Open Innovation 4.0 as an Enhancer of Sustainable Innovation Ecosystems

Investigation of industry 4.0 technologies mediating effect on the supply chain performance and supply chain management practices

The aim of the present article purposefully explores how industry 4.0 may alter conventional methods of administration by performance of supply chain. Nowadays, the business activities/processes have been raised and all are directly associated with industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 acts as a go-between for improved supply chain efficiency and more traditional forms of logistics management. Discovering the transformative effects of industry 4.0 on supply chain management by reading on, however, SCM practices, this study considers the questioner-based data from September 2021 to March 2022 for China economy. Interestingly, the findings of structural equation model (SEM) describe the supportive response of revolution (the fourth industrial revolution) to supply chain management in the previously described field. The consequences of this research argue that the supportive role of technological progress in industrial revolution brings efficient supply chain management. Moreover, the performance indicators under the supply chain work well due to significant progress in industry 4.0. In concluding remarks, such types of advanced technologies serve as an intermediate between the management and practices of supply chain. However, the results provide light on the basic principles behind the success. In addition, these technologies make it possible to significantly improve the performance by allowing process unification, mechanization, and automation and introducing innovative analytic capabilities and supply chain operations including procurement, production, and inventory management, and marketing may work together more efficiently. Some of these processes include marketing, inventory management, and procurement. These improvements are attainable through the implementation of innovative scientific capabilities.

Does eco-friendly tourism necessary for entrepreneurship? The role of tourism and innovation in sustainable development

Recent years have seen a surge in international interest in the connections between tourism, technological development, and climate change. This research looks at how increased innovation and tourism might help the economies of the Group of Seven to grow sustainably. Multiple panel unit root tests confirmed the unit root properties of the variables, and the cross-sectional dependency of the panel data from 2000 to 2020 was analyzed. Pedroni and Kao's tests reveal a co-integration link between the variables. Full-modified OLS and dynamic OLS studies show that innovation, as measured by patents and scholarly papers, is associated with economic growth and reduced pollution. In order to estimate the variables, this research makes use of the augmented mean group (AMG) and CCEMG. These findings demonstrate tourism's enormous positive effect on lowering pollution levels and growing economies, two key indicators of sustainable progress. According to the study's findings, asylum seekers did not help boost national economies or participate in national environmental improvement initiatives. Evidence suggests that primary enrollment levels promote sustainable development by reducing environmental degradation and fostering economic growth. The findings suggest that the G7 economies would benefit from increased investment in innovation, tourism infrastructure, and technical higher education. These results provide valuable input for businesses, politicians, and the G7 economies' sustainable development goals.

Does Digitization Promote Green Innovation? Evidence from China

Green innovation is an important strategy in seeking sustainable competitive advantages. This paper investigates the impact of enterprise digitization on green innovation and its mechanisms. We find that enterprise digital transformation has a significant effect on the promotion of green innovation. This positive effect mainly stems from the advantage of resource reallocation generated by enterprise digitalization that can alleviate financing constraints and raise risk-taking levels. Furthermore, the level of economic development strengthens the impact of enterprise digitization on green innovation, and the positive relationship between enterprise digitization and green innovation is stronger in regions with stronger environmental regulation and higher intellectual property protection, as well as in state-owned and heavily polluting enterprises. Digitization can optimize resource utilization, strengthen the capacity of green innovation in pollution reduction and promote the clean production of enterprises. Our results show that enterprise digitization plays a positive role in innovation activities. Furthermore, our results show that enterprise digitization plays a positive role in innovation activities.

Unfolding sustainable auditing ecosystem formation path through digitalization transformation: How digital intelligence of accountant fosters the digitalization capabilities

This research aims at indulging a consistent image of how Digitalization Capabilities (DC) demonstrates an impact on Sustainable Auditing Ecosystem (SAE) within public sector organizations (PSOs) in developing countries, especial in an emerging market, and gives insights regarding to divergent impacts of the interconnection between DC and SAE moderated by different levels of Accountants' Digital Intelligence (ADI). The state-of-the-art structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to statistically analyze the survey data collected from self-administered questionnaire distributed to a convenient sample of 323 respondents. Additionally, multi-group analysis (MGA) was implemented to explore the heterogeneity of data and examined substance of the difference in the parameters caused by the moderating variable. The obtained results advocated that it was paramount for PSOs to increase DC for SAE formulation. The MGA findings highlighted a statistically significant difference in the impacts of DC on SAE between various levels of ADI. The insights acquired from final model emerged as a foundation which might buttress policymakers and PSOs' practitioners in initiatives development pertaining to digitalization for SAE formulation.

