Open data platforms for transformational entrepreneurship: Inclusion and exclusion mechanisms

Open data is considered an important resource to stimulate innovation and create economic and social value. Open data researchers have examined the importance of data publication by public bodies, but in contrast, much less attention has focused on how open data is exploited. In this paper, we aim to provide insight into the actions of platforms to assist open data exploitation by transformational entrepreneurs, which systemically facilitate transformation in socio-economic development. Our findings investigate two types of mechanism, reflecting the openness of the data movement and the competitive commercial need for closure. First, inclusion mechanisms are social mechanisms of the open data ecosystem which seek to attract a broad range of potential collaborators through supporting entrepreneurs to innovate with open data. Second, exclusion mechanisms are deployed to filter collaborators, to identify those who are seen by platforms to be more likely to successfully exploit their data, or develop revenue sharing relationships. We reveal how these mechanisms are used at different stages of the innovation process, to initially attract a wide pool of collaborators, before seeking to reduce them to better target limited resources. Despite ‘openness’ being a key requirement of open data publication, for successful transformational entrepreneur exploitation, it requires dimensions of closure.     

The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress,challenges and key themes

The emergence of novel and powerful digital technologies, digital platforms and digital infrastructures has transformed innovation and entrepreneurship in significant ways. Beyond simply opening new opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs, digital technologies have broader implications for value creation and value capture. Research aimed at understanding the digital transformation of the economy needs to incorporate multiple and cross-levels of analysis, embrace ideas and concepts from multiple fields/disciplines, and explicitly acknowledge the role of digital technologies in transforming organizations and social relationships. To help realize this research agenda, we identify three key themes related to digitization—openness, affordances, and generativity—and, outline broad research issues relating to each. We suggest that such themes that are innate to digital technologies could serve as a common conceptual platform that allows for connections between issues at different levels as well as the integration of ideas from different disciplines/areas. We then summarize the contributions of the 11 papers presented in this Special Issue relating them to one or more of these themes and outlining their implications for future research.     

How commitment and platform adoption drive the e-commerce performance of SMEs: A mixed-method inquiry into e-commerce affordances

To cope with the digital transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, managers of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to adopt innovative practices to face uncertain scenarios and create long-term value, identified as transformational entrepreneurship practices. Among emerging digital technologies, digital platforms are shaping and outgrowing the e-commerce channel representing a potential opportunity for manufacturing SMEs to embrace digital transformation. Drawing on affordance theory, this research uses a mixed method approach to investigate how manufacturing SMEs’ e-commerce commitment and digital platform adoption stimulate the actualization of three e-commerce affordances: consumer knowledge generation, internationalization, and customer diversification. Based on survey responses from 165 manufacturing SME managers, we find that direct selling through owned websites actualizes consumer knowledge generation and internationalization, indirect selling actualizes customer diversification and internationalization, and agency selling through third-party platforms actualizes all three affordances. The relationship between e-commerce commitment and ecommerce performance is mediated by consumer knowledge generation and internationalization but not by customer diversification. A fsQCA analysis outlines seven configurations actualizing these e-commerce affordances by pairing different ecommerce approaches with degrees of e-commerce commitment. Finally, an analysis of open-ended questions from 24 respondents complements the study and deeply interprets the seven unique configurations outlined.     

The promise of digital technologies for sustainable entrepreneurship: A systematic literature review and research agenda

Research on sustainable entrepreneurship increasingly recognizes the transformative potential of digital technologies to mitigate and counteract grand environmental and social challenges through entrepreneurial action. However, this emerging field of research, referred to as digital sustainable entrepreneurship, is currently dispersed and fragmented and lacks the consolidated foundation to progress further. This article further establishes this nascent stream by conducting a systematic literature review offering two main contributions. First, common themes are derived from the literature (i.e., enabling value for society and environment, stakeholder inclusion, venture viability, and entrepreneurial individuals) to unravel the field's current state. Second, previous work is discussed and integrated by applying a business model perspective. Specifically, the article offers a framework that contributes to the role of business models for merging sustainability and digital technologies, reconceptualizes digital technologies as business model actors, and further develops the entrepreneur-business model nexus. Based on this, we present a comprehensive and actionable research agenda and practical implications.     

乡村振兴战略背景下国际农村创业研究现状与展望

鉴于中国农村创业理论远远滞后于实践,在乡村振兴战略背景下,为推动建立中国农村创业理论体系,分析借鉴国际上农村领域有关创新创业研究成果,以期为中国农村创业研究和实践提供参考.选择有代表性的Science Direct、Web of Science和Emerald等3个数据库检索农村创业相关文献作为研究对象,可见国际上农村...     

