Search Results (914)

New-quality productive forces provide an important conceptual lens for understanding how innovation-driven development, digital empowerment, and the green transition jointly support sustainable regional development. From a geographical perspective, this study develops a multidimensional evaluation system for new-quality productive forces based on the three elements of productive forces: laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. Using panel data for 31 provincial-level administrative units in China from 2012 to 2022, we integrate the entropy weight method, standard deviation ellipse, exploratory spatiotemporal data analysis, the obstacle degree model, and the random forest model to examine the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing mechanisms of new-quality productive forces. The results show that: (1) China’s new-quality productive forces increased steadily during the study period, but their overall level remained relatively low and regional disparities continued to widen. Spatially, they exhibited a pronounced “high in the east and low in the west” pattern, with South China and East China maintaining leading positions and Guangdong and Jiangsu forming a dual-core growth structure. (2) The spatial center of gravity remained southeast of the Hu Huanyong Line, and its expansion direction was broadly parallel to this line, indicating a relatively stable spatial configuration. The ESTDA results further reveal significant positive spatial autocorrelation, strong temporal inertia, and marked path dependence in local spatial transitions. (3) High-tech talent supply, innovation and entrepreneurship vitality, and ecological governance capacity constitute the main internal bottlenecks constraining the development of new-quality productive forces. The analysis of external factors indicates that economic scale and population size are the primary predictors of NQPF development, whereas government intervention, openness, urbanization, and industrial structure exhibit varying degrees of nonlinearity and regional heterogeneity. These findings enrich the geographical interpretation of new-quality productive forces and provide empirical evidence for formulating differentiated regional innovation policies and productivity transformation strategies. Full article

Precision agriculture (PA) has emerged as a transformative approach for improving agricultural productivity, resource-use efficiency, and environmental sustainability through the integration of digital technologies, including Global Positioning Systems (GPSs), Geographic Information Systems (GISs), remote sensing, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and autonomous systems. Although previous reviews have primarily emphasized technological innovation, adoption trends, or environmental outcomes, they have provided limited synthesis of the economic mechanisms linking technology adoption, resource allocation, production efficiency, investment performance, and long-term sustainability. A structured narrative–systematic review was conducted using peer-reviewed research retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, covering studies published between 2004 and 2026. An integrated analytical framework combining technology adoption theory, resource economics, and production-efficiency models was employed to explain how digital technologies generate economic value while identifying methodological limitations, geographical bias, unresolved research questions, and future research priorities. The review demonstrates that GPS-guided machinery, variable-rate technologies, smart irrigation systems, AI-driven decision-support tools, and integrated digital platforms improve water- and nutrient-use efficiency, labor productivity, production efficiency, and farm profitability. However, economic performance remains highly context-dependent, varying according to farm size, crop type, climatic conditions, institutional support, digital infrastructure, resource scarcity, and policy environments. Methodological inconsistencies in return on investment (ROI), net present value (NPV), lifecycle costing, ecosystem-service valuation, and environmental externality assessment reduce comparability among studies and complicate evidence-based policymaking. The review further identifies a pronounced geographical concentration of evidence in North America, Europe, and Australia, with comparatively limited understanding of PA economics in China, India, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Persistent challenges include high capital costs, unequal access among smallholder farmers, data governance concerns, interoperability limitations, uncertainty in long-term investment performance, and limited integration of agricultural insurance, climate-risk management, and digital finance. By integrating economic theory, methodological comparison, geographical analysis, sustainability valuation, and policy perspectives within a unified conceptual framework, this review highlights the need for standardized economic evaluation methodologies, broader geographical representation, and interdisciplinary research to support evidence-based policy and the sustainable digital transformation of global agriculture. Full article

