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Improving Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Management in Sustainability Era

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 6164

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Stanislav Avsec

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Guest Editor

Department for Physics and Technology Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: design, technology and engineering education; education for sustainable development; creativity and innovative learning; educational technology and artificial intelligence; knowledge and innovation management; cognitive science
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The goal of this Special Issue is to compile high-quality contributions that deepen and advance understanding of the role of quality knowledge transfer and innovation management in the age of sustainability.

Addressing the 21st century challenges and megatrends we currently face in the real world, which affect many aspects of our lives, requires more sustainable, responsible and responsive solutions. Therefore, smart integration is needed that transcends the boundaries between traditional disciplines and the various stakeholders in education, business, and society. The proper interplay of social, economic, and natural environments guides the principles of sustainability through effective knowledge transfer and sustainable open innovation. The concepts of transformative learning, openness, and sustainability have gained popularity in recent academic literature. However, their combination, mutual exclusion and convergence, and potential for developing methods, strategies and policies for sustainable open innovative learning and fostering business ecosystems have not been fully explored.

Despite the rapid incorporation of artificial intelligence, learning analytics, and advanced digital education technology into knowledge construction and transfer, several researchers report shortcomings and deficiencies, such as the following: (1) a lack of durable innovation, (2) inadequacies in knowledge construction, leading to the emergence of pseudoscience, (3) a lack of development of higher-order thinking skills in education and training, (4) and fluctuating uncertainty and complexity in knowledge transfer patterns. Therefore, the knowledge-sharing behaviors inherent in the sustainability challenge of open innovation need to be drastically rethought and reconceptualized, in part because of the new demands on business ecosystems and because of the different stakeholders, barriers, and factors that might determine the most effective practices for increasing the likelihood of successfully addressing the sustainability problem. Thus, not all innovation leads to knowledge, especially at higher taxonomic levels, and only durable innovations that can be generalized across multiple domains and levels can generate new theories and new knowledge. Finally, when the paths of knowledge and innovation practically converge and interact, new technology can emerge. The emergence of open and enduring innovation could be strongly influenced by changes in our thinking about the essential importance of stakeholders' internal and external knowledge environments. Creating a divergence of mental models can enhance the transfer of team learning between stakeholders and increase the ability to absorb, multiply, and build relationships, especially if transformative learning is supported by innovative AI-driven solutions and the targeted use of digital technologies, which would further enhance the occurrence of spillover effects and interconnectedness between different stakeholders and their external environments.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions on innovations that improve the quality of the development and transfer of knowledge and skills or that can be used to develop knowledge at a higher level. Contributions with a wide range of epistemological, conceptual, and methodological backgrounds are expected to shed light on knowledge transfer and innovation learning in the context of sustainable development, filling a gap in the literature. Thus, the Special Issue also aims to promote theoretical and practical innovation and knowledge in a range of fields, including education, industry, business, science, and engineering.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Stanislav Avsec
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

knowledge transfer patterns
knowledge sharing behaviors
educational change
sustainable open innovation
knowledge transfer and innovation modeling
transdisciplinary approach, systems thinking and transformative learning
education for sustainable development
multi-stage decision-making process
knowledge-based technological capabilities

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 5519 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Learning Progression for Understanding Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

by Sara J. Dozier, Anna MacPherson, Linda Morell, Perman Gochyyev and Mark Wilson

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14212; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914212 - 26 Sep 2023

Viewed by 1073

Abstract

This paper describes a hypothesized learning progression for how secondary students understand interdependent relationships in ecosystems, a key concept in the field of ecology and for public understanding of science. In this study, a hypothetical learning progression was developed and empirically investigated using Rasch modeling of data from 1366 students in a large, diverse, urban school district. We found that the empirical evidence supported the general structure of the hypothesized learning progression for relationships in ecosystems. There were notable exceptions, and we describe the ways in which we altered the items and the learning progression to address empirical inconsistencies with our a priori conceptions. The assessment items developed through this study are immediately available online for formative assessment purposes, and the learning progression can support teachers’ thinking about students’ understanding of ecosystems. In particular, the upper reach of the learning progression offers a more complete description of the ways in which students might develop their understanding of complex interactions in ecosystems, beyond what is currently offered in the literature and standards documents about students’ understanding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Management in Sustainability Era)

