The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of the Islamic financial system in recovery post-COVID-19 and the way Fintech can be utilized to combat the economic reverberations created by COVID-19. The global financial crisis of 2008 has established the credentials of the Islamic financial system as a sustainable financial system which can save the long run interests of the average citizens around the world while adding value to the real economy. The basic ethical tenets available in the Islamic financial system make it more suited and readymade to fight the economic aftershocks of a pandemic like COVID-19. The basic principles of ethical Islamic finance have solid connections to financial stability and corporate social responsibility within the wide-reaching business context. With the emergence of Financial technology (Fintech) it has provided a missing impetus to the Islamic financial system to compete on equal ground with its conventional counterpart and prove its mettle. The study uses discourse analysis along with the content analysis to extract content and draw a conclusion. The findings of the study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for the social and open innovation to grow and finance world have turned to open innovation to provide a speedy, timely, reliable, and sustainable solution to the world. The findings of the study provide significant implications for governments and policy makers in efficient application of Fintech and innovative Islamic financial services to fight the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Problem Statement: During the last two decades, many cities in the world have followed the idea of the ‘smart city’ to solve the issues of urban planning and governance using the capacity of modern information and communication technologies. Past experiences in this regard indicate one of the biggest challenges for the implementation of smart cities, which is generally not related to the technology itself, but to the problems that occur during the implementation of the idea, which is mainly due to the lack of a common and clear strategy between the stakeholders to realize the smart cities. After changing the development paradigms from closed innovation to open innovation, the gap created by the presence of people in the innovation process and the pressure of technology made the urban policymakers move towards the design of a network of all stakeholders in environments named Urban Living Labs (ULLs). Objective: The present study aims to clarify the concept of ULLs by a systematic review of the successful cities in the world in terms of the open innovation paradigm based on smart environments. Methods and Materials: The present study is applied in terms of the objective and library-based in terms of data collection. Accordingly, the written documents of 16 ULL experiences from 2007 to 2022 were analyzed by systematic review based on the subject, objective, necessity of project implementation, and output. Findings: The findings indicate that smart cities concentrate on citizens’ and users’ participation with other stakeholders to create innovative services and realize social co-creation. Conclusion: Based on the experiences, the low level of citizens’ education is among the very important challenges for the realization of smart cities.
The lack of correct relationship between the university and the external environment (including society, industry, government, etc.) has been and is one of the current social issues of universities. The purpose of this research is to identify and modeling of different dimensions of relationship between the university and the environment, as components of a general ecosystem. We study the relationship of the university with the external environment from an ecosystemic perspective to discover the dimentions of this relationship, means that when the university wants to function as an organ in the knowledge-policy ecosystem of any society and respond to their needs by forming a productive relationship with stakeholders, what dimensions should it pay attention to and what is the relation of these dimensions together. In order to answer this questions and reach a framework of the model, after studying the literature, by the expert interview and using the grounded theory method, the general framework of the ecosystem relationship of a university with the external environment was extracted in the form of a coordinate construction with three axes of causality (why), quality (how) and nature (what). Then, for validity of the findings, once again, using the interpretive structural modeling method and the use of codes extracted from the GT, experts' opinions were taken, and by performing ISM, it was determined that the main nature of the university's communication consists of it. The projection of the university as an internal or external organity of the country has a fundamental effect on the design of the university as a component in the ecosystem.
Today's world has been affected by digital technologies more than ever, and no business can be considered independent of these technologies, regardless of industry, size, and geography. Various industries such as banking, insurance, automobile, petrochemical, steel, energy, food, entertainment and education are experiencing a fundamental change centered on digital technologies. In the current era, organizations have entered a new era in which digital technologies have revolutionized the majority of industries, from products and services to customer expectations. Today's organizations have practically no other way to survive and that is digital transformation. Digital transformation is an inevitable necessity and a vital strategic issue for today's businesses, which will suffer great losses if they do not adopt and implement the right strategy and consequently they might fail.By reviewing the theoretical academic resources, despite the need for a model to formulate a digital transformation strategy which there is a consensus on and contains various dimensions of digital transformation with an exhaustive view, there has never been such a framework, which reminds us of the need to address this issue. This research is designed to address the Conceptualization of digital transformation strategy as mentioned earlier. In this research, by conceptualizing the digital transformation strategy and cognition of its various dimensions, the mentioned gap will be addressed, by using the research method of meta synthesis. For this purpose, after reviewing 17 selected articles, a specific definition of digital transformation strategy has been presented and its relationship with business strategy and functional strategies has been analyzed. Also, the principles of shaping the digital transformation strategy are presented in two content and process categories. Finally, three categories of cultural, structural and leadership capabilities have been identified as supporting capabilities for shaping the digital transformation strategy.