This study investigates how community engagement and outreach programs can serve as a vehicle for knowledge co-production between higher educational institutions (HEIs) and industry in developing economies. Despite growing calls for collaboration between HEIs and industry, the existing literature remains policy-driven and largely instrumental, offering a limited understanding of how engagement practices are socially constructed, negotiated, and experienced by diverse stakeholders. There is limited qualitative research on how community voices are integrated into co-creation processes and how these interactions shape sustainable development in emerging economies. The research methodology for the study was developed using the research onion, and an interpretivist research philosophy was adopted. The study employed an inductive research approach to explore actors’ lived experiences and the meanings attached to engagement practices and collected data through in-depth interviews. Participants in the study included representatives from HEIs, industry, and community stakeholders across selected sectors of the economy, and the data were analysed thematically to capture patterns of interactions, power relations, and knowledge and exchange processes underpinning co-production. The study revealed that effective community engagement goes beyond formal partnerships to encompass building lasting relationships which are characterised by trust, mutual learning, and context adaptation. Further, the study also showed that power asymmetries, institutional pressures, and resource constraints have restricted real co-production, resulting in symbolic rather than real engagement. Nevertheless, the use of inclusive and reflective approaches has been shown to foster locally acceptable and essential innovative interventions that can improve sustainable development. The study therefore recommends embedding participatory frameworks within HEIs and industry collaborations to strengthen institutional support for inclusive engagement and to reorient policies towards community-centred knowledge systems. This study, therefore, contributes to the body of knowledge by enhancing theoretical and practical understanding of sustainable higher education–industry collaboration in developing economies by promoting an understanding of engagement as a co-production process. Full article

The transition toward Agriculture 4.0 aims to improve farm performance and sustainability; however, existing macroeconomic indicators do not fully capture the depth of farm-level digital adoption. This study proposes the Digital Farm Index (DFI) as a tool for assessing digital maturity and regional disparities in European agriculture. The research combines bibliometric mapping of the scientific literature with an empirical DFI assessment for 18 European Union Member States using Eurostat data. The empirical assessment utilizes multiple linear regression, log-linear scale modeling, and hierarchical clustering to analyze adoption patterns and structural determinants. The index integrates four dimensions: connectivity, precision agriculture, robotics, and farm management information systems (FMIS). Results indicate that adoption is concentrated in larger farms, as area-weighted digital maturity (DFI-Hectares) consistently exceeds farm-level adoption (DFI-Farms). CAPEX-based cost modeling suggests the existence of a technological indivisibility threshold, whereby digitalization may become an entry barrier for fragmented farms with limited economies of scale. Multiple linear regression suggests an East–West structural trend: while farm size influences the territorial diffusion of technology, a more consolidated regional innovation ecosystem appears more relevant for farm-level adoption. Findings also highlight a hardware–software imbalance and limited use of data-driven managerial tools. Support policies should therefore move beyond equipment subsidies and include technology transfer networks, digital skills, and managerial data-integration tools. Full article

Against accelerating urban expansion, climate risks, and green transition, fortifying urban ecological resilience (UER) has become central to global urban sustainability. However, there is as yet no systematic evidence to suggest how the National Innovative City Pilot Policy (NICPP) promotes green technology innovation (GTI) and strengthens UER. To address this gap, this paper builds upon the traditional resistance–adaptability–resilience (RAR) paradigm and its extension, the driving force–resistance–adaptability–resilience (DRAR) framework to formulate a comprehensive driving force–pressure–resistance–adaptability–resilience (DPRAR) assessment system. Moreover, this paper investigates a dataset of 271 cities in China spanning the period from 2006 to 2023. By treating the NICPP as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper integrates an entropy balancing technique into a staggered difference–in–differences (DID) model to identify its effect on UER. The results are outlined below. (1) From 2006 to 2023, UER across Chinese municipalities generally increased, though spatial imbalances persisted. (2) The NICPP enhanced urban UER, with effects characterized by time-lagged and cumulative patterns. (3) Both the quantity and quality structure of urban GTI served as channels through which the NICPP affected UER. (4) The NICPP effects are strongest in the central region, followed by those in the western and eastern regions, as well as in resource-dependent cities and cities with stricter environmental regulation. This research provides novel empirical perspectives linking innovation-driven development, GTI, and UER, with implications for NICPP optimization and UER enhancement in China. Full article

Sustainable finance, digital financial innovation, and green innovation have become central strategic pressures in banking, yet their joint effects on bank performance and risk remain insufficiently understood. This study develops an integrated ESG-innovation framework and examines quarterly panel data for 24 Taiwanese financial holding and domestic commercial banks from 2016Q1 to 2025Q3, yielding 934 bank-quarter observations. Return on assets (ROA) and the Z-score are used to capture operating performance and financial stability, respectively, and bank fixed-effects panel models are estimated for high- and low-ESG as well as high- and low-innovation subsamples. The re-estimated results reveal a conditional sustainability effect: ESG and innovation do not generate homogeneous financial benefits, but depend on banks’ ESG foundations, innovation intensity, leverage, and scale. Environmental scores are positively associated with ROA in the high-ESG subsample and weakly positive in the low-ESG subsample, whereas credit card transaction expansion is costly for low-ESG banks. In high-innovation banks, credit card transaction volume and green patents are negatively associated with ROA, suggesting adjustment costs and diminishing marginal returns. For financial stability, ESG recognition and green patents are more beneficial in lower ESG or innovation contexts, while leverage is consistently negative across all specifications. These findings contribute to the sustainable finance literature by clarifying how ESG, FinTech-related innovation, and green innovation jointly shape bank performance and risk in a policy-driven emerging market. The results also suggest that banks and regulators should adopt differentiated ESG and innovation strategies rather than assuming that sustainability investment produces uniform outcomes. Full article

