Platforms, Volume 4, Issue 2 (June 2026) – 4 articles

This article examines how platform-mediated crisis policy shaped inclusion and exclusion outcomes for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Western Cape during COVID-19. Integrating a market-failure perspective with entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, we present a theory-driven secondary analysis of 16 qualitative interviews and policy documents. We map five crisis-amplified failures—finance, markets, digital, institutions, and human capital—onto Isenberg’s six ecosystem domains and analyze how provincial interventions, particularly digital marketplaces, voucher schemes, and online coordination tools, functioned as governance mechanisms regulating access, visibility, and participation. The findings show that platform-mediated interventions accelerated coordination and digital market access but disproportionately benefited already connected firms, leaving institutional and inclusion gaps largely unresolved. We conceptualize sub-national crisis response as a form of platform governance and discuss implications for designing more inclusive digital policy infrastructures in middle-income contexts. Full article

Rural territories continue to face persistent structural challenges related to depopulation, limited economic diversification, and unequal access to specialized knowledge. Although scientific research and applied expertise are widely recognized as critical resources for addressing these challenges, their effective transmission to local actors remains fragmented. In recent years, digital platforms have emerged as potential mechanisms to bridge this gap; however, their role within rural development frameworks remains conceptually underdeveloped. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for knowledge transmission platforms oriented towards rural development, integrating scientific research, applied analysis, and structured dissemination within a unified operational architecture. Drawing on a structured review of the literature on rural development, knowledge transfer, and digital platforms, the framework identifies key functional dimensions and design principles that shape platform-based knowledge intermediation. The framework is illustrated through a qualitative case study of CreandoTuProvincia, a Spanish platform focused on territorial analysis and rural knowledge transmission. The findings highlight the relevance of hybrid platforms that combine scientific rigour, accessibility, and territorial embeddedness, offering a scalable model for strengthening evidence-informed rural development strategies. By conceptualizing platforms as structured knowledge intermediaries, this study contributes to the emerging literature on knowledge-based rural development and provides practical insights for policymakers, researchers, and platform designers. Full article

This study aims to systematically analyze scholarly research on virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and the metaverse in the tourism and hospitality sectors, offering insights into publication patterns, key contributors, thematic evolution, and potential research directions from 2016 to mid-2025. It maps how the literature evolved in response to technological maturation and changing tourism constraints. A systematic literature review and comprehensive bibliometric analysis were conducted using the Scopus database. The analysis encompassed bibliographic metrics, thematic clustering, and content analysis techniques to identify influential journals, authors, and evolving research themes. The results reveal a pronounced acceleration in research activity post-2020, reflecting heightened interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s push towards digital and immersive solutions. Core journals identified include Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism, and Journal of Travel Research. Influential contributors such as Timothy H. Jung, M. Claudia tom Dieck, and Dimitrios Buhalis significantly shaped the field. The thematic trajectory demonstrates a shift from initial exploration and application of VR and AR technologies toward comprehensive integration into metaverse ecosystems, with emerging themes such as digital twins, synthetic experiences, immersive storytelling, and growing emphasis on ethical and sustainability considerations. By synthesizing nearly a decade of research, this study provides valuable insights into immersive technologies’ evolution in tourism and hospitality, identifying critical areas for future investigation aligned with enterprise information management strategies. Full article

This article explores how fashion, as a culture-intensive industry, can act as a testbed for ecosystem-centred sustainability transitions. Building on debates on the Triple Transition (green, digital, resilience) and the four pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, economic, cultural), the study addresses a theoretical and methodological gap: while transition agendas and sustainability frameworks are well developed at policy and conceptual levels, there is limited empirical integration of these frameworks into design-oriented methods capable of guiding situated organisational decisions in fashion and cultural and creative industries. It proposes a design- and futures-driven methodology that combines intuitive-logics scenario building, horizon scanning and a customised three-axis Polar Map. The Polar Map translates the Triple Transition into three composite orientations: Bios, Techné and Resilience, used to structure four narrative scenarios applied to the fashion ecosystem: Trailblazing Agency, Other-than-Human Agency, Constructive Agency and Normative Agency. Each scenario assembles concepts, weak signals and case examples into plausible configurations of the fashion value chain and its ecosystem. The results show how these scenarios act as meta-narratives, orienting devices and boundary objects that support futures literacy, make the cultural and intangible consequences of design decisions explicit and reveal interdependencies across value chains. Conceptually, the work operationalises combined transitions and the four pillars of sustainability in a flagship CCI; methodologically, it advances a design-oriented adaptation of scenario practices; and practically, it offers organisations narrative tools to rehearse ecosystem-centred innovation pathways. The conclusion reflects on structural constraints and methodological directions for further hybridisation within foresight methods. Full article