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Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to review and critically evaluate robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) applications in the restaurant industry to educate professors, graduate students, and industry professionals.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is a survey of applications of RAISA in restaurants. The chapter is based on the review of professional and peer-reviewed academic literature, and the industry insight section was prepared based on a 50-minute interview with Mr. Juan Higueros, Chief Operations Officer of Bear Robotics.

Findings: Various case studies presented in this chapter illustrate numerous possibilities for automation: from automating a specific function to complete automation of the front of the house (e.g., Eatsa) or back of the house (e.g., Spyce robotic kitchen). The restaurant industry has already adopted chatbots; voice-activated and biometric technologies; robots as hosts, food runners, chefs, and bartenders; tableside ordering; conveyors; and robotic food delivery.

Practical implications: The chapter presents professors and students with a detailed overview of RAISA in the restaurant industry that will be useful for educational and research purposes. Restaurant owners and managers may also benefit from reading this chapter as they will learn about the current state of technology and opportunities for RAISA implementation.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this chapter presents the first systematic and in-depth review of RAISA technologies in the restaurant industry.

The transformation of the German education system because of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006) has also reached the domain of teacher training. Professional competences and their development are brought into focus (e. g., Trautmann, 2017). Since 2013, all prospective teachers in Germany have to be qualified in the field of heterogeneity, inclusion and diagnostics, mainly in the educational science part of the teacher training programmes (KMK, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2013d, 2013e, 2015). However, there is a great heterogeneity regarding the content and structures of this teacher training for inclusion in Germany. Despite the formal anchoring of inclusion and heterogeneity in teacher training in Germany, an overview of the current status of the curricular implementation of inclusion-oriented teacher training is missing. The aim of this study is to fill this gap and, to do so, investigates in a first step the educational science parts of the curricula. Therefore, the study and examination regulations of all general education teacher training programmes (primary, secondary I and II) at German universities were analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis. The results show differences in the extent of the curricula regarding heterogeneity and inclusion between the states and universities on the one hand and the various study programmes on the other hand.

Following the triple helix (TH) model and the way knowledge is transferred into the industry domain, this chapter aims to define features interface that should be implemented in order to facilitate the University–Industry (UI) relationship and thus encourage the spin-off creation.

In order to support this relationship, a new business model configuration of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is proposed, aiming at creating a sustainable environment, where business entities can grow. The field of the Governance of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems is also investigated in order to define a framework for launching, developing, and sustaining a company over time.

This chapter presents a case study developed within the University of Salento (Italy). It capitalizes results from three different research analyses, based on questionnaires and interviews with actors of the spin-off network (professors and researchers, graduating students, admin-tech staff of the Technology Transfer Office, spin-offs’ CEOs/Associates, and R&D managers of external companies) and on results coming from scientific publications and regional/national reports in the innovation context.

A research methodology based on semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis has been applied in order to identify which features an interface should implement in order to facilitate the UI relationship and encourage the spin-off creation.

To support the start-up overcoming the “death valley,” the creation of a link between the strategy used to transfer value to the market and the phase of innovation is proposed inside the business model configuration. Some aspects of a governance model of an entrepreneurial ecosystem were also presented in order to support the business evolution of a single business entity and assuring sustainability over time.

India is a diverse country in which the development of services for children with disabilities presents many challenges. There is evidence that progress towards the provision of educational and therapeutic services has been considerable in the metropolitan cities, with reports of many examples of good and innovative practice. Rural communities are often less well served, and families living in some areas continue to face challenges when attempting to gain support for their children with disabilities. This chapter interrogates the situation for families in districts in southern and central India. The authors draw upon recent research to consider how the challenges of providing a multi-disciplinary support mechanism can be delivered to those living in these areas. Issues related to co-ordination of services, recruitment and retention of professionals and allocation of resources are considered through an examination of the socio-economic conditions confronted by families and professionals. Case study evidence from projects aimed at providing effective services are presented and discussed.