Preface

The book explores the interactions among innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. The text is structured into four sections.

Section 1, "The Role of Knowledge for Innovation and Growth", includes six chapters. Chapter 1 explores the educational training useful for the achievement of the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes for professional performance. Building upon the notion of a knowledge ecosystem, Chapter 2 focuses on the digital training partnerships between the University of Naples and the global hi-tech players of Apple, Cisco, Deloitte, Capgemini, and other advanced manufacturing groups. Through a case study approach, the analysis explores the complementary and competitive relationships emerging within a knowledge-based value creation process, discussing the sustainability of a university-led innovation policy. Chapter 3 explores how the different types of innovation can be better understood and how they complement each other so that the firm can derive competitive advantages from the different types of innovation and improve firm performance. Chapter 4 deals with the perception of the use of digital education to accelerate the flow of knowledge within the framework of institutional growth and innovation development in Slovakia. The work evaluates the results of a survey focused on the use of digital education. The outcomes point to the advantages and disadvantages of digital education in the process of building knowledge and monitoring the clusters of information flows in digital education in Slovakia. Chapter 5 conducts a systematic literature review to expose the vast effect areas of Employee-driven Innovation (EDI), focusing on the micro (employee) and meso (organizational) levels. It identifies four effect areas at the micro level and seven at the meso level. The research enhances the understanding of the multilayered components of EDI and provides insights and implications for academics and practitioners aiming to harness its potential. Chapter 6 investigates the concepts of innovation and agility as different instruments for deploying dynamic capabilities and describes how they can be managed effectively. Using data from these case examples, the chapter presents a specification of the conditions where innovation and agility are likely to be beneficial. The work concludes by reflecting on the implications of the study for researchers, university teachers, and managers.

Section 2, "The Role of Digital Innovation", includes eight chapters. Chapter 7 introduces a recent innovation survey. With coverage of 300 large firms, sampled to be representative of corporate innovation in eight countries, the survey provides a unique look at how innovation, particularly digital innovation, is being sourced by firms around the world. Chapter 8 analyzes the current state of innovation promotion, mainly from a territorial and regional perspective in Latin America. It briefly describes the historical process that led to the relevance of the regional innovation policy. Chapter 9 uses qualitative methods to gain a broader understanding of how consumers categorize new hybrid products (NHPs) by mobilizing and articulating

theories of categorization and affordance. The results show that product affordance drives the NHP's attribution to a category. Chapter 10 discusses how to increase user confidence and usage of artificial intelligence (AI) devices by presenting a best-practice guide to underscore biases and ensure fairness in AI-based products, exemplified in the financial and healthcare sector. Chapter 11 examines the effect of employee creativity on organizational innovation through the mediating role of innovative behavior. A quantitative study was conducted using survey questionnaires to the employees of telecommunications industries in Malaysia. Chapter 12 presents two co-creation digital manufacturing projects between university researchers and Swedish companies. In each project, the goal was to develop sustainable and efficient digital production methods that offer tailor-made product solutions. Various technical methods used in the projects are described as materials and prototypes are developed, tested, and analyzed. Chapter 13 describes the contribution of digital technology to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Relief efforts were aided by digital technologies like social media, AI, and blockchain. Social media helped to share information and coordinate support, while AI chatbots answered questions and monitored earthquake-prone areas. The Metaverse was used to train people to respond to disasters. Technology can make disaster relief efforts more efficient and effective and can help communities become more resilient to future disasters. With natural disasters on the rise, technology offers a crucial lifeline for survival. Finally, Chapter 14 examines several cutting-edge technologies and their applications, including the Metaverse, blockchain, and ChatGPT, from the perspective of transformation informatics. Specifically, the study identifies possible reasons why some technological innovations struggle to gain wide adoption and fall into what is commonly referred to as "the chasm."

Section 3, "The Sustainable Aspect of Innovation", includes five chapters. Chapter 15 is the result of the author's study of his involvement in the preparation of the Eastern Sendawar Spatial Detail Plan (RDTR) in West Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan Province. Planning innovation in the preparation of the RDTR at the study location much can still be done in innovation related to the planning product. This can also be done in the preparation of other spatial plans. If planners understand the potential, problems, and opportunities that exist in the planned area or areas, there will always be many opportunities to innovate and build attractiveness in the planning results. Chapter 16 discusses the barriers to learning for innovation that tourism actors can face when they get certified in order to become more sustainable. Integrating sustainability into the core activities of organizations and places has gained momentum as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become guides for tourism development. Chapter 17 reviews the major evidence provided by the scientific literature and discusses how policymakers have been acting to make digital innovation and sustainable development complementary to each other. Chapter 18 explores the potential role of development banks in fostering innovation within the context of sustainable development, considering their explicit mandates and collaborations with governments. Finally, Chapter 19 applies systems thinking to innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs, with two main contributions. First, it proposes an innovation model for SMEs in the dairy sector, based on the systems approach theory, and second, it presents a case study of the model's implementation, through a framework for innovation management, in a Mexican SME in the dairy sector with an innovation project for its production processes.

Section 4, "Innovation and Entrepreneurship", includes six chapters. Chapter 20 discusses prospect theory, which describes how people evaluate choices in terms of potential gains and losses and tend to be loss-averse. Chapter 21 investigates the study and practice of corporate entrepreneurship through the authors' research, including reviews of the existing literature and primary research. The chapter investigates the history of corporate entrepreneurship, the difficulties faced by innovators in these large organizations, and the three levels of innovation they create. Chapter 22 examines the relationship between resilience and innovation. In the current period of economic uncertainty, resilience is an emerging concept that has been employed by both researchers and policymakers to explore systems' responsiveness to exogenous shocks. Chapter 23 presents TIMS, which is an EU Erasmus+ project that analyzed the ISO 56000 innovation management system norm parts and configured in 2022 an ISO 56000-based innovation assessment portal. This system allows self-assessment, independent expert assessment, and benchmarking for innovation management. Chapter 24 charts a course that aims to minimize risks for real estate development and urban regeneration interventions, emphasizing a holistic approach and industrial processes. Finally, Chapter 25 proposes a method of control, the Rain Tower, to address the climate problems in the United Arab Emirates.

> **Luigi Aldieri** Department of Economic and Statistical Sciences, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

**1**

Section 1

The Role of Knowledge for

Innovation and Growth

Section 1
