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Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries

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Special Issue Information
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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 23567

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Antonello Cammarano

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
Interests: innovation; technological strategies; knowledge management; new product development; start-ups; open innovation; patent data
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Francesca Michelino

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
Interests: innovation management; technology management; open innovation; technological strategies; patent data; supply chain management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Mauro Caputo

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
Interests: innovation management; supply chain management; operations management; open innovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

the special issue aims to collect theoretical and empirical studies that contribute to developing a better understanding of the relationship between innovation, emerging technologies and sustainability in R&D intense industries.

Indeed, R&D intense companies carry out relevant resource efforts to achieve innovation and competitive advantage. Consequently, sustainability-oriented innovation strategies and Sustainable Development Goals will radically affect companies, their supply chains and their markets. Therefore, implementing sustainability for new technology development is a relevant research topic, since it will change R&D management. In addition, sustainability will orientate R&D efforts towards specific emerging technologies and digitalization processes, such as: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automatic intelligence, autonomous vehicles, big data, blockchain, biometrics, chat bots, clean tech, cloud computing, computer vision, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity, data analytics, data mining, deep leaning, digital bots, digital platforms and applications, digital traces, drones, immersive environments, immersive media, industrial robots, intelligent diagnostics, intelligent manufacturing, internet of things, knowledge communities, machine learning, mobile applications, open science, open source, platform work sites, proximity tech, quantum computing, robotics, semantic web, smart cities, smart factories, smart sensors, social media, speech recognition,virtual reality, voice assistance, work gamification.

In addition, within R&D intense industries, specific new product development models and R&D strategies are growing. In particular, open innovation and product modularization are carried out to manage product complexity and integrate external technologies and knowledge. Few researches have been conducted in order to delineate the impact of such models on sustainability.

Therefore, researchers are encouraged to submit papers that contribute to the literature by proposing new theories and practical issues related to innovation, emerging technologies and sustainability after the company perspective. Some example topics are, among others:

Advantages in implementing sustainability for firms, in terms of reputation, competitive advantage, technological development, innovation output, economic performance;
Sustainability-oriented technological, innovation and R&D strategies;
The role of sustainability in R&D processes and new product development;
Sustainable Development Goals after the perspective of R&D intense companies;
Changes in R&D management after sustainable perspectives;
Breadth, diffusion and impact of new technologies developed to achieve sustainability;
Metrics for measuring sustainability in R&D intense firms;
Digitalization, emerging technologies and their impact on sustainability;
Sustainable supply-chains in R&D intense industries;
Sustainability and open innovation;
Product modularization and impact on sustainability;
Features of R&D teams and new sustainable technologies.

Dr. Antonello Cammarano
Prof. Francesca Michelino
Prof. Mauro Caputo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Sustainability
Innovation
Emerging technologies
Business sustainability
Economic sustainability
Technological strategies
Innovation strategies
R&D strategies
New product development
New sustainable technologies
Open Innovation
Product modularization
R&D teams
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable supply chains
R&D teams and sustainability

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3580 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influencing Factors of Enterprise R&D Investment: Post-Subsidy, Sustainability, and Heterogeneity

by Yabin Yu and Qian Xu

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 5759; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14105759 - 10 May 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1604

Abstract

Sustainable innovation is an important factor for enterprises to obtain core competitiveness in modern society, and only continuous R&D investment can ensure the smooth progress of enterprise innovation. Therefore, this study uses the post-subsidy data of enterprise R&D investment released by Hangzhou Science and Technology Bureau to explore the influencing factors of R&D investment and its sustainability by Chinese high-tech enterprises. In contrast to previous research which mainly focused on the pre-subsidy, this study focuses on the post-subsidy policy of R&D investment sustainability. Empirical analysis methods, such as cross-sectional linear regression and the propensity-score-matching method, were used to draw the following conclusions: (1) The quantity and sustainability of R&D investment of enterprises are obviously unbalanced among regions. Regions where high-tech enterprises are concentrated have higher levels of R&D investment and sustainability than other regions. (2) Under different scales, there are significant differences in the amount and sustainability of R&D investment. Large enterprises have stronger R&D investment strength, while small enterprises have stronger R&D investment willingness. However, the effect of scale on R&D investment will be reduced by regional factors. (3) The evaluation of high-tech enterprises and the enterprises’ R&D investments affect each other. (4) The sustainability of enterprise R&D investment will be affected by enterprise heterogeneity factors, and in turn, the sustainability of enterprise R&D investment will also affect the amount of enterprise R&D investment. Based on the results, the study provides suggestions for the government to make more targeted policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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14 pages, 760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Production Structure Roundaboutness on the Innovation Capability of High-Tech Enterprises—The Mediating Role of Technology Absorption Path

by Xiaodong Li, Li Huang, Ai Ren, Qi Li and Xuejin Zeng

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5116; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14095116 - 24 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1562