Digital innovation and entrepreneurship transformation through open data hackathons: Design strategies for successful start-up settings

The organization of open data hackathons or digital innovation competitions is a significant opportunity for nascent entrepreneurs to collaborate with external partners, promote new ideas and extend their applications to a new start-up. Prior studies have not thoroughly compared the execution of different strategies in many hackathons or digital innovation competitions. They only focus on the actions that the organizers of a specific hackathon have implemented or the challenges they have faced. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine goals and design strategies that contribute to the successful execution of open data hackathons and innovation competitions. Six case studies of open data hackathons and innovation competitions held between 2014 and 2018 in Thessaloniki have been explored to understand the co-ordination between the multiple stakeholders of these events and improve the execution of open data hackathons and innovation competitions. The outcomes indicate that the most critical design strategy was the involvement of mentors in the event and the level of support provided to nascent entrepreneurs to accelerate their creativity, develop applications and launch their prototypes on the market.     

Agile and adaptive governance in crisis response: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Countries around the world have had to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak with limited information and confronting many uncertainties. Their ability to be agile and adaptive has been stressed, particularly in regard to the timing of policy measures, the level of decision centralization, the autonomy of decisions and the balance between change and stability. In this contribution we use our observations of responses to COVID-19 to reflect on agility and adaptive governance and provide tools to evaluate it after the dust has settled. Whereas agility relates mainly to the speed of response within given structures, adaptivity implies system-level changes throughout government. Existing institutional structures and tools can enable adaptivity and agility, which can be complimentary approaches. However, agility sometimes conflicts with adaptability. Our analysis points to the paradoxical nature of adaptive governance. Indeed, successful adaptive governance calls for both decision speed and sound analysis, for both centralized and decentralized decision-making, for both innovation and bureaucracy, and both science and politics.     

The use of digital technologies by small and medium enterprises during COVID-19: Implications for theory and practice

Scholars have highlighted the role of Digital Technologies (DT) in enhancing productivity and performance in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, there is limited evidence on the use of DT for dealing with the consequences of extreme events, such as COVID-19. We discuss this gap by (i) outlining potential research avenues and (ii) reflecting on the managerial implications of using DT within SMEs to deal with the repercussions of COVID-19 and securing business continuity.     

Information technology solutions,challenges, and suggestions for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic

Various technology innovations and applications have been developed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic also has implications for the design, development, and use of technologies. There is an urgent need for a greater understanding of what roles information systems and technology researchers can play in this global pandemic. This paper examines emerging technologies used to mitigate the threats of COVID-19 and relevant challenges related to technology design, development, and use. It also provides insights and suggestions into how information systems and technology scholars can help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper helps promote future research and technology development to produce better solutions for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.     

Nanotechnology for the management of COVID-19 during the pandemic and in the post-pandemic era

Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, nanotechnology has been at the forefront of research efforts and enables the fast development of diagnostic tools, vaccines and antiviral treatment for this novel virus (SARS-CoV-2). In this review, we first summarize nanotechnology with regard to the detection of SARS-CoV-2, including nanoparticle-based techniques such as rapid antigen testing, and nanopore-based sequencing and sensing techniques. Then we investigate nanotechnology as it applies to the development of COVID-19 vaccines and anti-SARS-CoV-2 nanomaterials. We also highlight nanotechnology for the post-pandemic era, by providing tools for the battle with SARS-CoV-2 variants and for enhancing the global distribution of vaccines. Nanotechnology not only contributes to the management of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but also provides platforms for the prevention, rapid diagnosis, vaccines and antiviral drugs of possible future virus outbreaks.     

Geo-Policy Barriers and Rural Internet Access: The Regulatory Role in Constructing the Digital Divide

A combination of geography, public policy, and commercial investment in information infrastructure combines to create geo-policy barriers that in turn structure the ability of rural citizens to access the Internet. A statistical study of 208 rural telephone exchanges in Texas combined with case studies from rural counties explores the impact of distance and policies aimed at enabling rural telephone connection on the presence of Internet service providers. Market territories, including exchange areas and LATAs, and the distance requirements of expanded local calling policy in Texas can both help and hinder Internet access in remote areas.     

Geo-Policy Barriers and Rural Internet Access: The Regulatory Role in Constructing the Digital Divide

A combination of geography, public policy, and commercial investment in information infrastructure combines to create geo-policy barriers that in turn structure the ability of rural citizens to access the Internet. A statistical study of 208 rural telephone exchanges in Texas combined with case studies from rural counties explores the impact of distance and policies aimed at enabling rural telephone connection on the presence of Internet service providers. Market territories, including exchange areas and LATAs, and the distance requirements of expanded local calling policy in Texas can both help and hinder Internet access in remote areas.     