Corporate Digital Transformation and Green Innovation: A Quasi-Nature Experiment from Integration of Informatization and Industrialization in China

In the era of the digital economy, the rise and application of digital technologies have led to a series of systematic changes and disruptive innovations within enterprises. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of "Integration of Informatization and Industrialization", this paper examines the economic consequences of digital transformation from the standpoint of corporate green innovation, utilizing China's listed manufacturing firms as the research object. Using the DID model, it is discovered that through the implementation of corporate digital transformation, the output of green innovation increases significantly. The conclusions are still robust when using the parallel trend test, PSM-DID, placebo test, and the test of deleting the sample entering the pilot in the current year. Extended analyses find that corporate digital transformation has a greater effect on green innovation in regions with weaker digital economy, in industries with less rivalry, and in firms with larger size. The conclusions of this paper not only advance research on digital transformation and its economic consequences, but also provides theoretical proof and practical insights for advancing corporate digital transformation and enhancing the green development system.

The Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate Environment Performance: Evidence from China

In recent years, the rate of climate change appears to have accelerated, and digital transformation and environmental performance have become increasingly important in the field of corporate social responsibility. Previous studies have mainly focused on the economic consequences of digital transformation. However, research on the effect of digital transformation on reducing firms' emissions is relatively rare. This study focused on two kinds of typical environmental pollutants: waste gas emissions and wastewater emissions. Using data on Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2018 and adopting the fixed effect model to investigate the emission reduction effect and mechanism of digital transformation on waste gas emissions and wastewater emissions of firms, we found the following: (1) digital transformation significantly reduces pollution emissions; (2) the relationship is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), high-polluting enterprises, and economically developed regions; (3) to gain a more in-depth understanding of how digital transformation affects the pollution emission behavior of firms, we further conducted mechanism tests and found that digital transformation reduces pollution by increasing total factor productivity and green innovation and improving firms' internal controls. The above conclusions still hold after a series of robustness tests, including alternative econometric specifications and overcoming potential endogeneity with an instrumental variable. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the effect of digital transformation on environmental pollution emissions. Hence, all governments should pay more attention to digital transformation for sustainable development and improved environmental quality.

Responsible innovation and ethical corporate behavior in the Asian fashion industry: A systematic literature review and avenues ahead

Fashion firms have transferred their manufacturing processes to Asia, seeking minimum labor costs, supported by the academic literature’s proposals for alternative supply chain configurations to maximize profits. Fashion industry has undergone public analysis, facing demands for greater transparency about environmental and social sustainability. The growing public awareness of sustainability issues has led firms to declare their commitment to sustainable resources, but few changes have been registered. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe listed technological innovation as a key tool for making the fashion industry transparent and traceable regarding sustainability and circularity. The research and responsible innovation framework indicate appropriate ways to manage innovation from a responsible and ethical perspective, according to ethical corporate behaviour (ECB), particularly in the industries characterized by productive phases processed in more countries, such as the fashion industry. However, the linkages between responsible innovation, ECB towards innovative and sustainable business models, and their conceptualization, are still unclear in the fashion industry, achieving the goals included in the UN 2030 Agenda. This study draws on bibliometric analysis and systematic review of the literature on 114 articles published between 1990 and 2021 allows to identify the above issues in the research domains, and outline the evolutionary trajectories, as well as to explore the literary corpus about responsible innovation (RI) in the ethical corporate behaviour (ECB) of the fashion industry and its Asian suppliers. The results highlight that fashion brands strive to develop RI and ECB along their supply chain. Still, the misalignment of corporate ethics and cultural values represents a significant obstacle to the adoption of business models, especially to achieve the goals of UN 2030 Agenda. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that discusses RI as enabling driver in the ECB for fashion companies also defining a future research agenda including RI, ECB, iSBMs towards SDGs.

