Productivity has been slowing in advanced economies for several decades, and today’s potential productivity increases are among the lowest seen in more than a century, except in times of war. A drop in Europe compared to the United States, which has intensified post-pandemic, adds to this overall slowdown. With the start of a massive spread of artificial intelligence (AI), its effects on productivity increase hopes for a new industrial revolution, despite current macro estimates appearing disappointing.

The recent slowdown results from long-lasting yet transitory factors linked to the financial crisis and the delay in deploying new technologies. However, particularly in the context of the clash between the COVID-19 crisis and rising energy prices, a recovery in productivity cannot be achieved without policies that facilitate the reallocation of production factors, the effective adoption of AI-related technologies, and the energy transition. Reform by European institutions appears essential to encourage companies to take more risks and implement critical measures, particularly in the digital sector.

If productivity does not accelerate in the next decade, major challenges will be posed to fund significant issues such as climate transition, population ageing, and financial deleveraging. It will then be difficult to respond to expectations for improvements in purchasing power, of which productivity improvements remain the only source of sustainable financing in the medium term.

This study introduces a methodology to quantify knowledge flow in Spanish manufacturing firms, utilizing data from the Enterprise Strategy Survey (ESEE). A composite index is created through a structural equation model (SEM) featuring latent variables, which removes any subjectivity in weighting the dimensions. The analysis encompasses seven critical dimensions concerning innovation, R&D, work organization, and the Internet. Results indicate that dimensions linked to R&D significantly influence knowledge flow and, consequently, business productivity. The combination of R&D investment and the implementation of new organizational approaches in the workplace shows a positive and statistically significant correlation with enhanced productivity. These findings emphasize companies' need to embrace strategies that merge technological advancement with organizational innovation. In this regard, the knowledge flow index highlights the importance of incorporating both elements. This method provides a statistically sound tool for evaluating business competitiveness, emphasizing the necessity of integrating technology and organizational innovation within corporations’ strategies.

Digitization (action by which analogue processes, procedures, and objects are converted to digital format) can lead to the internal transformation of companies’ business models, strategies, processes, and procedures, which we generally call digital transformation.

This digital transformation, or the ability to carry it out, could be seen as a competitive advantage. If we take the banking sector as an example and, within it, we differentiate purely digital players and compare them to traditional players, we could conclude that the competitive advantage is not just about digitization and digital transformation of the former, but a much broader positioning that encompasses the company’s attitude towards innovation – called innovation orientation –, of which one of its results would be, for example, digitization and subsequent digital transformation.

This article aims to identify the key characteristics of purely digital players when compared to their traditional competitors in relation to innovation orientation and what differential characteristics have helped them achieve that level of digitization and digital transformation – understood as a result of such innovation orientation – successfully.

Quantum computers are receiving more and more attention in the media, with the promise of becoming a revolution in computing and digital communications. Nowadays, we cannot know for sure whether this promise will be fulfilled, but it is possible to get an idea of where things could go. The objective of this article is to give a brief overview of quantum information technologies and their future possibilities. After a concise summary of the fundamentals of quantum computing and the current state of the technology, we make a review of the main areas in which the technology can lead to innovations that substantially improve the performance of the current technology. Finally, we point out some possible effects of the development of quantum computing in today’s economy and society.

The development of electronics, telecommunications, and computing during the 20th century is one of the fastest and most transformative revolutions in human history. Compared to the successive revolutions in society’s progress since prehistoric history, it creates a new paradigm of progress that continues to be difficult to assimilate. The times between scientific findings, their realization in products or services, and their understanding by society, are becoming shorter and more demanding. Understanding how innovation, not only technological but also global, translates into a real transformation of society, its processes and how people approach it, requires the coordination of all social actors to achieve equitable and sustainable economic and social progress.

This article contextualizes and explores the keys to the relationship between innovation – understood as a complex process –, transformation – which is now digital –, and the transfer of knowledge necessary for the former to really become a transformative element of society.

On many occasions, when the words innovate or innovation are mentioned, there is a feeling of fear, fear or rejection, sensing that it does not suit us because of a supposed inability to do it or because it is “their thing” (research centres, developed companies, universities, etc.), without taking into account that we are probably innovating very often in our daily lives and most of the time without realising it. Therefore, if we reflect for a moment, we will see that we all innovate in one way or another to adapt to life circumstances.

We must remember that to innovate is “to introduce something new (in something)”, and as possible synonyms we have: to alter, change, modernize and modify. So: is there any organization in society or any person who has not carried out (voluntarily or not) any of these actions?

The methodology for culminating innovations is as varied and extensive as there are innovators, but here we will propose one based on an internal (inside view) and external (outside view) of the person who has to innovate, from the result of which a change, alteration or modification can emerge that ends up becoming what we all do and should continue to do: an innovation.

