Call-for-papers on
Innovative Finance for Technological Progress (book)
Roles of Fintech, Financial Instruments, and Institutions
Editors:
Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary (Tokai University, Japan),
Roohallah Aboojafari (Technology Studies Institute, Iran),
Naoyuki Yoshino (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan)

OUTLINE: Innovative businesses and startups play a significant role in job creation,
economic growth, and technological progress in most countries. Finance is a criticalconstraint on the development of innovative firms like startups. Most startups havedifficulties accessing finance because they lack a business credit history, making it
difficult for lenders to assess their risk and not own valuable tangible assets to pledge
as loan collateral. Besides, they are in the early stages of development and face a very
high possibility of failure, which significantly raises financing and investment risk. As aresult, innovative projects usually fail to access finance through conventional methods.
In the US, venture capital as an alternative financial institution is a common way toabsorb private investment into tech-based startups. However, in developing Asia andother developing regions, venture capital is not well accepted due to the bank-oriented
financial markets. Conventional ways of financing are not sufficient for filling the financegap of startups. Bank loans are not suitable for financing startups, as the Basel capital
accord prevents financial institutions from lending to risky sectors. Therefore, it’s
essential to look for innovative financing methods to make these enterprises’ access tostable and cheap finance easy, which will have a significant role in technologicaladvancement, especially in developing countries.
This call for papers is looking for empirical, theoretical, and case studies of financial
innovations that facilitate innovative firms’ and startups’ access to finance andinvestment. On the other hand, it seeks submissions contributing to the literature on
how developing countries finance innovation and high-technologies?

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The call for papers seeks studies from three different financial innovation categories,
including institutional innovation, innovation in products, and processes. Examples ofinstitutional innovation are establishing a credit risk database, credit rating companies
specialized for startups, and credit guarantee schemes.
Examples of innovation in products are peer-to-peer lending platforms, matchmaking
platforms, and distributed-ledged technologies on blockchain-based lending platforms.
Furthermore, the examples of innovation in the processes are venture capital,
crowdfunding, angel investment, and partner financing.
Accepted papers will be published by Routledge in an edited book volume titled
Innovative Finance for Technological Progress: The roles of Fintech, Financial
Instruments, and Institutions. This book aims to provide several empirical, theoretical,
and case studies on financial innovations to fill startup businesses’ finance gap. Besides,
it aims to provide policy recommendations on financing innovation.
Topics of interest in this book include, but are not limited to:
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How can financial innovations drive technological progress?
How to best remove barriers for financing innovative startups and noveltechnologies?
What are the regulatory and legal requirements and solutions for developing
Fintech and innovative finance?
What is the role of governments in enhancing innovative finance?
What are the risks associated with innovative finance, and how to cope with them?
What are the roles of institutional innovation, innovation in products, andprocesses in technological progress?
What are the role of credit risk databases, credit rating companies, and credit
guarantee schemes in unlocking the investments in technologies and startups?
Case studies on utilizing innovative finance and FinTech in funding startup
businesses and novel technologies in different countries and sectors.
Application of AI, DLT or blockchain, peer-to-peer lending platforms, big data,internet-based and mobile-based payments, IoT, matchmaking platforms
including crowdlending and tokenizing green assets in scaling up financing
technologies.
Role of venture capital, crowdfunding, angel investment, and partner financing infunding new technologies.
Financial institutions and investments in technologies and startups.
Institutional investors and technological progress2

Submission Procedure
Contributors should submit their extended paper in English by June 25, 2021. The
deadline is not extendable. The abstract should be about 1,000 words, including the title,
name of author(s), affiliation(s), research background, motivation, and methodology, andexpected policy implications. Abstracts should be submitted in word format tofarhad@tsc.u-tokai.ac.jp and aboojafari@tsi.ir
The subject of the email message: “Submission to the Innovative Finance forTechnological Progress book.”
Successful applicants will be notified by June 30, 2021.
Accepted abstracts will be invited to present their full papers at a webinar to beorganized by Tokai University, Technology Studies Institute, and Iran National Innovation
Fund.
Date of webinar: July 05, 2021
Selected applicants must submit their full paper by August 31, 2021. The paper should be
8,000- 10,000 words in length, including references, and should have the following
structure:
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Chapter title
Author info (including co-authors): name, affiliation, address, and e-mailAbstract (150-250 words)
Keywords or keyword phrases (4-8 words)
JEL classification code(s)Introduction
Main text (split into various sections with heads and subheads chosen byauthors)
Conclusion and policy recommendations
References (up to 50)
Index terms (1-2 per manuscript page, highlight in green)

3Tentative table of contents
Innovative Finance for Technological Progress; Roles of Fintech, Financial Instruments,and Institutions
Introduction by the Editors
Section 1. Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions
Chapter 1. Role of financial innovations in scaling up investments in innovations and startups.
Chapter 2. Analyzing the barriers and recommendations for removing them to scale up startup
finance
Chapter 3. Assessing the risks associated with startups and policies for coping with themSection 2. Regulatory and policy framework
Chapter 4. Regulatory and legal frameworks for financial innovations
Chapter 5. Role of governments in the development of financial innovations
Section 3. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in different countries and regions
Chapter 6. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in China, Japan, and theRepublic of Korea
Chapter 7. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in the ASEAN region
Chapter 8. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in India and South Asia
Chapter 9. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in Middle-east and Africa
Chapter 10. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in Latin America
Chapter 11. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in Europe
Chapter 12. Recent progress in financial innovations for startups in North America
Section 4. Innovations in institutions, products, and processes
Chapter 13. Role of banks and other financial institutions in enhancing the startup finance
Chapter 14. Application of artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technologies/ blockchain ineasing the innovative firms’ access to finance
Chapter 15. Role of peer-to-to peer lending platforms in easing startup finance
Chapter 16. Role of crowdfunding in enhancing investments in startups.

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