Digital Innovation Hubs Research Articles

Integrating ecosystems: The synergistic effects of digital innovation hubs on start-up growth

Background: South Africa faces significant socio-economic challenges, with unemployment rate. This highlights the need for economic strategies to generate employment, and start-ups are crucial in this context, as they foster innovation, create jobs and increase competitiveness.Aim: The study aims to investigate how digital innovation hubs (DIHs) influence start-up growth, focusing on their roles and functions.Setting: The research is set within the context of DIHs in Africa, specifically examining the 12 DIHs established under the AEDIBNET programme.Methods: A qualitative methodology was employed, using semi-structured interviews with six DIH managers and 28 entrepreneurs or start-up founders.Results: Supporting start-up growth, holistic development support and integrated ecosystem enhancement by DIHs emerged as key themes. These factors foster a conducive environment for innovation and sustained growth.Conclusion: Digital innovation hubs play a crucial role in supporting start-up growth by providing comprehensive and integrated support systems. Their functions collectively enhance start-up growth.Contribution: This study fills a critical gap in the existing literature on DIHs, offering empirical insights into their impact on start-up growth within the African context. The findings provide valuable implications for policymakers, practitioners and researchers aiming to foster the growth of start-ups. Additionally, the study integrates and expands upon knowledge spillover theory, institutional theory and cluster theory. It demonstrates how DIHs facilitate knowledge sharing, provide formal support structures, foster informal networks, and create and sustain entrepreneurial clusters.

Montenegrin Digital Academic Innovation Hub: Experience in Supporting Digital Health Innovations.

Montenegrin Digital Academic Innovation Hub established within Erasmus+ project DigNEST is essential institutional support for developing innovations in the field of health in academic-business cooperation and partnership. Experience of 18 months in running Hub service provides preliminary results in analysis received innovation ideas, provided support and potentials/capacities in medical informatics advancements at national, regional and global level.

Unveiling knowledge ecosystem dimensions for MSMEs’ digital transformation, toward a location-based brokerage

This study explores how knowledge ecosystems (KEs) led by a knowledge broker (KB) can support the digital transformation of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs). By employing an exploratory research design and action research methodology, the paper proposes and applies an analytical framework to investigate the characteristics of KEs and the knowledge managed by the KB as the innovation intermediary acting as leader of the KE The case study selected uncovers the dimensions of a regional KE guided by a digital innovation hub (DIH) supporting MSMEs towards the adoption of the “Digital Artisan platform” deriving from an Industry 4.0 project.The findings highlight the importance of trust, strategic alignment, and dynamic capabilities of KBs in enhancing MSMEs' digital journey and emphasize the location dimension of the regional KE as a means for providing tailored support. This research contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of regional KEs enabling the digital transformation through KBs who are the innovation intermediaries covering the role of leaders of the ecosystem.

Blockchain unlocking collaborative opportunities for environmental sustainability through innovation intermediaries

AbstractThis paper delves into the growing need for collaborative technological solutions to address environmental challenges, with a focus on the underexplored potential of Industry 4.0 technologies, in particular as regards blockchain technology (BCT) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Recognizing the obstacles faced by SMEs when embracing green and digital transformation, this research aims to investigate how innovation intermediaries are able to unlock the collaborative potential of BCT for SMEs so as to enhance their environmental sustainability. When assessing and analysing the role of innovation intermediaries, we have also considered their interconnections and interactions with other actors: universities, government institutions and firms (the so-called “stakeholders”). Our research is based on a multiple case study of a still largely unexplored intermediary in the European context, the digital innovation hub (DIH), which extends the applicability of the technological innovation system framework. This approach contributes to research both on innovation intermediaries and on the development of collaborative partnerships for digitalization. The findings reveal the challenges encountered by DIHs, particularly in legitimizing BCT-based solutions. To address these, identified, weaknesses, the paper proposes a conceptual roadmap aimed at improving collaboration among DIHs, SMEs, and their stakeholders. This roadmap outlines three essential functions: enabling, core, and facilitating effective partnerships and innovation processes.