Sustainability and Open Innovation: Main Themes and Research Trajectories

Today, innovation and sustainability in their broadest sense, which includes people (social dimension), the planet (environmental dimension) and profits (economic dimension), are increasingly intertwined. Integrating the sustainability dimension into the innovation of products, services, processes, technologies, business and organizational models requires an effort on the part of the company as it demands a different set of knowledge and skills than those needed to innovate in a traditional way. As a result, companies, in order to integrate the dimension of sustainability in their innovation processes, have felt the need to exploit knowledge, skills and technologies external to the organization itself, promoting what is called the process of open innovation. Since this field of field is only recently being explored, we conducted a literature review through bibliometric analysis on a sample of 93 scientific articles published between 2011 and today, April 2022. To achieve the purpose of this review, both quantitative (co-occurrence analysis) and qualitative analysis have been conducted. Four different research themes have been identified: sustainable open innovation and innovation performance, the role of technological capability for sustainable open innovation, business model perspective and sustainable open innovation and university collaboration. As far as future research is concerned, a mainline has been identified concerning the study of sustainable open innovation in the agri-food industry.

A New Step-by-Step Model for Implementing Open Innovation

Open innovation has been found to have many benefits and tangible results for those who partake in it. This study aims to showcase the importance of open innovation, and through a theoretical example present how an organization (university, research center, company, firm, etc.) can take action to implement open innovation guidelines. In this paper, firstly, a demonstration showing how open innovation can work with multiple partners is shown. Secondly, a model is presented that shows the steps an organization must follow to successfully implement open innovation. This model covers the introduction of an organization to open innovation from the initial interest to the implementation of the final product. Several success stories are also presented to demonstrate how these steps have been used by major organizations during several collaborations as well as the results produced from implementing open innovation.

Innovation Capability and Open Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Performance: Response in Dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic

The current business environment requires every organization or company to achieve optimal performance and maintain it. Innovation capability and open innovation practices play a critical role in improving organizational performance. However, their role in improving Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’s performance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, still needs to be identified further. Thus, this study conducts empirical research elaborating intrinsic factors of innovation capability, as well as the influence of open innovation on organizational efforts, i.e., how SMEs achieve optimal performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this research model, 206 respondents were gathered and given a reearch questionnaire. The respondents are the owner of batik SMEs located in several regions in Indonesia. PLS-SEM is used to test the data, and the result of this study shows that all hypotheses developed in this study are accepted, i.e., SMEs’ innovation capability and open innovation practices significantly influence financial and operational performance. The results show that in batik SMEs, the ability to innovate and open innovation, especially open entry innovation, can facilitate greater organizational performance. Therefore, batik SMEs woud benefit from initiatives and opportunities that improve their abilities in open innovation.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review on E-Marketplaces, Open Innovation, and Sustainability

In recent years, the rise of e-commerce has prompted the emergence of electronic marketplaces, or e-marketplaces, which act as intermediaries in the buying and selling process, bringing together several vendors to offer a wide range of products and services to customers, generating modalities such as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-marketplaces. E-marketplaces offer advantages such as access to potential buyers, business and product visibility, the reduction of transaction costs, the comparison of offers and prices among competitors, and the ease of business internationalization. However, the success of e-marketplace business models depends on the sustainability of these platforms, which must involve different stakeholders in order to meet economic, environmental, and social objectives. Therefore, this study presents a bibliometric analysis and systematic review of e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability for the last ten, five, and two years. The analysis includes the number, types, and subject areas of documents published each year, as well as considerations such as the most-cited publications and the leading authors, journals, countries, and institutional affiliations. The analysis also includes a study of the relevant concepts in the publications and their relationships, identifying the predominant topics related to e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability. The results indicate a focus on subject areas such as social sciences, environmental sciences, energy, business, management, and accounting, which is consistent with the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability. The findings show that e-marketplaces, open innovation, and sustainability are closely related to concepts such as sustainable development, e-commerce, digital marketing, China (the leading country in terms of publications in all periods), logistics, supply chain management, big data, planning, and decision making. Future works should address traffic congestion and environmental impact, new delivery practices in last-mile logistics, and the motives for users’ engagement in e-marketplaces. Likewise, future research can be oriented toward sustainability dimensions and stakeholders’ integration through open innovation and toward the limitations of SMEs in order to access and benefit from digital platforms.

Sustainability and the Digital Transition: A Literature Review

The digital transition processes have demonstrated an enormous capacity to develop and implement sustainable solutions, which allow solving several problems such as poverty, high rates of species extinction and lack of equal opportunity. However, little attention is paid to the connection between the digital transition and sustainability. Thus, a systematic bibliometric literature review was developed to fill this knowledge gap and demonstrate the potential contributions of the digital transition to environmental, economic, and social sustainability aspects. In environmental sustainability, the digital transition involves the application of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile technologies that are used to develop and implement sustainability solutions in areas such as sustainable urban development, sustainable production, and pollution control. In economic sustainability, emerging digital technologies can drive transformation into a more sustainable circular economy, the digital sharing economy, and establish sustainable manufacturing and infrastructure design. In the digital transition to social sustainability, the studies analyzed demonstrate the need for multidimensional policy perspectives to address the current digital divide. For effective management of the digital transition that achieves sustainability goals, the study discusses alternative approaches that include innovation through experimentation and dynamic and sustainable advantages achievable through temporary benefits.

