Navigating the Green Transition During the Pandemic Equitably: A New Perspective on Technological Resilience Among Boston Neighborhoods Facing the Shock

Cities, public authorities, and private organizations respond to climate change with various green policies and strategies to enhance community resilience. However, these community-level transition processes are complex and require deliberate and collective planning. Under this context, the purpose of this study is to understand the energy actions taken at the local level, as well as to analyze the differences between the neighborhoods’ green energy transitions in terms of their socio-economic aspects, using a big data perspective. The paper is addressing the following question: what was the role that the pandemic played in accelerating or slowing Boston’s green investments, and to what extent do different racial and socioeconomic groups invest in green technologies during this period? The study aims to answer these research questions using the City of Boston as a case study to reveal different neighborhoods’ paths in achieving the transformation of city ecosystems towards green neutrality. Next, the theoretical framework builds the linkages among the city’s measures, climate actions proposed by the City of Boston, and their associated contexts and outcomes in shaping new policy and planning models for higher ‘green’ performance. Following the understanding of the actions, the neighborhoods’ socio-economic and building permit data were assessed to understand whether economic disparities exacerbated during the pandemic have affected neighborhoods’ performance in green transition. This method is applied in a comparative study of its 23 neighborhoods, using a dataset provided by Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI). Intriguingly, the paper’s findings show that racial differences within the city have no significant impact on tech-related expenditures. There is a clear negative correlation between poverty rate and investment, which indicates the reverse relationship between these socio-economic factors. The study concludes that city authorities will need to address the challenges of each community achieving green transition with more targeted programs based on its needs

Smart Systems of Innovation for Smart Places: Challenges in Deploying Digital Platforms for Co-Creation and Data-Intelligence

The effect of digital transformation towards more efficient, place-based and bottom-up innovation policies at different spatial scales has proven significant, as digital technologies modify existing policy-design routines in cities and regions. Smart places (cities, districts, neighbourhoods, ecosystems) depend on the way digitalisation disrupts systems of innovation in cities, making it more open, global, participatory and experimental. We argue that the rise and interconnection of various types of intelligence (artificial, human, collective) could bring profound changes in the way smart places are being created and evolve. In this context, cyber-physical systems of innovation are deployed through multiple nodes acquiring digital companions, collaboration is deployed over physical, social, and digital spaces, and actors can use complex methods guided by software and get insights from data and analytics. The paper also presents the case study of OnlineS3, a two-year Horizon 2020 project, which developed and tested a digital platform composed of applications, datasets and roadmaps, which altogether create a digital environment for empowering the design of smart specialisation strategies for local and regional systems of innovation. The results indicate that digital transformation allows the operationalisation of multiple methodologies which have not been used earlier by policy makers, due to lack of capabilities. It can also increase the scalability of indicators facilitating decision making at different spatial scales and, therefore, better respond to the complexity of innovation systems providing dynamic and scale-diverse information

Intelligence and co-creation in smart specialisation strategies: towards the next stage of RIS3

The white paper on “Intelligence and Co-creation in Smart Specialisation Strategies” outlines some key conclusions from the Online S3 project, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. The Online S3 project has produced an online platform composed of software applications and roadmaps that facilitate the design and implementation of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Using a baseline set of methodologies for strategy design, Online S3 is advancing the understanding of RIS3 as a place-based and evidence-driven innovation policy, relying on large datasets and software for user engagement, co-creation and collective intelligence in policy design. In this white paper, the core building blocks of RIS3 are presented, as they appear in EU documents and related literature, such as ex ante conditionalities, stakeholder engagement, specialisation by diversification, entrepreneurial discovery, policy co-design, monitoring and assessment. This white paper also discusses weaknesses of the current period and what can be done better in the near future; thus, puts RIS3 in retrospect and prospect for 2021-2027. At the same time, it looks into critical dimensions for the next stage of RIS3, focusing on how strategies can be improved by datasets and software, enabling the implementation of complex methods; thus, facilitating collective intelligence and co-creation of solutions, which both are able to usher a transition from the triple to quadruple helix model of collaboration. Finally, the annex presents a short description of the 28 software applications and the 4 roadmaps hosted on the Online S3 Platform, which enable the use of datasets and sophisticated methodologies by policy-makers

Intelligence and co-creation in smart specialisation strategies: towards the next stage of RIS3

The white paper on “Intelligence and Co-creation in Smart Specialisation Strategies” outlines some key conclusions from the Online S3 project, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. The Online S3 project has produced an online platform composed of software applications and roadmaps that facilitate the design and implementation of Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). Using a baseline set of methodologies for strategy design, Online S3 is advancing the understanding of RIS3 as a place-based and evidence-driven innovation policy, relying on large datasets and software for user engagement, co-creation and collective intelligence in policy design. In this white paper, the core building blocks of RIS3 are presented, as they appear in EU documents and related literature, such as ex ante conditionalities, stakeholder engagement, specialisation by diversification, entrepreneurial discovery, policy co-design, monitoring and assessment. This white paper also discusses weaknesses of the current period and what can be done better in the near future; thus, puts RIS3 in retrospect and prospect for 2021-2027. At the same time, it looks into critical dimensions for the next stage of RIS3, focusing on how strategies can be improved by datasets and software, enabling the implementation of complex methods; thus, facilitating collective intelligence and co-creation of solutions, which both are able to usher a transition from the triple to quadruple helix model of collaboration. Finally, the annex presents a short description of the 28 software applications and the 4 roadmaps hosted on the Online S3 Platform, which enable the use of datasets and sophisticated methodologies by policy-makers