Digital Innovation Hubs Transforming Business and Marketing Collaboration

In the fast-evolving landscape of business and marketing, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) have emerged as transformative catalysts, reshaping collaboration dynamics. The innovation hub, like incubators, R&D labs, and impact hubs, designates a physical space dedicated to fostering innovation within an organization or community. Defining an innovation hub proves challenging, as it is often linked to an open co-working space with a stylish design and tools for creative thinking. However, it extends beyond being merely a physical space for idea generation. A well-designed physical space facilitates in-person collaboration, while a digital platform enables global collaboration, transcending geographic constraints. Innovation hubs embody a distinctive entrepreneurial culture marked by a global perspective and values that often prioritize social behavior. Particularly in regions with conservative politics and cultural norms, these hubs can function as a secure environment for embracing culturally unfamiliar behaviors and mindsets. A Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) serves as an all-encompassing structure, empowering organizations to enhance competitiveness through the optimization of processes and the innovation of products and services using innovative digital technologies. Received: 25 December 2023 / Accepted: 25 February 2024 / Published: 23 April 2024

Innovation 4.0 Policies in Italy: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Innovation Ecosystem of the “Transition 4.0” Plan from an International Perspective

Innovation 4.0 is a strategic lever of industrial policies. That is the reason why, over the last decade, many European countries have introduced national plans to implement it in their economic fabric. Within this context, this paper focuses on the effects of Industry 4.0 policies in Italy and Europe by presenting the results of a research study on the national and continental ecosystems of innovation. In particular, the study was conducted by involving the main key bodies introduced by the “Transition 4.0” plan in Italy: Competence Centers (CCs), Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), and Punti Impresa Digitale (PID). The study adopted a qualitative–quantitative approach: an analysis of gray literature, semi-structured interviews, and a survey involving Italian and European DIHs were carried out. The results highlight an ambivalent scenario: on the one hand, the research suggests that the consolidation of the ecosystems of innovation is underway in Italy and relies on good organizational capacity; on the other hand, the international comparison indicates that the Italian system still suffers from a marked territorial and institutional fragmentation that needs to be addressed in the coming years.

Relational network of innovation ecosystems generated by digital innovation hubs: a conceptual framework for the interaction processes of DIHs from the perspective of collaboration within and between their relationship levels

AbstractCollaboration plays a key role in the success attained to date by networks of innovation ecosystems generated around entities known as Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), recently created following European Commission initiatives to boost the digitisation of the European economic fabric. This article proposes a conceptual framework that brings together, defines, structures and relates the concepts involved in the collaborative interaction processes within and between these innovation ecosystems to allow comprehensive conceptualisation. The developed framework also provides an approach that helps to tangibilise collaboration as a management process. Here the goal is to ultimately move towards not only qualitative, but also quantitative modelling to bridge the research gap in the state of the art in this respect. The data-driven business-ecosystem-skills-technology (D-BEST) model, devised to configure DIHs service portfolios in a collaborative context, provides the reference basis for the interorganisational asset transfer methodology (IOATM). This is the keystone that structures the framework and constitutes its main contribution. Through the IOATM, this conceptual framework points out collaboration quantification, and serves as a lever for its modelling to deal with collaboration accounting by: turning it into a more controllable management element; guiding practitioners' efforts to improve collaborative processes efficiency with an approach that pursues objectivity and maximises synergies.

Digital Innovation Hubs and portfolio of their services across European economies

Research background: Digital ecosystems in Europe are heterogenous organizations involving different economies, industries, and contexts. Among them, Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) are considered a policy-driven organization fostered by the European Commission to push companies’ digital transition through a wide portfolio of supporting services. Purpose of the article: There are DIHs existing in all European economies, but literature needs more precise indications about their status and nature. The purpose is to study a distribution of DIHs and differences in portfolios of DIHs’ services across European economies. Therefore, the paper wants to deliver more precise data on effects on national and European policies. This is required to define their final role and scope in the complex dynamics of the digital transition, depending on regional context and heterogeneity of industries. Methods: Data on 38 economies was collected from the S3 platform (on both existing and in preparation DIHs) and further verified by native speaking researchers using manual web scrapping of websites of DIHs identified from S3. To find potential similarities of digital ecosystems in different economies as emanated by the existence of DIHs, clusterization (Ward’s method and Euclidean distances) was applied according to the services offered. Economies were clustered according to the number of DIHs and the spread of DIHs intensity in different cities. The results were further analyzed according to the scope of the provided services. Findings & value added: The applied clustering classified European economies in four different sets, according to the types of services offered by the DIHs. These sets are expression of the different digitalization statuses and strategies of the selected economies and, as such, the services a company can benefit from in a specific economy. Potential development-related reasons behind the data-driven clustering are then conjectured and reported, to guide companies and policy makers in their digitalization strategies.

