Region
Oceania
215 entries tagged Oceania.
Articles — 215
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If we can grow them here it just makes sense: Disrupting higher education narratives through Country University Centres in regional and rural Australia
Studies Australia's Country Universities Centres (CUCs) under the Regional University Study Hub program, showing how locally-grounded study hubs disrupt the 'go to a city' model and improve access for regional, rural, and remote students.
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Systemic problems affecting co-innovation in the New Zealand Agricultural Innovation System: Identification of blocking mechanisms and underlying institutional logics
This study identifies systemic barriers preventing co-innovation in New Zealand's agricultural sector, where farmers, researchers, and other actors should jointly drive technological and social change. The analysis reveals three main blocking mechanisms: competitive science operating in isolation, hands-off government innovation policy, and science-dominated approaches. These institutional barriers persist across many countries and prevent co-innovation principles from being adopted in agricultural policy. The paper argues that transformative policy instruments are needed to overcome these entrenched structures.
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Digitalisation in the New Zealand Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System: Initial understandings and emerging organisational responses to digital agriculture
Agricultural knowledge providers in New Zealand understand digital agriculture primarily as farm-focused, despite its broader disruptive potential. Organizations respond with ad-hoc adaptations to capabilities and services rather than strategic planning. The study reveals that uncertainty about digital agriculture's early development drives reactive rather than proactive approaches. Agricultural innovation systems should better support knowledge providers in developing deliberate digitalization strategies that anticipate future scenarios and reshape business models.
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Extending the paramedic role in rural Australia: a story of flexibility and innovation
Rural paramedics in south-eastern Australia are evolving into primary healthcare providers, taking on expanded responsibilities beyond emergency response. The study identifies a Rural Expanded Scope of Practice model where paramedics engage communities, respond to emergencies, provide situated care, and deliver primary healthcare. This integrated approach connects paramedics with other health agencies to improve patient outcomes and community health in small rural areas.
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Foresighting Australian digital agricultural futures: Applying responsible innovation thinking to anticipate research and development impact under different scenarios
Australian researchers used foresighting workshops to explore how digital technologies will shape agriculture's future and identify social and ethical implications. Participants developed four scenarios based on resource security and farm business model changes. The analysis reveals that reflexivity in research and development is essential to ensure digital agriculture benefits farming communities equitably and addresses potential inequities in technology adoption across value chains.
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Conceptualising the DAIS: Implications of the ‘Digitalisation of Agricultural Innovation Systems’ on technology and policy at multiple levels
Digital technologies are transforming agriculture, raising critical questions about data ownership, privacy, and governance. This paper examines Australia's Digiscape Future Science Platform and argues that agricultural industries need proactive policy frameworks and stakeholder forums to manage digital innovation systems effectively. The authors propose that deliberate attention to societal values in technology policy can help agriculture capitalize on digitalization opportunities while mitigating risks.
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Sustainable primary health care services in rural and remote areas: Innovation and evidence
Rural and remote Australia has developed innovative primary health care models that work when tailored to local conditions and supported by aligned governance, funding, and workforce systems. Success requires coordination across government levels, clear service benchmarks, and national information systems to monitor outcomes. These evidence-based approaches can guide global health system reform to deliver sustainable care in hard-to-reach communities.
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Unpacking systemic innovation capacity as strategic ambidexterity: How projects dynamically configure capabilities for agricultural innovation
Agricultural innovation projects succeed by strategically balancing exploitation of existing capabilities with exploration of new ones across multiple levels of innovation systems. The authors studied two New Zealand projects addressing lamb survival and sustainable land management, finding that project actors must configure resources and capabilities across individual, organizational, and network levels to overcome capability gaps and break unhelpful path dependencies. Effective projects require dedicated facilitators for reflexive monitoring and alignment with innovation policies supporting sustainable development goals.
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Tourism and Community Leadership in Rural Regions: Linking Mobility, Entrepreneurship, Tourism Development and Community Well-Being
Analysis of 47 rural tourism case studies reveals that community entrepreneurs—not simply local or outsider status—drive positive tourism outcomes. Social and human capital matter more than financial investment. Governance structures prove critical for long-term success. The local-outsider distinction fails to explain tourism development effectiveness. Community entrepreneurs best support both tourism growth and destination well-being.
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Revealing power dynamics and staging conflicts in agricultural system transitions: Case studies of innovation platforms in New Zealand
Innovation platforms in New Zealand's agricultural sector reveal how power dynamics shape agricultural transitions toward sustainability. When actors strategically stage conflicts of interest, they can shift power relations from one-sided to mutual dependency, enabling actors to acknowledge and solve disagreements. Platforms that fail to stage conflicts maintain antagonistic power relations and block progress. The research shows that power relations are dynamic, context-specific forces that fundamentally shape transition outcomes, not merely tools wielded by incumbent actors.
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Some rural examples of place-based education
Rural Australian schools implement place-based education to improve student learning and well-being, particularly in farming communities facing economic pressure. The paper examines what place-based education means and how rural schools apply it, often without using the term explicitly. Evidence shows this teaching approach strengthens literacy learning for rural students by connecting education to local contexts and community needs.
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Lessons on Transdisciplinary Research in a Co-Innovation Programme in the New Zealand Agricultural Sector
New Zealand's agricultural R&D programme implements co-innovation through six innovation platforms using an agricultural innovation systems approach. The programme faces three main challenges: managing complex multi-stakeholder networks, aligning rigid research funding procedures with flexible co-innovation needs, and shifting participants from linear to interactive innovation thinking. The authors conclude that learning-by-doing is essential, and institutional changes to national R&D structures are needed to support co-innovation through updated policies, instruments, and incentives.
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Lessons for co-innovation in agricultural innovation systems: a multiple case study analysis and a conceptual model
This study examines three agricultural innovation projects in New Zealand to identify what makes co-innovation successful. The researchers found that effective co-innovation requires network-level capability and legitimacy, clear understanding of actor priorities, and sufficient resources. Project leaders must include the right mix of stakeholders and foster open dialogue to build shared vision. The paper presents a conceptual model to guide future co-innovation efforts in agricultural systems.
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An innovation in Australian dental education: rural, remote and Indigenous pre-graduation placements
Western Australia's dental school created a rural placement program for final-year students to address shortages of dental services in remote areas. Between 2002 and 2005, the program placed 78 students in supervised clinical practice in rural and Indigenous settings. Student evaluations enabled continuous program improvements. Early data suggests the placements may influence graduates to practice in rural locations, potentially helping build Australia's rural dental workforce.
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Agricultural Innovation and Sustainable Development
Global agriculture faces existential challenges that require innovation to achieve sustainable development. The paper examines how agricultural innovation can address these challenges and contribute to sustainability goals. It analyzes the relationship between technological advancement in farming and broader sustainable development objectives.
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Explaining Broadband Adoption in Rural Australia: Modes of Reflexivity and the Morphogenetic Approach1
Australia's national broadband rollout requires rural areas to adopt new infrastructure, but adoption remains complex and contested. This paper uses critical realism to examine why rural communities and small businesses accept or reject broadband. The authors argue that individual reflexivity—how people think through their own circumstances—shapes adoption decisions alongside economic, cultural, and ideological factors.
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The digital divide in rural and regional communities: a survey on the use of digital health technology and implications for supporting technology use
Rural and regional Australians show moderate digital health literacy, with 80% expressing confidence in online health information. However, barriers persist: product complexity, unreliable connectivity, low awareness of available resources, trust concerns, and cost prevent wider adoption. The study identifies opportunities to support lower-literacy users and improve digital health technology access in rural communities.
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Farms and Learning Partnerships in Farming Systems Projects: A Response to the Challenges of Complexity in Agricultural Innovation
Learning partnerships between farmers, researchers, and extension advisors effectively address complexity in agricultural innovation. The paper examines two Australian dairy industry case studies and finds that successful partnerships require active negotiation of learning roles and specialized facilitation. Commercial farms serving as learning partners help innovation projects tackle competing demands of productivity, environmental sustainability, and societal expectations.
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How Programme Teams Progress Agricultural Innovation in the Australian Dairy Industry
Programme teams in the Australian dairy sector bring together researchers, extension workers, farmers, and policymakers to drive agricultural innovation. These teams identify stakeholder needs, design change strategies, and pilot solutions—integrating research-led and demand-pull approaches. This semi-formal governance mechanism overcomes institutional weaknesses that favor simple technology adoption, though investment in such innovation capacity remains low and inconsistent across dairy domains.
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Disruption disrupted? Reflecting on the relationship between responsible innovation and digital agriculture research and development at multiple levels in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Digital agriculture technologies promise productivity gains but create socio-ethical challenges. This paper examines responsible innovation practices in Australian and New Zealand public agricultural research organizations. The authors find that responsible innovation remains only partially implemented, with gaps between stated goals and actual practice. They argue that systemic organizational changes—including new performance measures and reward structures—are necessary to embed responsibility across research teams and enhance socially beneficial outcomes in digital agriculture development.
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Connecting for Innovation: Four Universities Collaboratively Preparing Pre-service Teachers to Teach in Rural and Remote Western Australia
Four Western Australian universities collaborated to improve teacher preparation for rural and remote employment. They created seven curriculum modules aligned with professional teaching standards, established cross-institutional field experiences, and built a community of practice connecting universities, schools, and the education department. The project enhanced university capacity to prepare graduates for rural placements and demonstrated how collaborative research can inform policy and program development.
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The Importance of Broadband for Socio-Economic Development: A Perspective from Rural Australia
Rural Australian communities lack reliable broadband access despite national infrastructure plans, creating significant disadvantages. Residents in New South Wales report that slow, unreliable connections harm business development, education, emergency services, and healthcare. The study finds that rural-urban digital disparities worsen when urban infrastructure advances without addressing remote areas. Current broadband policy fails to account for rural geographic and socio-economic contexts, requiring strategic reforms prioritizing underserved regions.
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Social entrepreneurship and innovation: Self-organization in an indigenous context
This paper examines social entrepreneurship in Māori communities through complexity theory and self-organization. Innovation emerges from interaction between young opportunity-seeking entrepreneurs (potiki) and elder statespeople (rangatira) within tribal structures. The research shows that tradition and cultural heritage enable innovation pathways, while entrepreneurial risk-takers advance along those paths. Historical and cultural context fundamentally shapes how social and economic entrepreneurship develop.
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Innovation in Management Plans for Community Conserved Areas: Experiences from Australian Indigenous Protected Areas
Australian Indigenous Protected Areas demonstrate innovative management approaches that integrate traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary conservation practices. These community-conserved areas develop adaptive management plans that balance environmental protection with Indigenous land rights and economic development. The study documents how Indigenous communities innovate in governance structures and planning processes to achieve conservation outcomes while maintaining cultural and livelihood benefits.
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Community-owned renewable energy (CRE): Opportunities for rural Australia
Community-owned renewable energy projects offer rural Australia opportunities to address climate change, support community development, and strengthen rural economies. A STEEP analysis of case studies reveals significant potential, but realizing these benefits at scale requires supportive government policy at both state and federal levels.
