Boosting Sustainable Innovation in Densely Populated Areas: A Milieux Innovateurs Approach

This paper deals with innovation adoption, with the purpose of analyzing the uptake of sustainable innovations among young farms working in urban and periurban contexts. Our hypothesis is that innovative milieus (IM) play a fundamental role in boosting sustainable innovation. In order to analyze the uptake of sustainable innovation, we will make reference to the two logics of the IM approach: the logics of interactions and the logics of learning. The former is focused on the socio-institutional domain, more precisely on relational assets and coordination mechanisms activated by the farms. The latter makes reference to the profile of innovation adopted and on various impacts innovation have under economic, social and environmental points of view. A questionnaire has been submitted to young farms participating to the Oscar Green Coldiretti Awards. In total, three dimensions of innovation are taken into account: economic, social and environmental. Data are processed through statistical tools aiming at describing the diversified set of interaction-learning mechanisms. Results evidence different innovative milieus which pave the way to diversified paths of innovation with different degree of sustainability and impacts.

Co-designing convivial tools to support participation in community radio

Connectivity made possible by the diffusion of digital technologies has offered new possibilities for the public to interact with media, including radio. However, interactions are often framed by globally managed platforms, owned by companies with values based on maximizing profit, rather than prioritising Illich’s forms of conviviality. In this article, we draw on experiences from the Grassroot Wavelengths project that introduces an innovative peer-to-peer platform to support the creation and management of community radio stations. We offer insight into the practices of participation in community media, where the users influence decisions concerning the technology, the content, the actors and the organization policy of the radio station, through a participatory design approach. These collaborations between researchers and users, together with a focus on the development of relational assets in local contexts, are fundamental in an attempt to design a platform that fosters conviviality and offers an alternative way to consider participation in community media.

How Do Mobility Direction and Human Assets of Mobile Engineers Affect Joint Knowledge Creation after M&As?

We focused on mobile engineers, a distinctive employee group that may have unique reactions to mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Mobile engineers, employees that move from one firm to another, were previously recognized as an undesirable loss by most knowledge-intensive organizations. However, in this study, we show that they may return to their former organizations as effective knowledge creators when their previous and new organizations unite through M&As. We specifically investigated how their mobility direction, relational assets, and intellectual assets affect the amount of knowledge that is jointly created through inter-personal collaborations following the M&A. Using the data of 410 mobile engineers in high-technology M&As during 2000–2004 in the United States, we found that the mobility direction from acquiring firms to targets prior to M&A has a positive impact on joint knowledge creation. We also found that such mobility direction positively moderates the relationship between human assets of mobile engineers and their joint knowledge creation.

Innovation platforms fostering low-carbon economy resource mobilisation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the potential of innovation platforms to realise SDGs targets by focussing in sustainable innovation process related to infrastructure and industrialisation. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of different policy documents, reports as well as a series of interviews and participatory processes run in 2016–2017 of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme programme to prototype a knowledge triangle integration (KTI) index. Findings Preliminary findings show that EIT Climate-KIC operates as an innovation platform that mobilise resources to increases capabilities for climate innovation. Practical implications The paper contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the efforts needed to tackle climate innovation regarding resource mobilisation for KTI processes by focussing on how platforms work in a bottom-up way. Originality/value Mechanisms and processes that consolidate local knowledge and strengthen relational assets with regards to climate innovation are important for the realisation of some of the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda.

Enhancing service firm performance through customer involvement capability and innovativeness

PurposeBecause of the paucity of empirical research on firm-level capabilities of firms for effective customer involvement, the purpose of this study is to evaluate service firms’ capacity to coopt customers to enhance the innovativeness and firm performance relationship. This study conceptualizes involvement capabilities of service firms as a strategic driver that exploits their internal firm assets, which in turn facilitates the positive relationship between innovativeness and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 344 managers of service firms across different sub-sectors in an emerging economy. The study first confirmed the constructs through confirmatory factor analysis before analyzing hypothesized relationships. Regression models were specified with robust standard errors to test the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe study found that involvement capability of service firms helps them to exploit their relational assets and create and manage strong customer participation. Additionally, it was found that involvement capabilities enable service firms to capitalize on the competencies of customers, which in turn improves the outcomes of their innovativeness. The results showed that the interaction between involvement capability and innovativeness enhances firm performance significantly.Practical implicationsService firms can enhance customer participation in the value creation process by increasing their involvement capabilities. The increase in such capabilities will enhance the innovativeness of service firms, thereby improving their financial and non-financial performance.Originality/valueThis study offers guidance on how a firm’s innovativeness and customer involvement work together within the service operation to enhance firm performance.