This study aims to systematically investigate packaging waste repurposing in humanitarian logistics. It aims to bridge the theory–practice gap by providing a consolidated evidence-based analysis of how packaging is repurposed, the driving motivations, and the design characteristics that enable such transformations. A systematic review and thematic analysis of 34 documents from well-known international relief organizations was conducted. The documents were thoroughly reviewed, and codes were extracted and grouped into themes. The findings reveal that packaging repurposing is a widespread practice driven by three interconnected streams: (1) designer-led (top-down) initiatives rooted in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) policies and design innovation, (2) user-led (bottom-up) initiatives that are induced by the survival and livelihood of affected communities, and (3) hybrid initiatives that involve the participation of the NGOs and affected people. Moreover, repurposing is highly dependent on specific design enablers, such as structural and material properties, to facilitate it. Lastly, a hierarchy of material transformation is proposed, ranging from low-energy mechanical adaptations to high-energy physio-chemical processes. This paper provides a novel integrated framework that links material, drivers, and design enablers for packaging repurposing in humanitarian logistics. It proposes a transformation spectrum to guide repurposing strategies based on resource and tool availability. This study consolidates fragmented knowledge across different sources and offers practical insights into the applicability of repurposing in various domains such as procurement, packaging design, and logistics planning. Full article

Enhancing renewable energy penetration (REP) is essential for accelerating the low-carbon transition of the power system. The evolution of REP is driven by the interaction of multiple factors, including policy, technology, market demand, and environmental constraints. Based on the system dynamics (SD) method, this study constructs a model to simulate the evolution of REP in China during 2012–2060 under business-as-usual (BAU), single-factor, and synergistic scenarios. The results show that, by 2060, REP reaches 77.17% under the BAU scenario. REP improvement is most pronounced under the policy support scenario, reaching 80.71%, while REP increases by 4.58%, 1.94%, 2.36%, and 1.30% relative to BAU under the policy support, technological innovation, market demand expansion, and environmental constraint scenarios, respectively. After 2030, the effect of market demand expansion gradually strengthens and surpasses environmental constraints and technological innovation, with the crossover points corresponding to REP levels of 41.69% and 57.19%, respectively. The synergistic scenario analysis further shows that policy–market synergy is the most effective pathway, with REP reaching 81.21% by 2060, followed by policy–technology synergy at 80.89%. In contrast, policy–environment synergy (80.48%) does not outperform the single policy support scenario. This suggests that environmental constraints need to be coordinated with market-based consumption and technological support to effectively promote REP. Full article

Background/Objectives: Medical devices are essential to modern healthcare, but their adoption is often driven by regulatory conformity, clinical enthusiasm, procurement pressures and vendor-led innovation rather than systematic evaluation of comparative value. CE marking and related regulatory mechanisms are necessary for market access; however, they do not determine whether a device improves patient-related outcomes compared with existing alternatives, whether its benefits justify its total costs, or whether it can be implemented safely in routine care. This narrative review examines why medical devices require a dedicated life-cycle health technology assessment (HTA) approach and proposes an operational framework linking assessment to adoption, evidence generation, reassessment and disinvestment. Methods: A structured targeted search covered peer-reviewed literature and policy or institutional documents addressing HTA, medical devices, regulation, economic evaluation, real-world evidence, hospital-based HTA, procurement digital and AI-enabled devices, patient involvement and post-market reassessment. Results: Medical devices differ from pharmaceuticals through user dependence, learning curves, procedure dependence, short product life cycles, incremental modification, heterogeneous comparators, limited randomized evidence and hidden life-cycle costs. These features create clinical, economic, organizational and implementation uncertainty after market entry. The proposed model specifies six linked phases: horizon scanning and early dialogue, pre-adoption appraisal, an explicit adoption decision, controlled implementation, real-world monitoring and scheduled or trigger-based reassessment leading to continuation, scale-up, restriction, or disinvestment. Practical constraints include fragmented data infrastructure, the cost of maintaining registries and residual confounding in real-world evidence. Conclusions: Medical device HTA should move beyond one-time pre-adoption assessment toward a decision-linked life-cycle model that integrates comparative value, patient and public involvement, procurement, implementation governance, real-world evidence, version monitoring, reassessment and disinvestment. This approach can support responsible innovation, patient safety, transparent procurement and sustainable health-system value. Full article

