Beyond Industry 4.0: Seeking for the philosopher's stone

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore collaborative innovation practice in the context of industrial renewal that is framed by ideological setting of the future based on sustainable growth. Design/methodology/approach: Our approach is founded on a practice-based school of innovating, where a researcher is part of what is being researched and the interplay between multiple actors is emphasized. Although, this is mainly a conceptual paper, a participatory roadmapping process has been utilized as a tool for engaging a large group of experts of industrial ecosystems in co-innovation around the topic. Findings: Our research describes how many mission-oriented innovations, aiming at sustainable growth, call for ideological compromises between private and social goals. Therefore, actors’ engagement to the vision building is crucial.
Originality/value: This paper emphasizes that crossing the theoretical and paradigmatic borders enables actors to build shared meanings and gain better understanding of the multifaceted nature of business reality. Practical implications: For managers, the core practical implication of the study is related to (eco)system thinking. The outcomes of the study highlight that going beyond industry 4.0 requires interaction with key players, as the resources, roles and offerings of industrial ecosystem actors are interconnected. In addition, through the identified emerging research themes of looking beyond Industry 4.0, we call researchers to co-innovating and creating a multilevel movement of challenge driven research looking beyond Industry 4.0.