Contributions are invited for the special issue “Innovating with and for the marginalised: inclusive innovations in innovation systems”.
The special issue is coordinated by Vanessa Casadella (Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France), Suzan Cozzens (Georgia Institute of Technology, United States), Natalia Gras (Universidad de la República, Uruguay), and Judith Sutz (Universidad de la República, Uruguay).
The call seeks to examine the role of inclusive innovation in addressing processes of exclusion and marginalisation, with particular attention to the relationships between innovation, social justice, capability development, and innovation systems. It is framed around the questions of who innovates, for whose benefit, in what ways, and with what consequences for the distribution of resources and opportunities.
This special issue invites conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions based primarily on fieldwork conducted in the Global South, while also welcoming fieldwork from the Global North and comparative approaches.
Contributions may fall within the following three areas (non-exhaustive list):
Theme 1. Theoretical and conceptual foundations
• How can marginalisation and inclusion be defined and operationalised within the analytical framework of innovation systems (national, regional, sectoral), particularly in the ‘emerging’ systems of the Global South?
• What tensions or complementarities exist between the economic and social objectives of innovation? Inclusion as a process and as an outcome: what multidimensional and multi-level analytical frameworks are available?
• What are the critical interpretations of inclusive innovation and the proliferation of qualifiers for innovation (social, frugal, transformative, responsible)? Which approaches to inclusive innovation aim to correct the exclusions produced by the market economy, and which contribute to their reproduction?
• How are the definitions and forms of inclusive innovation, exclusion and marginalisation shaped by the organisational and operational norms of national economies and their institutions? What impact do these norms and institutions have on processes of inclusion within national, sectoral and regional/territorial innovation systems, and to what extent do the strength and characteristics of these institutions help distinguish the processes observed in industrialised and less-industrialised countries?
Theme 2. Public policy, governance and participatory processes
• How can innovation policies, particularly in the Global South, incorporate the objectives of equity, cohesion and social justice? What instruments (funding, public procurement, regulation, academic research policies) are available, and how should their distributional effects be assessed?
• What forms of collaborative governance exist between businesses, universities, public authorities, donors, civil society and local communities? What role do innovation intermediaries (third places, social incubators, living labs, extensionism programs) play in inclusive processes?
• How can marginalized populations be incorporated into innovation efforts, from the policy orientation to the concrete design and production (innovation by, with, and for the excluded)?
Theme 3. Empirical approaches: fieldwork, sectors and measurement
• Case studies and comparisons: how do innovations address basic needs (food, health, housing, mobility) and social needs in the Global South? What dynamics are at play in the informal economy, agriculture, health, education, or mobile finance? Which actors participate in these innovation efforts?
• Frugal, grassroots and reverse innovations: how do models circulate between the North and the Global South? What role do different types of digital technologies play in the inclusion or exclusion of vulnerable populations? What role do territories (rural, urban, marginalised) play?
• What managerial and organisational practices do firms, public organisations, universities and civil-society actors deploy to design, deliver and scale inclusive innovations, and how do these practices vary across different national contexts? What operational results do they produce, interms of reach, effectiveness, cost, sustainability and impact on marginalised users?
• What indicators can be used to understand marginalisation and measure inclusion? What methodologies (case studies, comparative approaches, participatory methods) can be used to assess the social, economic and institutional impacts of IIs?
Submission guidelines and key dates
30 April 2027: deadline for submission of full papers via the journal platform.
30 April 2028: final acceptance
Article submission
Guideline for authors
Full call information
Submit questions to:
Vanessa Casadella (vanessa.casadella@u-picardie.fr)
Judith Sutz (jsutz@csic.edu.uy).