Call for papers

The Continuous Innovation Network (CINet) is a global network set up to bring together researchers and practitioners working in the field of Continuous Innovation and related areas of research and practice. The mission of CINet is to progressively become a school of thought on Continuous Innovation. Consistent with this mission, CINet organizes an annual conference. This announcement concerns the 24th CINet conference, which will take place in Linz, Austria,  hosted by the Institut für Strategisches Management of the Johannes Kepler University Linz on 17-19 September, 2023.

• Theme
• Session tracks
• The format
• Paper development workshop
• Best paper award
• Special issues

Theme

The theme of the 24th CINet conference, "Taking care of our future: Foresight and innovation for a sustainable world", reflects the urgent need of addressing the grand challenges the world is facing today.

In the past, the primary goals of innovation were mostly economic. Today, however, the importance of non-economic criteria (e.g., environmental and social criteria) is not disputed any longer.

At the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has been adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which urge the world, including all industries world-wide, to adopt or contribute a range of people-planet-profit, i.e., sustainability strategies.

It is not only a moral perspective that increasingly motivates companies to address the issue of sustainability, but also the consideration that dealing with sustainability challenges can be a great source for innovations and business opportunities. In this regard, it is pivotal to not only focus on environmental initiatives, such as moving from a linear to a circular economy, but also on social aspects, such as the working conditions of those allowing resource circularity and social innovation in general.

Research has convincingly shown that recognizing the potential of disruptive changes and implementing innovations in time is no trivial task for established companies. In this context, foresight has been proposed as a promising approach towards potentially disruptive changes. In order to gain a deep understanding of nonobvious future challenges, it is critical that organizations identify, analyze and act upon trends in their external environment and facilitate a dialogue between key players with different views.

This context presents challenges and unprecedented opportunities that feed the agenda of the 24th CINet Conference and are hoped to attract the keen interest of both academics and practitioners.

Session tracks

The 24th CINet Conference invites rigorous research-based papers and research notes as well as practitioner presentations aimed at developing theory and/or practical recommendations related to the conference theme, “Taking care of our future: Foresight and innovation for a sustainable world”, including:

• Managing innovation for achieving organizational sustainability.
• Foresight, a tool for tackling sustainable development and circularity.
• Organising and governing open approaches for sustainability (open innovation, open foresight, open strategy, ecosystems)
• The competencies needed to pursue sustainable innovation and circularity.
• Business models and business model innovation paving the road towards sustainability.
• Organisational and innovation theories explaining the potential economic, environmental, and social benefits of circularity.
• The impact of sustainable innovation on achieving the Triple Bottom Line objectives.
• The contribution of emerging technologies to developing collaborative eco-systems for sustainable innovation.
• The role of universities in innovating for a sustainable future.
• Collaboration patterns fostering sustainable innovation.
• Performance measurement of organizational sustainability and circularity.
• The contradictions or paradoxes (?) in achieving simultaneous social, economic and environmental sustainability.

In addition, papers addressing a broader set of themes within continuous innovation are welcome. These themes include:

• Performance management and management control in innovation and innovation networks.
• Design thinking and continuous innovation.
• Continuous innovation strategies, practices and performance.
• Continuous innovation in products, services and operations.
• Knowledge, learning, and continuous innovation.
• Organizing for continuous and/or discontinuous innovation.
• Ambidexterity and tensions in innovation processes.
• Innovation with external partners.
• Management of ideas and creativity.
• Continuous innovation in public settings.

The format

CINet accepts:

• “Full papers” of up to 5,000 words – to report research that has been completed.
• “Research notes” of up to 2,000 words – to propose a research idea, seek research collaboration, present a literature review, describe a research design, or report work-in-progress.
• Practitioner presentations – primarily focused on sharing and discussing (continuous) innovation practice and experience. 

Ever more journals only accept conference-based articles if they are substantially different and/or a substantial extension from the conference paper they are based on. By accepting shorter full papers, we facilitate the development of your work into journal articles. Furthermore, CINet wants to be a place where not only completed research but also ideas for research or collaboration and different stages of work-in-progress are presented and discussed. The “research notes” support the latter purpose. And, last but not least, CINet want to be the place where theory and practice meet. The submission of ideas for practitioner presentations will be greatly appreciated.

Paper development workshop

While most papers presented at the conference are not ready for publication, many provide a good starting point but require additional work before they are publishable. So, true to its nature, CINet selects a number of papers for possible development into a special issue paper, based on their potential and, then, organizes one or more paper development workshops, in the form of a Teams or Zoom event. In these workshops, which will take place late October or early November 2023, the special issue editors will work together with experienced reviewers, to help the invited authors to develop their paper to publishable standard.

Best paper awards

Every year, CINet selects two award-winning papers: the John Bessant Best Paper Award and the Mariano Corso Best Practical Implications Award, the paper must meet the following criteria.

Special issues

The best papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of Creativity and Innovation Management (CIM).