Editorial: “Innovation, technology and the green transition: towards a more resource-efficient and competitive economy”

Digital transformation is playing a key role in the social and economic recovery after the covid-19 outbreak in 2020. Digital solutions like artificial intelligence or quantum technologies can improve our daily lives and create new business opportunities for companies. Huge amounts of data generated could be used to innovate and be more competitive. Furthermore, new and emerging information technologies can accelerate the transition towards a digital and circular economy in the coming years (European Commission, 2021a, 2021b; Zhang et al., 2016).

But these digital solutions may bring risks too. This substantive societal and economic transformation...