THE POLITICS OF LAND-USE CONVERSION IN THE PERI-URBAN AREAS OF THE EGYPTIAN CITIES

Linkages of rural-urban structures, in both degrees of intensity and typology, are ever changing and consequently changing the interface of the Egyptian urban setting. The dynamics of the rural-urban interrelationships constantly generate different types of powers that have been manipulating the pattern of urban growth as much as articulating distortion and imbalances of the entire urban system. The attributes of the system inputs, for example the nature of land-use policy and tools, determine to a far extent the quality of the outputs that could be epitomized in the accomplishment of the developmental national objectives. On the other hand, expanding the comprehension of the socially and economically-influencing attributes operating in the urban-rural setting, is pivotal in reformulating system inputs that may guarantee a better chance of quality outputs. The objective of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of those influencing attributes and powers operating on the Egyptian rural-urban setting. This attributes underpin the conversion of scarce agricultural-land into urban uses in the peri-urban areas of the Egyptian Metropolitans and large-and-intermediate-size cities. Towards achieving this objective, the research investigates the mechanism of conversion and the nature of the process\u27 stimulators. The employed methodology depended on triple-tire paths: a) repetitive site visits to the peri-urban areas of South-East Alexandria, namely Almadara-Alqebliya and Abeis spanned from January to August 2009. b) Interviews with stakeholders: local residents, local officials, and urban scholars took place in the same time period, and c) desktop review of multiple literatures addressing the subject under investigation. The paper poses and attempts to answer the question of whether there is a potential change in the pattern, pace, and intensity of the agro-land conversion to other uses with the current social, economic, and urban policy context. Answer to this question is meant to constitute a ground for research in the future

Research on technology entrepreneurship and accelerators

The last few years, accelerators are quickly proliferating across the globe. To illustrate, the F6S-platform for founders indicates that the worldwide number of accelerators has grown from 194 in 2012 to 793 in 2015; an increase of 308%. However, there is quite some confusion about what an accelerator is and what its impact is on early-stage technology ventures. To add to the confusion, many programs are continuously evolving their models. Understanding the organizational design of accelerators, its effectiveness, and its role in the startup ecosystem is key if we want to properly advise policy makers, investors, and corporates looking for new ways to spur the development of innovative ventures. Furthermore, focusing on accelerators provides an opportunity to extend the learning and experimentation literature as it offers a natural lab setting. Accordingly, the overarching research question of this dissertation is: what do accelerators do and how do they impact the entrepreneurial trajectory of ventures? This study uses theory elaboration methods to suggest how accelerators are configured and what happens within an accelerator program. The research setting is 40 accelerators across Europe—cohort-based startup support programs that accelerate learning and are seen as problem solvers for various actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem such as venture capitalists, governments, corporates and even incubators. For instance, setting up an accelerator benefits venture capitalists by facilitating investments in a larger number of early-stage ventures at relatively low cost. It also benefits governments and corporates to streamline technology commercialization efforts. Thus, accelerators are an important phenomenon and this study provides several insights. On the one hand, it opens the ‘black box’ by highlighting the design and practices of the accelerator. By recognizing the heterogeneity among accelerators, it is clear that more robust metrics have to be developed in order to monitor the effectiveness of the different models. Although classifications of accelerator programs based on their relative performance (e.g. the Seed Accelerators Ranking Project) could be of importance to startups, it may also provide a distorted view considering programs can differ in their strategic objectives. On the other hand, it explains to policy makers, accelerators and early-stage technology ventures the boundary conditions of acceleration. First, policy makers need to take a long-term budget view when they consider to support startups through accelerator programs. Second, many ventures may not be investor-ready or commercially viable at the end of an accelerator program. Therefore, a systematic policy approach is needed for startups to thrive. Third, both early-stage technology ventures and individuals interested in setting up an accelerator should take into account the specific program components such as the selection process and the learning approach when respectively considering to apply for a program or configure one. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that accelerators occur in various forms, are constantly evolving and can differently impact the development of early-stage ventures

Role of Creativity, Innovations, Digital and Cognitive Technologies for Marketing of Family, Small and Medium Tourism Businesses in Regional Economic Development During and After Coronavirus Pandemic

The article highlights challenges that face the tourism industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical reports identified key negative trends and the impact of the tourism industry on socio-economic development indicators. The analysis of the historical facts of the development of crisis phenomena in the tourism sector provided an opportunity to state the fact of cyclical formation on the basis of biological threats in different regions of the world. In the context of this study, the main problems ofthe development of the tourism industry of Ukraine against the background of the pandemic and economic crisis are highlighted. Roadmap for overcoming the crisis presents innovative tools based on cognitive technologies such as neuromarketing, mobile marketing, blog marketing, event marketing, branding, as well as diversification of tourism entities, proposed to support small and medium-sized businesses operating in the tourism sector that have suffered the most from coronavirus measures. This article summarizes and analyses the successful examples of implementation of these tools for tourism enterprises in Ukraine and the world. It is concluded that the main condition to overcome the crisis, to develop successful tourism destinations, and to create sustainable development is the collaboration between businesses, community, and policymakers

Energy Oriented Concepts and Other SMART WORLD Trends as Game Changers of Co-Production - Reality or Future?

