"Independent inventions in the digital era – local inventions for global innovations?"

Call for Papers-"Independent inventions in the digital era – local inventions for global innovations?"

Journal: Technology in Society

Publisher: Elsevier

Submission Deadline: 31 Dec 2026

Key Requirements:

• Conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods contributions are welcome.

• Strong focus on independent inventors, protection/appropriability, and commercialization in the digital era.

• Pre-submission workshops/PDWs are planned in 2026.

Overview

This special issue explores how independent inventors create, protect, and commercialize inventions outside formal R&D structures in the digital era. It highlights both the opportunities created by digital tools, knowledge access, prototyping, and global markets, and the challenges of imitation, legal hurdles, funding constraints, and scaling. The issue aims to advance scholarship on independent invention, inform policy support, and build a more nuanced understanding beyond the “lone genius” narrative.

Key Research Themes

• Narratives of independent inventors.

• Protection, policing, and appropriability of inventions.

• Capturing intrinsic and generative value.

• Organizing practices that support or hinder protection.

• Institutional support for independent inventors.

• Cross-context dynamics of independent invention.

• New metrics for independent invention in national innovation systems.

• Commercializing and profiting from inventions.

• Intellectual property regimes and their limits.

• Independent invention and defense against infringement.

Submission Details

• Submission portal opens 01 May 2026 and closes 31 Dec 2026.

• Submit via Editorial Manager.

• Select “VSI: AGI Transformation” as the article type.

• The guest editors plan pre-submission online workshops and conference tracks in 2026.

Guest Editors

• Sascha Kraus

• Dirk Meissner

• Gustavo Salati

• David Sarpong

• Guannan Xu

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