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Besides the widespread harm and dreadful impact COVID-19 has caused, it brought about change. Interpreting the pandemic as a ‘change agent’, it is possible to observe how it accelerated the use of digital technologies, facilitating the migration of many activities to the virtual sphere and thus changing the interaction between the physical and virtual worlds. Although the pandemic accelerated the diffusion and adoption of digital technologies, allowing many to avoid or reduce the harms caused by the pandemic, not everyone benefitted to the same extent. The pandemic exacerbated existing digital divides while creating new ones, simultaneously elevating important policy debates regarding digital infrastructure and inclusion policies.

While the trade sector has long been the backbone of growth followed by real estate development in Dubai, the impact of reduced oil revenues in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has affected Dubai. GCC countries have identified innovation and transitioning to a knowledge-based economy as critical components of sustainable growth in the post-oil world. The purpose of this chapter is twofold: (1) to examine UAE’s competitiveness relative to four economies for which we can draw meaningful conclusions (Qatar, Singapore, Norway, and Switzerland) and (2) to integrate macro- and micro-level findings in an actionable framework. Using the composite Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) developed by the World Bank (2008, 2012), we conclude that UAE should prioritize three key areas to ­transition to a knowledge-based economy: the regulatory regime, innovation, and human capital. These findings are consistent with a recent study by the UAE Department of Economic Development/INSEAD, which highlights two areas that need addressing: “Creation” (knowledge creation) and “Anchoring” (institutional environment for innovation). We integrate these macro-level findings with research at the innovation ecosystem level (and particularly survey-based research completed by Wamda Research Lab) to propose a comprehensive action framework across all ecosystem stakeholders (i.e., government, entrepreneurs, academia, support ecosystem, and corporates). The action matrix allows individual stakeholders to drive corresponding actions and prioritize across short- and long-term initiatives.

Institutional complexity shapes what is perceived as possible by framing cultural debates about practices, but organizations in turn shape how logics interpenetrate fields, suggesting that we must consider both the degree of compatibility between logics and the degree of practice variation in a field. Our exploratory study of three entrepreneurial impact finance organizations considers how they situate their practices between the market and community logics. We offer a recursive view that considers how multiple institutional logics shape practices and how entrepreneurial organizations adapt and invent new practices that, through their continued use, can influence the institutional complexity of a field.

One aspect of the opportunities and challenges for cryptoassets concerns decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi is a growing area of cryptoassets that couples blockchain technology, digital assets, and financial services. DeFi is a publicly available system on a decentralized blockchain network, offering financial products and applications. This chapter provides an overview of the DeFi universe that has enormous potential in various industries in the global market. It also discusses the implications of DeFi’s new wave and its applications involving initial coin offerings and stablecoins and specific challenges like the scalability trilemma in DeFi and financial markets.

For at least the last 10 years, the Russian authorities have been declaring the need to move to an innovative path of economic development. The government actively initiates and applies various instruments and measures to promote innovation. However, the effectiveness of the Russian innovation policy is still in question. The chapter examines the evolution of state policy to foster innovation growth in Russia since 2000 and describes some sets of achievements and problems for different stages of this policy. In addition to analysis of changes in the innovation sphere at the macro-level, we discuss the primary motivations and limitations at the micro-level (firm level). As a result, the critical institutional barriers to innovation-based growth are revealed. In the same time, certain successes have been achieved in some sectors, and we consider various opportunities to improve Russian technological and innovation policy.

This chapter integrates organization design and sustainability concepts to describe an accelerated transformational change at the Fairview Medical Group (United States).

A case study of the transformation at Fairview Medical Group’s primary care clinics was developed from interviews and first-person accounts of the change. Objective data regarding outcomes was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesign process.

The Fairview Medical Group developed an innovation and change capability to transform 35 primary care clinics in six months. All of the clinics were certified by the state of Minnesota as complying with their healthcare standards. Clinical outcomes, costs, and employee and physician engagement also increased. All of the improved measures are sustained.

Healthcare reform in the United States struggles because the organization design challenges are great and the change difficulties even greater. Fairview’s experience provides important evidence and lessons that can help advance our understanding of effective healthcare and create more sustainable healthcare systems. This chapter provides healthcare system administrators evidence and alternatives in the pursuit of implementation.

Professional inquiry networks are becoming essential features of effective, innovative, and responsive school systems. In this chapter, the authors draw from their work with a team of British Columbia district leaders who use inquiry as a primary means for shifting practice and supporting innovation and change that benefit all learners. The authors argue that networking enables ways for districts to share emerging practices, engage in collective dialogue, draw from exemplary research, and deeply reflect on impacts. In doing so, leaders build strong relational ties and professional capital that accelerates innovation between and among district leaders. Two specific cases develop a deeper understanding of how change is taken up and accelerated at the local level, providing examples of how inquiry networks operate across multiple sites and simultaneously seed and nurture innovative thinking.

This chapter develops a conceptual framework to help us position and understand the increasing importance of project-based innovation for industrial organization in the 21st century. It builds on and extends Joan Woodward's (1958 and 1965) pioneering research, which classifies industrial organizations according to the complexity of production technology and volume of output. We suggest that a radical revision of Woodward's framework is required to account for the extensive use of project-based organizations to gain competitive advantage through accelerated innovation and growth in new technologies and markets.