This keynote argues that effective innovation depends on more than access to advanced technology. Drawing on a conceptual study of the Slow Food ecosystem in Piedmont, Italy, it explains how communities, cultural values, institutions, relationships, and shared standards create ecosystem-level knowledge assets. The presentation introduces epistemic infrastructure, knowledge codification, circular intellectual capital, and epistemic alignment as mechanisms that help knowledge circulate and support collective innovation. It then applies these ideas to the digital economy, emphasizing that artificial intelligence and other technologies require trusted relationships, shared standards, relevant expertise, and supportive institutions to generate lasting value. The talk concludes with implications for business leaders and policymakers, while highlighting the need for further empirical research.
