Can we have a general theory of financial innovation processes? A conceptual review

Introduction:Since the financial crisis of 2008,the theory of financial innovation has been a focus at a time of re-evaluation and re-conceptualization.However,little has been done to evaluate the current state of research considering the increasing complexity of financial innovation.This paper examines the hypothesis of a general theory that encompasses increasing complexities in the financial innovation process.Methods:The paper begins with an overview of the definitions,the features,and the classification schemes of financial innovation.Additionally,the paper reviews the existing literature on the main objects of study in financial innovation and groups the findings under four main concepts.A conceptual analysis is presented that evaluates current approaches to the study of the financial innovation process and the difficulties inherent in constructing a single general theory.The paper proposes a framework based on a meta-theory of financial innovation as a better approach to understanding the inherent complexities and diversities affecting financial innovations.Discussion:(1)Financial innovations present diversities and complexities that make it infeasible to build a unifying general theory to explain their development.(2)The current state of research on financial innovation theories is limited and requires additional input.(3)A meta-theory that identifies,classifies,and connects theories of development for financial innovations is better suited to explaining the complexity of financial innovation processes.

The Podcast as an Innovative Urban Planning Teaching Tool: Soft and Hard Skills between Discipline and Professional Identity

The expression didactic innovation has recently assumed an implicit reference to Distance Learning.For scholars,however,it was above all the critical questioning on learning models.The article explores the use of the podcast as a stimulus for engineering students to achieve new soft skills:to learn multidisciplinary contents related to planning and to acquire professional competences in digital aspects and feedbacks attribution.Experience took place over two years:this gave the opportunity to compare the activity carried out totally in presence and totally remotely(through online lessons and reviews),to draw from them issues for discussion and future implementations.

Raw Gangue Filling Mining under Construction —A Case Study in China

In order to recover the strip pillar coal resources, reduce the amount of gangue mountain and realize remediation of the goaf environment in the old mining area, the raw gangue filling mining technology was proposed. According to the previous practical experience, the feasibility of the implementation of raw gangue filling mining technology in the coal-pressed area was analyzed. Through the filling gangue compaction test, the deformation under different loading stages was obtained. Further, a reasonable prediction of the deformation beyond the experimental limited loading load was made based on the experimental results. Through the deformation source analysis of the whole process of gangue filling, the key factors for controlling deformation before, during, and after filling were determined. Additionally, the proportion of deformation during different stages was quantified. Considering the protection of surface buildings, mining fullness of the working face and mining technology, the production parameters of 1209 and 1210 filling working faces were preliminarily determined. Through numerical simulation, the rationality of mining scheme was verified. Based on the practice of 1209 working face and the key factors to control the deformation of gangue filling, the mining system and process in 1210 working face were optimized. According to the measured surface rock movement, raw gangue filling mining technology can meet the requirements of surface building protection level. Especially, this paper provides a method to quantitatively calculate the equivalent mining height (EMH) of raw gangue filling and its mining deformation, which has reference significance for old mining areas.

Financial innovation and its governance:Cases of two major innovations in the financial sector

The power of financial innovations to affect societies on global and intergenerational levels compels us to ask how we can ensure their responsible emergence in society.This requires an understanding of how innovation occurs and how it is governed in practice.Despite this,there is little research on the process and governance of financial innovation.The few studies conducted in this area have focused on the‘backend’of the innovation process.Therefore,using data from secondary sources,this study investigates how two major financial innovations occurred and were governed,and it discusses the findings in relation to those in the literature.This approach revealed that innovation processes fall within a continuum ranging from structured to unstructured.Moreover,lead times are potentially longer for innovations that are significantly disruptive,new to the market,and technological in nature.Finally,innovation processes can involve multiple stakeholders who use both statutory regulation and self-regulation for innovation governance.This paper concludes that innovation processes and their governance can vary significantly according to different areas of the financial landscape and associated innovation contexts.Thus,there is a need for more empirical work to understand such variability and practices in the sector as a whole.

Dynamic control of a firm’s process innovation with knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly

This paper explores a multiproduct firm’s process innovation of high-and lowquality goods with knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly.We show that:(i)the system admits a saddle-point steady-state equilibrium under firm decision-making and social planner adjustment,respectively;(ii)the firm’s learning rates of knowledge accumulation of process innovation call for more intense efforts in both directions;(iii)there is a substitution between the process innovation for these two kinds of goods;(iv)the social incentive towards both kinds of innovation efforts is always larger than the private incentive characterizing the profit-seeking firm.Our contribution extends the dynamic innovation literature that focuses on singlegood and considers the effects of corresponding knowledge accumulation on process innovation of these two kinds of goods.Further,this theoretical work contributes to the design of efficient innovation effort strategies for firms’process innovation with corresponding knowledge accumulation in a vertically differentiated monopoly market.

Study of the robustness of a low-temperature dual-pressure process for removal of CO2 from natural gas

The growing use of energy by most of world population and the consequent increasing demand for energy are making unexploited low quality gas reserves interesting from an industrial point of view. To meet the required specifications for a natural gas grid, some compounds need to be removed from the sour stream. Because of the high content of undesired compounds （i.e., CO2） in the stream to be treated, traditional purification processes may be too energy intensive and the overall system may result unprofitable, therefore new technologies are under study. In this work, a new process for the purification of natural gas based on a low temperature distillation has been studied, focusing on the dynamics of the system. The robustness of the process has been studied by dynamic simulation of an industrial-scale plant, with particular regard to the performances when operating conditions are changed. The results show that the process can obtain the methane product with a high purity and avoid the solidification of carbon dioxide.

Trade and innovation: Unraveling a complex nexus

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical economic literature on the innovation effect of international trade. To this end, we focus on technological innovation that targets product characteristics. We highlight three main channels through which international trade can affect innovation by domestic firms:increasing market size, intensifying market competition and facilitating foreign sourcing. While the market size effect of trade on domestic innovation is found to be predominantly positive, the effects of market competition and foreign sourcing are ambiguous and can depend on a variety of factors. Moreover, the impact of trade on innovation is likely heterogeneous across firms.