Innovation and Development Policy (IDP)

　　For further information on IDP, please visit our website: http://idp-journal.casisd.cn/ 

　　Special Issue: Innovation Development and Digital Transformation

　　Guest Editors

　　Alan Irwin, Copenhagen Business School

　　Lutao Ning, Queen Mary, University of London

　　Kaihua Chen, Chinese Academy of Sciences

　　Tara Qian Sun, Copenhagen Business School

　　Contact:

　　Tara Qian Sun, Copenhagen Business School, qs.digi@cbs.dk

　　Issues of innovation and development have become increasingly important in the policy- and strategy- making processes of both governments and enterprises, and have received globally growing attention from both policymakers and academia since the 1990s (Chen & Guan, 2011; Dominique & Caroline, 2019; Forsman, 2011; Guan & Chen, 2010; Mu, 2019; Mu et al., 2010; Rainer et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2015).

　　In the digital age, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and social media have influenced the form and direction of innovation and development. For example, the use of Blockchain for transparency, traceability and responsibility has changed the innovation process and advanced sustainable development at firm, industry and national levels (Australian Government, 2020; Boucher, 2017; Corbett & Mellouli, 2017; Nguyen, 2016; OECD, 2019; Watson et al., 2010). The use of AI in both private and public sectors such as healthcare regarding diagnosis (Sun & Medaglia, 2019), medical imaging recognition, hospital governance and management, patients engagement management, and new drug development can promote health service innovation (Sun & Medaglia, 2017a, 2017b). The life of individuals, the innovative activities and development strategies of organizations, cities and countries, are affected by digital technologies and the pursuit of  digital transformation for a better life, intelligent living environment, and innovative nations.

　　Thus, it is timely to publish a special issue on these topics in Innovation and Development Policy, which has published seminal papers on innovation and development in policy contexts (Dominique & Caroline, 2019; Forsman, 2011; Margaret, 2019; Mu, Chi, et al., 2019; Mu, Li, et al., 2019; Yukihide, 2019). We believe that an assessment of the adoption of digital technologies and digital transformation in multiple sectors can yield new theoretical and empirical insights on innovation and development. It is also important to analyze how the development process, mechanism and factors that influence the innovation and development policies may differ between public sectors and private sectors, and among different industries. The proposed special issue seeks to bring together papers that address these issues from a variety of perspectives and at multiple levels of analysis. Some themes that papers in the proposed special issue might address are:

• 　　Innovation development – national/regional innovation capabilities, national/regional innovation system, science and technology policy, innovation process/performance of firms or industries, etc. - in the context of digital transformation;
• 　　The relationship between digital transformation and innovation development;
• 　　The influences/consequences/implications of the usage of digital technologies for innovation development both in public and private sectors;
• 　　The mechanisms of innovation process/performance/cooperation in the digital-oriented activities;
• 　　The effects of digital technologies on the interactions and collaborations of innovation activities, objectives or actors;
• 　　The use of digital technologies in decision-making process of the innovation activities, e.g. smart city development, science and technology planning, R&D activities, service innovation, entrepreneurship, etc.;
• 　　Patterns of digital transformation in different industries and the innovation performance;
• 　　The use of digital technologies for the SDGs;
• 　　Comparison of innovation policies for digital transformation across different nations and regional settings.
• 　　……

　　Both quantitative and qualitative papers are welcome.

　　Editorial Process

　　The editorial process will consist of three stages. In the first stage, papers will be sent for double-blind review to three reviewers. Authors whose papers receive a revise and re-submit will be invited to a special developmental workshop organized by the Guest Editors, which will be held at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. Funding has been provided for this workshop, which will allow us to pay for accommodation and meals for one author and assigned discussants for each paper. Authors would then be invited to revise and resubmit their papers based on the reviewers’ comments and comments from workshop participants. The papers will be reviewed again externally, with final decisions made in the final stage.

　　See attachment PDF for full text