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Caring for country and sustainable Indigenous development: Opportunities, constraints and innovation
Indigenous community-based natural resource management in northern Australia generates both conservation and economic benefits. When Indigenous people actively manage their land, they achieve favorable fire regimes, control weeds, and harvest wildlife while producing income through arts, crafts, and commercial enterprises. The paper argues that removing barriers to Indigenous participation in these activities and providing equitable public support creates sustainable economic development that reduces Indigenous disadvantage while protecting biodiversity.
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Indigenous in the city: contemporary identities and cultural innovation
This edited collection examines how Indigenous peoples in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand construct and maintain cultural identities while living in urban environments. The chapters document Indigenous urbanization patterns, community formation, legal recognition, place-making practices, and cultural innovation in cities. The work shows how Indigenous communities adapt traditional identities to contemporary urban contexts through institutions, social networks, and cultural practices like powwows.
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A Spiral of Innovation Framework for Social Entrepreneurship: Social Innovation at the Generational Divide in an Indigenous Context
This paper examines social innovation in indigenous Māori communities through a complex adaptive systems lens. It argues that innovation emerges from intergenerational collaboration between young opportunity-seeking entrepreneurs (potiki) and elder statespeople (rangatira), combining social and economic entrepreneurial activity. The authors propose a 'Spiral of Innovation' framework that integrates opportunity-seeking with cultural heritage, illustrated through the example of Māori Maps, positioning innovation as self-organization within specific cultural contexts.
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Perspectives on indigenous entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise
This paper examines indigenous entrepreneurship, innovation, and enterprise development. The authors explore how indigenous peoples create and sustain businesses while maintaining cultural values and practices. The work highlights the unique characteristics of indigenous-led ventures and their contributions to economic development within indigenous communities.
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Working together to make Indigenous health care curricula everybody’s business: A graduate attribute teaching innovation report
A nursing education program redesigned its Indigenous health curriculum to be taught by all academic staff rather than only Indigenous instructors. The change integrates Indigenous content throughout courses instead of isolating it in specific subjects. The authors describe a collaborative process that required strong leadership, safe learning spaces for staff, and acknowledgment of concerns from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty and students to successfully implement this curriculum innovation.
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Indigenous-led responsible innovation: lessons from co-developed protocols to guide the use of drones to monitor a biocultural landscape in Kakadu National Park, Australia
Indigenous communities in Kakadu National Park, Australia co-developed protocols to responsibly introduce drone technology for monitoring their biocultural landscape. The protocols center Indigenous governance, ethical research relationships, and Indigenous-led innovation. They enable Indigenous cultural responsibilities for knowledge stewardship to guide and authorize how new technologies are designed and applied for adaptive management of Indigenous lands.
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Emancipatory Indigenous social innovation: Shifting power through culture and technology
This paper examines how Indigenous Māori social innovators address social disparities through entrepreneurship and cultural approaches. Using a case study of a healthcare entrepreneur in New Zealand's Far North, the authors argue that meaningful social change requires power shifts rather than simply wielding power. They demonstrate how Indigenous social enterprise can overcome market and policy failures to serve underserved populations and transform healthcare provision.
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Policy Pathways for Mapping Clean Energy Access for Cooking in the Global South—A Case for Rural Communities
Rural communities in the Global South lack access to modern cooking energy, affecting 1.5 billion people. This study maps clean cooking technologies and policies for three countries—Fiji, Ghana, and Nigeria—by surveying end-users, energy suppliers, and interest groups. The research proposes policy pathways that coordinate governments, NGOs, energy developers, and businesses, with a business model progressing from government-driven to incentive-driven to private-sector-driven as technology adoption increases.
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Sport development programmes for Indigenous Australians: innovation, inclusion and development, or a product of 'white guilt'?
This paper examines government-funded sport development programmes for Indigenous Australians, questioning whether they genuinely reduce health and educational disparities or simply reflect 'white guilt' and foster dependency. The authors analyze the tension between state provision and community independence, evaluating sport participation initiatives as either counterproductive welfare or legitimate investments in closing gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians across health, education, and employment outcomes.
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Islands of Indigenous innovation: reclaiming and reconceptualising innovation within, against and beyond colonial‐capitalism
This paper challenges the dominant capitalist definition of innovation by examining Indigenous innovation through a critical lens. Using case studies from Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa (the Pacific), the authors demonstrate that Indigenous communities practice innovation outside and against colonial-capitalism, focused on collective wellbeing rather than profit. The paper reclaims innovation as central to Indigeneity and expands its meaning to include collective struggle and survival.
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Innovation to prevent sudden infant death: the wahakura as an Indigenous vision for a safe sleep environment
Māori communities in New Zealand developed the wahakura, a flax bassinet designed to prevent sudden infant death while respecting cultural practices like bedsharing. Research demonstrated its safety and acceptability. Distribution of wahakura and related safe sleep devices through health boards, combined with culturally appropriate education, contributed to a 29% drop in infant mortality between 2009-2015, with the largest gains among Māori infants, showing how indigenous knowledge and community engagement reduce health inequities.
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When cosmology meets property: indigenous people’s innovation and intellectual property
Indigenous innovation systems in Australia operate within a cosmological framework where innovation maintains the health of interconnected systems. The paper argues that commodity-based intellectual property systems poorly fit indigenous innovation needs. Land property rights matter far more than patents. Distinguishing-based intellectual property forms and voluntary certification systems offer better tools for indigenous businesses than traditional patent regimes.
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Using developmental evaluation to enhance continuous reflection, learning and adaptation of an innovation platform in Australian Indigenous primary healthcare
This paper describes how developmental evaluation enhanced an innovation platform designed to improve primary healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. The platform brought together diverse stakeholders to address complex health challenges through collaborative decision-making and quality improvement. Developmental evaluation provided real-time feedback that guided continuous adaptation of the platform's formation and functioning, proving well-suited to evaluating complex multi-stakeholder networks.
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Enabling Indigenous innovations to re-centre social licence to operate in the Blue Economy
The paper argues that sustainable Blue Economy development requires centering Indigenous perspectives on social licence to operate. It calls for shifting governance practices so Indigenous groups grant consent based on their own values at every project stage, not just initial approval. The authors propose collaborative arrangements and Indigenous-led platforms that respect historical, social, cultural, and economic contexts, enabling Indigenous peoples to participate equitably in ocean-based industries and business agreements.
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Plugging in indigenous knowledge: Connections and innovations
Indigenous Australians participated vigorously in early World Wide Web development, creating high-quality sites that expressed diverse purposes and styles. The Web's properties—hypertext, multimedia, and collaborative features—encouraged Indigenous participation while reducing conventional media gatekeeping. Indigenous-run sites remained proportionally high, Indigenous publishing became significant on the Web landscape, and concerns about appropriation and misrepresentation proved unfounded.
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Innovation in Indigenous Health and Medical Education: The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network as a Community of Practice
The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education Network operates across Australian and New Zealand medical schools to improve Indigenous health education and support Indigenous student recruitment and graduation. Using Wenger's communities of practice framework, the authors evaluate the Network's effectiveness and demonstrate how this theoretical lens helps measure its impact on curriculum implementation and student outcomes.
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Addressing rural energy poverty and rural-urban energy access gap in developing countries: does international remittances matter?
International remittances significantly reduce rural energy poverty and narrow the rural-urban energy access gap in developing countries, particularly where financial development and GDP per capita are higher. The study analyzed 135 developing nations from 2000–2020 and found that remittance inflows enable households to afford energy access. Effects vary by income group, suggesting that credit availability and economic development amplify remittances' impact on rural energy inequality.
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Optimal location selection for a distributed hybrid renewable energy system in rural Western Australia: A data mining approach
This paper uses data mining techniques to identify optimal locations for hybrid renewable energy systems in rural Western Australia. Researchers applied K-Means and K-Medoids clustering algorithms to 69 locations, then evaluated potential wind and solar output using HOMER software. K-Means performed better at clustering, while K-Medoids identified locations with higher average renewable energy generation, though both approaches had limitations in accounting for local energy requirements.
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Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations
Indigenous peoples bring distinctive perspectives to futures thinking—shaped by colonisation, unique knowledge systems, and commitment to biodiversity—that enable innovative solutions to climate change and social injustice. This paper identifies four framings of Indigenous futures thinking (Adaptation oriented, Participatory, Culturally grounded, and Indigenising) and finds that innovation increases when Indigenous people lead research teams, co-design projects, use Indigenous methodologies, and apply decolonisation approaches. The authors create a glossary to standardise terminology across this emerging field.
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Entwining indigenous knowledge and science knowledge for sustainable agricultural extension: exploring the strengths and challenges
Indigenous knowledge offers significant potential for sustainable agriculture but remains largely excluded from extension programs. This study identifies barriers to integration including perceived value gaps, knowledge protocols, cultural constraints, and intellectual property concerns. However, combining indigenous knowledge with science strengthens sustainable practices. The findings suggest extension policies should better recognize and protect indigenous knowledge while addressing accessibility and property rights issues.
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Modelling and Simulation of Photovoltaic-Variable Speed Diesel Generator Hybrid Power System for Off-Grid Rural Electrification
This paper develops computer models of hybrid power systems combining solar panels and diesel generators for rural areas without grid electricity. The researchers compared two generator types and found that variable-speed diesel generators outperform conventional constant-speed generators. The models, built in MATLAB/Simulink and validated against industry software, enable researchers to test different power management strategies for off-grid rural electrification.
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Valuing Indigenous Knowledge in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea: A Model for Agricultural and Environmental Education
Current agricultural and environmental education in Papua New Guinea fails to engage indigenous farmers because it ignores indigenous knowledge systems that actually guide farming and resource management. This study examined two highland villages and found that as farmers adopt cash crops, they devalue traditional knowledge in favor of Western approaches. Trust, cultural differences, and social barriers prevent knowledge sharing. The authors recommend redesigning education programs to recognize and integrate indigenous knowledge.
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Funding Indigenous organisations: improving governance performance through innovations in public finance management in remote Australia
Government funding structures shape how Indigenous organisations perform in remote Australia. The research found that Australian funding systems impose performance indicators rather than negotiating them, rarely reward actual performance, and don't require organisations to answer to their communities. These design flaws waste resources and weaken accountability compared to international public finance management practices.
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Living lab approaches in rural healthcare: a scoping review
Living labs use user-centered co-design to solve real-world healthcare problems in rural areas. This scoping review examined 11 studies from 2016–2025 across Canada, the USA, Australia, Guatemala, Uganda, and France/Portugal. Studies applied various methodologies including theory-driven frameworks, participatory research, and human-centered design to address cardiovascular disease, diabetes, perinatal care, and other conditions. Most studies did not explicitly use the living lab term, revealing limited adoption of this approach in rural healthcare innovation.
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Empowering communities through digital innovation: evaluating FeralScan adoption by Australian rural landholders
FeralScan's WildDogScan platform enables Australian rural landholders to report invasive wild dogs through a web and mobile application. The study found 51% of surveyed landholders had used it at least once since 2015. Adoption barriers included usability confusion, difficulty using the tool, preference for personal contact, and skepticism about benefits. The authors recommend improving promotional, educational, and support services to increase uptake.