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26 pages, 1351 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design Thinking to Envision More Sustainable Technology-Enhanced Teaching for Effective Knowledge Transfer

by Stanislav Avsec

Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1163; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021163 - 8 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1976

Abstract

The present study aims to examine profiles of design thinkers in a teacher education programme during technology-enhanced teaching/learning in face-to-face and distance modes. Additionally, it investigates how the design thinking (DT) profiles are related to students’ interpersonal and evaluative skills, as well as how DT profiles predict the level of use of technology. A total of 307 undergraduate students participated in this study. Hierarchical and k-means cluster analysis were adopted to identify the DT profiles, whereas multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was run to study how the DT profiles were related to respective students’ levels of interpersonal and evaluative skills. Subsequently, the individual profiles of all components of DT were examined for group differences using cross-tabulations. Multinomial logistic regressions were run to examine relationships among DT profiles, interpersonal and evaluative skill levels and use of technology. Based on these analyses, three major findings were obtained. These are as follows: (1) Three distinctive DT profiles were revealed underlying a new extensively validated DT mindset. Low importance was given to team learning and knowledge transfer, which points to the lack of behavioural uncertainty; (2) DT profiles differed significantly in their metacognitive perspectives of interaction- and individual-centred tasks, as well as evaluative skills of monitoring, critical thinking and reflection; (3) Interaction-oriented design tasks involving target use of varied technologies were seen to further enhance socialization, facilitate dialogue and reflection, create an immersive experience and aid the understanding and internalization of tacit knowledge. These findings represent a step toward closing critical gaps in the theory and practice of DT and serve as a springboard for instructors and researchers to develop customized metacognitive instructional support for students in technology-enhanced environments for effective knowledge transfer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Management in Sustainability Era)

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22 pages, 875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How the “Absorption Processes” of Urban Innovation Contribute to Sustainable Development—A Fussy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on Seventy-Two Cities in China

by Fanbo Li and Hongfeng Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15569; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315569 - 23 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1330

Abstract

The goals and transformation of sustainable urban development require fundamental innovation; however, urban innovation is a cyclical process, the paradigm of innovation itself needs to be dramatically transformed, and all innovation key elements need to be coordinated with each other to achieve sustainable urban outputs. Based on this, this paper uses the absorptive capacity theory to construct a model of the relationships between the acquisition dimension, digestion dimension, conversion dimension, utilization dimension, and sustainable development in the innovation process of smart cities and uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (FSQCA) method to investigate the configuration mechanism in depth to show how the innovation process of these cities affects their sustainable development, taking the top 72 cities in China in terms of innovation capacity in 2020 as the research objects. The results of the study form three complex configuration paths that affect sustainable urban development, centered on the transformation of technological achievements, innovation management drive, and smart cities, and reveal that the economic and market foundations as the dimensions of urban innovation acquisition are not the core conditions for sustainable urban development. Based on this, this study develops a configuration classification for innovative cities that can achieve sustainable development, i.e., industrial paths, governance paths, and technology paths, and proposes strategic directions for sustainable urban innovation development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Management in Sustainability Era)

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Other

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11 pages, 1443 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Knowledge Transfer and Innovation: Universities as Catalysts for Sustainable Decision Making in Industry

by Lianne Foti, Lance Warwick, Eric Lyons, Sonia Dhaliwal and Michael Alcorn

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11175; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411175 - 18 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1063

Abstract

The urgency of addressing the climate crisis has heightened the need to make sustainable decisions. Universities and research institutions are uniquely able to help develop and disseminate useful information for industry, specifically small and medium enterprises. This case study examines the collaboration between the Guelph Turfgrass Institute (GTI) and the turfgrass industry that culminated in the creation of a “Turf Net Present Value Model”. This model enables turfgrass installers, managers, and local municipalities to determine the structure of their turfgrass systems, natural or artificial, and estimate the net present value (NPV) over an extended period. A conceptual model for effective industry-university collaboration is then used to evaluate the knowledge transfer between academia and industry, showcasing a knowledge-transfer framework for improved decision-making and sustainability in sports facilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Management in Sustainability Era)

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