a part of the struggle between different roles and perceptions within an organisation and to an explanation for the outcome resulting from different power bases.

This study evaluates the current knowledge base of research on Design Thinking (DT) by conducting a bibliometric and network analysis of 986 scientific documents gathered from the Scopus database from 1992- 2021. The results reveal, inter alia, publication trends, identify influential documents, productive authors, journals, institutions, countries working and collaborating in the field of DT and the potential future research opportunities. Co-occurrence of Keywords and PageRank analysis was performed and relevant clusters emerging out of this analysis were described. The study maps the existing literature available and examines key research trends and theoretical underpinnings of this emerging discipline. Finally, the study provides detailed recommendations about the topics that need to be probed in detail in future research to advance a better understanding of this field.

Living lab research is a well-accepted stream of innovation management literature. Although previous research has documented living labs from a variety of perspectives, the core of living labs and their principles remain largely underexplored. The present study analyses innovation in living labs inspired by the lens of quantum theory and its key concepts, including superposition, entanglement and wave function collapse. More specifically, the study applies insights from quantum theory to improve our understanding of innovation endeavours in living labs. The framework developed in the study illustrates how and why living labs advance innovations: they enhance collisions of individuals with different backgrounds and knowledge, thereby increasing potential realities (superpositions) and their collapses. The study contributes to living lab literature by suggesting that living labs can be seen as a realisation of quantum computing in real-life environments, speeding up innovation activities. While the study explores conceptual aspects, its findings can offer valuable insights for policy makers and practitioners engaged in living labs.

This Letter considers the multifaceted realm of circular innovation, shedding light on its dynamics, strategic implications, and broader significance for sustainable development. By evaluating existing research and exploring examples across sectors, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of circular innovation in transforming industries, economies, and societies. Although the topic has received increased interest in recent years, we find that there are notable gaps. While significant attention has been given to initial adoption and expansion, there is a lack of understanding regarding the enduring impacts on businesses and society. Further research addressing these gaps can enrich our understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this evolving field.

Sustainability and ESG criteria, i.e. environment, social, and governance, are essential strategic drivers, especially because of the circular economy and a new generation of ‘sustainable natives’ among the Generation Z. In light of firms’ varying performance in managing sustainability, this conceptual paper develops a maturity model for sustainability management with five maturity levels: awareness, efficiency, transparency, ecosystem, and innovation. A further sixth level goes beyond most firms’ present aspirations in managing sustainability, but it may become important in the future. Additionally, the key skills that companies and employees need at different maturity levels are discussed along with implications for sustainability trainings and assessments as well as human resources management and ethics. These skills may provide the source of sustainability-based core competencies, and they help to explain interfirm differences in managing sustainability, positainability, and digitainability. Finally, the framework highlights innovation and transformation in the context of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).