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Codesigning Mobile Digital Storytelling Across a Distance: Showcasing Rural Health Service Innovation
Australian rural health services innovate despite challenges like staff turnover and poor internet. This paper demonstrates how mobile digital storytelling—using personal devices to capture everyday experiences—effectively documents and shares rural health innovations. The researchers co-created seven digital stories with rural health services through interviews, workshops, and community engagement. Mobile storytelling proved cost-effective and simple, boosting digital literacy among staff, fostering community dialogue, and highlighting local innovations.
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Digital Health Innovation by Design: A Logic Model Scaffold for Rural, Regional, and Remote Settings
Digital health innovations often fail in rural and remote settings despite their potential. This paper presents a logic model scaffold—a four-step iterative process for planning, implementing, and evaluating digital health interventions in these contexts. The approach emphasizes understanding local needs, aligning with system enablers, and embedding reflexivity to adapt to workforce realities and geographic constraints. A Northern Australian case example demonstrates how this method improves rigor and responsiveness.
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Digital Health Innovation by Design: A Logic Model Scaffold for Rural, Regional, and Remote Settings
Digital health innovations often fail in rural and remote settings because they ignore local needs, workforce challenges, and geographic complexity. This paper presents a four-step logic model scaffold that guides planning, implementation, and evaluation of digital health projects in these contexts. The approach emphasizes understanding local context, aligning interventions with system enablers, and building in ongoing adaptation rather than following rigid linear plans.
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The role of technology in the shift towards open innovation: the case of Procter & Gamble
This paper examines Procter & Gamble's 'Connect and Develop' open innovation strategy to understand how technology enables collaborative innovation. The authors identify two key technological roles: information and communications technologies that facilitate knowledge exchange across distributed partners, and specialized 'innovation technologies' including data mining, simulation, prototyping, and visualization tools that support product development. The study reveals that technology is fundamental to implementing open innovation, not merely supportive.
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Determinants of User Innovation and Innovation Sharing in a Local Market
This study examines user innovation in library OPAC systems in Australia, finding that 26% of users modify their systems in ways manufacturers consider commercially valuable. The researchers identify characteristics distinguishing innovating users from non-innovators, including technical capability and leading-edge status. Many innovators freely share their modifications with other users. The findings suggest that even in follower markets, users generate significant innovations worthy of commercial attention.
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The Role of Networks in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Innovation and Firm Performance
Strong, diverse business networks boost innovation in small and medium enterprises, according to analysis of 1,435 SMEs over time. However, networks improve firm performance only indirectly—through their effect on innovation. SMEs should prioritize networks specifically for their innovation benefits rather than expecting direct performance gains.
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Innovation as the core competency of a service organisation: the role of technology, knowledge and networks
Service organizations compete through innovation driven by technology, knowledge, and networks. The paper argues that a firm's true resource is the amorphous knowledge created through customer and partner relationships, which enables innovation as a core competency. Innovation only delivers value when firms align their capabilities to meet customer needs in the marketplace.
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Dynamic Capability Building in Service Value Networks for Achieving Service Innovation
Service organizations innovate by collaborating through value networks rather than working alone. This study of a telecommunications company shows that dynamic capabilities—including customer engagement, collaborative agility, entrepreneurial alertness, and innovative capacity—emerge through stakeholder collaboration and education. These capabilities drive service innovation outcomes and require continuous development as business conditions change. Managers must actively cultivate these collaborative skills to deliver new service offerings.
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Agility in responding to disruptive digital innovation: Case study of an <scp>SME</scp>
Small and medium-sized enterprises achieve agility in responding to disruptive digital innovation through three key processes: reducing organizational rigidity via boundary openness, building innovative capabilities through organizational adaptability, and balancing the competing demands of exploration and exploitation despite resource constraints. The study develops a framework showing how SMEs specifically navigate these challenges differently than larger firms.
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The Culture for Open Innovation Dynamics
This paper develops a concept model explaining how organizational culture drives open innovation dynamics. The authors identify three entrepreneurship dimensions—novice entrepreneurship, employee intrapreneurship, and organizational entrepreneurship—whose balance determines the type of culture that emerges. The model shows culture can control open innovation complexity and motivate innovation activity. The framework was validated through analysis of 23 related studies.
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Managing Socio-Ethical Challenges in the Development of Smart Farming: From a Fragmented to a Comprehensive Approach for Responsible Research and Innovation
Smart farming development in New Zealand has prioritized productivity and efficiency while neglecting socio-ethical challenges and excluding citizens and consumers from decision-making. The authors apply responsible research and innovation (RRI) principles to smart dairying and find that current R&D lacks adequate consideration of broader social impacts. They recommend government leadership to embed RRI principles in project design and call for sector-specific approaches to build RRI capacity across smart farming innovation systems.
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An Examination of the Relationship Between Absorptive Capacity and Organizational Learning, and a Proposed Integration
This paper clarifies the relationship between absorptive capacity and organizational learning, two concepts long studied together but never precisely defined in relation to each other. The authors argue that absorptive capacity—an organization's ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply external knowledge—represents a specific type of organizational learning focused on external knowledge acquisition. They propose integrating these concepts using established frameworks from organizational learning and absorptive capacity literature.
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Open innovation in the public sector of leading countries
The study examines how leading governments adopt open innovation practices. The USA, Australia, and Singapore developed national open innovation policies that created positive climates for innovation projects, particularly online platforms. While outside-in approaches dominate, governments increasingly explore inside-out strategies to leverage public data. Most governments remain in early adoption stages and need strategic plans to integrate open innovation into workplace practices.
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Using diffusion of innovation theory to understand the factors impacting patient acceptance and use of consumer e-health innovations: a case study in a primary care clinic
A primary care clinic in Australia implemented an e-appointment scheduling service and tracked patient adoption over 29 months. Only 4% of patients adopted the service by the end of the study period. Low adoption resulted from poor communication, lack of perceived value, incompatibility with patient preferences for phone-based appointments, and barriers including low internet literacy and limited home computer access—factors linked to the population's low socioeconomic status.
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The Role of Organizational Absorptive Capacity in Strategic Use of Business Intelligence to Support Integrated Management Control Systems
This study examines how organizations absorb and use business intelligence systems within management control frameworks. The research finds that organizational absorptive capacity—the ability to gather, absorb, and leverage new information—is critical for successful BI implementation. While top management supports deployment, operational managers' absorptive capacity drives actual system use through bottom-up adoption rather than top-down mandates.
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Managing innovation networks: Exploratory evidence from ICT, biotechnology and nanotechnology networks
This study examines how innovation networks function across ICT, biotechnology, and nanotechnology sectors in Australia. The researchers surveyed 219 participants from businesses, government, research organizations, and universities to test how network factors drive innovation outcomes. They found that effective management of inter-organizational relationships significantly influences new product development success, offering practical strategies for managers coordinating innovation across multiple organizations.
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Diffusion of innovation theory for clinical change
Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory explains how evidence-based clinical practices spread among healthcare providers. The theory identifies key factors affecting adoption: the innovation's characteristics, promotion by influential peers, complexity, compatibility with existing values, and the ability to test changes before full implementation. Understanding these factors helps explain why some practices change while others persist, and guides efforts to implement best-evidence medicine.
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The Open Innovation in Science research field: a collaborative conceptualisation approach
This paper develops a unified framework for understanding open and collaborative practices in scientific research. Forty-seven scholars from multiple disciplines collaborated to integrate fragmented knowledge about open innovation and open science, identifying factors at individual, team, organizational, field, and societal levels that shape these practices. The framework connects research antecedents, contingencies, and consequences across the entire process of generating, disseminating, and translating scientific insights into innovation.
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Responsible Urban Innovation with Local Government Artificial Intelligence (AI): A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda
This paper examines how local governments can responsibly adopt artificial intelligence systems to address urban challenges. The authors develop a conceptual framework for responsible urban innovation with AI, arguing that technology deployment must balance costs, benefits, risks, and impacts to avoid creating new problems. They review existing literature and applications, then propose a research agenda to help policymakers understand how to implement local government AI systems responsibly.
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BIM adoption within Australian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs): an innovation diffusion model
This study examines Building Information Modeling (BIM) adoption among Australian small and medium-sized enterprises in construction. Using innovation diffusion theory and surveying 135 SMEs, researchers found that 42% use basic BIM levels, while only 5% use advanced levels. The primary barrier to adoption is not lack of knowledge but uncertainty about return on investment. The study validates a theoretical framework for understanding BIM adoption decisions in Australian construction SMEs.
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Internationalization and innovation in a network relationship context
Network relationships shape how small software firms in New Zealand internationalize and innovate. Firms with limited networks pursue incremental changes, while those with diverse networks undertake radical internationalization and innovation. The study identifies four distinct firm groups based on network type and internationalization strategy, showing that network relationships both influence and sustain firm development.
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Energy transitions from the cradle to the grave: A meta-theoretical framework integrating responsible innovation, social practices, and energy justice
This paper integrates three theoretical approaches—responsible innovation, social practice theory, and energy justice—to analyze energy transitions comprehensively from design through use to end-of-life impacts. The authors apply this framework to four case studies: French nuclear power, Greek wind energy, Papua New Guinean solar energy, and Estonian oil shale. The integrated approach reveals how energy transitions create injustices and inequalities across their full lifecycle.
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THE ROLE OF ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY IN FACILITATING "OPEN INNOVATION" OUTCOMES: A STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN SMEs IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR
Australian manufacturing SMEs that pursue open innovation strategies achieve better innovation outcomes when they possess strong absorptive capacity—the ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply external knowledge. The study shows that simply accessing external knowledge through open innovation is insufficient; firms must develop internal capabilities to effectively transform and use that knowledge.
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Diffusion of innovations
This fourth edition of a foundational health behavior textbook provides comprehensive analysis of health behavior theories relevant to health education and practice. The work synthesizes theory, research, and practical applications to guide health professionals in understanding and influencing health behaviors across populations.
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Simulation of Enthalpy and Capacity of CO<sub>2</sub> Absorption by Aqueous Amine Systems
This paper develops a model to predict how well amine-based solvents absorb CO2 and the energy required for absorption and release. The model works for both well-studied solvents and new experimental systems. Testing shows that by adjusting amine properties and carbamate formation, researchers can improve CO2 capture capacity and reduce the energy needed compared to standard monoethanolamine systems.
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How and why Organisations Use Social Media: Five Use Types and their Relation to Absorptive Capacity
Organizations adopt social media for five distinct purposes: broadcast, dialogue, collaboration, knowledge management, and sociability. The study finds that dialogue-based social media use strengthens organizational absorptive capacity and performance, while sociability-focused use does not. This challenges unsupported industry claims about social media's universal benefits.
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Quality criteria and indicators for responsible research and innovation: learning from transdisciplinarity
This paper develops quality criteria and performance indicators for responsible research and innovation (RRI) to make the concept more concrete and actionable. Drawing on transdisciplinary research experience and stakeholder deliberation around nanoremediation, the authors create an evaluative rubric with specific criteria and indicators. While developed for nanoparticle environmental remediation, they argue this framework can guide how other fields develop their own RRI evaluation approaches.
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The generative and developmental roles of universities in regional innovation systems
Universities play multiple roles in developing regional innovation systems beyond technology transfer. This paper proposes an analytical framework to understand how universities contribute to regional innovation and why their roles vary across different regions. The framework moves beyond narrow institutional analysis to capture universities' broader developmental contributions to regional systems.