Online S3 D2.3 - Online S3 mechanism for knowledge-based policy advice

No abstract available

Online S3 D2.3 - Online S3 mechanism for knowledge-based policy advice

No abstract available

Regional organisation of innovation in Europe through the spatial analysis of patents

The thesis focuses on the analysis of innovation systems in the European area, giving particular emphasis at the transformation of their spatial boundaries and their forming interdependencies, with the objective to design more effective innovation policies for different spatial units.More specifically, the thesis is based on the theoretical foundations of three main streams of literature: a) studies which focus on the importance of different inputs (e.g. human capital, R&D expenditures etc) for the production of innovation, b) studies which recognize different innovation systems and evaluate them using a wide variety of indicators and typologies and c) studies which examine the most favorable conditions for the creation of knowledge spillovers. Based on these three streams of literature, the thesis aims to analyze the spatial pattern of innovation in Europe introducing at the same time the notion of networking. Our basic assumption is that territorially embedded networks constitute a main component for the creation of innovation and a fundamental element for its systemic and interactive nature, while at the same time they represent a mechanism for transferring new technological knowledge in space.Here, the main tool for the identification and spatial representation of innovation networks are patents, as they provide rich information about the inventions’ technological content, their geographic location in the form of the inventor/s residence (allowing for spatial grouping and the geographical representation of interpersonal relationships), citations to previous patents etc. Source of data for our analysis is the OECD patent databases in addition to 27 indicators reflecting the territorial characteristics of innovation systems. Data have been analysed using different methodologies, such as a) software for social network analysis, in order to recognize and map inventors’ collaboration networks and knowledge spillovers’, b) Geographical Information Systems, for the analysis and visualization of the spatial dimension of networks and c) cluster analysis, for the identification of territorially embedded patterns of innovation.The analysis revealed significant differentiations of the innovation systems which are located in the European area and justifies the failure of national and regional innovation policies of the ‘one size fits all’ type. In fact, the spatial pattern of innovation is multiform and extremely heterogenous, with different types of innovation systems which reflect technological interests and sectoral specialization. The architecture of innovation networks has also revealed the position and the role of the different actors within these networks, while the use of new and alternative methodologies led to the development of novel indicators for the evaluation of new dimensions of innovation systems. The thesis concludes with a series of findings which are expected to help in the development of innovation policies at different spatial levels.Η διατριβή αφορά την ανάλυση των συστημάτων καινοτομίας στον Ευρωπαϊκό χώρο, δίνοντας έμφαση στην αναγνώριση των μεταβαλλόμενων χωρικών τους ορίων και των αλληλεξαρτήσεων που διαμορφώνονται στα πλαίσια αυτών, με στόχο το σχεδιασμό πιο αποτελεσματικών πολιτικών καινοτομίας για διαφορετικές χωρικές ενότητες. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η διατριβή συνδέει τρία πεδία βιβλιογραφίας: α) μελέτες που εξετάζουν τη σημασία που έχουν διαφορετικές εισροές π.χ. ανθρώπινο δυναμικό, δαπάνες Ε&ΤΑ κ.α. για την παραγωγή καινοτομίας, β) τη βιβλιογραφία που εστιάζει στην αναγνώριση της ύπαρξης και εξέλιξης των συστημάτων καινοτομίας και στην αξιολόγηση της απόδοσής τους χρησιμοποιώντας μια σειρά δεικτών και τυπολογιών και γ) τη βιβλιογραφία που ασχολείται με τις συνθήκες εκείνες που ευνοούν τη διάχυση γνώσης και ενισχύουν την ικανότητα μεταφοράς υπερχειλίσεων γνώσης (knowledge spillovers) στο χώρο. Στηριζόμενη σ’ αυτά τα τρία ανεπτυγμένα σχεδόν παράλληλα θεωρητικό πεδία, επιχειρείται η αποτύπωση του χωρικού μοτίβου καινοτομίας στην Ευρώπη εισάγοντας επιπλέον την έννοια της δικτύωσης. Βασική υπόθεση της διατριβής είναι ότι εδαφικά εμπεδωμένα δίκτυα συνιστούν καθοριστικό παράγοντα για την ανάπτυξη της καινοτομίας και θεμελιώδες στοιχείο για τη συστημική και διαδραστική φύση της, ενώ ταυτόχρονα αποτελούν το βασικό μηχανισμό για τη μεταφορά της νέας τεχνολογικής γνώσης στο χώρο.Στην έρευνα αυτή, βασικό εργαλείο για τον εντοπισμό και την αποτύπωση δικτύων καινοτομίας στο χώρο αποτελούν τα διπλώματα ευρεσιτεχνιών μέσω των στοιχείων που παρέχουν, όπως για παράδειγμα η κατοικία του/των εφευρέτη/εφευρετών που επιτρέπει τη χωρική ομαδοποίηση και την γεωγραφική αποτύπωση διαπροσωπικών σχέσεων, το τεχνολογικό περιεχόμενο της εφεύρεσης, αλλά και οι αναφορές σε προηγούμενες ευρεσιτεχνίες. Πηγή δεδομένων ευρεσιτεχνιών αποτέλεσαν οι βάσεις δεδομένων διπλωμάτων ευρεσιτεχνιών του ΟΟΣΑ, ενώ συμπληρωματικά χρησιμοποιήθηκε και μια σειρά 27 δεικτών που αποτυπώνουν εδαφικά προσδιορισμένα χαρακτηριστικά των συστημάτων καινοτομίας. Τα παραπάνω δεδομένα αναλύθηκαν με τη χρήση διαφορετικών μεθοδολογιών, όπως α) η χρήση τεχνικών ανάλυσης κοινωνικών δικτύων, για την αναγνώριση και αποτύπωση δικτύων συνεργασίας εφευρετών και ροών τεχνολογικής γνώσης, β) η χρήση Γεωγραφικών Συστημάτων Πληροφοριών, για την ανάλυση και οπτικοποίηση της χωρικής διάστασης των δικτύων σε ψηφιακό περιβάλλον αλλά και γ) η ανάλυση κατά συστάδες, για την αναγνώριση χωρικών προτύπων καινοτομίας. Η ανάλυση ανέδειξε τις σημαντικές διαφοροποιήσεις των συστημάτων καινοτομίας που εντοπίζονται στον Ευρωπαϊκό χώρο και αιτιολογεί την αποτυχία εθνικών και περιφερειακών πολιτικών για την καινοτομία, οι οποίες εμπίπτουν στον τύπο «ένα μέγεθος για όλους». Συγκεκριμένα, απέδειξε ότι το χωρικό μοτίβο καινοτομίας στην Ευρώπη είναι εξαιρετικά πολύμορφο και ανομοιογενές με διαφορετικού τύπου συστήματα καινοτομίας τα οποία μάλιστα αντανακλούν τεχνολογικά ενδιαφέροντα και παραγωγική εξειδίκευση. Η αρχιτεκτονική των δικτύων καινοτομίας αποκάλυψε τη θέση και το ρόλο των δραστών στα δίκτυα αυτά, ενώ η χρησιμοποίηση εναλλακτικών μεθοδολογιών οδήγησε στη δημιουργία νέων δεικτών για την αξιολόγηση διαστάσεων των συστημάτων καινοτομίας που μέχρι τώρα ήταν σχετικά παραμελημένες. Η διατριβή ολοκληρώνεται με την παρουσίαση μιας σειράς από διαπιστώσεις που αναμένεται να βοηθήσουν στην ανάπτυξη πολιτικών ενίσχυσης της καινοτομίας σε διαφορετικά χωρικά επίπεδα

