How and where the R&D takes place in creative industries? Digital investment strategies of the book publishing sector

The innovative and strategic models of creative industries (CIs) in the digital economy are capturing an increasing interest in recent years. Yet, most of the literature deals with creation and talent and very little with technological and innovation perspectives. Innovation is in general considered from a single viewpoint: a means to develop new creative contents. This article investigates an important issue that has been surprisingly neglected in scientific literature and public reports: the topic of R&D and technological innovations in CIs. The article characterises how and where R&D takes place in the book publishing industry. A systematic identification of R&D developments concerning e-book technology has been achieved using an original methodology set up to feature the technological strategic evolutions. The results provide a reliable cartography of the value chain through an adaptation of the open systems interconnection layers model. This framework helps to understand the new digital ecosystem of the book publishing sector and the strategies carried out by the editorial houses.