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Profiles of <sup>14</sup>C fixation through spinach leaves in relation to light absorption and photosynthetic capacity
This paper is not about rural innovation. It presents a laboratory study of photosynthetic processes in spinach leaves, measuring carbon dioxide fixation rates at different leaf depths under various light conditions. The researchers developed a model combining light absorption and photosynthetic capacity measurements to predict CO2 fixation profiles, finding strong agreement between observed and predicted results.
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Internet of Things for Green Building Management: Disruptive Innovations Through Low-Cost Sensor Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Buildings consume 60% of global electricity, but traditional management systems are expensive and impractical for small and medium-sized buildings. This paper demonstrates how Internet of Things sensors combined with artificial intelligence can monitor building energy use affordably. Low-cost IoT devices track occupancy and human activity patterns, enabling building managers to identify energy-saving opportunities and reduce consumption without expensive infrastructure.
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Social cognitive theory in technological innovations
Australian youth show limited intention to adopt wireless banking technology, according to a social cognitive theory framework. The research reveals that WAP banking technology remains immature and not yet ready for widespread youth adoption. Young people serve as early technology adopters whose behavior patterns indicate future market potential for digital banking innovations.
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User Service Innovation on Mobile Phone Platforms: Investigating Impacts of Lead Userness, Toolkit Support, and Design Autonomy1
This study examines how user characteristics, platform design features, and autonomy levels affect service innovation on mobile phone platforms like iOS and Android. Lead users with strong expertise, combined with toolkits that ease effort and enable exploration, plus decision-making and work-method autonomy, drive higher innovation output. The interactions between these factors matter more than individual effects alone.
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Innovating not-for-profit social ventures: Exploring the microfoundations of internal and external absorptive capacity routines
Not-for-profit organizations pursuing social innovation develop distinctive capabilities by combining internal and external absorptive capacity routines. Analysis of 14 case studies from Australia and the UK shows these organizations mediate social innovation by configuring routines that blend user knowledge with technological knowledge flows. The study reveals how social ventures build and sustain the organizational capabilities needed to innovate effectively.
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Innovation networks and capability building in the Australian high‐technology SMEs
Australian high-technology SMEs in biotechnology and ICT sectors build innovation capabilities by participating in knowledge networks. The study examined firms in Sydney and Melbourne, finding that small businesses use network linkages to overcome resource constraints, learn, adapt to technological change, and innovate. Network analysis reveals critical success factors that can help policymakers and managers improve innovation processes and competitive capabilities.
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Integrating Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) into classroom instruction: teaching tips for hospitality educators from a diffusion of innovation approach
This paper examines barriers preventing university academics from adopting ICT in teaching and identifies practical solutions to overcome resistance. Using Diffusion of Innovation theory, the authors analyze why educators hesitate to integrate new technologies into classroom instruction and provide teaching tips to guide academics in adopting ICT-enhanced pedagogical practices.
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Innovation diffusion: a stakeholder and social network view
This paper examines why XBRL adoption has struggled in Australia using stakeholder and social network theory. Interviews with stakeholders revealed that while they have legitimate reasons to adopt XBRL, most lack power or urgency to drive its diffusion. The authors recommend instrumental measures like knowledge building, subsidies, and mobilization strategies to strengthen stakeholder influence and accelerate adoption of network innovations.
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Reversing “drift”: Innovation and diffusion in the London diphthong system
This paper examines phonetic changes in London English diphthongs to test Sapir's theory of linguistic 'drift'—the idea that language changes naturally and unconsciously. The researchers found that London reversed a diphthong shift that continued uninterrupted in New Zealand English, disproving drift theory. They argue that social factors and dialect contact, not natural processes, drive language change, particularly in diverse urban centers.
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Knowledge collaboration between organizations and online communities: the role of open innovation intermediaries
Open innovation intermediaries facilitate knowledge collaboration between organizations and online communities through three boundary management mechanisms: syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. These mechanisms enable knowledge transfer, translation, and transformation respectively. The pragmatic mechanism—building organizational commitment to community engagement—proves most critical. Intermediaries must implement all three mechanisms and move beyond digital platforms to achieve effective knowledge collaboration in community-based innovation.
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Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage Through Collaborative Innovation Networks
Collaborative innovation networks create competitive advantage through what the author calls 'swarm creativity'—the collective problem-solving power of interconnected innovators working together. Rather than isolated R&D efforts, organizations that build and leverage these networks generate superior innovation outcomes by combining diverse expertise and perspectives across organizational boundaries.
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Process innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises: The critical roles of external knowledge sourcing and absorptive capacity
External knowledge sourcing and absorptive capacity drive process innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. A study of 124 automotive SMEs in challenging institutional environments found that broad external knowledge search—but not deep search—correlates with process innovation development. Process innovation subsequently improves firm performance.
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The process of user-innovation: a case study in a consumer goods setting
Users developing new products in kitesurfing follow a structured two-stage process: idea generation and idea realisation. Unlike manufacturers' formal development phases, users employ intuition-driven approaches but still follow identifiable sequences. Manufacturers can improve innovation by closely observing how users actually invent and develop products.
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Containing the Not-Invented-Here Syndrome in external knowledge absorption and open innovation: The role of indirect countermeasures
The Not-Invented-Here Syndrome causes organizations to reject external knowledge, harming innovation. This paper identifies two types of countermeasures: direct approaches that change negative attitudes toward external knowledge, and indirect approaches that reduce the behavioral impact of those attitudes without changing them. Research across 32 interviews and 565 R&D projects shows perspective-taking effectively reduces NIHS effects and improves external knowledge absorption and project success.
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A workforce survey of Australian osteopathy: analysis of a nationally-representative sample of osteopaths from the Osteopathy Research and Innovation Network (ORION) project
A survey of nearly 1,000 Australian osteopaths reveals the profession's workforce composition and practice patterns. Most practitioners are female, university-educated, and work in urban multi-practitioner clinics treating musculoskeletal disorders. The osteopathy workforce delivers approximately 3 million hours of care annually to 3.9 million patients, primarily through referral networks with other healthcare providers.
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The Response of Islamic Financial Service to the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Open Social Innovation of the Financial System
Islamic financial services can help economies recover from COVID-19's economic damage. The paper identifies four pandemic stages and proposes ten innovative Islamic financial services for each stage, analyzing how these services address economic disruption, unemployment, and business collapse at different points in the crisis.
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Assessing the roles that absorptive capacity and economic distance play in the foreign direct investment-productivity growth nexus
Foreign direct investment boosts productivity in host countries through two main channels: technology transfer and education investment. The study finds that geographical distance between investing and host countries reduces the effectiveness of both trade and FDI in transferring technology and knowledge. Countries with stronger absorptive capacity—built through education—benefit more from FDI. Technology flows work in both directions between investing and host nations.
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Innovation diffusion at the implementation stage of a construction project: a case study of information communication technology
Construction companies often fail to realize benefits from information communication technology despite its potential. This study examined three construction contractors to understand how ICT implementation succeeds or fails. The research identifies critical factors for successful adoption: management support, technical support, workplace environment, and user characteristics. These insights provide a framework for improving ICT adoption across different implementation stages in construction.
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Expanding the field of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) – from responsible research to responsible innovation
Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has become prominent in policy but remains narrow and top-down. This special issue broadens RRI by examining how researchers, firms, and other actors actually practice responsible innovation across sectors and regions. The authors expand RRI beyond research processes to include how knowledge becomes innovation in society, and encompass non-research-driven innovation. Ten case studies reveal heterogeneous responsibility practices, leading to recommendations for a multidimensional, multi-scale RRI framework.
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Crowdsourcing without profit: the role of the seeker in open social innovation
Government agencies use crowdsourcing to solve social problems by engaging citizens, a practice called citizensourcing. This study of 18 local government agencies reveals that government crowdsourcing differs fundamentally from corporate crowdsourcing because both seekers and solvers are motivated by non-monetary goals. The researchers show how government organizational choices, team capabilities, and engagement strategies directly shape crowdsourcing project outcomes and success.
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Applying social innovation theory to examine how community co-designed health services develop: using a case study approach and mixed methods
Community co-designed health services in rural Australia emerge when local participants combine contextual knowledge with external facilitation, but require manager and policymaker support to sustain. Social innovation theory effectively explains how grassroots innovations develop through three stages: growth, development, and diffusion. Political relationships and compatibility with existing health systems determine whether innovations survive beyond pilot phases.
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Outsourcing creativity: An abductive study of open innovation using corporate accelerators
Corporate accelerators bring startups together with established companies to share innovation and funding. This study examines how these programs actually work by analyzing their strategy, resources, roles, and structure. The research reveals the characteristics and mechanisms of corporate accelerators as an open innovation model, filling a gap in empirical understanding of why companies use them and what they expect to gain.
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Novel Negative Poisson’s Ratio Lattice Structures with Enhanced Stiffness and Energy Absorption Capacity
This paper develops three new lattice structures with negative Poisson's ratio by modifying a re-entrant design with embedded ribs. The novel lattices significantly increase stiffness, strength, and energy absorption capacity compared to standard negative Poisson's ratio materials. Researchers validated the designs through simulation and physical prototypes made via additive manufacturing, confirming the structures perform as predicted and show promise for engineering applications.
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Innovation and Innovators Inside Government: From Institutions to Networks
This study examines how innovation happens within government by analyzing 947 politicians and bureaucrats across 11 Australian municipalities. The researchers found that innovation inside government depends less on formal job positions and more on informal networks and relationships. Using social network analysis, they show that access to advice and strategic information networks among senior officials significantly determines who becomes an innovator within government institutions.
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Information systems absorptive capacity for environmentally driven IS‐enabled transformation
Organizations can leverage information systems to address environmental sustainability by developing IS-environmental absorptive capacity—the ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply environmental knowledge through IS. The study identifies that sustainable IS triggers, knowledge exposure, and prior experience build this capacity, which then drives environmentally sustainable IS adoption and improves cost savings, operational performance, and organizational reputation. Survey and case study evidence confirm the model.
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A Holistic Model of Building Innovation Ecosystems
This paper systematizes the lifecycle processes required to build innovation ecosystems. The authors review existing knowledge and identify key factors that influence how these ecosystems evolve over time. They highlight open questions and suggest future research directions for understanding ecosystem development.
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The combined influence of top and middle management leadership styles on absorptive capacity
This study examines how leadership styles of top and middle managers together influence organizational absorptive capacity—the ability to learn and apply new knowledge. The research finds that different management style combinations work best for different learning types: exploratory learning requires both levels to use transformational leadership, transformative learning works when top management uses transformational and middle management uses transactional styles, and exploitative learning succeeds when both use transactional styles. Organizational context attributes also affect how well these leadership combinations perform.
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Open Service Innovation: The Role of Intermediary Capabilities
Intermediaries with digital service platforms develop three key capabilities—technological, marketing, and co-creation—to help clients innovate their services. Co-creation capabilities act as a higher-order capability that shapes and improves how technological and marketing capabilities work together. These intermediaries enable clients to overcome internal barriers and successfully pursue open service innovation within their service ecosystems.
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OPENNESS IN PRODUCT AND PROCESS INNOVATION
Open innovation benefits both product and process innovation in Australian firms, but external information sources show diminishing returns over time. Internal and external knowledge complement each other primarily for new products and services rather than process innovation. Investment in absorptive capacity yields declining marginal returns for process innovation but not for product innovation.
