Innovation policies for the emerging cyber-physical world: a research agenda

ABSTRACT

The emergence of a ‘cyber-physical world’, defined as the profound entrenchment of physical and digital processes, has revolutionised modalities of production and consumption of products and services, radically changing the landscape for individuals, firms and organisations. Embracing this paradigmatic change requires a creative leap as the behaviour of agents, aggregated structures and their relationships have been completely reshaped. Up-to-date innovation policies suffer from cognitive rigidities that impede escape from traditional instruments and concepts. With this paper, we aim to fill this gap, conceptualising the disruptive emergence of the cyber-physical world and its impact on innovation policies. We use a two-step methodology based on the critical realist approach. The first step concerns the application of the explanatory model of social science to infer the causes, properties and consequences of the cyber-physical world. The second step exploits the results of the first as a departure point, using congruence analysis to demonstrate mismatches between existing innovation policy frameworks and the emergent cyber-physical world, and to propose new driving principles to reframe theoretical, methodological and strategic elements.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation policies
• cyber-physical world
• strategic thinking
• critical realism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mauro Lombardi

Mauro Lombardi is Adjunct professor of Economics of Innovation, School of Economics and Management, University of Florence, Italy. He serves as Scientific Chair of the Laboratory of Economics of Innovation L.E.I. ‘Keith Pavitt' (University of Florence, Prato Campus). He is member of Steering Committee of Unit of Research Babel ‘Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence for Business, Economics and Law' (University of Florence, Department of Economics and Management) He is author or co-author of seven books and of more than hundred articles, published in national and international reviews.

Leonardo Mazzoni

Leonardo Mazzoni is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Economics and Management Marco Fanno, University of Padova and Guest Scholar at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 2020 from the University of Trento and Florence. He is lecturer in Economics and Management of Innovation at the Department of Mathematics ‘Tullio Levi-Civita', University of Padova. His main research interests focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and firm dynamics.