Since Mark Zuckerberg announced in September 2021 the change of Facebook’s name to Meta and presented his vision of the Metaverse, there has been no end to speculation in the marketing world about its impact and brands have been announcing their reactions in the media. The perception of the impact as a disruption in the customer-company relationship makes companies want to be present in the race to be pioneers in this new virtual reality.

Although gamification has been a marketing technique of recurrent use in the 21st century, it has been somewhat relegated to the advertising field in the gaming industry. However, the Metaverse is presented as a holistic view of life, where through his or her avatar, the protagonist consumer discovers new needs in a virtual and parallel world modelled on his or her whim.

This means that the Metaverse is much more than an incubator of marketing ideas for brands. The conception of a new universe is a world of speculation where states, countries and communities are for sale, cities are to be built and where, in Zuckerberg’s vision, society will be able to invent, build or reproduce its reality. That is, to relate, buy and work, in short, to live.

As in any technological paradigm, companies are facing a new transformation. Without concluding the change of Customer Centricity, 100% digital customer and with the imminent reality of 5G and IoT, the Metaverse is another reality that implies for companies the conception of the customer under multiple personalities, as many as metaverses, new products, channel integration, new currencies, new legislations, new and multiple sources of decentralized data, etc.

This new scenario requires urgent research, which, although brands can face with more or less difficulty, in the field of research is complex given that the advances and incursions of companies are still incipient and there is no data on social and consumer behaviour in the Metaverse. For this reason, this article aims to be a holistic compilation of what the metaverse is, its background and consequences on behaviour in the purchase decision process. Its conclusions will allow us to delimit specific areas of research on consumer behaviour patterns in this new virtual reality.

The lack of consensus on the definition of innovation could lead to different interpretations affecting the understanding and relevance of innovation in business. Business strategy needs innovation because innovation is a key element that that clearly improves performance when applied. Up to three-quarters of productivity development in European industry can be attributed to innovation, and companies that apply innovation in their strategies show better performance. Innovation is a fundamental pillar of business strategy; it is not just a technological project, it is a culture, a mindset, a tool that provides competitive value to the company and added value to customers.

Business innovation needs its own strategy in order to be ready for firm sustainability and competitiveness. Innovation strategy is a set of actions that drive all procedures and guidelines in an organization to generate and manage innovations toward achieving the business objectives. It involves planning, prioritizing, and developing the right types of innovation (technological or not) ensuring the appropriate resources, knowledge, capabilities, and organizational structure, among others. It is important not to manage an innovation strategy in isolation or independently of the rest of the company’s functions. Innovation strategy should be based on corporate strategy and understood as an integral component of long-term strategic business management. With innovation strategy, a company can control and manage the generation of innovation, even though few companies have a clear innovation strategy.

It is positive to incorporate innovation strategy into business strategy to be better placed to compete in terms of differentiation, productivity and economic growth, and to achieve better financial results. This Final Work for the Master in Innovation and Digital Transformation, analyses different innovation strategies and their possible influential factors.

The trend toward (new) ways of working in Spain after the Covid-19 pandemic shows a deployment of extensive organizational flexibility for dealing with any environment. The focus is on project-based organization, workers’ overall health, implementing systems to monitor performance and two pending tasks: innovation and digitalization. The article describes a study by the Spanish Association of People Management and Development (AEDIPE) during the last quarter of 2021 and the first of 2022, gathering the opinion of 527 CEOs and Human Resources managers of prominent Spanish companies. The results show eight main ideas that enable companies to develop flexibility and reorganization as a means for their stability. 1) More than 35% of workers will consolidate their partial work from home. 2) Companies are looking for performance monitoring tools that give them support for control and trust. 3) The wellbeing of employees is central in the post-Covid-19 era. 4) Innovation and digitalization continue to be pending issues. 5) There are significant differences between the coping strategies of large and small companies. 6) Workspaces tend to become collaborative and sustainable. 7) Project management displaces departmental management in organizational structures. 8) Recruitment and selection are of increasing concern to human resources professionals.

The exponential growth of e-commerce, driven in part by the pandemic and new consumer habits, has highlighted the need to rethink the current model of urban freight distribution (UFD). The more online shopping is generated, the more home delivery is required with its implications in terms of operating costs, traffic, parking, and pollution. Urban logistics, and in particular the last mile, have become one of the main focuses of attention for public administrations and logistics operators in order to minimize these externalities. However, there is still a long way to go to optimize the new logistics processes to the requirements of the new distribution channel. Administrations need to start taking action with the help of logistics operators and citizens. These actions must be carried out quickly and in a consensual manner with all the parties involved, as only then will it be possible to define a sustainable urban logistics model that has continuity over time.