IJIRD special issue: Intelligent Clusters, Communities and Cities

Just published, vol.1 no4, the issue contains papers that outline parallel aspects and phenomena shaping simultaneously intelligent cities. Among the topics discussed are:

• The globalisation of innovation ecosystems and new relationships between innovation and its environment, as knowledge resources from around the globe combine together and new innovation environments and institutions take shape.
• Living labs and innovation hubs that continue and progress the theory of innovative milieu and innovation clustering in the era of global digital interaction and involvement of end customers in new product design, development, and testing.
• The rise of collaborative knowledge networks and virtual communities sustaining innovation capabilities and the innovation performance of organisations.
• E-governance and changing city management towards more democratic and participative forms enabled by online communication and interactive community services.
• The digital city and digital citizenship, myths and ideas accompanying these concepts, and challenges of institutionalised digital cities.
• Ubiquitous communities; pervasive and intelligent environments enabling new forms of interactions and transactions that become available anywhere at anytime.

Common ground of the papers is the assumption that innovation is a systemic / environmental condition. Converting scientific knowledge into new products and services, which is the core process of innovation, is only feasible within an environment rich in networks and resources for experimentation and entrepreneurialism. Research is a crucial component of innovation; but it becomes fertile by mobilising various capabilities within a wider system of knowledge, creativity, risk-taking, tolerance, and cooperation. As systemic theories of innovation came to show, the emphasis has shifted from the innovation process to innovation networks and the environment, which have now taken on global dimensions. Virtual spaces and embedded systems are generating a wave of new hybrid environments (global digital ecosystems, Living Labs, i-hubs, COINs, smart cities, e-gov, digital cities, U-communities, intelligent environments, etc.) which in turn amplify networking, experimentation and innovation.

Source: IJIRD