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Smart city article details
| Title | On Smart Cities And Triple-Helix Intermediaries: A Critical-Realist Perspective |
|---|---|
| ID_Doc | 39782 |
| Authors | Chatzinikolaou D. |
| Year | 2025 |
| Published | Smart Cities, 8, 3 |
| DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/smartcities8030074 |
| Abstract | Highlights: Despite extensive research on smart cities, a critical-realist perspective is often missing. This paper proposes a Triple-Helix Business Clinic to reinforce local firm innovation and socioeconomic development. What are the main findings? Elite journals largely overlook structural capitalist drivers of triple-helix intermediaries. A critical-realist lens clarifies why business innovation is vital for smart-city development. What is the implication of the main finding? Policymakers and scholars should incorporate deeper ontological drivers into smart-city frameworks. The Triple-Helix Business Clinic model can help align government, academia, and firms to foster sustainable growth.Highlights: Despite extensive research on smart cities, a critical-realist perspective is often missing. This paper proposes a Triple-Helix Business Clinic to reinforce local firm innovation and socioeconomic development. What are the main findings? Elite journals largely overlook structural capitalist drivers of triple-helix intermediaries. A critical-realist lens clarifies why business innovation is vital for smart-city development. What is the implication of the main finding? Policymakers and scholars should incorporate deeper ontological drivers into smart-city frameworks. The Triple-Helix Business Clinic model can help align government, academia, and firms to foster sustainable growth.Highlights: Despite extensive research on smart cities, a critical-realist perspective is often missing. This paper proposes a Triple-Helix Business Clinic to reinforce local firm innovation and socioeconomic development. What are the main findings? Elite journals largely overlook structural capitalist drivers of triple-helix intermediaries. A critical-realist lens clarifies why business innovation is vital for smart-city development. What is the implication of the main finding? Policymakers and scholars should incorporate deeper ontological drivers into smart-city frameworks. The Triple-Helix Business Clinic model can help align government, academia, and firms to foster sustainable growth.Abstract I conducted an integrative literature review by utilizing theoretical and methodological elements of critical realism (i.e., the distinction between ontology and epistemology) to evaluate the significance of triple-helix intermediaries. This review involved examining all published research on smart cities in "elite" ABS (Chartered Association of Business Schools) journals (4, 4*). My findings indicate that the philosophical foundations of the examined literature are predominantly grounded on "positivism", "postmodernism", "interpretivism", and "pragmatism", without delving into the ontological reinforcement of capitalist institutions through innovation creation and diffusion-a central concern of critical realism. I argue that this oversight stems from the prevailing "paradigm" within these "elite" journals, which often excludes historical and critical perspectives. In response, I propose a reoriented intermediary, the Triple-Helix Business Clinic, grounded in critical-realist assumptions. This new theoretical framework can guide practical policy development aimed at reinforcing business innovation and driving broader socioeconomic progress. |
| Author Keywords | ABS journal list; business innovation; critical realism; local development; policy intermediaries; smart cities; triple helix |
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