Governments are an important buyer of goods and services, such a role caused the public procurement, to be recognized as an important policy tool at the disposal of the government to improve the capacity of domestic companies. Directing public procurement to achieve development goals is one of the most important innovation policies on the demand side, which enables governments to create new markets for technological and innovative companies and thereby improve their technological capabilities. The broadcasting industry, as the basic infrastructure of the Iran national media (IRIB), has been considered in this research due to its features such as rapid changes in technology, long life of manufactured products, small domestic market and the intangibility of the social impact of innovative domestic production activities. By adopting a qualitative approach, after reviewing the background of the research, the framework and questions of in-depth interviews were determined and interviews were conducted with fifteen experts in the broadcast industry. Based on the analysis of the content of the identified categories and the extraction of organizing categories and then comprehensive categories, it was found that creating demand and protecting the market, environmental factors and organizational level factors along with the innovation cycle are the most basic categories of using government procurement in promoting technology in this industry .Therefore, it is necessary to seriously consider at least the guarantee of purchase, the development of the domestic and international market by supporting exports, and amending the laws. Finally, Policy implications for promoting exports in the broadcast industry is highlighted.
The purpose of this research is to present a model for the economic development of Less Developed Rurals of Mazandaran Province with the regional innovation system approach. In terms of purpose, this research was applied and in terms of the method of data collection according to the nature of the study, it was qualitative, descriptive, and survey type. The current research is a case study. The research community of Less Developed Rural of Mazandaran province is based on the list of less-developed areas in support matters in 2018. The researchers with the help of provincial trustee institutions such as Mazandaran Governorate updated the said list and expressed the challenges and solutions based on the foundation's data theory method based on the existing situation. In order to collect research data, while comprehensively reviewing the literature on rural development, regional innovation system, and framework related to a sustainable livelihood, through in-depth interviews with 43 scientific and experimental experts in the fields of rural development, the economy of deprived areas, regional innovation system and Also, more than 10 interviews and specialized meetings were held with provincial officials. The findings of the research show that strengthening the role and position of civil institutions in the governance process, using the capacity of cooperative companies by the local community, providing national and media awareness to attract Investment opportunities in the private sector, paying attention to the capacity of the innovation ecosystem, especially from the aspect of financing and modifying the cultivation pattern based on regional natural capabilities and regional capabilities, are among the most important solutions for the economic development of disadvantaged rural areas in Mazandaran province.
In recent years, recruiting international students has become a strategic issue. International students have social, economic, political, cultural, and scientific benefits, and they improve the quality of higher education. Leading countries create the conditions for attracting and retaining students and talent by aligning and cohering policies, increasing actors, and establishing institutions. "Recruitment agencies" are one of these players. These agencies have a large network in various countries and are familiar with the higher education systems of the destination countries, providing useful information to future students and assisting them in selecting the appropriate university. They also assist the university in attracting qualified applicants. While increasing international student recruitment is the goal of higher education in Iran, the capacity of institutions for recruiting students has been underutilized, and their activity has been fraught with difficulties. This research aimed to identify the challenges of recruitment agency activities in Iran. Using the "thematic analysis" method, we discovered twelve challenges categorized into four categories: structural challenges (lack of appropriate policies and laws; lack of sufficient actors; multiple decision makers); contextual challenges (economic, cultural, and social); procedural challenges (incorrect executive procedures; incompetence of executive actors; misconduct and corruption in recruitment processes); and also content challenges (linguistic barriers; limited and low-quality educational programs; limited international cooperation). Finally, solutions and policy recommendations for better utilizing the recruiting institutions' capacities were presented.