新冠肺炎疫情防控期间大学英语线上教学的实践与反思

在突如其来的新冠肺炎疫情面前,为了最大限度地降低停课对学生学业的影响,各大高校纷纷采用线上教学的方式开展2020年春季学期的教学工作。该文回顾了疫情防控期间作者大学英语线上教学的实践情况,并在此基础上进行了反思,希望能对将来线上、线下相结合的大学英语教学有所裨益。     

新冠肺炎疫情背景下高职“医药市场营销”课程在线教学效果的反思与探索

为了积极降低新冠肺炎疫情对教育教学的不利影响,各类学校积极响应教育部"停课不停学"的号召,大规模地开展在线教学。该文就新冠肺炎疫情防控期间,高职"医药市场营销"课程在线教学的教学效果进行总结、反思。旨在提高在线教学质量,为在线教学研究提供参考。     

Untangling the contributions of meteorological conditions and human mobility to tropospheric NO2 in Chinese mainland during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020

In early 2020, unprecedented lockdowns and travel bans were implemented in Chinese mainland to fight COVID-19, which led to a large reduction in anthropogenic emissions. This provided a unique opportunity to isolate the effects from emission and meteorology on tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Comparing the atmospheric NO₂ in 2020 with that in 2017, we found the changes of emission have led to a 49.3 ± 23.5% reduction, which was ∼12% more than satellite-observed reduction of 37.8 ± 16.3%. The discrepancy was mainly a result of changes of meteorology, which have contributed to an 8.1 ± 14.2% increase of NO₂. We also revealed that the emission-induced reduction of NO₂ has significantly negative correlations to human mobility, particularly that inside the city. The intra-city migration index derived from Baidu Location-Based-Service can explain 40.4% ± 17.7% variance of the emission-induced reduction of NO₂ in 29 megacities, each of which has a population of over 8 million in Chinese mainland.     

Switching to online learning during COVID-19: Theorizing the role of IT mindfulness and techno eustress for facilitating productivity and creativity in student learning

Online learning environments facilitate improved student learning by offering IT tools to enhance student productivity- and creativity-in-learning. COVID-19 impacted social-distancing measures forced an abrupt switch to online learning in most universities, putting immense pressure on the students to creatively adapt to new ways of online learning. Despite the purported positives of online learning, in the COVID-19 scenario, students reported mixed outcomes. While some students could adapt to the ‘new normal’, others struggled to adjust to the transformed IT-enabled learning scenario. Grounding our work in IT mindfulness literature, we posit that an IT-enabled learning environment may have differential impact on students’ productivity- and creativity-in-learning, depending on the extent of their IT mindfulness. Besides leveraging the mindfulness-to-meaning theory, we hypothesize the mediating role of techno eustress in the relationship between student IT mindfulness and learning effectiveness. We test the theorized model through data collected via a two-wave survey in a university student population exclusively using IT-enabled learning environments during the pandemic lockdown period. Results indicate that IT mindfulness has significant positive relationships with both productivity- and creativity-in- learning. Moreover, these relationships are mediated by the students’ techno eustress perceptions. Theoretical and practical implications arising from our study are also discussed.     

新冠肺炎疫情防控期间宁波大学体育学院“运动生物力学”课程线上教学实践

随着新冠肺炎疫情的暴发,教育部“停课不停学”的指导思想使得线上教学成为广大高校的主要教学方式。该文通过整理宁波大学体育学院“运动生物力学”课程在疫情防控期间的教学实践活动,归纳总结了以下几点经验:(1)网络教学形式要多样化;(2)慕课建设要突出团队作用;(3)网络教学过程中教师要完成角色转换,突出学生的主体地位;(4)网络直播教学应多采用问题式教学和案例教学;(5)要制定全面灵活的考核方式。作者最终得出结论:线上线下混合式教学将成为宁波大学体育学院“运动生物力学”课程的主要教学方式。     

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among children in Children’s Hospital Zagreb during the initial and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia

IntroductionThe study aimed to investigate the prevalence and titres of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in children treated at the Children’s Hospital Zagreb in the first and the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical significance of difference at two time points was done to determine how restrictive epidemiological measures and exposure of children to COVID-19 infection affect this prevalence in different age groups.Materials and methodsAt the first time point (13th to 29th May 2020), 240 samples and in second time point (24th October to 23rd November 2020), 308 serum samples were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). Confirmation of results and titre determination was done using virus micro-neutralization test. Subjects were divided according to gender, age and epidemiological history.ResultsSeroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies differs significantly in two time points (P = 0.010). In first time point 2.9% of seropositive children were determined and in second time point 8.4%. Statistically significant difference (P = 0.007) of seroprevalence between two time points was found only in a group of children aged 11-19 years. At the first time point, all seropositive children were asymptomatic with titre < 8. At the second time point, 69.2% seropositive children were asymptomatic with titre ≥ 8.ConclusionsThe prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was significantly lower at the first time point than at the second time point. Values of virus micro-neutralization test showed that low titre in asymptomatic children was not protective at the first time point but in second time point all seropositive children had protective titre of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.