Design and active research for SDGs – Ecosystems of sustainable innovation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69143/2464-9309/19222026Keywords:
sustainable development, university-industry collaboration, innovation ecosystems, industry 5.0, research-through-designAbstract
Innovation ecosystems are multilayered sociotechnical networks whose development is shaped by co-design, collaborative governance, and strategic leadership. This paper proposes a methodological framework to assess the design’s contribution to innovation ecosystems at the meso level. Grounded in research-through-design, the study combines literature review, AI-assisted KPI estimation, and expert interviews to analyse three innovation ecosystems: the São Paulo, Lombardy, and Stockholm-Uppsala regions. The findings suggest that design is structurally present across the three contexts, but largely absent from measurement systems. The study concludes by proposing a broader research agenda for co-designing measurement infrastructures and evidence-based design policy aligned with SDGs 9 and 17.
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Received: 10/03/2026; Revised: 16/04/2026; Accepted: 16/04/2026
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