Smart and Resilient Urban Futures for Sustainability in the Post COVID-19 Era: A Review of Policy Responses on Urban Mobility

The COVID-19 pandemic has put lifestyles in question, changed daily routines, and limited citizen freedoms that seemed inalienable before. A human activity that has been greatly affected since the beginning of the health crisis is mobility. Focusing on mobility, we aim to discuss the transformational impact that the pandemic brought to this specific urban domain, especially with regards to the promotion of sustainability, the smart growth agenda, and the acceleration towards the smart city paradigm. We collect 60 initial policy responses related to urban mobility from cities around the world and analyze them based on the challenge they aim to address, the exact principles of smart growth and sustainable mobility that they encapsulate, as well as the level of ICT penetration. Our findings suggest that emerging strategies, although mainly temporary, are transformational, in line with the principles of smart growth and sustainable development. Most policy responses adopted during the first months of the pandemic, however, fail to leverage advancements made in the field of smart cities, and to adopt off-the-shelf solutions such as monitoring, alerting, and operations management

Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change

Fundamental principles of modern cities and urban planning are challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the advantages of large city size, high density, mass transport, free use of public space, unrestricted individual mobility in cities. These principles shaped the development of cities and metropolitan areas for more than a century, but currently, there are signs that they have turned from advantage to liability. Cities Public authorities and private organisations responded to the COVID-19 crisis with a variety of policies and business practices. These countermeasures codify a valuable experience and can offer lessons about how cities can tackle another grand challenge, this of climate change. Do the measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis represent a temporal adjustment to the current health crisis? Or do they open new ways towards a new type of urban development more effective in times of environmental and health crises? We address these questions through literature review and three case studies that review policies and practices for the transformation of city ecosystems mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) the central business district, (b) the transport ecosystem, and (c) the tourism–hospitality ecosystem. We assess whether the measures implemented in these ecosystems shape new policy and planning models for higher readiness of cities towards grand challenges, and how, based on this experience, cities should be organized to tackle the grand challenge of environmental sustainability and climate change