Implementation and Application of Artificial Intelligence in Selected Public Services

Data-intensive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, imply huge opportunities for transforming the delivery of healthcare and social services, improving people’s quality of life and working in the health and welfare system. The aim of this paper is to present examples of the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques in healthcare and social services and to sketch the trends and challenges in the adoption of artificial intelligence techniques, with an emphasis on the public sector and selected public services. Analysis is based on a realistic assessment of current artificial intelligence technologies and their anticipated development. Besides the benefits and potential opportunities for healthcare and social services, there are also challenges for governments. Understanding the huge potential of artificial intelligence as well as its limitations will be a key step forward, but it is essential to avoid the trap of an overestimation of artificial intelligence potential

XXIV. mezinárodní kolokvium o regionálních vědách

Title in English: 24th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences: Conference proceedings. The conference proceedings consists of papers presented at the 24rd International Colloquium on Regional Sciences that was organized by Department of Regional Economics and Administration FEA MU. It contains 79 articles arranged by topic. The individual articles deal with e.g. socioeconomic disparities among regions, regional policy, territory attractiveness, tourism or regional public administration

Socio-Economic Effects of Education in the Context of Economic Return

The article presents the issue of evaluation of economic and non-economic effects of education. We proceed from the basic educational terminology and methods for the evaluation of efficiency of education that may be used in this connection. We compare individual methods in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. In our methodology, we applied the selected methods used in evaluation of investments in the private sector to the environment of the public sector and the field of education. We applied the procedures elaborated in the analytical part of the methodological part to particular values, indicators and the environment of higher education institutions. The analytical part presents evaluation of individual efficiency of investments in all three degrees of higher education, as well as in education in branches of studies at higher education institutions

The ownership form of hospitals from the viewpoints of economic theory and slovak practice

The marketization of public services, among them health care service aims at a continuous incre- ase in public expenditure efficiency, continual improvements in public services quality, the imple- mentation of the professional management tools in the public sector and developing the plurality system of ownership forms in public service delivering – privatization in public services. Redefinition of the roles of the state and private providers, privatization in health care became a central theme of recent health care reforms in Slovakia. The debate about the pros and cons of privatization in health care is very intensive, though mainly at the political level. Some opponents still regard privatization as a policy simply advocated to cut back the role of the public sector in health care. But advocates of privatization believe it can raise effectiveness and quality. Our article analyses the problem of Slovak hospital ownership. It begins with a brief theoretical overview of the key aspects of privatisation: predominantly from the viewpoint of neoclassical pu- blic economics. The analytical part was intended provide a comparative analysis of performance of different types of Slovak hospitals. But the lack of publicly available data limits the scope and depth of our analysis. Despite these limitations our article argues that ownership form is not the main determinant of hospital performance. We base this argument on both theoretical grounds and on our empirical evidence from Slovakia. In the light of this argument, we propose that decisions about hospital privatisation and its form, in spite of their dominantly political character, should respect concrete conditions and the specific environment. A public-private-civil sector ownership mix seems to be the most appropriate current response for Slovakia. This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-0267-07