235R_Invigorating impact investment networks: Actor-actant engagement in a smart city environment (research summary)

Are you interested in impact investing?

Our summary today works with the article titled Invigorating impact investment networks: Actor-actant engagement in a smart city environment from 2023 by Joanna Vogeley and Paul Ryder, published in the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Katarina Throssel in episode 236 talking about impact investing.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how impact investing can be connected to the future of cities. This article presents aspects for successful impact investing and the role of technologies, also revealing how network participants enhance distributed agency.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:

Impact investing networks are complex ecosystems involving the interplay of human actors and technological actants, which can be effectively understood through the lens of General Systems Theory, Open Systems Theory, and Actor-Network Theory.
Three key pillars - strategic networking, communication, and impact measurement - are crucial for creating dynamic and effective impact investing networks that accelerate positive outcomes while also being aware of potential negative consequences.
Technology plays a vital role in facilitating actor-actant engagements within impact investing networks, enabling the flow of capital, knowledge, and resources towards social and environmental goals, but its influence must be critically examined.

You can find the article through this link.

Abstract: Impact investing seeks to generate measurable social and/or environmental impact alongside a financial return. Accordingly, assumed trade-off between financial return and social benefit is no longer a given, with Masdar City demonstrating that the mobilisation of dynamic networks facilitates the growth of impact investments. So as to better understand the complex dynamics of successful impact investing networks, we engage General Systems Theory, Open Systems Theory, and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a tripartite conceptual framework. Directly related to this, we show the role of technologies and reveal how network participants enhance distributed agency. We also identify three pillars crucial to the impact investing milieu: strategic innovation, communication, and impact measurement. The article finally observes a set of key outcomes, explores the implications for practice and considers directions for further research.

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:

No.203R - Too risky – The role of finance as a driver of sustainability transitions
No.204 - Interview with Josh Dry about the financial sector's role in establishing better future for cities and humanity

You can find the transcript through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

What wast the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WTF4Cities⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wtf4cities.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ website where the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shownotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠are also available.

I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.

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