Women's Startup events at the national and international levels have often sought to resolve the problem of women in the field of employment, regardless of their social value maximization. Among these, Khatun's event has a different approach than previous events to solving the problems of women. The main goal of this institution is to reduce the controversies caused by the simultaneous implementation of family and occupational roles that have hurt families. Networking and connecting women active in cultural, educational, and social fields, developing women's creativity and innovation in these areas, transforming cultural-educational ideas into products, financial and spiritual support for ideas, and achieving real and effective solutions for problems of women have been the objectives of Khatun Institute. In the present article, firstly, the literature on the startup events focusing on women's role is studied, then, using action research methodology the Khatoon Educational, Cultural and Social Center as a successful Event in Iran, is evaluated the theoretical and practical results of this even as a successful event in Iran were to foster creative ideas for women, raise women's awareness and skills, and promote their social role, along with maintaining their role.
The potential migration of millions of people due to adverse impacts of climate change is one of the most important issues for governments and policy makers. In this regard, there are various divergent views in the theoretical approach to climate- induced migration: Some scholars believe that migration indicates a failure to adapt to climate change. On the other hand, other scholars believe that migration can be used as a preventive strategy to deal with climate change. By using descriptive-analytical research method, in this study, we attempt to investigate various divergent views in climate migration theories by focusing on the maximalist and minimalist approaches. In addition, we present different climate adaptation strategies taken by policy makers in order to combat adverse consequence of climate changes in other countries. Finally, we analyze various evidences of climate- related movements in Iran and the policies and strategies has been taken by the government regarding to climate adaptation. In general, considering migration as an adaptation or maladaptation strategies creates many challenges for planners and policy makers, which can be controlled through precise strategies. In this regard, policy makers should apply strategies that strengthen the ability of actors to adapt to adverse impacts of climate change.
Returnees can help reduce the negative effects of migration and develop the origin countries. This research investigates the effect of internal and external determinants on the return of Iranian migrants using mixed method. The analysis of the fluctuations of return frequency, return decision, and return drivers among Iranians during the years 2013 to 2020, indicate that "family" and "patriotism" are the most important internal factors influencing the return flow to the country. Meanwhile, the return flow of Iranians (including the voluntary return of Iranian professionals and assisted voluntary return and reintegration of Iranians) has undergone two significant turning points influenced by external determinants. Firstly, the return frequency increased in 2016 due to the nuclear agreement between Iran and G5, and the expectation of the removal of sanctions, which led to the improvement of the country's political and economic prospects. Second, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, while the return frequency of Iranian professionals increased significantly due to dissatisfaction with the conditions in the host country, the assisted voluntary return of Iranian migrants indicate a downward trend.
The labour market for professional skilled personnel is becoming increasingly global, both in terms of the supply of and the demand for skilled labour. By identifying the factors affecting the migration of skilled workforce, governments can plan to reduce their desire to migrate. Thus, in this study, we have identified the factors that influence migration decision of professors, researchers and startup activists by using data collected through the questionnaire and logit model. The results of the study show that by controlling individual characteristics, professors and researchers migrate because of the social status and preferred lifestyle and startup activists migrate because of the accessing to the latest innovation and technology developments.
The right to seek asylum is an inevitable right of every asylum seeker under international instruments, including the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. This right includes the duty and responsibility of the receiving States to consider the request and determine the status of asylums. Since the Convention has not specified how this right should be granted and has made it an internal power of States, this matter is affected by States' policies. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has developed a Refugee System Determination (RSD) to identify the situation of these asylums. However, parties to the Convention are not legally binding to follow this system. As one of the most crucial host countries to asylum seekers, Iran has a council for determining the refugees' status, a census system, and a temporary residence permit (Amayesh card). Since the enjoyment of any assistance depends on individuals' legal and residential status, it is essential to assess the situation of more than half a million new arrivals right after the Taliban takeover. Based on relevant legal instruments, this study will evaluate the legal framework of refugee law in Iran through a qualitative research method based on a literature review and discuss the necessity of RSD policymaking. The findings suggest that the lack of adequate laws and accumulation of regulations in the executive bodies have complicated these migrants' current and future conditions. Moreover, not issuing an Amayesh card for newcomers and undocumented migrants is one of the most critical challenges of the current system. Evolution in this system determines the status of many migrants and decreases the additional burden due to the presence of undocumented migrants. This will also maximize the protection of refugees' and migrants' rights.
