Kosy Stoychev (p)

Rosetta Lombardo

A just transition must be realized after the cessation of coal mining and electricity production to the creation of alternative opportunities for new jobs. This is a change in the socio-economic situation (transition), the management of internal and external migrations of the population, and respectively, the preservation of the functions and significance of the settlements located in the territories in transition. The thesis advocated in the article is closely related to the concept of "industrial reconversion", in which existing industrial objects have exhausted their social utility and must receive a completely new application and/or new social value. At the same time, those of them that are not subject to conversion (land, tailings, mines, industrial buildings, etc.) must be utilized (restored, forested, drained, destroyed, etc.) and brought to a state that is conflict-free with new businesses and climate neutrality. This can only be realized through a well-thought-out strategy for smart specialization that will justify and prove the transformative sectors, as well as through the creation and implementation of plans for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. The article articulates the topics of just transition and intelligent specialization in the regions of Stara Zagora, Pernik, and Kyustendil as the most affected in Bulgaria. Apart from them, due to significant labor migrations, the issue of transition and smart specialization also affects other commuter donor regions. For Bulgaria, the topic has several levels of significance - social, energy security, technological shift, climate neutrality transition, and spatial organization concerning some significant regional and municipal settlement centers.

Haitham Natsheh (p), Mercedes Segarra Cipres

Kosyo Stoychev

Industry 4.0 refers to the technological advancements in various industries, particularly in manufacturing, that enable flexible production and cost reduction. While these technologies offer significant benefits to companies, adapting to them poses a major challenge, especially for traditional sectors like the ceramic tile industry. The objective of this paper is to analyse the drivers and barriers faced by companies in the ceramic manufacturing sector in Spain when implementing an Industry 4.0 strategy. A qualitative research approach is adopted, based on interviews with general managers of ceramic manufacturing companies, ceramic machinery suppliers, and public institutions that support this sector. In addition, sector reports are used to gain an understanding of the industry's overall maturity in implementing 4.0 technologies. The aim is to diagnose the situation and identify key factors for successful implementation of Industry 4.0 in ceramic manufacturing companies. The results of this study can be used as a guide for the implementation of a Industry 4.0 strategy in companies from this industry. Furthermore, this study also analyses the degree of technological maturity of the main machinery suppliers and the existing differences between the vision of the manufacturer and the technological supplier, in this case, the ceramic machinery supplier. Finally, the main limitations and future lines of research are presented.

Paola Cardamone (p), Rosetta Lombardo (p)

Haitham Natsheh

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between institutional quality (IQ) and green patents in Italy. According to the GreenItaly Report 2023 by Fondazione Symbola and Unioncamere, during the period 2018-2022, 35.1% of Italian firms made green investments.
By implementing green innovation, firms can reduce their impact on the environment. Therefore, it is important to try understanding green innovations drivers so that policy makers can draw straight interventions for settings that need improvements. Previous literature mainly focused on the firm level. In particular, the empirical literature has supported the idea that green innovation is associated with the technological intensity of a firm (e.g. Horbach et al. 2012). It has also examined the drivers of green innovation by considering Triple Bottom Line Theory (Jin et al. 2022). However, green innovation may also be affected by factors beyond the control of individual firm and the socio-economic factors. Nevertheless, previous studies have paid limited attention to the influence of the IQ (e.g. Doh et al. 2017). Therefore, the paper aims to investigate the role of IQ in driving green innovation.
The empirical analysis is carried out by considering Italian NUTS3-regions and the period 2004-2019. We consider green patents applied by Italian firms to the EPO and granted by 2022. Patents data are retrieved from Orbis IP dataset (Bureau van Dijk). The institutional quality index (IQI) provided by Nifo and Vecchione (2014) is used. Different estimation methods are employed which also take into account the presence of zero green patents in some provinces. Preliminary results show that IQ plays a positive and significant role in stimulating green innovation. Green patents seem to be affected by the strength of rule of law and the regulatory quality, which refers to state of health of the local economy. The effect of IQI appears to be higher in the north of the country.

References
Doh, J., Rodrigues, R., Saka-Helmhout, A., Makhija, M. (2017). International business responses to institutional voids. JIBS, 48.
Horbach, J., Rammer, C., Rennings, K. (2012). Determinants of eco-innovations by type of environmental impact: The role of regulatory push/pull, technology push and market pull. Ecological Economics, 78.
Jin, C., M. Shahzad, A. U. Zafar, N. M. Suki. 2022. Socio-economic and environmental drivers of green innovation: Evidence from nonlinear ARDL. Economic Research 35 (1).
Nifo A., Vecchione G. (2014). Do institutions play a role in Skilled Migration? The case of Italy. Regional Studies, 48(10).