This special issue examines spaces for innovation—such as living labs, maker spaces, and virtual environments—as crucial elements for stimulating innovation and enabling co-creation. While the role of physical spaces in fostering innovation has long been established, contemporary innovation involves multiple interrelated spatial modalities: physical, virtual, cognitive, and social. The special issue aims to advance interdisciplinary innovation management theory and practice by investigating how these diverse spaces are designed, experienced, and orchestrated to stimulate innovation.
The special issue addresses significant gaps in understanding how spatial configurations shape innovation in collaborative contexts. Key concerns include how different spatial modalities interact to drive innovation, the role of AI and technological systems in reshaping innovation spaces, the challenges of integrating knowledge across organizational and disciplinary boundaries, and how managers can orchestrate inclusive and ethical innovation environments. Additionally, the call seeks methodological advancements to capture the dynamic and evolving nature of spaces across their multiple dimensions.