Dear Colleagues,

The current situation derived from the COVID-19 pandemic is causing serious and important changes, both in health and in socioeconomic spheres. In relation to sustainability, there are deeply pessimistic expectations regarding advances toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in developing countries (Barbier and Burgess, 2020; Leal-Filho et al., 2020), and different resource and waste management challenges have appeared or worsened (Neumeyer et al., 2020; Vanapalli et al., 2020). Nevertheless, we cannot disregard some positive effects on sustainability, such as reduced emissions, and the many opportunities that this crisis can bring to contribute to sustainability transition in industrial (Kanda and Kivimaa, 2020; Schaltegger, 2020) and human systems (Giudice et al., 2020; Rowan and Galanakis, 2020). The pandemic is provoking cultural, lifestyle and societal changes that can result in positive and negative sustainability outcomes and open new entrepreneurial opportunities (Neumeyer et al., 2020; Ratten, 2020). It is also important to acknowledge that changes in previous unsustainable patters (Bodenheimer and Leidenberger, 2020) and in traditional models of knowledge production and dissemination (Hensher et al., 2020) can help toward preventing future pandemics. Ultimately, innovative solutions are needed to manage the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought for sustainability (Cattivelli and Rusciano, 2020; Rowan and Galanakis, 2020; Vanapalli et al., 2020; Lee and Trimi, 2021).

In this context, the consideration of knowledge as both input and output of innovation and entrepreneurship reaches an unknown dimension. Many authors have pointed out that it is not the promotion of knowledge, entrepreneurship or innovation in isolation (Block et al., 2017; Lehmann et al., 2015; Huggins and Thompson, 2015) but the intersection and interactions between the three concepts that are increasingly considered as critical for development and growth (Piñeiro-Chousa et al., 2020). The current technological revolution accentuated by the COVID pandemic (Lee and Trimi, 2021) will in the future bring about huge changes in the economic, political, social or health fields. Some of these changes can already be glimpsed now, while others will emerge later animated by a new reality.

As a way to face these changes, this Special Issue aims to make a relevant contribution presenting works with new innovative knowledge related to the innovation–entrepreneurship–knowledge triad from a sustainability point of view. Thus, in general, suitable topics are oriented toward understanding the role of entrepreneurship in the process of transforming knowledge into innovation in a sustainable way. More specifically, suitable topics include but are not limited to the following: technology advances (big data, industry 4.0, IoT, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.); new lifestyles (way back to villages, friendly cities, gaming and e-sports, sustainable glocalization, telecommuting, virtual meetings, online education, etc); climate change and industrial sectors (smarter logistics, reverse logistics, circular economy, transportation and storage of goods, air emissions and waste management, renewable energies and sustainable development, etc.); new productive processes (digital automation and cyberphysical systems, robotics, additive manufacturing technologies (3D printing), online sharing platforms, supply-chain disruptions, traceability and transparency, etc.); open innovation; entrepreneurial sustainability and management innovation; and new ways of innovative business. 

References

Barbier, E. B., & Burgess, J. C. (2020). Sustainability and development after COVID-19. World Development 135, 105082. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105082

Block, J. H., Fisch, C. O., & van Praag, M. (2017). The schumpeterian entrepreneur: A review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship. Industry and Innovation, 24(1), 61-95. http://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/  10.1080/1983662716.2016.1216397

Bodenheimer M., & Leidenberger, J. (2020). COVID-19 as a window of opportunity for sustainability transitions? Narratives and communication strategies beyond the pandemic. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 16(1), 61-66. http://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1080/15487733.2020.1766318

Cattivelli, V., & Rusciano, V. (2020). Social Innovation and Food Provisioning during Covid-19: The Case of Urban–Rural Initiatives in the Province of Naples. Sustainability, 12, 4444. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12114444

Giudice, F., Caferra, R., Morone, P. (2020). COVID-19, the food system and the circulareconomy: Challenges and opportunities. Sustainability, 12, 7939. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12197939

Hensher, M., Kish, K., Farley, J., Quilley, S., & Zywert, K. (2020). Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: Lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability. Global Sustainability, 3, E26. http:// doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.21

Huggins, R., & Thompson, P. (2015). Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: A network theory. Small Business Economics, 45(1), 103-128. http://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1007/s11187-015-9643-3

Kanda, W., & Kivimaa, P. (2020). What opportunities could the COVID-19 outbreak offer for sustainability transitions research on electricity and mobility? Energy Research & Social Science 68, 101666. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101666

Leal-Filho, W., Brandli, L. L., Lange Salvia, A., Rayman-Bacchus, L., & Platje, J. (2020). COVID-19 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Threat to Solidarity or an Opportunity? Sustainability, 12, 5343. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12135343

Lee, S.M., & Trimi, S. (2021). Convergence innovation in the digital age and in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Journal of Business Research 123, 14-22. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.09.041

Lehmann, E. E., Ghio, N., Guerini, M., & Rossi-Lamastra, C. (2015). The emergence of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 44(1), 1-18. http://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/ 10.1007/s11187-014-9588-y

Neumeyer, X., Ashton, W. S., & Dentchev, N. (2020). Addressing resource and waste management challenges imposed by COVID-19: An entrepreneurship perspective. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 162, 105058. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105058

Piñeiro-Chousa, J., López-Cabarcos M. Á, Romero-Castro N. M., & Pérez-Pico, A. M. (2020). Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge in the business scientific field: Mapping the research front. Journal of Business Research 115, 475-485. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.045

Ratten, V. (2020). Coronavirus (Covid-19) and entrepreneurship: cultural, lifestyle and societal changes. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, ahead-of-print ( ahead-of-print). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1108/JEEE-06-2020-0163

Rowan, N. J., & Galanakis, C. M. (2020). Unlocking challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 pandemic for cross-cutting disruption in agri-food and green deal innovations: Quo Vadis? Science of The Total Environment 748, 141362. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141362

Schaltegger, S. (2020). Sustainability learnings from the COVID-19 crisis. Opportunities for resilient industry and business development. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, ahead-of-print( ahead-of-print). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1108/SAMPJ-08-2020-0296

Vanapalli, K. R., Sharma, H. B., Ranjan, V. P., Samal, B., Bhattacharya, J., Dubey, B. K., &  Goel, S .(2020). Challenges and strategies for effective plastic waste management during and post COVID-19 pandemic. Science of The Total Environment 750, 141514. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141514

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Sustainability.

Prof. Dr. JUAN RAMON PIÑEIRO CHOUSA
Prof. Dr. M. Ángeles López-Cabarcos
Guest Editors

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• innovation–entrepreneurship–knowledge
• sustainable entrepreneurship
• sustainable innovation
• knowledge management