Climate-related disasters triggered displacements of millions of people worldwide. In addition to displacement, the negative consequences of climate change have caused water scarcity, food insecurity, and many other issues such as conflict and political insecurity. Building resilient communities is a key adaptation strategy to combat the impacts of climate change and rely on adaptation policies. Thus, to better withstand the negative impacts of such shocks and recover quickly and strongly from them, countries adopt policies to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and societies. In this paper, the concepts, principles, and perspectives on climate resilience were presented with a descriptive-analytic approach. Then, the experience of various countries, including Iran, on climate resilience by applying indigenous knowledge and technologies to build climate resilience was analyzed. Examining the experiences of different countries shows that some countries have been able to make their societies resilient based on indigenous knowledge and available facilities, while others have been able to invest in education, citizen participation, and infrastructure enhancement. In addition, with the support of the government and private organizations, by applying technology such as early warning systems and artificial intelligence, and relying on self-organization and economic diversity many people have been able to make their living environment resilient and not migrate from their homes. The review shows that Iran's regional experiments on the climate resilience of societies have long been based on indigenous knowledge and that the use of modern technology is not widely used because of poor knowledge of people, high costs, and lack of easy access. Therefore, in order to make the various regions of Iran more resilient, to raise society's awareness of environmental hazards, strengthen infrastructure, integrate indigenous knowledge with technology, and provide resilience policies according to the characteristics of each region reinforce the applied knowledge aspect and experience needed with the technology.
The complex and ever-changing situation the organizations face requires a approach that can quickly adapt to new conditions. Strategic agility is considered as a approach to deal with complex situations. Accordingly, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the Antecedents and consequences of strategic agility with a dynamic capabilities approach in the Active Banks in Ilam province. This research has been obtained in terms of applied purpose and its objectives through exploratory orientation. The statistical population of the study is the Active Banks in Ilam province that the data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 11 banking experts. The sampling method in this study was a combination of theoretical sampling method and snowball and sampling continued until theoretical saturation. The validity of the research was assessed through Member checking, Peer examination and participatory research. The reliability of the research was assessed by setting a principled and logical process in the interviews as well as recording the details of the research. The collected data were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding techniques by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Findings showed that strategic agility with dynamic capabilities approach including macro-environmental factors (environmental dynamics, Internationalization capability in the banking industry, financial and economic barriers, technological disruption) and organizational and managerial factors (responsiveness, Ability to develop electronic and digital banking, Design and development of new services, poor thinking and strategic foresight, Structural problems, cultural problems and professional problems). Consequences of strategic agility with dynamic capabilities approach also include external consequences (competitive advantage and Brand upgrade) and internal consequences (increased productivity and profitability).
Due to the importance of financing the issue of technological and innovative activities in moving towards a technology-based economy, different countries have used different institutional arrangements to solve the problem of financing technology-based firms. The limited efficiency of conventional methods such as government direct financing and venture capital has led to the focus of credit guarantee instruments in recent decades. Accordingly, in Iran, despite the prevalence of the use of credit guarantees, the full capacity of this tool is still not used. Therefore, in the present study, first, the macro patterns of the credit guarantee system based on the study of documents and structured interviews with the representatives of the funds have been identified. Then, the root causes of the identified patterns are extracted based on open interviews with experts. Based on the findings, the most important macro models of credit guarantee system of technology-based firms were identified as follows: 1) non-use of various capacities of the executive framework in the credit guarantee system, 2) non-use of various models of the ownership structure of credit guarantee service providers, 3) focus of existing institutions on contract guarantee, 4) Lack of specialized financial institution providing guarantee service in the private sector, 5) Limited selection of technology-based firms to receive guarantee service, 6) Simultaneous use of two facilities to facilitate initial capital financing and risk coverage for most government funds, 7) non-use of risk-sharing instruments for private funds, 8) non-use of other facilitators by the government, 9) lack of macro-law for financial oversight of the activities of credit guarantee institutions, and 10) existence of several responsible institutions in credit guarantee system.
Co-citation analysis as a powerful tool is used in order to find the evolution of conceptual linkages between two important streams of the literature: Innovation Systems (IS) and Global Value Chains (GVC) since 1990s. Their initial connection was the importance of industrial clusters both in improving innovation and in their role in the GVC. The literature evolved to consider the role of tacit knowledge as well as global factors in enhancing the performance of industrial clusters. While the first points to the importance of geographical agglomeration, the second emphasizes the benefits from becoming global. The emergence of Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) paved the way for new conceptual linkages by considering sustainable development as a main target as well as the importance of space in technological development and the role of technology in geographical diversification. Recent trends are rooted in new insights from evolutionary economics as well as catching-up that calls for more structured interactions in the future.