Abstract

From the perspective of production structure sustainability, this study investigates the source of innovation power of high-tech enterprises. It proposes that the roundaboutness of production structure is the sustainable driving force for improving innovation capability in high-tech enterprises, and enterprises can improve their innovation capability by absorbing technology from three paths. The proposed model was tested based on the survey data from 315 enterprises in 10 robotics industrial parks in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. The results show that the roundaboutness of production structure has a positive influence on the innovation capability of high-tech enterprises, which is mediated by technology absorption paths (i.e., independent development in high-tech enterprises, technology acquisition in high-tech enterprises and government policy compliance in high-tech enterprises). Meanwhile, the enterprise has different technology absorption path at different position in production structure. The findings have important enlightenment for enterprises to improve market competitiveness, production efficiency and technological innovation capability, and provides a practical basis for better ways of leveraging market and capital and more effective government processes in industrial innovation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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25 pages, 3132 KiB

Open AccessArticle

SDG-Oriented Supply Chains: Business Practices for Procurement and Distribution

by Antonello Cammarano, Mirko Perano, Francesca Michelino, Claudio Del Regno and Mauro Caputo

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1325; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031325 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4692

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing sustainable practices that can be implemented within supply chains, linking them to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to show the performance achieved by SDG-oriented supply chains. Sustainable practices were collected from the repository “Business Process Framework for Sustainability” owned by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Salerno (Italy). By using literature research and descriptive statistics, there emerges a positive relationship between sustainable development and SC performance enhancement. From the study of the practices that can be implemented for cooperation activities with upstream and downstream supply chain partners, it emerges that companies have many opportunities of both supporting the 2030 Agenda and enhancing their market and organizational performance. The research demonstrates that both procurement and distribution processes could be reengineered by implementing sustainable approaches considering all three dimensions of sustainability. Differences emerge in terms of number of opportunities, depending on motivations for implementing them, industry and supply chain processes, performance achieved, and SDGs pursued. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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16 pages, 1377 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Unknown Potential of Blockchain for Sustainable Supply Chains

by Vincenzo Varriale, Antonello Cammarano, Francesca Michelino and Mauro Caputo

Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9400; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12229400 - 12 Nov 2020

Cited by 56 | Viewed by 5036

Abstract

The growing attention to emerging technologies has raised several doubts regarding the sustainability aspects. Among the new technologies, blockchain has laid the foundations for a revolution in the financial field but also in the energy, tourism, medical, industrial and supply chains sectors. Through a systematic literature review, 37 documents were analyzed to describe the sustainable aspects generated using blockchain in supply chains. Therefore, the results achieved provide two levels of analysis. The former highlights the impact of the adoption of blockchain in supply chains based on the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. The latter shows the positive and negative impacts of each form of sustainability. The purpose of the work is to summarize the current state of the art in order to propose a future development agenda based on the need to simulate and define a measurability for each dimension of sustainability. Finally, the study provides a broad overview of practical and managerial implications for entrepreneurs and researchers. On the one hand, the work shows how the use of blockchain improves the profits and reputation of companies. On the other hand, it highlights several research gaps to be investigated and considered by researchers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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16 pages, 607 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Alliance Network Diversity and Innovation Ambidexterity: The Differential Roles of Industrial Diversity, Geographical Diversity, and Functional Diversity

by Guiyang Zhang, Chaoying Tang and Yong Qi

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 1041; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12031041 - 01 Feb 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4217

Abstract

Innovation ambidexterity, namely, performing exploitative and exploratory innovation simultaneously, is important for high-tech firms to achieve sustainable success. This can be achieved by building an egocentric alliance network. Research into the influence of alliance network diversity on innovation ambidexterity is seeing more attention. However, the differences among multiple alliance network diversities are unclear. Grounded on a knowledge-based view, organizational learning theory, and transaction cost theory, this study investigates in-depth the roles of geographical diversity, industrial diversity, and functional diversity of the alliance network. The empirical analysis based on panel data, including alliance data from the SDC Joint & Venture database and patent data from the Derwent Innovation Index database of 106 top high-tech firms from electronic information and biopharmaceutical industries, suggests that industrial diversity enhances firm innovation ambidexterity, geographical diversity impedes firm innovation ambidexterity, and functional diversity shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm innovation ambidexterity. These results provide practical suggestions about alliance network diversity configuration and innovation ambidexterity construction for high-tech firms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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Review

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14 pages, 959 KiB

Open AccessReview

Driving the Transition to a Circular Economic Model: A Systematic Review on Drivers and Critical Success Factors in Circular Economy

by Davide Aloini, Riccardo Dulmin, Valeria Mininno, Alessandro Stefanini and Pierluigi Zerbino

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10672; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122410672 - 21 Dec 2020

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 4790

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is arising as a novel economic system that is restorative by design. In light of its capability to boost sustainable economic development and to cope with environmental challenges, it has recently attracted increasing attention from academics, practitioners, policymakers, and intergovernmental organizations. Despite the wide speculation on this issue, the scientific literature lacks a wide-ranging, systematic, and updated identification and classification of the main drivers and Critical Success Factors of CE initiatives, which appears increasingly necessary to facilitate future scientific work, practical implementations, and policy guidelines. With this aim, this paper develops a systematic literature review by starting with over 400 manuscripts. A final set of 55 selected papers was selected for singling out and classifying drivers and Critical Success Factors in the CE context. The results may provide clear indications for further research, may help business organizations in evaluating CE initiatives, and may guide policy makers in developing and refining CE normative frameworks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries)

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