RETHINKING CLUSTERS: THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL SCALE OF SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS
15 – 17 May 2019, University of Padova

DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE ECONOMICHE E AZIENDALI “MARCO FANNO”
2nd International workshop on RETHINKING CLUSTERS: THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL SCALE OF SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS
15 – 17 May 2019, University of Padova

Last year in Florence a vibrant community of scholars met for discussing over critical issues and new trajectories of cluster research in the first edition of Rethinking Clusters. Given the real interest in keeping up the discussion over the topic, the organizing committee decided to make this event a yearly touring meeting. In 2019 the second edition of the workshop will take place in Padova, and, besides the main themes which also characterised the first edition, a special attention will be given to how clusters face the challenge of sustainability transitions.

The workshop focuses on emergent issues related to the evolutionary trajectories of clusters, which encompass the major challenges of the globalization of production, the extension of the value chains, the opportunities of smart technologies in manufacturing and services, the transition towards sustainability.

We are facing a period of social and economic revolutions, where governments tend to strengthen the importance of the local dimension of the economic activities, whereas the economy is largely globalized. The challenge is to redefine the relationships between the local and the global scale of the economy, under the imperative of the long-term sustainability of the economic processes. Transitions to sustainability entail changes in people’s and organizations’ interactions with each other and with the environment at local to global scales.

Therefore, we assist to the need of expanding the knowledge bases for understanding the micro and meso dynamics of the changes, bridging the boundaries between disciplines, geographies, cultures and institutions, and between scholars and practitioners.

The contents of the workshop relate, but are not limited, to these themes:

1. Multinationals, clusters and global value chain
2. Technological change, innovation networks and sustainable business models
3. Cluster life cycle, resilience and evolutionary trajectories of local systems
4. Clusters’ transition towards sustainability
5. Entrepreneurship in clusters and local systems
6. Culture and creative industries in sustainability transitions
7. Sustainability transitions in the energy sector
8. Complexity theory and sustainable development
9. Intelligent manufacturing and services in the context of industry 4.0
10. Research methods on clusters, industrial districts and local systems
11. Industrial policy, clusters/platforms policy

We encourage submissions from scholars in the social and scientific sciences, practitioners, innovators and leaders who are forging ahead with strategies to shift towards sustainability. We welcome contributions that develop innovative approaches in concepts, theory, methods or analysis and have deep or broad implications to inform transitions to sustainability, and that use observational, experimental or theory-driven modes of inquiry.
Organizational matters

The workshop will take place at the “Marco Fanno” Department of Economics and Management and at the Bo palace at the University of Padova on May 15th-17th, 2019.

Interested contributors should send an extended abstract or a full paper to the email address: rethinkingclusters@unipd.it from 14th December till February 28th, 2019.

Extended abstracts should contain a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 2500 words. Extended abstracts can contain figures, tables and/or images which are not included in the word count. Full papers (optional) should not exceed 8000 words, inclusive of the abstract (150 words), tables, references, figure captions, endnotes.
Members of the community that are willing to organize a special session within the workshop are kindly invited to send an email to the local organizers before the 14th of December, including a description of the contents of the session and a list of the participants.
The acceptance of the extended abstracts/full papers shall be announced by March 29th, 2019.

Registration and fee: Fee will cover lunches, dinners and coffee breaks during the days of the workshop. Registration will open from March 29th. All the information will be published on the workshop website.

Local organizers: Roberto Antonietti (roberto.antonietti@unipd.it), Marco Bettiol (marco.bettiol@unipd.it), Silvia Rita Sedita (silvia.sedita@unipd.it).

Co-organizers: Luciana Lazzeretti luciana.lazzeretti@unifi.it, Francesco Capone francesco.capone@unifi.it and Annalisa Caloffi (annalisa.caloffi@unifi.it) at the University of Florence; Rafael Boix (rafael.boix@uv.es) at the University of Valencia and Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver, (jose.hervas@omp.upv.es) at Universitat Politecnica Valencia.

Important dates Submission deadline: February 28th, 2019 Notification of acceptance: March 29th, 2019 Registration deadline: April 26th, 2019 Workshop: 15-17th May, 2019

DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE ECONOMICHE E AZIENDALI “MARCO FANNO”

Publications opportunities

A selection of papers on the clusters’ transition towards sustainability will be considered for possible publication in a Special Issue of an international journal or in an edited book published by an international publisher. Young researchers session

The first day of the workshop will be dedicated exclusively to Young Researchers, where Phd candidates and young researchers (at most 3 years after Phd) may present their works in progress in an informal interactive session, where they can receive interesting advises and comments from senior researchers, such as Roberto Antonietti, Marco Bettiol, Rafael Boix, Annalisa Caloffi, Francesco Capone, Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria, Roberto Grandinetti, Luciana Lazzeretti, Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver, Silvia Rita Sedita. The session is included in the registration fee.

VISIT THE WEBSITE: http://www.clusters.unifi.it