This study is carried out to identify, evaluate and rank the causes and factors of capital flight in Iran, derived from ideas of a group of experts in the capital and investment field, including managers, scholars, and other elites. The present research is applied in terms of purpose and duration of data collection, considered a descriptive-survey. After reviewing the literature, a set of ten economic causes for the capital flight were identified. After the collected data's fuzzy expression, its de-fuzzy numbers are considered the DEMATEL matrix's direct effect. Using this technique, the indirect effects matrix and total effects were calculated. To evaluate each factor's position, based on Interpretation Structural Modeling (ISM), the MICMAC chart was derived, and the results indicated that none of the elements were recognized as dependent variables. Among these, "problems of transferring funds and opening an account in the international framework" and "the dual exchange rate system in the country" are independent variables with low dependence but high penetration. Two autonomous elements and the six linkages are also identified. Finally, through Analytical Network Process (ANP) method, all economic causes of the country's capital flight were ranked. The results show that the highest priority of capital flight in Iran is "low investment return in Iran, and on the contrary, high-profit incentives for investment," "high financial and economic risks, inappropriate risk hedging," "Fundraising obstacles (including fixed interest rates, quotations, failure to provide allocated financial credits)," "problems to establish ideas and business plans, and complex processes of setting up a business" and "low degree of economic openness and problems to export and import" respectively. Finally, strategies to address the capital flight were addressed, including creating a secure and stable economic space and adopting valid macroeconomic policies with appropriate interest rates.
The difficulty of scattered studies, facilities and specializations at the level of universities and industrial centers to meet serious needs or to overcome great challenges has been the beginning of the emergence of the national laboratories. Although national laboratories have been established around the world, especially in developed countries, the United States of America has established 17 national laboratories throughout the country for about 75 years, which have played an important role in the scientific and technological developments of that country. The purpose of this article is to review the role of 17 US National Laboratories in the development of science and technology, their missions and their important achievements. The US Seventeen National Laboratories is home to leading scientists, elite engineers, skilled technical staff, and the location of advanced and expensive equipment and facilities that are beyond the capacity of American universities. Scientists at the American National Laboratories have not only been honored to receive more than 80 Nobel Prizes, but in some cases their achievements have changed the fate of some wars and brought a new way of life and interaction to human society. In addition to addressing important missions in science and technology, US National Laboratories support academic and industrial projects, train the next generation of leading scientists and engineers, and assist the government and various agencies in emergencies, assist in the transfer of technology to industrial sectors and active markets, commit to the advancement of basic science and its integration with the fields of technology, and provide strategic resources and solutions to meet national and international challenges. However, the point that should not be overlooked is that the creation and operation of such a large infrastructure requires the overcoming of major obstacles, challenges and constraints.
Changes in the social and managerial system in recent decades have been accompanied by an explosion of knowledge, softening of the economy and changes in values, based on which we need to redefine the concept of technology. Among the new approaches that have been proposed in the field of solving public problems is the concept of "soft technology", which requires a fundamental understanding of this field and knowledge of related research dimensions. The concept of governance and policy-making in different areas, under the influence of this kind of soft view, needs to be reviewed and changed, and in this regard, using these concepts, a new approach to solving social problems and governance can be presented. The purpose of this study is " Meta-synthesis of studies in order to identify theoretical and practical implications in the field of soft technology."In this regard, the method of documentary studies and Meta-synthesis was used and studies related to the field of "soft technology" were reviewed. Finally, in the summary section, theoretical implications in the epistemological, social and institutional axes and practical implications in the axes of soft social, political, economic, technological, fundamental and managerial components have been classified.
One of the important issues raised in the field of blockchain networks and decentralized systems is the subject of legislation of these systems. Generally, governments can take action for legislation of these systems through five methods including “establishing rules for participants”, “establishing rules for intermediates”, “establishing rules for developers”, “establishing rules for blockchain-based markets”, and “establishing rules through social norms”. However, it should be noted that all these approaches for legislation are imperfect strategies and the governments would not be able to completely stop all the illegal activities on blockchain network and the mentioned strategies would help in reducing the related crimes and hazards.
