Research background: In the era of the digital revolution, the Internet, automation and robotisation, new industrial relations and dynamic interactions among different stakeholders are giving rise to new opportunities and challenges. The changes associated with the enforcement of the ?Industry 4.0? concept require adaptation to these developments at different levels of the economy and society in order to support digital transformation. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to measure and assess the impact of digital transformation on European countries (EU). The comparative analysis of technological development in EU countries includes three dimensions: the digitalisation of society (Society 4.0), the ability of the economy to face the challenges of technological development (Economy 4.0), as well as the exploitation of ICT in companies (Companies 4.0). Methods: The empirical section of the article was built on a two-stage analytical approach: (a) cluster analysis methods to assess differences and similarities between EU countries (Hierarchical Cluster and K-Means Cluster) and (b) the multi-criteria decision-making method (TOPSIS) to rank countries according to the adopted evaluation criteria. For the purposes of this analysis, data from the Eurostat database have been applied. Findings & value added: The results of this analysis demonstrate the impact of technological transformation on the economy and society in EU countries grouped according to a similar level of development, such as countries with high, medium and low performance. This has contributed to indicating the cohesion in technological development achieved by each country group and to recognising the digitalisation gap between EU Member States. The novelty of this study consists in applying the multi-stage, multi-criteria analysis based on cluster analysis and the TOPSIS method, as well as the comparative analysis of the impact of technological developments on the societies and economies of EU countries. This paper extends similar studies by focusing on the application of a broad range of indicators regarding a holistic perspective including three dimensions: societies, economies and companies. The results provide valuable insights into evaluating the technological progress in European countries.

Corporate accelerators are a rapidly growing entrepreneurial phenomenon occurring in different business contexts and business models within corporate entrepreneurship. Corporate accelerators are considered as an innovation fostering approach within new ventures provided by start-ups. The aim of the paper is twofold: firstly, to explore the motives behind corporations’ engagement with start-ups in launching corporate accelerators, and secondly, to identify the corporate benefits and challenges of this business model innovation. The research design is based on a qualitative interpretative approach exploiting a triangulation of methods by using in-depth interviews (IDI) with corporate managers involved in development of corporate accelerators as well as a focus group interview (FGI) with industry experts. In addition, secondary data were applied to strengthen the exploratory research. The study demonstrates that a wide range of benefits stem from the accelerator activities which can ultimately can initiate changes in large companies. Our research expands on prior findings and suggests that corporate accelerators are driven by internal and external push and pull motives. The study contributes to expanding the scope of corporate entrepreneurship research in regard to the challenges and benefits of corporate accelerators. It provides evidence that corporate accelerators are a source of innovation that can be used to foster entrepreneurial-market logic and entrepreneurial learning.

The primary basis of the term sustainable entrepreneurship is the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development aims at the protection of nature, life support, and community in the pursuit of perceived opportunities to bring into existence future products and processes with both economic and non-economic gains to individuals, the economy, and society. The growing importance of environmental issues and sustainable development have given rise to the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship. Sustainable entrepreneurship can be considered an opportunity for business development practices at the nexus of environmental and social aspects. Companies increasingly consolidate their competitive position through innovative actions in the field of sustainability. The aim of this article is to analyze the role of innovation-related activities in European businesses based on the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship. On this basis, it can be stated that sustainable entrepreneurship provides new opportunities for the development of corporate responsibility, taking into account ecological and social issues.

The concept of eco-innovation addresses a reduction in negative environmental impacts and the more efficient use of resources. As an integral part of eco-innovation, green technologies are receiving increasing attention due to growing environmental concerns. Patent data are one of the measures of the output of technological eco-innovation. However, understanding the patenting of eco-innovation comes with challenges. The aim of this study is to measure the output of eco-innovation and to analyse the trends in green technologies based on environment-related patents in the world’s leading countries from 2000 to 2017. For this research, a range of data collection techniques based on patent data from leading countries such as China, Korea, Japan, United States and Germany were employed. The study provides a comprehensive overview of changes and trends in the development of environmental technologies using different domains. In particular, significant progress has been made in the areas of environmental technologies and climate change mitigation technologies related to energy generation, transmission or distribution. These technologies are closely linked to international environmental policies such as climate change mitigation and green industry transformation. The study also contributes to the literature on measuring the output of eco-innovation.

“Stay at home” orders during the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed the day-to-day operations of many organizations and moved employees from offices to homes. The sudden crisis forced companies to reformulate their operations. Enabling employees to work from home has become a necessity for both business continuity and survival. The unexpected crisis has also proved to be beneficial for some aspects of economic activity. This research focuses on identifying and measuring the benefits of and barriers to remote work from an organizational perspective, as perceived by managerial staff in Poland. We investigate the factors that influence the assessment of the scale of benefits of and barriers to remote working. The study examines the impact of various factors on the benefits of and barriers to remote working, such as a company’s previous experience with remote working, the support provided to employees by the company, the monitoring of remote working effects, and the implementation of new IT tools. These results suggest that the way the company and employees are managed in a crisis, the approach of superiors to the evaluation and control of effects on work, and the adaptation of support to the real needs of employees, all play fundamental roles. The factors examined that influence the perceived benefits of or barriers to remote working from an organization’s perspective contribute to adoption theory.