Strategy, Innovation, and Technological Competitiveness in an Era of Strategic Capitalism

Call for Papers – Strategy, Innovation, and Technological Competitiveness in an Era of Strategic Capitalism

Journal: Journal of Strategy & Innovation
Publisher: Elsevier
CiteScore: 5.8
Special issue deadline: 31 December 2026

This special issue explores how strategy, innovation, and firm‑ and ecosystem‑level technological competitiveness are being reshaped under “strategic capitalism”, where states increasingly intervene in markets to secure technology sovereignty, economic security, and resilience. It is linked to the InnoTech 2026: Innovation and Technology Management Conference (22–24 May 2026, Beijing, co‑organised by Elsevier and Tsinghua University), and welcomes both extended conference papers and broadly themed scholarly contributions that connect macro‑level strategic‑capitalism trends to firm‑level outcomes and organisational capabilities.

Why this issue matters

• The rise of strategic capitalism has turned advanced technologies—in manufacturing, digitalisation, and the green transition—into strategic assets, tightly linked to geopolitics, industrial policy, and national security.

• Concepts such as technology sovereignty, innovation power, and mission‑oriented innovation policy are reshaping how governments, firms, and ecosystems design R&D, supply chains, and competitive strategies.

• This SI offers a platform to examine how firms and innovation systems adapt to geopolitical tensions, including decoupling, friend‑shoring, and dual‑use‑technology pressures, while still sustaining long‑term competitiveness.

Core themes and research areas

Submissions may include theoretical, conceptual, empirical, computational, or policy‑oriented work from strategy, innovation studies, economics, science & technology policy, and organisational studies. Topics include:

• Strategic behaviour in contested technological domains

  • How firms interpret and respond to technological rivalry, strategic interdependence, and state‑induced market shifts.

  • Capability‑building for resilience, technological diversification, and hedging against geopolitical shocks.

  • Strategic supply‑chain responses, including decoupling, friend‑shoring, and regional re‑configuration.

• Innovation management under strategic capitalism

  • Organisational implications of state‑led industrial and technology policies (e.g., subsidies, export controls, security‑linked R&D priorities).

  • Reconfiguration of R&D portfolios when technologies gain security or political significance.

  • Management of dual‑use technologies (civilian–defence, green–security) and their effects on innovation strategy.

• Innovation ecosystems in a fragmenting global order

  • How global innovation networks reconfigure under geopolitical tension (e.g., semiconductors, AI, biotech, quantum, green‑transition technologies).

  • Competing technological standards, platform realignments, and ecosystem governance models.

  • Comparative studies of innovation ecosystems across regions and technological domains.

• Technology sovereignty and innovation power

  • Strategies for reducing technological dependencies at the firm and ecosystem levels.

  • Competitive implications of sovereignty‑oriented policies (e.g., localisation, data control, supply‑chain reshaping).

  • How technological leadership translates into structural power and long‑term economic advantage.

• Systemic resilience in innovation systems

  • Mechanisms by which innovation systems absorb, adapt, or transform under geopolitical stress.

  • Firm‑ and ecosystem‑level contributions to economic and technological resilience.

  • Multi‑level analyses linking organisational strategy, ecosystem evolution, and systemic resilience.

All submissions should be able to derive clear implications for firms and managerial practice, even when taking a broader policy or systems‑level lens.

Guest editors

• Prof. Arho Suominen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland & Tampere University, Finland

• Dr Mikael Wigell, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Finland

• Prof. Christian Fjäder, Hanken School of Economics, Finland

Submission and timeline details

• Submission platform: Elsevier Editorial Manager for Journal of Strategy & Innovation:
  https://submit.elsevier.com/JSINNO

• When the portal opens, select article type “VSI: InnoTech 2026”.

• Journal‑related key dates:

  • Submission portal opens: 1 September 2026

  • Submission closes: 31 December 2026

  • A paper development workshop is planned for late summer 2026 (contact guest editors for details).

• Manuscripts will go through normal peer review and must comply with the journal’s Aims & Scope and Guide for Authors.

• For questions about this special issue, contact Prof. Arho Suominen (arho.suominen@vtt.fi); for InnoTech 2026 queries, contact content‑INNOTECH@elsevier.com.

This special issue is ideal for researchers in strategy, innovation studies, technology management, and science & technology policy who wish to connect global strategic‑capitalism dynamics with firm‑level strategy and innovation.

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