Green innovation performance (GIP) in new energy enterprises emerges from complex interactions among technological, organizational, and institutional resource subsystems, yet existing research predominantly applies linear, single-factor approaches that fail to capture this systemic complexity. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and systems thinking, this study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 54 Chinese A-share listed new energy enterprises—spanning wind power, solar power, hydrogen energy, energy storage, and new energy equipment manufacturing—observed over the 2019–2023 period, to examine the configurational pathways through which these firms achieve high GIP. Green patent grants serve as the outcome measure, and six conditions spanning three resource subsystems are considered: digital transformation and R&D intensity (technological subsystem), firm size and ownership structure (organizational subsystem), and government subsidies and carbon emission performance (institutional subsystem). Three key findings emerge. First, none of the six conditions is individually necessary for high GIP (all consistency scores below 0.90), indicating that high GIP reflects combinations of resources rather than a single driver. Second, the six sufficient configurations identified collapse into two distinct pathway clusters: a “SOE digital-empowerment-driven” cluster, in which digital transformation combines with R&D investment, government subsidies, or organizational scale within state-owned enterprises, and a “resource–capability synergy and substitution” cluster, in which scale resources, R&D investment, and policy support combine with or substitute for digital transformation regardless of ownership. Third, digital transformation appears in five of the six pathways, indicating that it functions as a key—but not universal—enabling element whose effectiveness depends on its alignment with other system components. Beyond confirming that multiple, equally valid resource combinations lead to high GIP, this study’s principal contribution is to embed RBV within an explicit systems framework, showing how technological, organizational, and institutional resources interact as subsystems of a single socio-technical system, and to translate the resulting configurations into differentiated, pathway-specific guidance for enterprises and policymakers navigating the low-carbon energy transition. Full article

Green technological innovation is widely recognized as a critical driver of sustainable development. This study examines the impact of green taxation on green technological innovation using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2022. It distinguishes between narrow and broad green taxation. Using baseline regression, spatial Durbin, and threshold models, the analysis reveals that the green tax reform significantly promotes green technological innovation. Broad green taxation has a stronger effect than narrow green taxation. Narrow green taxation shows significant spatial spillover effects. The impact of both narrow and broad green taxes on green technological innovation shows spatial heterogeneity, with the strongest main effect in the eastern regions. The threshold analysis further shows that surpassing the industrialization threshold significantly enhances green technological innovation, regardless of whether narrow or broad green taxes are used. These empirical results indicate that a differentiated green taxation can promote green technological innovation and achieve sustainable development goals. This study provides policy insights for optimizing green fiscal tools to promote innovation-driven sustainable development. Full article

Amid rising global economic uncertainty and frequent external shocks, strengthening marine economic resilience has become a core priority for coastal nations to stabilize industrial supply chains and achieve sustainable marine development. China’s traditional resource-driven marine economy faces persistent structural bottlenecks, including homogeneous industrial structure, low value addition and weak risk resistance. As a landmark national policy for sustainable marine economic growth, the Marine Economic Innovation and Development Policy (MEIDP) has been piloted in 15 coastal cities across two batches, yet its causal impact on marine economic resilience remains under systematic evaluation. Using panel data of 51 Chinese coastal cities from 2008 to 2023, this study employs a multi-period difference-in-differences approach with supporting analyses to systematically evaluate the MEIDP’s impact on marine economic resilience, as well as its moderating mechanisms and heterogeneous patterns. The key findings are threefold. First, the MEIDP significantly improves coastal cities’ marine economic resilience, and this positive effect remains stable after multiple robustness tests. Second, public health emergencies exert a significant positive moderating effect, where the industrial support capacity and risk-resilience foundations established through policy implementation function more effectively under shock conditions, thereby amplifying the enhancement of resilience. Third, the policy effect shows prominent heterogeneity, being more pronounced in high-tourism cities and the Northern Marine Economic Circle, while statistically insignificant in low-tourism cities and the Southern Marine Economic Circle. This study enriches the theoretical framework of marine economic policy evaluation and provides empirical evidence from a major developing country for global marine governance, confirming that marine policies that promote innovation are an effective path to strengthen economic risk resistance. In light of these findings, we propose targeted policy recommendations to steadily enhance overall marine economic resilience. Coastal regions should deepen marine policies that promote innovation to bolster industrial upgrading and technological empowerment, adopt differentiated schemes aligned with local industrial foundations and resource endowments, promote marine industrial diversification and chain extension to reduce structural vulnerability, and improve public risk response mechanisms to strengthen the counter-cyclical buffering capacity of the marine economy. Full article