The Futures of Europe: Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 as Driving Forces of Future Universities

The concept of Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 is not a simple chronological continuation or alternative to Industry 4.0 paradigm. Society 5.0 aims to place human beings at the midpoint of innovation, exploiting the impact of technology and Industry 4.0 results with the technological integration to improve quality of life, social responsibility and sustainability. This ground-breaking perspective has common points with the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It also has major implication for universities transformations. Universities are called upon producing knowledge for new technologies and social innovation. In our paper, we argue that digitalisation opens new perspectives for universities and can become one of the main drivers of their change. Incorporating the assumptions of Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 into the universities practices and policies will allow both universities and societies to fully benefit from digital transformation. Making the human-oriented innovation as the universities trademark and developing new cooperative models will also help to achieve sustainable priorities. The use of the Quintuple Helix Model (QHM) might foster the process of necessary transformations capacities as it integrates different perspectives and sets the stage for sustainability priorities and considerations. As far as the practical goal is concerned, the paper proposes a set of recommendations for universities aiming at developing new forms and channels of distribution of education, research and innovation within in the context of QHM and Society 5.0. We call them socially and digitally engaged model.

Can Corporate Digitalization Promote Green Innovation? The Moderating Roles of Internal Control and Institutional Ownership

This study examined the impact of corporate digitalization on green innovation using data concerning A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2012 to 2018. We measured the degree of corporate digitalization through a text analysis of annual reports and empirically tested its impact on green innovation using a panel data fixed effects model. We found that digital transformation can improve green innovation levels, especially when internal control is weak and institutional ownership is low. These findings support the theoretical expectation that digitalization can strengthen supervision. The relationship between digitization and corporate governance mechanisms was proved to be complementary. Additionally, the analysis of economic consequences showed that digitalization improves financial performance by promoting green innovation. The results clarify the determinants of corporate green innovation and provide relevant insights for increasing the value of corporate digital transformation.

Will Increasing Government Subsidies Promote Open Innovation? A Simulation Analysis of China’s Wind Power Industry

Keeping open innovation both stable and sustainable can be difficult when it involves cooperation between large enterprises. Some empirical studies suggest that subsidy policies can play a positive role. This study addresses two key questions that follow from this observation: first, if the intensity of a subsidy policy is increased, can it play a greater role in strengthening the stability of cooperation between firms? Second, what other factors play a mediating role in this effect? Utilizing a dynamic game model, this paper analyses influential factors such as absorptive capacity, frequency of engagement and technical value on cooperative stability, and investigates the role of innovation policy in the process of cooperation through a random number-driven simulation. The findings indicate that only when the absorption capacity and technological value of both partners meet a certain threshold is the probability of positive cooperative behavior improved. Otherwise, increased subsidies tend to foster negative cooperative behavior instead.

Innovation Ecosystem Research: Emerging Trends and Future Research

The innovation ecosystem term has increasingly been attracting the interest of scholars and practitioners for fifteen years. Contrary to the flourishing landscape, knowledge in this field is criticized as being fragmented. While past reviews revealed the conceptual and theoretical connections between innovation ecosystem and other related concepts, there is still a lack of comprehensive appreciation of the intellectual structure of state-of-the-art innovation ecosystem studies, hindering future research in this domain. To fill this void, this study utilized a systematic literature review approach combining bibliographic coupling and content analysis methods. Drawing on 136 studies reflecting the core and latest knowledge of innovation ecosystem literature, this study identifies five streams of the current innovation ecosystem research (i.e., technology innovation, platform innovation ecosystem, regional development, innovation ecosystem conceptualization and theorization, and entrepreneurship and innovation). Suggestions for future research are distilled via systematic analysis and discussion of these streams. Contributions of this study lie in decoding the intellectual structure of current innovation ecosystem research and offering targeted recommendations for future research.

