Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intensive Industries – Volume 2

Dear Colleagues,

With the second volume of the Special Issue "Innovation, Emerging Technologies and Sustainability in R&D Intense Industries" we aim to collect new theoretical and empirical studies that contribute to developing a better understanding of the relationship between innovation, emerging technologies, and sustainability in R&D intensive industries. In particular, the recent advancements of the Industry 5.0 paradigm suggest firms, researchers, and policymakers need to focus on the impact of emerging technologies on sustainability. Theoretical and practical contributions aiming at proposing new approaches for sustainable development and sustainability-oriented innovation are necessary. Technologies must contribute to prosperity, resilience, competitiveness, supporting the transition to a circular economy, and implementing human-centric approaches. The linkage between innovation, technologies, and Sustainable Development Goals requires a significant contribution from theory and practice.

In particular, R&D intensive companies carry out relevant resource efforts to achieve innovation and competitive advantage. Consequently, sustainability-oriented innovation strategies and Sustainable Development Goals will radically affect companies, their supply chains, and their markets. Therefore, implementing sustainability for new technological development is a relevant research topic, since it will change R&D management. In addition, sustainability will orientate R&D efforts towards specific emerging technologies and digitalization processes, such as 3D printing, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automatic intelligence, autonomous vehicles, big data, blockchain, biometrics, chat bots, clean tech, cloud computing, computer vision, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity, data analytics, data mining, deep leaning, digital bots, digital platforms and applications, digital humans, digital traces, drones, immersive environments, immersive media, industrial robots, intelligent diagnostics, intelligent manufacturing, internet of things, knowledge communities, machine learning, metaverse, mobile applications, open science, open source, platform work sites, proximity tech, quantum computing, robotics, semantic web, smart cities, smart factories, smart sensors, social media, speech recognition, virtual reality, voice assistance, and  work gamification.

In addition, within R&D intensive industries, specific new product development models and R&D strategies are growing. In particular, open innovation and product modularization are carried out to manage product complexity and integrate external technologies and knowledge. Few studies have been conducted that delineate the impact of such models on sustainability.

Therefore, researchers are encouraged to submit papers that contribute to the literature by proposing new theories and practical issues related to innovation, emerging technologies, and sustainability from the company perspective. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advantages in implementing sustainability for firms, in terms of reputation, competitive advantage, technological development, innovation output, and economic performance;
• Sustainability-oriented technological, innovation and R&D strategies;
• The role of sustainability in R&D processes and new product development;
• Sustainable Development Goals after the perspective of R&D intense companies;
• Changes in R&D management after sustainable perspectives;
• Breadth, diffusion and impact of new technologies developed to achieve sustainability;
• Metrics for measuring sustainability in R&D intense firms;
• Digitalization, emerging technologies and their impact on sustainability;
• Sustainable supply chains in R&D intense industries;
• Sustainability and open innovation;
• Product modularization and impact on sustainability;
• Features of R&D teams and new sustainable technologies.

Dr. Antonello Cammarano
Dr. Francesca Michelino
Prof. Dr. Mauro Caputo
Guest Editors

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.

• sustainability
• innovation
• emerging technologies
• business sustainability
• economic sustainability
• technological strategies
• innovation strategies
• R&D strategies
• new product development
• new sustainable technologies
• open innovation
• product modularization
• R&D teams
• Sustainable Development Goals
• sustainable supply chains
• R&D teams and sustainability
• Industry 4.0
• Industry 5.0