STEERING THE GREEN TRANSITION: BUSINESS MODELS AND INNOVATION DYNAMICS IN THE AGRI-TECH SECTOR

This organizational logic is designed to cultivate deep expertise in specific vertical domains, from genetic resources and crop health to smart farming systems and supply chain management, while ensuring that these specialized efforts are continuously integrated and aligned with the overarching national objectives defined by the Hub.This dissertation is situated within the scientific and strategic purview of Spoke 8: "New models of circular economy in agriculture through waste valorization and recycling".This Spoke addresses one of the most fundamental challenges of the green transition: the systemic inefficiency and environmental burden of the linear "take-make-dispose" economic model.Its core objective is to develop the scientific and technological foundations to re-imagine agricultural and agro-industrial residues, transforming them from a costly liability into a valuable resource.The research within Spoke 8 is therefore dedicated to creating high-value products from diverse waste streams, including bioenergy, biofuels, biopolymers, and advanced bio-fertilizers-thereby closing resource loops, reducing pollution, and creating novel, sustainable value chains.Within the intricate structure of Spoke 8, the research is further organized into specific Work Packages.This Ph.D. project is formally embedded in Work Package 8.4: "Evaluation and assessment of new circular technologies in agriculture".The mission of this WP is of critical importance, as it serves as a bridge between scientific discovery and real-world impact.Its focus moves beyond pure technological development to address the complex and often-overlooked question of viability.It seeks to build and apply a rigorous, multidimensional framework for evaluating whether the innovative green technologies emerging from the other research tasks are not only technically sound but also economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable in the long run.This WP addresses the so-called "valley of death", where promising inventions often fail for lack of a clear path to market.This brings us to the specific locus of the present research, which contributes directly to Task 8.4.1: "Economical-financial and cost/benefit measures of the technologies proposed".While traditional financial and cost-benefit analyses provide a crucial, yet ultimately static, assessment of a technology's potential profitability, they often fail to capture the dynamic and strategic architecture required to bring an innovation to market successfully.A technology does not exist in a vacuum; its ultimate success or failure is contingent on the business model designed to deploy it, scale it, and capture value from it.Therefore, this doctoral research is conceived as the strategic and applied culmination of Task 8.4.1's mandate.It posits that the true measure of a green technology's value lies not in its technical efficiency alone, but in its ability to be embedded within a viable, scalable, and sustainable business model.This thesis aims to bridge the critical gap between technological invention and market innovation.By leveraging advanced strategic management frameworks and applying them to the cutting-edge green technologies emerging from the national research agenda, this dissertation seeks to design and validate the very business models that can translate the scientific potential generated by AGRITECH into tangible, durable, and sustainable competitive advantage for the agricultural enterprises of the future.Specifically, the core thesis defended in this dissertation is that technological invention alone is insufficient for the green transition.It posits that a durable competitive advantage in the agri-tech sector can only be achieved through a strategic architectural reconfiguration of the firm, where green innovations are not adopted in isolation but are synergistically integrated with digital capabilities (Twin Transition) and embedded within circular business models that explicitly account for economic, environmental, and social value layers.This work, therefore, intends to provide not just an academic contribution to the field of sustainable business strategy but also a concrete and practical framework for practitioners and policymakers dedicated to realizing the ambitious vision of the NRRP. The Research Journey: Structure of the DissertationThis dissertation unfolds as a structured intellectual inquiry, designed to address the complex, multi-faceted nature of the green transition in agriculture through a deliberate, multi-scalar research design.The thesis is not conceived as a single, monolithic study but as a cumulative and coherent argument built across four distinct, yet deeply interconnected, chapters.Each chapter functions as a standalone research paper that employs a specific methodological lensbibliometric, case-based, patentometric, and econometric-to examine the central research question from a different and necessary vantage point.This progression allows the investigation to build upon itself, moving systematically from the foundational theories that govern the field, to the practical realities of strategic implementation, to the global landscape of technological invention, and culminating in a rigorous test of economic impact.This architectural choice ensures that the final conclusions are robust, nuanced, and grounded in a rich, triangulated body of evidence.The investigation commences in the first chapter with a systematic mapping of the literature.To build new knowledge, one must first possess a precise map of the existing world.This chapter, therefore, moves beyond a conventional literature review to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the scholarly domain where green technology, sustainability, and business strategy converge.This data-driven approach allows for a quantitative and visual rendering of the intellectual architecture of the field, revealing its foundational pillars, its most influential streams of thought, and the conceptual bridges that connect disparate areas of research.The primary purpose of this initial step is twofold: first, to establish a rigorous theoretical point of departure for the dissertation, and second, to identify with precision the uncharted territories, the critical gaps in understanding, and the unresolved questions that demand new empirical investigation.This chapter thus answers the foundational question: "What is the intellectual structure of this field, and where does the frontier of knowledge currently lie?".It represents a synthesis of two peer-reviewed articles: "Green Light for Business Sustainability: a Bibliometric Analysis on the Integration of Green Technologies within Business Strategy", published in Sustainable Futures, and "Seeds of Change: a Bibliometric Study on Sustainable Technologies and Business Strategies in Agriculture", published in the Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development.From this broad cartographic survey, the second chapter executes a strategic deep-dive, plunging from the high altitude of academic theory into the strategic empirical setting.It addresses the critical challenge of translating elegant concepts into workable instruments.Taking the principles of circularity and sustainable value creation identified in the first chapter, this section subjects them to the pressures of practical business model design.Through an intensive, explorative case study of a specific circular innovation, this chapter serves as a microcosm for the broader challenges of the green transition.Its core contribution is the development and application of a novel, multidimensional framework for strategic analysis, forged specifically to capture the unique economic, environmental, and social dynamics of circular ventures.This chapter provides the bridge between abstract knowledge and practical strategy, answering the question: "How can the theoretical imperatives of sustainability and circularity be forged into a robust, coherent, and viable business model?".This chapter is a revised and extended version of the author's peer-reviewed article, "Enhancing Circularity in Urban Waste Management: A Case Study on Biochar from Urban Pruning", published in the journal Environments.Having stress-tested a strategic design at the micro-level, the third chapter expands the aperture dramatically to conduct a panoramic survey of the inventive landscape at a global scale.If the previous chapter explored how a single sustainable enterprise could be designed, this chapter asks a different, larger question: what green agricultural technologies are actually CHAPTER 1 -SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKThe transition to a sustainable agri-tech sector is not a linear path but is shaped by the convergence of technological innovation, strategic business decisions, and shifting policy landscapes.To navigate this complexity, any investigation must first build on a solid theoretical foundation.Before examining specific technologies or market dynamics, it is therefore essential to map the existing academic terrain.The following chapter begins this journey by charting the intellectual structure of the field, providing a comprehensive framework that will ground the empirical analyses to come.