The Collaborative Process of Sustainable Innovations under the Lens of Actor–Network Theory

The development of sustainable innovation (SI) is complex and risky due to the characteristics and diversity of actors involved in its process. Little is known about the collaborative process underlying this development. The objective of the paper is to explore the collaborative mechanisms and dynamics that influence the process and characteristics of sustainable innovations. The translation approach of the actor–network theory is applied to shed light on the collaborative process of two cases of sustainable innovations within small- and medium-sized enterprises. The sociotechnical graph method is used as a methodology to track the mechanisms and compare the dynamics of their processes. The results reveal that the governance characteristic of sustainable innovations and the moment of mobilization are essential aspects of the collaborative processes. They show that, depending on the intensity and systemic impacts of SI, attraction and retention are important mechanisms in the construction of the governance characteristics of SI. A manager who uses these mechanisms during the mobilization of actors, having resources related to the governance characteristics, succeeds in sustainable innovation development. The paper contributes to the literature on sustainability management by linking the ‘becoming’ of sustainable innovations to their collaborative processes. It also informs managers on how to manage the collaborative process of sustainable innovations by relying on a translation approach.

Comparing Competency Assessment in Electronics Engineering Education with and without Industry Training Partner by Challenge-Based Learning Oriented to Sustainable Development Goals

This study assessed the “creation of technological solutions for electronic devices” competencies evaluation when faculty–industry liaison is available. This experience at Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC) was developed with challenge-based learning provided by the automotive electronics industry addressing subjects oriented toward some objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Electronics Engineering faculty and project engineers from automotive electronics and instrumentation companies promote design competencies in college students. This study analyzed the competency performance and outcome results of students who took applied electronics courses for the undergraduate level under the “i-Semester with industrial partner” for one semester and compared results with students that took the course under the traditional program. The competence evaluation was classified into three preliminary domain levels: 1 or low-level, 2 or medium-level, and 3 or high-level. Students were exposed to the conceptual, procedural, and attitudinal contents applied to solve the challenge assigned by the industrial partner. Students with an industrial partner showed a higher engagement, and they were more motivated in learning the subject, compared to students having classes in the traditional way. This study showed that in developing the competency “create technological solutions for electronic devices”, 55 students with an industrial partner obtained higher domain levels than 61 students with the traditional course.

Industrial Performance: An Evolution Incorporating Ethics in the Context of Industry 4.0

This article addresses the issue of the industrial performance model and its evolution to cope with the context of Industry 4.0. With its digitalisation, intelligent/autonomous systems and wealth of data, Industry 4.0 offers opportunities that can achieve objectives better. It also presents risks and uncertainties that question the autonomy of the systems, their interaction with humans and the use of available data. The hypothesis put forward in this work is that the efficiency–effectiveness–relevance performance triangle can no longer guarantee long-term performance under these conditions and needs to be associated with an ethical dimension that allows for the risks and uncertainties relating to Industry 4.0 to be considered. Ethics is therefore considered to extend the triangle to a tetrahedron. A brief analysis of current performance management will first show the limits of the current practice in the context of Industry 4.0. The frameworks that could overcome these limits in light of new needs are then recalled and discussed, leading to the choice of ethics, whose main definitions and use in the engineering field are also introduced. The proposed (efficiency–effectiveness–relevance–ethics tetrahedron-based methodology is illustrated through a case study related to an aeronautical supplier, regarding the consequences of the implementation of a MES (Manufacturing Execution System) in terms of product traceability and operator autonomy. The discussion and prospects finally conclude this study.

A Methodological Framework to Support the Sustainable Innovation Development Process: A Collaborative Approach

The notion of sustainable innovation (SI) emerged recently in the academic literature and evokes deep changes in organizations’ products, processes, and practices to favour the creation of social and environmental value in addition to economic returns. The development of SI implies a collaborative process that requires the orchestration of several actors and streams of knowledge to be successful. Indeed, companies adopting the SI path need structured methodologies to guide the collaboration process with internal and external actors and support the decision process. Nevertheless, the literature has focused on the analysis of determinants and drivers of sustainable innovation development, while the process perspective has been discussed less. Through an in-depth case study in a large-sized company in France, this article proposes a methodological framework to guide the collaborative process in the early phases of sustainable innovation development. The framework relies on a combination of qualitative research and a multicriteria decision aiding method (AHP). The contributions of this work address two main aspects: (i) the conceptualization of sustainable innovation (SI) and (ii) the collaborative process between internal and external actors to develop SI. Firstly, our study leads to two additional dimensions to complete the concept of SI, traditionally based on the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social), by adding the functional and relational dimensions. Secondly, concerning the collaborative process to develop SI, our framework proposes a structured methodology following five steps: definition of the project scope, setting actors’ motivations, defining satisfaction criteria, proposing SI solutions, and performing a decision-aiding process to define the preference profiles of the key actors.

