Technology and Innovation

TechInn - ISSN 2399-8571 - © ISTE Ltd

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This contribution questions the dynamics of the aerospace and defense (A&D) industries by identifying the main factors acting on innovation. Based on the model developed by [BAR 19] and [BAR 20], the research examines the dynamics of defense innovations incorporating components from Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. Considered as a General Purpose Technology (GPT; [BRE 96]), AI and its multiple applications have a significant impact on current and future military capabilities, and constitute relevant empirical material for understanding how innovation operates in the A&D industries.

New Space designates the emergence of an economic system in the space sector in which more and more private actors are called upon to participate. Science fiction has been offering representations of the companies of space capitalism for several years. This article studies some of them, such as the films Space Sweepers, Venom, or the Salvation series, and shows that the figure of the New Space billionaire arouses both fascination and rejection. If these fictions are inspired by real characters like Elon Musk, they also influence the general public and the actors of the space sector. These stories are at the center of strategic and soft power issues. It is suggested that Europe should equip itself with an effective and performative system for creating space science fiction stories in order to optimize the creativity of its future entrepreneurs. Indeed, these stories often offer a reflection on the ethics of space conquest and imagine technologies that could become major innovations in the future.

After a first long phase of governmental and scientific development, the space sector has been shaken up by new approaches during the 2000s, grouped under the generic term "New Space". Through the study of the evolution of this ecosystem, this academic work proposes a characterization of the New Space, considered as a set of ruptures composed of new entrants, new applications, new technologies, new regulations, new processes, and new modes of financing. But, beyond that, it emphasizes that these breakthroughs are fed by their interaction and interdependence. Finally, this richness of the New Space leads us to identify the numerous implications for the economic and management sciences, whether in terms of research programs or teaching.

The proliferation of patent litigation is indicative of the tension that exists between, on the one hand, the need to ensure interoperability and compatibility between a product’s components and, on the other, respect for intellectual property (IP) rights. In this article, we show that this tension is not new. Patent "wars" have historically been associated with breakthrough innovations, and reflect the growing importance of business models based on the valorisation of IP. While recognizing the sometimes deleterious effects of the litigation dynamic, litigation can be seen as a means of ex-post adjusting the scope of rights conferred by IP.

Despite their strengths, SMEs appear to have an insufficiently exploited potential for innovation. This is especially true in times of crisis. In a context characterised by three sources of destabilisation – economy of platform, the COVID-19 health crisis and market tensions – this article aims to suggest ways of boosting the innovation capacity of SMEs. After recalling the main obstacles of SMEs in terms of innovation – which are mainly due to limited access to resources –, and their main strength – which is mainly due to their organisational structure –, we consider how these changes challenge the capacity of SMEs to innovate. The resulting management and research issues lead us to shift the cursor from the SME’s manager to its teams and from outside collaborative innovation to inside collaborative innovation.

The current food system is reaching its limits of economic, environmental and social sustainability. It has a high environmental impact, contributing to more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. It also has social consequences on the health of consumers, due to the over-consumption of processed products, which leads to an increase in global obesity, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Like the entire economy, the food system is currently affected by the spread of digital techniques, i.e. robotization, the internet of things, connected objects, big data. The blockchain technique is also finding a favorable field of application because the food system has, since the 1980s, been part of global value chains. The issue of product traceability and the possibility of strengthening our ability to provide proof for claims, as part of the corporate social responsibility strategy of companies, favor its diffusion. These techniques are meant to bring about a new industrial revolution, allowing production systems to evolve into so-called 4.0 systems. Their promoters also attribute to them an ability to remedy the limits of sustainability, in particular environmental ones. The objective of this article is to analyze their diffusion in the food system and their effects. Are they really able to fix sustainability issues or, on the contrary, will they contribute to blocking the emergence of alternative trajectories, by reinforcing the trajectory of the current system and by creating socio-technical lock-in effects?

To what extent is artificial intelligence (AI), in its many applicable fields, transforming the ways to innovate? In order to identify the technological trajectory inflections and paradigmatic shifts that innovations in this field generate in agriculture, we propose an original method based on network analysis. Using patent date, we apply this method to the 2013–2019 period. We show that AI plays a driving role in the transformation of innovation processes in agriculture, in connection with the challenges that now arise in crop management.

In order to better understand the determinants and impacts of the adoption of digital technologies in the agricultural sector, this article features a double literature review. The first review is an exploration of the theoretical frameworks that would allow for the adoption of new technologies, and proposes an analysis framework – the Technological Adoption and Appropriation (T2A) model – describing the adoption process in 3 stages: (1) a discovery phase, (2) an adoption phase, and (3) a use and appropriation phase. These stages are characterized by 4 determinants: individual, organizational, technological, and contextual. The adoption process unfolds over time, and can be continued or stopped at any stage. The second literature review illustrates the importance of the individual and organizational factors at each stage of the adoption process in agriculture, leading to a variety of digitalization trajectories. Individual and technological factors influence stage 1 (discovery), while stages 2 (adoption) and 3 (use) are also impacted by organizational and contextual factors.

Blockchain is a digital technology that is said to have the potential to meet the needs of supply chains regarding traceability and transparency. It is also said to address sustainability issues such as reducing environmental impact, verifying working conditions and food quality, and improving the remuneration of the actors involved. The literature on this subject presents various arguments on the potential of blockchain, with very little empirical evidence. The purpose of our investigation is to discern what really drives the adoption of this technology, as well as to discover the impacts observed by participants. To do so, we have conducted a literature review on case studies on the subject of blockchain development for supply chains. In order to characterize the decisional factors leading to the development of blockchain as well as the advantages and disadvantages of its implementation, articles were analyzed according to different internal and external components of agri-food systems. We break down the influence of blockchain regarding the activities of agri-food systems and their socio-economic and environmental consequences, as well as their influence on food security.

The student citizens’ convention (SCC) is a democratic experiment that aims to give students a voice on complex issues. The first SCC organized at Paris Est Créteil University focused on food, with a systemic approach integrating environmental, health, political, economic and social issues. Its mandate was to define a series of measures that would allow an alternative food system on campus. By participating in this decision-making process, students were taking part in a process of horizontalization to resolve an imperfectly satisfied need. In this article, we first describe the SCC as a participatory assembly for collective reflection and action (notably through the open deliberation process). We analyze the process of deliberation construction and the proposals for an alternative food system. Finally, we analyze the implementation of the horizontalization process as well as the conditions necessary for the SCC to succeed. We base our analysis on the proposals formulated over the course of the SCC, the exchanges on the online platform dedicated to citizen deliberation (Decidim), pre- and post-module questionnaires and semi-directive interviews to which the students responded.