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The adoption of blockchain technology is gaining trends, leading to the need for investigations into the reasons that persuade the intention to adopt it by companies. However, empirical studies in the tourism industry are still scarce. This investigation aims to design a new adoption model that combines Human-Organisation-Technology-Fit (HOT-fit), Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) and sustainability dimensions. The model is validated using new empirical evidence in a relatively understudied geographic context, with a sample of 210 Portuguese tourism companies. The information was examined utilising Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The outcomes indicate that reasons such as sustainability and competition intensity significantly impact the objective to adopt blockchain. The work provides practical implications for businesses, governments and society. Additionally, this paper offers a pioneering study of blockchain adoption by tourism companies in Portugal, which may help future researchers extend their study of this field to other sectors and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes the case for analysing the role of Industry 4.0 in mitigating the intertemporal tensions of balancing the short-term and long-term sustainability objectives rife in sustainable manufacturing. It is argued here that Industry 4.0 has the unique potential to unlock juxtaposition of the short and long-term dimensions of sustainable manufacturing without restricting manufacturing organisations growth potential. In this context, successful mitigation of intertemporal tensions relies on understanding the role played by five different mechanisms that manufacturing organisations need to well practice and manage when adopting Industry 4.0-associated technologies. Since this is the first study of its kind, this paper presents a novel conceptual model enhancing the application of mechanisms that may mitigate intertemporal tensions in manufacturing organisations using Industry 4.0. The model also suggests five different research propositions that call for future research agenda to further investigate this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions require that sustainable innovations develop and scale-up. Two promising approaches contribute to this purpose. Design thinking (DT) focuses on the creative development of sustainable innovations to achieve desirable, feasible and viable products. Strategic niche management (SNM) addresses how sustainable innovations should be deployed to the market. At first sight, these concepts seem to pursue a complementary mission, yet, academic literature has not explicitly addressed their complementary nature. Therefore, this paper addresses this gap by reviewing, proposing and empirically exploring the merits of SNM and how these can be used in DT through a workshop to increase successful market implementation of sustainable innovations. The study finds that SNM potentially helps the DT design process to (1) change market preconditions for the design, (2) create a protected niche for development, (3) establish a (long term) commercial viability, and (4) create an innovation development plan through definition of a set of testable propositions. The paper concludes that the inclusion of SNM into DT substantially increases the preparedness of an innovation team for a successful market implementation of sustainable innovations and coins the term 'Design to Market Thinking' for the integrated use of SNM in DT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnobotany genomics is gaining popularity, and there is a renewed interest in traditional medicine around the world. Ethnobotany genomics is proving useful not only for the conservation of biodiversity and agricultural productivity but also for drug discovery. In terms of traditional medicine and biodiversity, India is one of the world's richest countries. However, as industrialisation, population pressures, migrations, and urbanisation have increased, socio-environmental changes have become more dynamic and complex. This has raised concerns about sustainable production and consumption, as well as governance. As a result, the current paper is an attempt to map the emerging innovation system in Indian ethnobotany genomics. The paper examines the actors', agencies', and institutions' responses to the emerging innovation system's requirements. Finally, this paper provides new insights into the opportunities and challenges of developing Indian ethnobotany genomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of knowledge-based economies, the performance evaluation of state budget in the field of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) through a comprehensive approach has become essential. However, the existence of a wide range of influential dimensions, including different types of scientific fields, stakeholders, organisations receiving the budget, and more importantly, the necessity of attention to the whole innovation process, has made the STI evaluation process difficult. This paper aims at breaking down the mentioned dimensions and integrating them in a comprehensive evaluation dashboard in order to evaluate STI process. Therefore, the proposed evaluation dashboard considers efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, utility, sustainability, and different stakeholders' opinions, applies required indicators for five main scientific fields, and pays attention to the differences between the different types of state organisations. To this end, design science was used as the research methodology. Through interview and questionnaire, viable indicators were extracted and refined from indicators pool. Finally, STI evaluation dashboard including five radar charts of each scientific field for three types of state organisations was provided. Based on this, efficiency, effectiveness, and utility coefficients of each organisation for the state STI budget spent in each scientific field which includes a set of indicators were calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing attention in theories and practices to achieve sustainable business models (SBMs). However, achieving SBMs for incumbents is an arduous and challenging process. Based on the literature on SBMs and managerial cognition, we explore how managers use their cognitive processes to adapt business models to environmental changes. Based on the study of a Chinese incumbent, this paper reveals the evolution process of incumbents' SBMs in the manufacturing sector and indicates managers' effective cognitive processes under different environmental conditions. This study attempts to open the black box of the link between cognitive processes and SBMs, reveal the role of cognitive heuristics, and provide practice guidance for incumbent firms to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper draws from two case studies of tech hubs in Nigeria and Kenya to investigate the importance of business models to the hubs' viability and sustainability as economic and social agents. Adopting the triple-layered business model of economic, social and environmental value creation, the study finds that the advanced, and growing, technological capabilities of the hubs are not matched with enough attention on innovative business models that can enable them to better capture value, expand the domestic markets, and compete at the international stage. We argue that a triple-layered orientation can be a win-win, integrated and mutually reinforcing model in which the hubs' social and environmental impact can enable them to better capture economic value through the development and deployment of advanced technological capabilities and innovative