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Clinical Team Functioning and IT Innovation: A Study of the Diffusion of a Point-of-care Online Evidence System
Clinical team functioning significantly affects whether healthcare teams effectively use online evidence systems to improve patient care, though it doesn't determine initial awareness or adoption. Small teams showed greater awareness of the system than large teams. The study of 180 clinicians across three Australian hospitals demonstrates that team climate matters most at the implementation stage of innovation diffusion, supporting Rogers' diffusion theory.
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An Actor-Network Theory Analysis of Policy Innovation for Smoke-Free Places: Understanding Change in Complex Systems
This paper uses actor-network theory to analyze how jurisdictions successfully implement smoke-free indoor regulations as a tobacco control policy. The authors identify key attributes that distinguish jurisdictions that adopted this innovation from those that have not, and extract lessons about overcoming systemic barriers to solving complex transnational public health problems like tobacco control, food distribution, and climate change.
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Evolving a Value Chain to an Open Innovation Ecosystem: Cognitive Engagement of Stakeholders in Customizing Medical Implants
A medical device firm transformed its traditional value chain into an open innovation ecosystem to customize orthopedic implants using 3D printing. The company used cognitive artifacts—shared visual and conceptual tools—to help diverse stakeholders develop common understanding and collaborate effectively. This approach enabled the firm to pursue mass customization while avoiding suboptimal local strategies and managing the constraints that external partnerships can impose on innovation strategy.
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Building Constructive Innovation Networks: Role of Relationship Management
This case study examines how the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation manages relationships across multiple organizations to drive innovation. The research finds that relational governance—based on trust and cooperation rather than contracts—is essential for these networks, though supplemented by other governance approaches. The authors develop a relationship management framework and identify key lessons for designing and operating interorganizational innovation networks effectively.
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Media Innovations, User Innovations, Societal Innovations
Media innovations involve changes in both technology and practices, driven by audiences, users, professionals, and providers. User participation in content creation increasingly shapes media and society together. Understanding media innovation requires examining how changes ripple across interconnected media systems and social structures, recognizing that media innovations are inseparable from broader societal transformations.
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The Driving Forces of Subsidiary Absorptive Capacity
This study examines how multinational corporations strengthen their subsidiaries' ability to absorb and implement marketing strategies. The research shows that subsidiaries operate within two competing environments—the MNC network and their local host country market. MNCs can enhance subsidiary competitiveness by creating organizational mechanisms that build absorptive capacity. Analysis of 213 subsidiaries reveals specific structures that enable effective strategy adoption in dynamic markets.
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Twitter’s diffusion in sports journalism: Role models, laggards and followers of the social media innovation
Sports journalists at major news organizations in Australia, India, and the United Kingdom adopted Twitter at different rates and for different reasons. The study used interviews and article analysis to show when and why journalists embraced the platform, and how much Twitter content appeared in sports coverage. Twitter adoption brought benefits to individual journalists and their organizations, with patterns that apply to other countries experiencing similar diffusion.
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An empirical investigation of the National Innovation System (NIS) using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the TOBIT model
This paper measures national innovation system efficiency across 20 emerging and developed countries using DEA Bootstrap analysis. The study identifies which countries perform as innovation leaders by converting inputs into outputs efficiently. For underperforming countries, the research identifies three key factors that could improve innovation efficiency: secondary school enrollment, working-age labor force participation, and business sector credit expansion.
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Measurement of Social Networks for Innovation within Community Disaster Resilience
Social networks are critical for community disaster resilience, but measuring their impact has lacked standardized methods. This paper reviews empirical studies from the Global South using social network analysis to quantify social capital in disaster risk reduction. The authors find that robust social network analysis methodologies are emerging, enabling better cross-study comparison. They argue that mapping local social networks is essential for effective disaster preparedness policy, and recommend social network analysis as a core methodology for future resilience research and planning.
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3D‐Printed Soft and Hard Meta‐Structures with Supreme Energy Absorption and Dissipation Capacities in Cyclic Loading Conditions
Researchers developed 3D-printed auxetic meta-structures using soft and hard polymers to absorb and dissipate energy under repeated loading. They tested thermoplastic polyurethane and polyamide designs inspired by snowflake geometry, using multi-jet fusion printing. Both materials showed strong energy absorption with large recoverable deformations and high dissipation capacity. Computational models accurately predicted experimental results. The structures could enable lightweight, energy-absorbing components for drones and UAVs.
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From ego‐systems to open innovation ecosystems: A process model of inter‐firm openness
This study identifies how firms transition from closed innovation systems to open ecosystems through four distinct phases: realization, socialization, strategic alignment, and two-way openness. Based on 54 interviews with Australian business park managers, the research shows that phase transitions begin spontaneously but grow more complex as openness increases. Interdependence, social exchange, and trust drive successful ecosystem development.
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Innovation for a steady state: a case for responsible stagnation
This paper argues that responsible innovation frameworks should explicitly consider 'responsible stagnation'—deliberately slowing or halting innovation in certain sectors. Drawing on ecological economics, the authors challenge the growth-driven paradigm and contend that managing resource consumption and development pace in over-productive or risky sectors represents a legitimate form of responsible innovation, not its failure.
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Aid allocation to fragile states: Absorptive capacity constraints
This paper examines aid effectiveness in fragile states, finding that some countries can absorb more aid than they receive while others receive more than they can efficiently use. The authors analyze absorptive capacity constraints based on per capita income growth and provide policy recommendations for improving aid allocation to fragile states.
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Competing pressures of risk and absorptive capacity potential on commitment and information sharing in global supply chains
Organizations participating in global supply chains face competing pressures when deciding whether to commit to and share information with partners. This study surveyed 207 organizations about their offshore outsourcing relationships and found that perceived business risk from supply chain partners strongly reduces commitment and information sharing, while partners' absorptive capacity strongly increases both. Commitment acts as a partial mediator between these factors and information sharing. Geographic and cultural location had no significant effect on these relationships.
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Universities in the National Innovation Systems: Emerging Innovation Landscapes in Asia-Pacific
Universities across Asia-Pacific play increasingly central roles in national innovation systems, though their contributions vary significantly by country. While Southeast Asian universities and India focus primarily on teaching and workforce development, countries like Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Japan have transformed universities into entrepreneurial institutions through innovation policies, technology transfer offices, and science parks. Australia and New Zealand have successfully commercialized research alongside exporting higher education services regionally.
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Toward Efficient CO<sub>2</sub> Capture Solvent Design by Analyzing the Effect of Chain Lengths and Amino Types to the Absorption Capacity, Bicarbonate/Carbamate, and Cyclic Capacity
This paper investigates how molecular structure of amine solvents affects CO2 capture efficiency. Researchers tested six diamines with varying chain lengths and amino groups, comparing them to standard monoamines. Results show that extending the carbon chain from C2 to C3 and adding substituents to nitrogen atoms both increase CO2 absorption capacity, bicarbonate formation, and desorption performance, offering guidance for designing more energy-efficient industrial CO2 capture solvents.
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The Making of Responsible Innovation and Technology: An Overview and Framework
This paper reviews responsible innovation and technology (RIT) concepts to establish how digital advancement can serve both economic and social goals. The authors identify key RIT characteristics: technological outcomes must be acceptable, accessible, trustworthy, and well-governed while aligning with societal values. They develop a conceptual framework for implementing RIT that governments, companies, and researchers can use to address challenges from technological progress while protecting community well-being.
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Disruptive innovation, stranded assets and forecasting: the rise and rise of renewable energy
Renewable energy combined with battery storage exhibits the three defining features of disruptive innovation: it occupies an expanding niche, grows exponentially, and creates stranded assets in fossil fuel infrastructure. The paper forecasts that renewable energy with storage will exceed current capacity projections and could meet 100% of global energy demand by 2050 under various scenarios, fundamentally transforming energy systems over the next three decades.
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Enriching individual absorptive capacity
This study examines how individual employees develop absorptive capacity—the ability to learn and apply new knowledge. Using survey data from 125 supervisor-employee pairs, the authors find that organizational commitment to learning and intrinsic motivation both strengthen employees' potential absorptive capacity. Realized absorptive capacity then mediates the relationship between potential capacity and employee creativity, which directly improves job performance.
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Network externalities and the perception of innovation characteristics: mobile banking
This study examines how network externalities—the value users gain from more users and complementary services—influence adoption of mobile banking. The research finds that more users and available services make mobile banking seem easier to use and more compatible with people's lifestyles, increasing adoption intention. Technology anxiety did not affect these relationships. Banks can boost adoption by offering diverse complementary services.
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KNOWLEDGE INFLOWS FROM MARKET- AND SCIENCE-BASED ACTORS, ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY, INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE — A STUDY OF SMEs
This study examines how small and medium-sized enterprises absorb external knowledge and convert it into innovation and business performance. Using data from 838 Australian SMEs, the researchers found that knowledge from market-based sources (like customers and competitors) directly boosts innovation, while knowledge from science-based sources (like universities) works indirectly by first building the firm's absorptive capacity. Both pathways ultimately improve firm performance through innovation.
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Greening logistics and its impact on environmental performance: an absorptive capacity perspective
Australian logistics and transport operators improve environmental performance by building absorptive capacity—the ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit green logistics knowledge. The study of 279 firms shows that enhancing knowledge exploitation through operational changes and new practices reduces CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, and environmental compliance costs. Firms must systematically integrate environmental information across channels to achieve greener logistics.
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Considering the implications of place-based approaches for improving rural community wellbeing: The value of a relational lens
Place-based rural policy often treats rural space as homogenous, limiting its effectiveness for improving community wellbeing. This paper argues that adopting a relational view of rural space—understanding it as socially created through connections and flows—offers a better framework for designing and evaluating rural health and community development policies. A relational approach helps policymakers measure outcomes more accurately and address the complex, interconnected nature of rural wellbeing.
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Innovation and productivity in dryland agriculture: a return-risk analysis for Australia
Australian dryland farming has remained productive despite harsh conditions, driven by science and technology investments over 30 years. The paper examines risks and returns from technological innovations and identifies sources of future productivity gains. It finds that agricultural research and development significantly contributed to productivity growth, but this has slowed in the past decade due to drought and declining public investment. Future gains require sustained RD&E investment, improved risk management, farmer skills, and policies promoting efficiency.
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The Rural Digital Divide
Rural residents in Australia face unequal access to information and communication technologies compared to urban populations. The authors studied disadvantaged groups in the Canberra area through focus groups and expert interviews, finding that rural communities share similar technology access barriers regardless of location. Australian governments recognize these rural digital divide problems and are implementing infrastructure initiatives to ensure equitable access for all residents.
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Applying a community entrepreneurship development framework to rural regional development
The paper develops a community entrepreneurship development framework for rural regions and tests it in South Australia's Barossa Valley agricultural sector. The framework helps practitioners and policymakers build entrepreneurial capacity by combining community capitals—particularly natural, human, and social capital. The research shows that successful firm-level entrepreneurship depends on leveraging a region's unique natural resources alongside human and entrepreneurial assets to drive community-wide market development.