CC BY 4.0The aim of the study is to identify, map and assess the maturity and impact level of the specific energy-oriented economy and other SMART management concepts and social, technological, finance (economical), environmental, and communication (S.T.F.E.C.) trends which arose from the dynamic development and spread of the Industry 4.0 revolution on processes of effective competitiveness and the creation of modern enterprises. The article presents data and information obtained thanks to an in-depth review of the literature (extensive desk research), as well as that obtained as part of the conducted CAWI pilot study. The authors aim to search for answers to three specific research questions, concluding that recently, special attention is paid to such issues as co-creation and co-production, energy-oriented and circular economy, eco-energy, and sustainability. The findings of this study clearly show that in the SMART WORLD era, there is a growing interest in cooperation, co-creation, co-production issues, and usage of modern technologies and SMART management concepts typical of the Industry 4.0 era. The main reason for this is that enterprises strive to optimize and maximize their efficiency in the processes of competitiveness creation. Researched data allows us to conclude that openness to social, environmental, and technological trends and issues, with an approach based on sustainable and eco-energy-oriented development, play an increasingly important role. However, the level of their importance, implementation level, and maturity differ depending on the type of organization or industry. For example, service and trade companies more often than pro- duction companies use and rate the usefulness of social trends higher (reality = mainstream orientation for S&T companies and a future orientation for production companies), while production companies apply a more balanced approach, showing greater commitment to economic technological, environmental and financial trends (reality = mainstream orientation for production companies and a future orientation for trade and services companies). Given that the study shows and describes preliminary research results (pilot studies), the authors plan to undertake further efforts in the in-depth scientific exploration of the issues concerned, including, which is particularly important, conducting full-scale research

The impact of workspace environment on creativity and innovation: empirical evidence from makerspaces in China

Numerous studies have identified the critical role of creativity and innovation on the sustainable development of an enterprise especially facing with uncertain and complex external environment. Among the various aspects affecting the creativity and innovation, workspace environment is a factor that has not been fully considered for most of organizations. Compared to the existing literature on innovation, few empirical studies have investigated the influence of workspace environment on creativity and innovation. Based on the previous literature, this thesis first develops a theoretical framework, i.e., workspace environment-employee’s conduct- innovation performance paradigm to reveal the mechanism. We differentiate between the physical and non-physical environments to examine their roles on creativity and innovation performance, respectively. Then taking Ucommune as example (i.e., one of the largest makerspaces in China), this study empirically explores to what extent workspace environment affects the individual and team creativity and innovation in an organization. The main results include: (1) physical and non-physical workspace environments positively contribute to employees’ individual and team behaviors; (2) individual behavior can help to improve employee creativity and enhance team behavior, but its direct impact on innovation is not significant; (3) team behaviors can improve organizational innovation performance. Our findings empirical support the increasing importance of workspace environment - particularly the physical one - on creativity and innovation, providing both theoretical and practical implications. In particular, the main theoretical contribution is to enrich both the environmental psychological theory and innovation theory by providing a mechanism on how workspace environment influence creativity and innovation within an enterprise.São vários os estudos que identificam o papel crítico da criatividade e da inovação no desenvolvimento sustentável de uma empresa, especialmente em ambientes externos incertos e complexos. Entre os vários fatores que afetam a criatividade e a inovação, o ambiente do espaço de trabalho é algo que não é tido em consideração pela maioria das organizações. Nesse sentido, a presente tese apresenta, em primeiro lugar, um enquadramento teórico que projeta o paradigma do desempenho individual e organizacional face ao ambiente de trabalho, tendo em conta a conduta do empregado e os determinantes de inovação. De seguida, procede-se à distinção entre ambiente físico e não-físico para examinar as suas influências na criatividade e na inovação. Por fim, tendo o "Ucommune" como exemplo (i.e., um dos maiores espaços partilhados de fabricantes da China), este estudo explora empiricamente até que ponto o ambiente de trabalho afeta o indivíduo e a criatividade e a inovação da equipe nas organizações. Os principais resultados alcançados sustentam que: (1) ambientes de trabalho físico e não-físico estão positivamente relacionados com os comportamentos individuais e de equipe dos colaboradores; (2) o comportamento individual pode ajudar a melhorar a criatividade dos colaboradores e da equipe, mas o seu impacto direto na inovação não é significativo; e (3) o comportamento da equipe pode melhorar o desempenho da inovação organizacional. Estes resultados suportam ainda a crescente importância do ambiente do espaço de trabalho - particularmente o espaço físico - na criatividade e na inovação, trazendo implicações teóricas e práticas para a gestão empresarial