К ВОПРОСУ ЦЕННОСТИ ЦИФРОВОЙ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ ДЛЯ АГРОПРОДОВОЛЬСТВЕННОГО СЕКТОРА

The study focuses on the value of digital innovations and data exchange technologies for the agri-food sector, which represents the "core" of the agro-industrial complex. The digital transformation of the economic activity of agriculture is reflected in increasing the marginality of business, restraining prices for agricultural products and at the same time maintaining the quality of goods. The main problems of the study cover digital innovation hubs that support the digitalization of the agri-food supply chain. The results of the AgroCode Awards in 2021, which encourages AgroTech entrepreneurs and their projects, organized by the Russian Agricultural Bank, are presented. In the course of the work, attention was drawn to crowdfunding as an important element of financing the agricultural sector, and its importance for agricultural projects. The analysis of the results highlights the need for companies, as well as investors, to carefully analyze crowdfunding options to ensure that they make economic sense, are structured and ideally lead to mutually beneficial investment relationships. The authors present key projects of digital transformation of the agri-food sector, namely, the use of specialized training programs in agricultural universities; the creation of platforms for farmers in the field of crop production and livestock; the creation of digital twins; the creation of digital production in the field of crop production and livestock online; control of the targeted use of budgetary funds and the implementation of control and supervisory activities. There is no universal way of digital transformation, despite the existence of a list of mandatory conditions. Within each specific company and its characteristics, digital transformation can take place in its own way. However, it is important to understand that thanks to digital transformation, a business gets a unique opportunity to be in demand.

Platform-based support for AI uptake by SMEs: guidelines to design service bundles

PurposeManufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have already noticed the tangible benefits offered by artificial intelligence (AI). Several approaches have been proposed with a view to support them in the processes entailed in this innovation path. These include multisided platforms created to enable the connection between SMEs and AI developers, making it easier for them to network each other. While such platforms are complex, they facilitate simultaneous interaction with several stakeholders and reaching out to new potential users (both SMEs and AI developers), through a collaboration with supporting ecosystems such as digital innovation hubs (DIHs).Design/methodology/approachMixed methods were used. The literature review was performed to identify the existing approaches within and outside the manufacturing domain. Computer-assisted telephonic (in-depth) interviewing , was conducted to include perspectives of AI platform stakeholders and collect primary data from various European countries.FindingsSeveral challenges and barriers for AI platform stakeholders were identified alongside the corresponding best practices and guidelines on how to address them.Originality/valueAn effective approach was proposed to provide support to the industrial platform managers in this field, by developing guidelines and best practices on how a platform should build its services to support the ecosystem.

Цифрова індустріалізація як чинник економічної динаміки

The article shows the impact of digital industrialization on nationally rooted development. Generalized forecast estimates of international organizations regarding economic growth in Ukraine. Attention is focused on the impact of the war with Russia on Ukraine’s economy and possible consequences of this impact. Based on a by-industry analysis of export dynamics, the author shows the growing leading role of the IT sector in promoting this country’s budget revenue. The main indicators of activity, factors promoting and inhibiting the development of the IT sector, and its activities in ensuring the digitalization of the country's economy are comprehensively analyzed. The potential risks of digital industrialization for nationally rooted development are highlighted. The role of the government in promoting digital industrialization is substantiated. Emphasis is placed on the advantages of creating digital innovation hubs for solving complex problems of digital transformation of regions. The author highlights foreign experience of the digital transformation of the economy and examples of its use in Ukraine.