This study examines whether higher education development (HED) in China remains geographically locked in a core–periphery structure over 2002–2021 despite long-standing policies promoting balanced development. Using a composite assessment of HED and multiple spatial-inequality diagnostics, we identify strong persistence in the national spatial hierarchy and limited restructuring over time. Results indicate: (1) a stable top tier concentrated in a small set of leading cities, with the top-ranked cities exhibiting a stability index above 0.90, alongside a persistent lagging group; (2) an education-quality “center of gravity” anchored along the North China–East China axis, with a reduced migration distance from 76.58 km to 16.63 km, indicating only modest cross-regional movement; (3) pronounced clustering in major eastern coastal urban agglomerations, contrasted with a broader and weaker distribution in the west; and (4) regionally differentiated constraints—HED in eastern China is jointly driven by economic scale, market demand, and innovation investment, while the central region exhibits no stable dominant driver, the western region remains primarily constrained by economic scale and consumption conditions, and the northeastern region is increasingly shaped by demographic structure and consumption dynamics. These findings indicate that the spatial differentiation of HED is jointly shaped by economic, demographic, industrial, and innovation-related factors. For sustainability-oriented governance, the findings suggest that narrowing gaps requires moving beyond scale expansion toward targeted capability building, cross-regional collaboration, and institutional reforms that improve peripheral regions’ capacity to convert inputs into sustained quality and outcomes. Data granularity remains a limitation; future research should integrate micro-level data and comparative evidence. Full article

Smart-city governance increasingly relies on data infrastructures to connect public agencies, digital platforms, and urban services; however, complex emergencies continue to expose fragmentation in information sharing, administrative responsibilities, and cross-boundary coordination. A key unresolved question is whether data-driven policy experimentation can strengthen the institutional foundations of emergency collaboration. In this study, we examine China’s National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones as a systemic governance intervention and apply a multi-period difference-in-differences model to estimate the effect of pilot-zone construction on the policy-text-based institutionalization of emergency collaboration, using provincial panel data for 30 Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2022. The results show that pilot-zone construction significantly strengthens institutionalized emergency collaboration in provincial policy systems. Mechanism tests provide evidence consistent with two complementary pathways: emergency-related technological innovation, measured by granted patents screened through IPC/CPC classifications and title–abstract keywords, supports task-specific capacities such as risk sensing, early warning, emergency communication, command support, and resource allocation; digital government strengthens administrative interoperability, data sharing, platform-based coordination, and standardized interdepartmental procedures. Heterogeneity analyses show stronger effects in eastern, middle-income, and severely aging regions, suggesting that policy effectiveness depends on implementation capacity, absorptive capacity, and emergency-service demand. This study contributes to systems governance and smart-city research by showing how data-driven policy experimentation can shape the formal institutionalization of emergency collaboration. The findings should be interpreted as evidence of institutionalized policy attention and formal collaborative arrangements rather than direct evidence of field-level emergency response performance. Full article

Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) is increasingly recognised as a key tool for bridging building-scale analysis and city-level planning, supporting the decarbonisation of urban areas. It enables the assessment of building performance and the exploration of retrofit strategies, policy scenarios, and renewable integration. Over the past decade, UBEM has continuously evolved, encompassing physics-based, data-driven, and hybrid approaches, often supported by archetype generation and GIS workflows. Recent research also integrates microclimate, mobility, and green infrastructure. While this enriches analysis outcomes, it also leads to fragmentation, limiting tools’ comparability, transparency, and practical use by policymakers. This perspective paper provides a critical interpretation of the recent evolution in UBEM and proposes a goal-oriented classification of modelling approaches based on their final objectives rather than on calculation methodology. The paper also identifies three key gaps: the lack of scalable and consistent data frameworks, the absence of a shared terminology, and the need for criteria to assess whether models are “fit for purpose.” Addressing these issues through improved data infrastructures, conceptual clarity, and reliability assessment can support convergence without limiting innovation, fostering more robust and decision-relevant UBEM applications to support the energy transition. Full article