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Hype, evidence gaps and digital divides: Telehealth blind spots in rural Australia
Telehealth adoption in rural Australia remains slow despite significant health service demand. The authors identify four critical blind spots hindering progress: technocentric hype that ignores unintended consequences, gaps in evidence about patient experiences, insufficient attention to digital divides and social determinants of health, and failure to involve communities in service design. They argue that understanding telehealth as a socio-technical practice rather than purely technological solution is essential for improving accessibility and effectiveness.
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Design thinking: employing an effective multidisciplinary pedagogical framework to foster creativity and innovation in rural and remote education
This paper develops a design thinking framework to teach creative problem-solving to secondary students in rural and remote schools. Students learn a six-step process—understand, observe, visualize, evaluate, refine, implement—applied to local rural issues, creating multimedia presentations or games. The research produces a model for implementing design thinking across schools to build students' creative capacity and innovation skills needed for future workplaces.
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Highly spectrally efficient Ngara Rural Wireless Broadband Access Demonstrator
Researchers developed a wireless broadband technology for rural areas that dramatically improves spectral efficiency to 67 bits/s/Hz, the highest reported at the time. By maximizing coverage area and user capacity per access point while minimizing deployment costs, the system delivers high data rates (≈100 Mb/s per user) across rural regions using limited VHF and UHF spectrum on practical, low-cost hardware.
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“Summer sowing”: A successful innovation to increase the adoption of key species of annual forage legumes for agriculture in Mediterranean and temperate environments
Researchers tested summer sowing of annual legume species in Australia, finding that several species with hard seeds can be sown into dry soil in late summer and establish robust pastures after winter rains. Summer-sown legumes produced 1.5 to 10 times more herbage than conventionally sown alternatives. The technique works across different species and climatic zones in Western Australia and New South Wales, offering a practical innovation for pasture renovation that removes adoption barriers.
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Conservation Tillage and Cropping Innovation: Constructing the New Culture of Agriculture
This book examines how no-tillage farming technology spread among farmers through social networks and action-learning groups. The authors show that successful conservation tillage systems depend on farmer management and personal motivation to change. They analyze how deeply entrenched plowing culture was in both farming communities and broader U.S. and Australian societies, and how farmers overcame this cultural resistance through innovation networks.
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Relative advantage and complexity: Predicting the rate of adoption of agricultural innovations
Farmers adopt agricultural innovations at rates determined by perceived complexity and relative advantage, not just novelty. A survey of 200 New Zealand dairy farmers found that simple technologies take months to adopt while complex ones take years. Critically, originality doesn't predict integration difficulty—apparently simple practices often prove hard to implement in real farm systems. Understanding farm-system integration requirements is essential for predicting adoption timelines and assessing farmers' adaptive capacity to climate change.
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Exploring how to sustain ‘place-based’ rural health academic research for informing rural health systems: a qualitative investigation
Rural health researchers in Australia face seven major sustainability challenges: poor recognition, excessive workloads, weak networks, inadequate funding mechanisms, unsupportive organizational culture, job insecurity, and limited career advancement. The study of 17 early-career rural researchers reveals that strategic grants ignore generalist research, fixed-term contracts undermine retention, and isolation from main campuses limits opportunities. The authors recommend establishing research hubs, collaborative networks, targeted funding, and career development pathways to sustain this critical field.
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Charting the media innovations landscape for regional and rural newspapers
This paper develops a framework for understanding media innovation in rural Australian newspapers. Rather than pursuing a narrow 'digital first' strategy, the authors propose a six-dimensional approach that integrates digital, social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental concerns. They argue that rural news organizations should prioritize building resilience and relevance for their communities and environments, not just organizational survival.
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Citizen Science as Democratic Innovation That Renews Environmental Monitoring and Assessment for the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Areas
Citizen science offers a democratic approach to environmental monitoring that strengthens the legitimacy of data used for sustainable development in rural areas. Traditional environmental monitoring fails to adequately support local implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. By incorporating citizen science into environmental assessment, rural communities can produce and use data more effectively for transformative governance, particularly for protecting land and natural resources while addressing resource conflicts.
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International Comparison of the Efficiency of Agricultural Science, Technology, and Innovation: A Case Study of G20 Countries
This study measures agricultural science, technology, and innovation (ASTI) efficiency across G20 countries using data envelopment analysis. Developed G20 nations show declining efficiency trends but stronger innovation capacity, while developing G20 countries demonstrate rising efficiency but lower capacity. R&D spending redundancy and insufficient agricultural research output constrain efficiency gains. Technological change drives most productivity improvements across both groups.
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Triggering system innovation in agricultural innovation systems: Initial insights from a community for change in New Zealand
This paper describes a process in New Zealand that brings together agricultural innovation system actors to identify systemic problems and challenge institutional barriers. Through collaborative problem-solving, reflexivity, and practical experimentation, the process helped change agents develop shared understanding of how relationships and boundaries reinforce current practices. The approach stimulated project-level actions and revealed wider system barriers, though integrating individual innovation projects with broader system-level changes remains difficult.
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Antipodean agricultural and resource economics at 60: agricultural innovation
Agricultural innovation has transformed economies and livelihoods over 150 years, but creates complex economic and policy challenges. Market failures in agricultural research, unequal income distribution effects, and difficulty attributing consequences to specific causes complicate understanding. Australian agricultural economists have contributed significantly to studying these innovation economics issues since the 1950s.
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Understanding broadband adoption in rural Australia
Rural Australian households adopt broadband based on three key factors: perceived relative advantage over existing technologies, expected utility outcomes, and availability of facilitating conditions like technical support. The study identifies specific challenges stakeholders face when promoting broadband adoption in rural areas and provides a household-level framework for understanding adoption behavior in rural settings.
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Digital revolution or digital divide: Will rural teachers get a piece of the professional development pie?
Rural teachers in Western Australia face significant barriers accessing professional development compared to urban counterparts. Despite Australian government funding for digital education initiatives, including broadband expansion and $40 million for teacher ICT training, rural isolation limits access to professional learning communities and support structures. A survey of 104 rural principals and teachers reveals their perceptions of professional development access and how they use technology to overcome geographic barriers.
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Impact of high-speed broadband on innovation in rural firms
High-speed broadband access significantly boosts innovation capabilities in rural firms. The study shows that broadband's impact on rural business innovation operates through IT competence and digital options, which enhance organizational agility and competitive actions. These improvements directly drive innovation and firm performance. The research extends capability theory to the organizational level and provides policy-makers with evidence for allocating IT investments effectively.
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Middle years students’ engagement with science in rural and urban communities in Australia: exploring science capital, place-based knowledges and familial relationships
Rural and urban Australian middle-school students develop science engagement differently based on family relationships and local knowledge. The study of 45 Year 8 students reveals that place-based knowledge and family social capital significantly influence science identity formation. Rural students draw on different knowledge resources than urban peers. Teachers can better support science engagement by recognizing and building on students' existing family knowledge and local expertise rather than assuming uniform science capital across communities.
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Place-based research in small rural hospitals: an overlooked opportunity for action to reduce health inequities in Australia?
Small rural hospitals in Australia represent an underutilized setting for place-based research that could address health inequities. The authors argue that conducting research within these hospitals, tailored to local contexts and needs, offers a practical opportunity to generate evidence and implement solutions that reduce disparities in rural healthcare access and outcomes.
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Benchmarking innovations and new practices in rural tourism development
Rural tourism in Asia can become more sustainable by adopting innovations and best practices from both within the region and internationally. The authors reviewed case studies from nine Asian countries plus New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Lesotho, and Poland to identify successful approaches. They found that Asian countries can replicate management strategies and development models from other nations to improve their own rural tourism initiatives.
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Australian agricultural R&amp;D and innovation systems
Australia's agricultural sector maintains global competitiveness through cutting-edge R&D and rapid innovation despite minimal public subsidies and high export volumes. The paper challenges urban-focused creativity theories by demonstrating that rural innovation systems can be equally powerful, driven by scale economies and quality control demands in the farming sector.
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A new rural digital divide? Taking stock of geographical digital inclusion in Australia
Rural Australia faces a persistent digital divide shaped by slow infrastructure development, high connection costs, and compounding disadvantages. The author draws on six years of research and lived experience to show that digital inclusion gaps exist not just between urban and rural areas, but increasingly within rural communities themselves. Three key factors drive this emerging divide: incremental progress in digital development, the complexity and expense of achieving connectivity, and overlapping disadvantages that deepen inequality.
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What a Pandemic Has Taught Us About the Potential for Innovation in Rural Health: Commencing an Ethnography in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Australia
The paper examines how rural health systems in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Australia built resilience and capacity during the pandemic. Using antifragility as a framework—the concept that systems strengthen under stress—the authors conducted ethnographic research to understand how rural health innovations emerged and persisted through crisis conditions.
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How can agricultural extension and rural advisory services support agricultural innovation to adapt to climate change in the agriculture sector?
Agricultural extension and advisory services must expand their roles to support farm innovation for climate adaptation. The paper finds that these services should connect diverse actors across sectors, facilitate learning and collaboration, and help farmers develop collective approaches to climate change. This broader, more networked approach to extension work is essential for agricultural sustainability under changing climate conditions.
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Making the case for place based governance in rural health workforce recruitment and retention: Lessons from Canada and Australia
Rural communities worldwide struggle to recruit and retain health workers, creating healthcare access gaps between rural and urban areas. This study examines place-based governance approaches through case studies in Canada and Australia. The authors argue that effective rural health workforce strategies require context-specific benchmarks and cross-national collaboration to understand how place-making strategies can improve recruitment and retention in rural health services.
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In-Place Training: Optimizing Rural Health Workforce Outcomes through Rural-Based Education in Australia
Extended rural clinical school placements strongly predict where medical graduates practice in their first years after graduation in Australia. Graduates who completed longer rural placements were six times more likely to work in rural areas than those without such placements. Rural background and being older at graduation also increased rural practice likelihood. Surprisingly, formal bonding agreements requiring rural practice had no effect. The study recommends expanding rural placement opportunities to address rural doctor shortages.
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Challenges, solutions and future directions for public health innovations targeting dementia prevention for rural and remote populations
Rural and remote populations in Australia face 80% higher dementia risk and 1.4 times greater chronic disease burden than metropolitan areas, yet health interventions remain designed for urban populations. This paper identifies challenges in cognitive health service delivery for rural communities and proposes short and long-term policy and clinical practice innovations to improve dementia prevention in these underserved regions.
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Challenges and innovations in access to community‐based rural primary care services during the Covid‐19 pandemic in Australia
Rural Australian general practices faced evolving challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic while developing innovations to maintain accessible primary care. Over a year of interviews, eleven practices reported implementing new planning processes, digital health options, and protective measures for patients and staff. The study identifies reflexive action as a common theme, showing how rural practices adapted their service delivery models to sustain access during the pandemic's changing conditions.
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Developing information to support the implementation of place-based economic development strategies: A case study of regional and rural development policy in the State of Victoria, Australia
Victoria, Australia implemented place-based regional development strategies requiring local and government partnerships. A key challenge emerged: stakeholders lacked shared understanding of government's role in promoting local economic growth. The author describes developing an information base to address this misalignment and offers lessons for practitioners implementing similar place-based economic development approaches elsewhere.