A Systematic Review of Enterprise Innovation Ecosystems

With rapid changes and increasing uncertainty in the market environment, enterprise innovation ecosystems (EIEs) have increasingly been promoted in the past decade. Nevertheless, research on EIEs has fallen into a fuzzy state. Scholars have scattered views on the subject and have not systematically classified it, leading to a discussion regarding its conceptual rigor and comprehensive analysis. The purpose of this article is to conduct integrative research on EIEs and to examine all the relevant issues of existing views. This study screened all relevant topics in the past decade through the WOS database and identified significant journal articles. By reviewing and sorting out the relevant thematic literature from 2011 to 2020 and performing keyword cluster analysis, the research focus and hot spots of EIEs are determined. The entity structure, main types, dynamic mechanism, and evolution mechanism of EIEs were elaborated, and the definition of an EIE is finally determined. Through an analysis of the emerging viewpoints of EIEs, the hot spots of this topic are discussed. These streams provide opportunities for further research to consolidate the concepts of EIEs.

Two Sides of the Same Coin. University-Industry Collaboration and Open Innovation as Enhancers of Firm Performance

Open innovation is proved to be determinant in the rationalization of sustainable innovation ecosystems. Firms, universities, governments, user communities and the overall environment are called to contribute to this dynamic process. This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of open innovation on firms’ performance and to empirically assess whether university-industry collaborations are complementary or substitutes for this activity. Primary data were collected from a survey encompassing 908 firms, and then combined with performance indicators from SABI (Spanish and Portuguese business information). Econometric estimations were run to evaluate the role of open innovation and university-industry collaboration in the firm innovative propensity and performance. Results highlight the importance of diversity in collaborations with the academia and inbound open innovation strategy as enhancers of firm performance. The two activities reinforce each other. By testing the impact of open innovation practices on company performance, the need for heterogeneity in terms of contact type and university is also demonstrated. Findings cast light on the need to reformulate existing policy packages, reinforcing the ties with academia as well as the promotion of open innovation strategies. The connection to the innovation ecosystem needs to be further encouraged as well as the promotion of persistent connections with the knowledge sources in an open and multilateral framework.

Towards the Entrepreneurial University 2.0: Reaffirming the Responsibility of Universities in the Era of Accountability

Universities have been expected to do more to solve economic and social problems in the knowledge-based society. Many universities have tried to become more entrepreneurial in order to respond to the overloaded demands from external society. However, the notion of entrepreneurial university is still quite vague, and so this paper firstly tries to propose a comprehensive framework describing the entrepreneurial university. Facing the increasing global competition, the national governments have also push universities to do more for the society and to be accountable for their “effectiveness” and “quality”, by using the new public management techniques. However, these managerialism approaches have posed serious challenge for the development of entrepreneurial universities. In order to better balance the expectation for being entrepreneurial from the external industry and society, and the managerialism requirement from the government, this paper proposes to reassert the responsibility of universities in the accountability era, moving towards “Entrepreneurial Universities 2.0”.

Measuring the Openness of Innovation

Measuring the openness of innovation is essential to understanding whether and under which conditions increasing openness is beneficial for organizations. However, no consensus has been so far achieved on which dimensions characterize the openness of innovation, which approach should be used to measure it, or which unit of analysis should be adopted. This paper proposes an approach, named ATOM (Aggregative Technique for Openness Measurement), to characterize and measure the openness of innovation, rooted in the concepts of knowledge supply (KS) and innovation practice (IP). As prescribed by the confirmation phase of theory building model, the approach has been successfully applied to a real innovation project. The paper contributes to clarifying the concept of innovation openness and attempts to improve its measurement by adopting a micro-level unit of analysis (i.e., single KS within an innovation project) as well as dimensions that extant literature considers relevant to managing external collaborations. The proposed approach can also support firms involved in an innovation project to (i) identify and measure the criticality of knowledge supplies, (ii) assess the openness of the adopted innovation practices, and (iii) support ex-post learning on the way the project was managed.

Innovation Ecosystems: A Sustainability Perspective

In the last decade, the increasing globalization of markets and revolution 4 [...]