SURPRISING ENERGY FUTURES : Neo-Carbon Energy Futures Clinique V

This report describes the process and results of futures clinique Surprising Energy Futures: Anticipating Discontinuities and Testing Resilience of Renewable Energy World with Black Swans, held on 17 May 2017 at Sitra, Helsinki. The event was the fifth futures clinique within the foresight part of the research project Neo-Carbon Enabling Neo-Growth Society – Transformative Scenarios 2050, conducted by Finland Futures Research Centre. The aim of the event was to contribute to the four transformative societal scenarios of Neo-Carbon Energy project. The event consisted of presentations and intermittent working sessions. Dr. Karlheinz Steinmüller discussed the topic of Black Swans and VUCA World, with comments by Prof. Jarno Limnéll

Charting the path toward a greener world: A review of facilitating and inhibiting factors for carbon neutrality

The carbon neutrality (CN) literature has witnessed a mushrooming growth but also limited attempts to systematize the mass of evidence running in multiple directions. The consequent accumulation of fragmented insights can confuse concerned stakeholders, causing them to neglect or miss crucial discussions. Our study addresses this concern by undertaking a systematic literature review (SLR) of congruent studies to delineate the facilitating and inhibiting factors that support or impede the efficacious achievement of CN targets. Given the vastness of the extant literature, we limited our review to five sectors: manufacturing, energy, transportation, agriculture, and construction (METAC), since these are known to be among the highest contributors to emissions. Using a rigorous search and filtration protocol, we shortlisted 149 studies for inclusion in the review. Going beyond the curation of insights and identifying research gaps to suggest potential research questions for future investigations, our SLR contributes significantly by synthesizing facilitators and inhibitors from the reported evidence. At the same time, identifying stimulating forces and impeding hurdles helped us highlight areas requiring policy attention and managerial action to support the achievement of CN targets.publishedVersio

Using the economic crisis as an opportunity for engaging universities in regional development. Background report. First EU-DRIVERS Annual Conference, Barcelona, 17 november 2010

This annual report is the first of a series of three thematic reports produced by the EU-DRIVERS project on the role of universities in regional innovation and how strong partnerships between universities, government/public authorities and the business sector can contribute to dynamic successful innovation systems. The report contains a presentation of the European innovation policies and national trends which is accompanied by a brief theoretical discussion on triple helix partnerships. The report also includes the analysis of the various triple helix partnerships examples leading to a series of fi ndings and opportunities for successful partnerships at a time of economic crisis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Strategic Scenarios of the Post-War Recovery of the Aviation Transport Sustainable Development: The Case of Ukraine

The state and strategic scenarios to recover the sustainable development of air transport in Ukraine in the post-war period are studied. Research is fulfilled with the scientific justification of quantitative indicators and macro-indicators of maintaining the trajectory of sustainable development in the medium-term perspective. The starting point of strategizing is the concept of sustainable development in the safety dimension as a management construct that contains a general systemic view of the ways to transfer from the current state of the management object to the desired one and includes the stages of identification and strategizing. Identification involves an integral convolution with dynamic weighting coefficients and a formalized justification of the limits of safe existence. A new methodology is used for strategizing, which, unlike classical forecasting methods (the past determines the future), uses the principle "the future is determined by the trajectory into the future" and is based on the method of adaptive regulation from the management theory. According to the defined methodology, three strategic recovery scenarios were developed with the annual rates of growth of real aviation transport: realistic – 4.5%; optimistic – 7.2% and the scenario of entering the optimal zone of the EU countries – 10.4%. The resulting dynamics of components, indicators and macro indicators is, in fact, a strategic plan for the post-war recovery of the economy and entering the path of sustainable development. Threats are identified and institutional measures are proposed for airlines and national systems of airports and airfields, air navigation services, aviation industry, aviation education and science of Ukraine. The strategic orientations of the environmentalization of air transport of Ukraine in the post-war period and the strategic priorities of the recovery of the air transport infrastructure were formulated, and the necessity to pursue a course towards carbon neutrality was proved

drivers and emerging innovations in knowledge based destinations towards a research agenda

Abstract Research on innovation in tourism is fragmented and confined to traditional paradigms. This critical review paper, which cross-fertilises and discusses the relevant literature in tourism and other theoretical domains, proposes an integrative theoretical framework of innovation in destinations. The paper identifies four emerging innovations – experience co-creation, smart destinations, e-participative governance and social innovation – as evolutionary, knowledge-driven phenomena that are generated by the interaction among four destination actors and facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social capital. The discussion and conclusion present some theoretical advances as follows: local contexts matter in destination innovation when assuming a repository role of spatial and cross-sectorial knowledge; social capital and ICT infrastructures facilitate innovativeness and stakeholder engagement; and emerging innovations are pervasive and the holistic results of the collective knowledge of four destination actors and are facilitated by ICT and social capital. The paper offers avenues for future research and challenges that should be explored by academics, policy makers and destination managers