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Economics of Broadband Access Technologies for Rural Areas
This paper analyzes the cost-effectiveness of different broadband technologies for rural areas using real geographic data. Wireless technology proves cheapest for low-speed, low-density areas, while fiber optic networks (PON) offer the lowest costs when speeds exceed 20 Mbit/s. The findings provide practical guidance for selecting appropriate rural broadband infrastructure.
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Addressing the Digital Divide in Rural Australia
Rural Australia faces a digital divide limiting ICT access compared to metropolitan areas. The Access@schools program addresses this by providing rural communities with ICT resources through local schools. A notebook borrowing program at Chiltern Primary School in Victoria allowed community members to borrow computers. Analysis of the program through interviews with participants and key informants revealed benefits and impacts for individual users and the community, alongside areas needing improvement.
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The Rural-Urban 'Digital Divide' in New Zealand: Fact or Fable?
This study analyzes New Zealand business data to measure the rural-urban digital divide in email and website adoption. Contrary to expectations, provincial and remote areas show higher email uptake than urban centers. The findings suggest that higher communication costs in rural areas actually incentivize earlier technology adoption, and that firm size, local economic conditions, and product type matter more than infrastructure quality or location for website investment decisions.
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Indigenous Innovations in Qualitative Research Method: Investigating the Private World of Family Life
This paper presents an indigenous research method developed with Māori families to study family communication and well-being. Rather than imposing external researchers, family members record their own conversations and participate in interpreting the data. The approach gives research participants active control over what aspects of their private lives they share and how findings are understood, combining Western and Māori-centered ethical practices.
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Entrepreneurship in Rural Tourism? Australian Landcare Programs as a Destination Marketing Tool
Landcare programs in Australia represent a bottom-up community approach to environmental management that creates educational tourism opportunities. Two case studies show that rural enterprises running Landcare-based tourism initiatives lack understanding of tourism industry mechanics, missing significant business opportunities. The paper demonstrates that bridging environmental conservation with tourism requires better industry knowledge among rural operators.
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Emerging ideas for innovation in Indigenous education: a research synthesis of Indigenous educative roles in mainstream and flexi schools
Indigenous staff play distinct educative roles in mainstream versus flexi schools in Australia. Flexi schools engage disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous students and staff, yet remain overlooked in Indigenous education discourse. This research synthesis reveals contrasting approaches between the two schooling types, suggesting that flexi schools' models offer insights that could reshape the broader Indigenous education agenda across all educational settings.
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SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION IN THE HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT OF AUSTRALIA'S DROUGHT STRICKEN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Small businesses in drought-affected rural Australian communities implemented innovations to survive economic hardship. Most changes were incremental, focusing on protecting markets, accessing resources, and improving efficiency. However, some businesses pursued radical innovations including mergers, acquisitions, and product diversification. These high-risk strategies contributed significantly to their communities. Planning and resource access reduced risks associated with major innovations.
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Strength of cross‐sector collaborations in co‐designing an extended rural and remote nursing placement innovation: Focusing on student learning in preference to student churning
A cross-sector collaboration between Australian universities and rural health services co-designed an extended nursing placement program to improve student learning in remote areas. The program addresses short placements that limit students' exposure to rural practice and their ability to consider rural careers. By involving stakeholders in program design and implementation, the collaboration created a rural-ready nursing workforce while reducing student attrition from rural regions.
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“Moving from transactional government to enablement” in Indigenous service delivery: The era of New Public Management, service innovation and urban Aboriginal community development
Aboriginal Community Based Organisations in Newcastle, Australia have successfully driven urban Aboriginal community development and self-determination for 40 years. New Public Management reforms that treat social services as market commodities threaten this success by prioritizing transactional government over genuine community enablement. The paper argues that policy must shift toward authentic enablement that supports Aboriginal autonomy and community-led development rather than market-driven service delivery.
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Broadband policy and rural and cultural divides in Australia
Australian broadband policy fails to account for local preferences and cultural contexts, particularly among Indigenous communities. The paper argues that infrastructure alone cannot solve digital divides; instead, policies must respond to how different populations actually want to use technology. Remote Indigenous Australians prefer mobile over satellite services due to geography, culture, and economy. Addressing digital exclusion requires understanding local factors beyond just socio-economic disadvantage.
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Economic Analysis of Broadband Access for Australian Rural and Remote Areas
This paper compares the deployment costs of three broadband technologies—DSL, passive optical networks, and WiMAX—across Australian rural and remote areas. Wireless technology proves most cost-effective for sparse populations below one home per square kilometer at 20 Mbit/s speeds, while fiber-based passive optical networks become economically superior for higher speeds of 50 Mbit/s and above.
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Entrepreneurship within rural tourism: A private walkway on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand
Rural tourism offers farmers an economic alternative to declining agricultural profits. In New Zealand, the removal of farm subsidies in 1984 forced farmers to diversify and respond entrepreneurially. One entrepreneurial response was the establishment of the first private rural walkway on Banks Peninsula, demonstrating how educated rural populations created new ventures and value from economic necessity.
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Strategic experimentation and innovation in rural Australia
A small family farm in rural Australia successfully introduced a new crop and farming methods through strategic partnerships with an international company and government organizations. The case demonstrates that rural innovation depends on entrepreneurial qualities—opportunity recognition, network leverage, risk-taking, and adaptive learning—combined with a supportive national culture that enables farmers to overcome barriers and sustain ventures.
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Optimizing renewable energy site selection in rural Australia: Clustering algorithms and energy potential analysis
This study uses clustering algorithms and genetic optimization to identify the best locations for renewable energy plants across rural Australia. Researchers analyzed solar irradiance and wind speed data to find optimal sites, then simulated energy outputs using HOMER Pro software. Solar panels consistently outperformed wind turbines. While genetic K-Medoids produced the highest energy output, it came with the highest costs, revealing a trade-off between energy production and financial feasibility.
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Capital Factors Influencing Rural, Regional and Remote Women’s Entrepreneurship Development: An Australian Perspective
This study surveyed 188 women entrepreneurs in rural, regional, and remote Queensland, Australia to understand how economic, social, and cultural capital influence their entrepreneurial engagement. Social capital emerged as the strongest driver of entrepreneurial success and engagement preferences, even more than formal qualifications or credentials. The researchers attribute this to how rural communities rely on networks as survival mechanisms. The findings offer insights for policymakers designing programs to support women's entrepreneurship in remote areas.
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Immersive Place-Based Attachments in Rural Australia: An Overview of an Allied Health Program and Its Outcomes
An Australian university's rural immersive attachment program for allied health students significantly increased rural practice intentions among both metropolitan and rural-origin students. Graduates who completed longer placements (18+ weeks) were 2 to 2.7 times more likely to work in rural or remote areas within 1–3 years post-graduation compared to those with shorter placements. Extended rural immersive experiences effectively drive rural workforce placement independent of students' geographic background.
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Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation
Māori scholars writing in the journal AlterNative use distinctive linguistic features—ambiguous collective pronouns, personal storytelling, and prominent acknowledgment of Elders' knowledge—that reflect Indigenous knowledge-making practices and protocols. These features represent genre innovation within academic writing, showing how Indigenous epistemes reshape dominant academic discourse while maintaining social relations with communities both inside and outside the academy.
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Deployment costs of rural broadband technologies
This paper analyzes deployment costs for three broadband technologies in rural Victoria: passive optical networks, fiber-to-the-node DSL, and WiMAX. The researchers used geographic data to map actual household locations and calculate optimized network costs. Fiber installation dominates costs for all technologies. FTTN DSL offers the lowest deployment cost for 20 Mbit/s service, while PON becomes most cost-effective at 50 Mbit/s and above.
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The Supply and Use of Broadband in Rural Australia: An Explanatory Case Study of the Western Downs Region
Rural Australian households in the Western Downs Region rely heavily on wireless broadband, which proves less reliable and more expensive than wired alternatives. Remote and outer regional areas show particular dissatisfaction with wireless services and inadequate data quotas, creating barriers to digital participation. The study maps broadband infrastructure supply against household use and satisfaction, revealing that government policy must prioritize reliable, affordable broadband as a universal service obligation requiring coordinated public and private investment.
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Bougainville microfinance: Rebuilding rural communities after the crisis
A microfinance scheme was developed in Bougainville following armed conflict, designed through participatory workshops with rural communities. The Bougainville Microfinance Scheme attracted government and international funding, established a federated structure for locally-directed development, and exceeded targets in pilot areas. The model combines savings-based operations with diverse loan services through a multi-tiered system, achieving broad outreach while supporting grassroots economic and social development.
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Financialising governance? State actor engagement with private finance for rural development in the Northern Territory of Australia
Government officials in Australia's Northern Territory actively shape agricultural finance investments rather than passively enabling them. The paper examines how local officials translate national development policies into practice by attracting private capital while moderating its activities. This reveals the state as an engaged actor assembling financial investment patterns, not simply a structural backdrop for financialisation.
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Ngara broadband access system for rural and regional areas
Researchers developed and tested a new MU-MIMO wireless system called Ngara for rural broadband access. The system achieved six simultaneous users at 12 Mb/s symmetric speeds over a single 7 MHz channel in a real rural environment. The technology can scale to 12 users at 50 Mb/s over wider channels, using innovations in synchronisation, antenna design, channel estimation, and signal processing to deliver efficient broadband to dispersed areas.
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From Vernacular to English: A Model of Innovation from within the Hearts of the Indigenous Teachers in Papua New Guinea
A vernacular elementary school teacher in Papua New Guinea developed an innovative approach to literacy education using local languages. Children who gained literacy skills in their local vernacular successfully transferred those skills to English and other languages. The approach improved outcomes for students, teachers, and families.
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Bridging and bonding social capital in place-based rural careers advising
Rural careers advisors in western Victoria develop place-based education programs by building social capital through local relationships and knowledge. The study finds that advisors who bridge connections across their communities and bond with local networks create more relevant and effective careers guidance. This approach helps ensure rural students access quality education needed for positive post-school outcomes.
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Indigenous-led First Peoples health interprofessional and simulation-based learning innovations: mixed methods study of nursing academics’ experience of working in partnership
Nursing academics working with Indigenous leaders developed culturally safe curriculum innovations through partnership. The study shows that educating educators about cultural safety in teaching, learning, and research is essential. Non-Indigenous academics can effectively collaborate within Indigenous-led pedagogical approaches to create culturally appropriate health education programs.
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Australian Indigenous Art Innovation and Culturepreneurship in Practice: Insights for Cultural Tourism
Indigenous art centers in Australia's Arnhem Land demonstrate successful cultural entrepreneurship through artistic innovation tied to tourism. The paper defines Indigenous culturepreneurship as a distinct practice that challenges Western definitions of culture and entrepreneurship, establishing six practical criteria for developing Indigenous cultural tourism ventures. These innovations enable Indigenous communities to maintain and promote living cultures while creating economic and social benefits.
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Examining Rural Adoption Of Broadband – Critical Realist Perspectives
Australia's National Broadband Network requires rural communities to adopt broadband technology for the project's success. This paper argues that critical realism provides a useful theoretical framework for understanding the complex social, political, and technical factors influencing rural broadband adoption. The authors introduce three critical realist frameworks and Archer's morphogenetic model as tools to examine how these factors interact in rural regions.