Towards a Multidimensional Ontology Model for DIH-Based Organisations

Digital innovation hubs are of utmost importance when they sustain cooperation in innovative technological domains like the cyber-physical system. In this paper, the authors introduce, in the first part, a DIH ontology that they extend (1) with network and (2) with CPS entities. For this, they remind the questions that the ontology must answer, deploy the methodology proposed by Noy and McGuinness to identify the classes and the associations between classes, and integrate the new CPS ontological extensions. In the second part, they implement the full innovative DIH4CPS ontology within Protégé, and they instantiate it to a real company.

A framework to develop technopreneurs in digital agriculture value chains in South Africa

Background: The coronavirus epidemic together with Industry 4 has created several disruptors that transformed workplaces and markets. This also highlighted the need to rethink and find alternative approaches to secure future work for unemployed graduates and youth. Digital technology adoption in agriculture value chains (AVCs) creates opportunities for the development of technopreneurs that can help to address this issue of unemployment.Objectives: This study aimed to understand how an institutional framework can support the inclusive development of technopreneurs in digital AVCs. This should align to government policies and the opportunities created by Industry 4.0.Method: A systematic literature review (SLR) assessed numerous frameworks that aligns with government policies and strategies associated with digital for development (D4D). The final outcome is a framework that lists the institutions to support the development of technopreneurs in digital AVCs in South Africa.Results: Provincial digital innovation hubs and district agro-food sustainable knowledge hubs are suggested for implementation. The adoption of digital technology in AVCs is encouraged by these institutions that create future work and enterprise creation opportunities for unemployed graduates and youth.Conclusion: An alternative conceptualisation of the emergence of technopreneurs is envisioned in order to address the research question. This will assist to better understand the institutional arrangement needed to support the development of technopreneurs in AVCs.Contribution: This research adds to D4D literature as such a framework does not exist in South Africa. In the future, this will assist practitioners and academics in better organising, conceptualising and carrying out their investigations.

A Learning Framework for Supporting Digital Innovation Hubs

With the increasing demand for digital transformation and (digital) technology transfer (TT), digital innovation hubs (DIHs) are the new piece of the puzzle of our economy and industries’ landscapes. Evidence shows that DIHs can provide good opportunities to access needed innovations, technologies, and resources at a higher level than other organizations that can normally access them. However, it is critically important to note that DIHs are still evolving, under research, and under development. That is, there are many substantial aspects of DIHs that should be considered. For example, DIHs must cater to a wide spectrum of needs for TT. From this perspective, the contribution of this work is proposing a generic and flexible learning framework, aiming to assist DIHs in providing suitable education, training, and learning services that support the process of (digital) TT to companies. The proposed learning framework was designed, evaluated, and improved with the support of two EU projects, and these processes are discussed in brief. The primary and leading results gained in this way show that the learning framework has immense potential for application to similar cases, and it can facilitate and expedite the process of TT to companies. The study is concluded with some directions for future works.

Building Inclusive Smart Cities through Innovation Intermediaries

To be inclusive, smart cities should be built on Industry 4.0 technologies within a quadruple helix model involving governments, academia, industry, and citizens. Innovation intermediaries facilitating collaborative innovation could foster this model of smart city. This paper identifies digital innovation hubs (DIHs) as innovation intermediaries that can help build inclusive smart cities. A screening of DIHs in European and extra-European countries through desk research finds 48 DIHs linked to smart city projects or policies, of which 23 are involved in building inclusive smart cities and mostly addressing the areas of smart environment and government. This paper suggests a framework for boosting their functions as transformation leaders, knowledge brokers, and technical mediators to facilitate the use of Industry 4.0 technologies for building inclusive smart cities.

