Just Sustainable Innovation: From Governance and Regulatory Experimentalism to Impact Development and Investments
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How can innovation be governed, regulated, and financed in order to address contemporary climate, social, technological and other crises, unfolding in specific territories, while ensuring fair and inclusive outcomes? This question lies at the core of the Special Issue “Just Sustainable Innovation: From Governance and Regulatory Experimentalism to Impact Development and Investments”, published in the Italian Journal of Public Law, Vol. 17, Issue 3/2025. Edited by Christian Iaione, Anna Berti Suman, and Mario Manna — respectively Full Professor of Public and Administrative Law and Postdoctoral Researchers in Law and at Luiss Guido Carli University, respectively — the Special Issue develops the concept of Just Sustainable Innovation as a framework to orient innovation toward justice, sustainability, and societal benefit. The Special Issue is available in Open Access at this link.
By combining legal analysis, policy-oriented inquiry, and empirical case studies drawn from different sectors and geographical contexts, the contributions collected in this Special Issue explore two main dimensions: governance and regulatory experimentalism, on the one hand, and impact development and investments, on the other. The Special Issue examines collaborative governance models, multi-stakeholder partnerships, experimental regulatory tools, and innovative financial mechanisms capable of steering innovation toward measurable social, environmental, and territorial impacts, with particular attention to vulnerable communities.
The Special Issue offers relevant insights for policymakers, researchers, legal scholars, and civil servants, as it provides analytical and operational guidance on how law, regulation, governance, and investment frameworks can be designed to foster innovation that is not only sustainable, but also just, inclusive, and capable of generating long-term societal value.