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Developing 21st Century Diverse Adult Learning: Rural and Regional Student Access, Progression and Success in Higher Education
This paper examines how rural and regional students access, progress through, and succeed in higher education during the 21st century. It addresses barriers these students face and explores strategies to improve their participation and outcomes in tertiary education, focusing on diverse adult learners in non-urban areas.
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Wireless broadband technologies for regional and rural Australia
Wireless broadband technologies offer a cost-effective alternative to wired networks for delivering high-speed internet to regional and rural Australia. Because last-mile connections are expensive for providers using wired infrastructure, wireless deployment—with lower capital and operational costs—solves connectivity problems more effectively for remote populations.
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Increasing the Effectiveness of Rural, Regional and Remote Food Security Initiatives Through Place‐Based Partnerships—A Qualitative Study
Rural and remote organizations in Western Australia collaborate on food security through coordinated action, community consultation, and resource sharing. The study of 101 initiative leaders found 378 partnering organizations working together. Formal partnership agreements improve sustainability while maintaining flexibility for addressing complex food security challenges. Clear partnership purposes and defined roles enhance effectiveness across rural food security initiatives.
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Retaining Permanent and Temporary Immigrants in Rural Australia: Place‐Based and Individual Determinants
Australia's regional visa schemes successfully attract skilled migrants to rural areas but fail to retain them long-term, with only 40% remaining after nine years compared to over 50% for other migrant categories. Retention is higher in regions with diverse job markets and ethnic networks, but lower where housing costs are high. Less-educated and lower-income migrants, including humanitarian arrivals, stay longer in rural areas, revealing a pattern of socio-spatial inequality and labor market segmentation.
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Investment in community-based rural health care innovation to address health inequities in Australia
Rural Australians face higher chronic disease rates, lower life expectancy, and poor healthcare access due to distance and workforce shortages. The authors argue that investment in community-based rural health research is critical to address these inequities. They demonstrate that place-based partnerships between researchers, hospitals, and community organizations—including innovative models like community paramedicine—improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital admissions, yet receive only 2.4% of national health research funding.
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Using critical realism and reflexivity to explain broadband non-adoption in rural Australia
Australia's National Broadband Network rollout measures success through both infrastructure provision and user adoption. This paper argues that adoption has plateaued and researchers should focus on understanding why people reject broadband rather than why they accept it. Using critical realism and reflexivity, the authors explain the mechanisms behind non-adoption decisions and propose targeted strategies to convert disinterested non-users into adopters.
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Microfinance and rural non-farm employment in developing countries
Microfinance institutions have expanded credit access in developing countries, enabling rural households to diversify income through non-farm employment. The rural non-farm sector now rivals agriculture as an employment source in some regions. However, further growth requires more flexible credit contracts, lower borrowing costs, and complementary support like skills training.
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Establishing large, permanent protection outcomes on Indigenous‐owned private land: Innovations at Gayini, Australia
Gayini, a wetland restoration project in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, demonstrates an innovative conservation model combining Indigenous land ownership with legally-binding protection covenants. The project was co-developed with Traditional Custodians and shows how new governance arrangements can expand protected areas while respecting different tenure systems and ensuring biodiversity representation across diverse landscapes.
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Place-based rural health professional pre-registration education programs: a scoping review
Place-based health professional education programs train students in rural communities to address healthcare workforce shortages. A review of 138 programs across 12 countries identified four training models: short-term placements, extended placements, rural campuses, and distributed blended learning. Programs recruit local students, engage communities in selection and delivery, and evaluate graduate work locations and access outcomes. Successful programs combine widening educational access, comprehensive design, and community engagement aligned with social accountability.
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Building a rural medical workforce: the foundations of a place-based approach to program evaluation
A rural medical training program in Australia's Deakin University footprint admits 30 local students annually to address doctor shortages. Graduates who completed rural clinical schools, chose general practice, had rural backgrounds, and stayed in early postgraduate training were 3 to 7 times more likely to work in the target region. However, many left after three years, signaling the need for expanded rural specialty training to retain doctors locally.
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Building research capacity at a rural place‐based community service organisation in southwest Victoria, Australia
Rural community service organizations lack evidence about their outcomes, limiting policy decisions for rural populations. This paper describes implementing an embedded researcher model at an Australian family and youth services organization to build research capacity and establish monitoring, evaluation, and learning practices. The embedded researcher, positioned on-site and jointly funded by the service organization and a university, works with staff to develop a place-based framework for generating local evidence and improving service outcomes.
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Conceptualizing RRI from a Global South perspective through Indigenous innovation practices in Aotearoa New Zealand’s high-tech science sector
This paper examines Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) through Indigenous Māori perspectives in New Zealand's high-tech science sector. The authors show that Vision Mātauranga, a national policy integrating Māori knowledge with Western science, drives RRI in practice through specific micro-practices: open innovation, capacity development, and absorptive capacity. A decolonized RRI approach extends responsible innovation beyond European frameworks, creating new science governance models that align with Global South contexts.
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Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This study examined recruitment strategies across four rural Australian research projects conducted between 2016-2024. Face-to-face recruitment by researchers achieved better outcomes than using general practitioners as intermediaries, particularly in smaller geographic areas. Staff turnover significantly hampered recruitment success, especially in intermediary-based approaches. The research demonstrates that sustained staffing, strong local partnerships, and strategies closely aligned with rural practice needs are essential for effective participant recruitment in rural settings.
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Widening the Digital Divide: The mediating role of Intelligent Tutoring Systems in the relationship between rurality, socioeducational advantage, and mathematics learning outcomes
An analysis of 66,451 Australian high school students shows that intelligent tutoring systems in mathematics amplify rather than reduce educational inequality. Students from affluent urban schools use the platform more extensively and achieve better outcomes, while rural and disadvantaged students benefit less. The technology mediates existing disparities, creating a Matthew Effect where privileged students gain disproportionate advantages, widening rather than narrowing achievement gaps.
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Responding to domestic and family violence in resource-constrained contexts: a case study on rural policing innovations in Melanesia
Police in four Melanesian countries innovate to address domestic and family violence in resource-constrained rural areas. The study finds that effective responses require stronger partnerships across sectors, increased police presence, and integration of indigenous strategies. Current efforts struggle with limited resources, low prioritization, and cultural barriers to gender reform.
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Enhancing the local workforce outcomes for rural LICs: what is the role of the local health service in leading innovation in medical education?
A rural health service in South Australia created the Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence to train its own medical workforce, increasing local doctors by over 20% in one year. By offering extended training contracts and a complete pathway from medical school through advanced practice in the region, the health service successfully recruited junior doctors and specialists committed to rural practice, demonstrating that local health services can lead medical education innovation to address rural workforce shortages.
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If you build it who will come? Widening access through a place-based Rural Training Stream to address local medical workforce shortages
Deakin University's Rural Training Stream for medical education, expanded in 2024 to an end-to-end program allowing students to remain in rural communities, successfully increased enrollment from rural areas in Western Victoria from 5% to 28% of medical students. The program attracted mature-aged women and health professionals returning to study. This place-based approach addresses rural medical workforce shortages by embedding students in their communities during training.
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Investigating high-risk rural regions for potentially preventable hospitalisations: a method for place-based primary healthcare planning
Rural communities face higher rates of preventable hospitalizations due to limited primary healthcare access. This paper develops a six-step method to identify high-risk regions and improve local healthcare pathways. The method examines service gaps, provider experiences, and patient journeys to recommend targeted interventions. Applied to ear, nose, and throat conditions in Australia, it provides a replicable framework for health agencies to plan equitable primary care services.
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Additional file 3 of Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This supplementary material supports a comparative case study examining recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural Australian communities. The document provides detailed methodological information and comparative analysis of approaches used to engage rural participants in research studies, offering practical insights for researchers conducting fieldwork in geographically dispersed populations.
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Additional file 5 of Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This supplementary material supports a comparative case study examining recruitment strategies for conducting place-based research in rural Australian communities. The work identifies effective approaches for engaging rural participants in research studies, addressing the practical challenges researchers face when working in geographically dispersed populations.
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Additional file 4 of Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This supplementary material supports a comparative case study examining recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural Australian communities. The work identifies effective approaches for engaging rural participants in research studies, addressing the practical challenges of conducting fieldwork in geographically dispersed populations.
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Additional file 2 of Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This supplementary material supports a comparative case study examining recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural Australian communities. The work identifies effective approaches for engaging rural participants in research studies, addressing the practical challenges of conducting fieldwork in geographically dispersed populations.
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Additional file 1 of Exploring recruitment strategies for place-based research in rural areas of Australia: a comparative case study analysis
This paper examines recruitment strategies for conducting place-based research in rural Australian communities. The authors compare different approaches across case studies to identify effective methods for engaging rural participants in research projects. The findings provide practical guidance for researchers working in remote and regional areas where recruitment presents unique challenges.
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Learning in place: the creation of a community-based Rural Training Stream to grow a local health professional workforce in Western Victoria
This paper describes the development of a community-based Rural Training Stream in Western Victoria designed to train health professionals locally. The program aims to grow the regional health workforce by enabling students to learn and work within their own communities, addressing rural healthcare workforce shortages through place-based education and training initiatives.
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Energy survey and MATLAB/Simulink Simulation of 24VDC lighting systems for off-grid rural houses in Papua New Guinea
This paper designs and simulates a 24V DC lighting system for off-grid rural households in Papua New Guinea using solar PV and battery storage with a DC-DC boost converter. Testing shows the system maintains stable 24V output with 92% peak efficiency and successfully handles varying battery voltage and load changes. Lighting dominates evening demand (78%, 6pm-11pm). The authors provide a practical reference design and component-sizing guidance for deploying solar-based electrification in PNG's rural areas.
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A Cross-Sectional Study on the Public Perception of Autonomous Demand-Responsive Transits (ADRTs) in Rural Towns: Insights from South-East Queensland
This study surveyed public perception of autonomous demand-responsive transit systems in rural South-East Queensland towns. Respondents saw greatest potential for university campuses and 24/7 operations, but mobility-disadvantaged groups—disabled people, seniors, and school children—showed less support. Demographic factors significantly shaped attitudes toward implementation. The authors recommend tailored ADRT services designed for specific population groups rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
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Advancing Rural Mobility: Identifying Operational Determinants for Effective Autonomous Road-Based Transit
Autonomous public transport can address rural mobility challenges by offering flexible, cost-effective options. A survey of 273 residents in South-East Queensland reveals that different vehicle types serve distinct purposes: small shuttles work best for leisure trips, minibuses improve first-mile and last-mile connectivity, and standard buses suit high-capacity school transport. Hybrid systems combining autonomous and conventional buses outperform full automation, while autonomous taxis raise equity concerns. Integration with mobility platforms enhances service delivery for special events.
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The southern initiative: How indigenous values inspire social innovation and impact
The Southern Initiative, a unit within Auckland Council, demonstrates how Māori values transform public sector management and drive social innovation. The organization uses indigenous principles like mana (prestige) and whānau-centered design alongside distributed leadership to co-create place-based solutions that improve community wellbeing. This case study shows that embedding indigenous values into bureaucratic structures produces systemic change, social justice outcomes, and community resilience.