Rural Digital Innovation Hubs as a Paradigm for Sustainable Business Models in Europe’s Rural Areas

One of the possible solutions of rural development is rural Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs). Rural DIHs represent an efficient way of improving local environments in a more sustainable way, by affecting local businesses, people and local authorities. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of a rural DIH by exploring the following elements: business model, digital technology and competences, and the policy instrument. We investigate the above-mentioned conceptual elements by conducting a literature review study and synthesizing the findings. Additionally, we provide a case study of the Divina Wine Hub Šmarje as an example of a rural DIH, whose activities are aimed at supporting rural businesses and individuals. The results show that a rural DIH does have a positive impact on local businesses, in particular regarding their sustainability aspect. The local DIH explained in the case study provides possibilities for local businesses to use innovative technological solutions, by supporting them with the right technological equipment and skilled people. From an economic point of view on sustainability, this resulted in business processes optimization, cost reduction, employment opportunities, as well as the strengthening of sustainable consumption and marketing for the winegrowers. Furthermore, it adds to environmental sustainability by adequately assessing the conditions in the vineyards to determine the optimal time and location of effective action, resulting in reducing the environmental footprint. All of this together also contributes to social sustainability by providing fairer distribution of social opportunities and digital inclusion. In this manner, we conclude that rural DIHs should be part of the Smart transformations of rural areas and included in rural development policies.

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Actions fostering adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing companies in European regions

Industry 4.0, a concept comprising a range of promising innovations enabled by the recent advancements in digital technologies, has become a priority of industrial policy in many European countries and regions. In this paper we present actions undertaken by regional organisations (including the so called Digital Innovation Hubs), fostering adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing companies. Using examples from Germany, Italy and Poland, we show actions that both allow to create general conditions for such implementations, but also help individual companies to create individual strategy for adopting Industry 4.0 innovations.

Network Approach to the Digital Innovation Hub as an Ecosystem Supporting the Digital Transformation of Enterprises in a Region

The study aims to examine the two-mode network of digital innovation hubs (DIH) operating in Poland, understood as ecosystems and competence centers, to support the digital transformation of enterprises in a region. Digital Innovation Hub is also one of the S3 Smart Specialization Platform mapping tools and identifying areas of economic specialization of regions, aimed at facilitating interregional cooperation and creating partnerships between different actors across Europe. While the functions and goals of DIH are more and more often presented in national and regional development documents, little is known about the network structure of DIHs operating in a given country (region) and in the European Union. The study used structured and secondary Smart Specialization Platform data, which allows the creation of two-mode relationship networks and shows how interrelated the studied DIHs and digital technologies they use are. Based on the social network analysis and network metrics (centrality, density, and network projection) integrated into programs such as UCINET and ORA-PRO, the visualization and measurement of the network structure of two-mode networks (actor x technology ATij) as well as its projection into actor x actor (AAij) and technology x technology (TTij) networks were created. The results show 15 DIHs or actors (A) and 29 technologies (T), each of which a given DIH offers to show primarily influential DIHs and digital technologies as well as the areas of cooperation. DIHs are a promising and still little explored area of interest for researchers worldwide. The article is the first attempt to investigate the network structure of DIHs operating in Poland and their relations to technologies.

Building the Value Proposition of a Digital Innovation Hub Network to Support Ecosystem Sustainability

Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) play a key role in bolstering European companies to overwhelm innovation barriers and drive Europe as the world’s primary leader in the Industry 4.0 digital revolution; they are one-stop-shop ecosystems able to provide four main functionalities (test before investing, support to find investments, innovation ecosystems, and networking, skills and training). Even if a surge in their diffusion has been registered, their sustainability is still far from being well defined in a structured way. Several approaches and methods are available from literature to ground the sustainability plan of companies’ business. Among them, the first activity to be addressed is the value proposition (VP) analysis, and the most diffused approach is the Value Proposition Canvas (VPC); this paper proposes the application of the VPC (jointly used with other methods from the VP literature) to build the VP of the HUBCAP network (supporting European small and medium-sized enterprises in the adoption of model-based design methods and tools to support cyber-physical system technologies) per each of its four main customer segments (DIHs, academic partners and research and technology organizations, technology/tool providers and technology/tool users). Results highlight the need to characterize the analysis per each of these customers, open up new opportunities to build a structured business model of the network, and constitute a basis for assessing the potential synergies with similar DIH networks. The method proposed can be applied to any other DIH or network of DIH to define their specific VP, ground the strategy to reach their sustainability, and trigger collaborations with each of the four customer segments considered in the analysis.