business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptive innovations are perceived necessary for accelerating sustainability transitions. However, it is not always clear what exactly is meant by it, what is to be disrupted, and by whom. Socio-technical transition research on pays too much attention at the technological niche-innovations in the production, and overlooks business model innovation and user practices in the consumption, whilst management literature on disruptive innovation falls short in the scale and scope of disruption in terms of systemic outcome. Thus, the first aim of the paper is to synthesise the extant literature and put forward a general practice-based view on disruptive sustainable innovation. The second aim of the paper is to use empirical data to elaborate the theoretical framework in the Finnish food system context. Four firm-level cases provide empirical scrutiny to each type of disruptive sustainable innovation in the food system and shed light on the interlinked practices of producer-entrepreneurs and citizen-consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector needs to transform towards sustainability. The multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions is embracing an enactment perspective, which focuses on the agency of various actors in shifting transitions pathways but has yet to study local urban experiments from such an enactment perspective. Our empirical research examines an innovation intermediary’s work in destabilising the regime rules in relation to the local energy incumbent company in Helsinki, Finland. Our paper seeks answers to the questions: How does the collaboration of the intermediary and the local energy company unfold? What are the impacts of the intermediary work on the local energy company in terms of enactment of transition pathways and what are the mechanisms causing the impact? Our research shows that the intermediary contributes to the transition by disturbing existing rules, structures, practices and networks by convening innovation champions from different constituencies, renegotiating regime rules and disrupting existing R&D alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vast numbers of people in rapidly growing cities throughout the developing world depend on informal transport services for their mobility needs. Thus far the field of transition studies has addressed the dynamics of socio-technical change in situations where regimes of automobility and sanctioned public transport constitute the dominant order, but not in contexts of cities in the developing world, where informal transit thrives. In this paper we enquire about stability and prospects for change in these kinds of socio-technical systems. To this end, we trace the evolution of Bangkok's motorcycle taxi industry including recent efforts to introduce a potentially radical innovation: an information and communications technology (ICT) platform used as a taximeter. The paper concludes that innovations in informal urban transport are opening up alternative mobility pathways for the developing world, which might even spread far beyond their original confines into the West; and that the persistence of informal transport systems and the proliferation of innovations within those systems in developing countries prove to be relevant phenomena for defining prominent topics on the agenda of (sustainability) transitions research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of socio-technical systems to more sustainable states is more policy induced than market driven. Reflecting this, the potential for governments to direct system transformation has been widely debated. However, this debate concentrates on supply side policies and under analyses the potential for public buyers to steer system innovation. This paper draws from ideas on system innovation, transition management and public procurement to explore how a major public buyer was able to do just this. The paper describes the transformation of the Greater Manchester (UK) waste system from a relatively simple landfill model to a highly complex, multi-technology solution of intensive recycling, composting and energy production. The paper draws three main conclusions: (1) it is possible to orchestrate system innovation through public procurement in certain circumstances; (2) this involves developing the required interdependencies between technologies, institutions and practices; (3) system transformation can be orchestrated from within the incumbent regime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports an innovative foresighting study which constructed a set of hydrogen futures and pathways to them, in order to inform the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy. Combining backcasting and multi-criteria appraisal the authors developed a participatory expert stakeholder-led methodology to build and appraise a set of visions, which sought to acknowledge the diversity of possible hydrogen futures and contested claims as to their sustainability. A set of transition scenarios were then developed exploring the dynamics and governance of the large-scale socio-technical changes that would be required for the emergence of the different visions. While aspects of this project have been reported elsewhere, this paper seeks to: (1) locate the work with respect to broader developments in the fields of foresight, expectations and socio-technical transitions to sustainability; (2) provide a description of the UKSHEC sustainable futures methodology; and (3) reflect on key insights for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (strategic niche management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’ (GIs). We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as Local Exchange Trading Schemes, time banks, and local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of GI niche diffusion which extends existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically informed recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers to support the development and potential of GIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes three contributions to the field of transition research. First, it sheds light on how the concept of translation can contribute to a better understanding of agency in niche development. Second, it articulates how the local–global distinction in the strategic niche management (SNM) approach relates to the levels in the multi-level perspective. Third, the article is empirically novel by presenting a radical sustainable innovation in Dutch water management (‘New Rivers’). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic niche management (SNM) is a recently developed approach that could help induce a broad socio-technical transition towards more sustainable development. It is designed to facilitate the introduction and diffusion of new sustainable technologies through protected societal experiments in fields such wind energy, biogas, public transport systems, electric vehicle transport and eco-friendly food production. A major challenge in SNM concerns the processes by which such experiments can evolve into viable market niches and ultimately contribute to a broader shift towards sustainable development. This paper sheds more light on this issue by systematically consolidating the main SNM studies, and by bringing in new insights from the literature that is in some sense complementary to SNM. These are studies on the development and commercialisation of radical innovations in large companies, and literature about infant industry protection and broader industrialisation processes in developing countries. A number of suggestions for implementing SNM are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]