Public Support for Innovation: Changes in Turnover of Granted Companies

Background: Innovation policy supports innovation in companies, as it is crucial for economic, social and environmental development. Objectives: The research aims to verify whether companies that have received public support for innovation are experiencing turnover growth. Methods/Approach: The research is carried out on the example of the Czech Innovation Programme, and the analysis included 276 projects in the manufacturing industry. The study compares the turnover of enterprises one year before receiving the aid and two years after the granting. The analysis is performed regarding the size of companies, industries and regions. Results: When the companies are assessed at the median level, the largest turnover growth was found in the category of small enterprises. Regarding industry, the largest increase was recorded in NACE sections 22, 27, 26, 29 and 30. The lowest increase in turnover was recorded for enterprises in sections 21, 23, 24 and 28. Differences in turnover growth were also observed across regions. Conclusions: Providing support for innovation contributes to the growth of turnover. A larger share of public aid should be allocated to the category of small and medium-sized enterprises and knowledge-intensive industries

XXV. mezinárodní kolokvium o regionálních vědách

Title in English: 25th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences: Conference proceedings The conference proceedings consists of papers presented at the 25th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences that was organized by Department of Regional Economics and Administration FEA MU. It contains 57 articles arranged by topic. The individual articles deal with e.g. socioeconomic disparities among regions, regional policy, territory attractiveness, tourism, or regional public administration

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

Competence centres as a method of innovation cooperation enhancement in the Czech Republic

Innovation networks and cooperation can contribute significantly to the improvement of companies’ innovation capabilities. Innovation policy supports innovation and research cooperation through a wide range of policy tools. Competence centres are one of them. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the features of innovation cooperation through the analysis of competence centres in the Czech Republic. The research focuses on competence centre projects supported by the Technology Agency, and the analysis is carried out with respect to the regions and participants. Our analysis is accompanied by the point method and correlation analysis. The results show that the activities of competence centres are strongly concentrated in Prague and the South Moravian Region. This type of innovation cooperation is also well developed in the Central Bohemian, Pilsen and Moravian–Silesian Regions. It is proved that universities can play the role of a facilitator of innovation cooperation

Identification of Czech Metropolitan Regions: How to improve targeting of innovation policy

Concepts of national and regional innovation systems can serve as an analytical framework forming the empirical base for innovation policy creation. It is possible to distinguish various types of these systems. One of these typologies is based on the assessment of innovation deficiencies. There are three types of regions: metropolitan, peripheral, and old industrial. Metropolitan regions can be characterized by a high level of research, innovation, and patent activity. The aims of this paper are to find relevant indicators that can be used as the basis for defining metropolitan regional innovation systems and using them for the identification of Czech metropolitan regions. The results of the point method combined with the cluster analysis showed that the capital city, Prague, as well as the South Moravian, Pardubice, Central Bohemian, Pilsen, and Liberec Regions can be defined as metropolitan regions

The Competitiveness Index of Czech Regions

This paper deals with the competitiveness of regions and its possible measuring using composite indicators. Advantages of a composite index are that it summarizes more dimensions of competitiveness and the results can be comprehensibly interpreted for the public. The aims of this paper are to evaluate and compare the competitiveness of Czech regions based on the 3-Factor model. The evaluation is performed using a composite index which includes 14 partial indicators. These indicators are divided into three groups – input factors, output factors and outcome factors. Individual regions of the Czech Republic are thus first compared based on the factors and then based on the total score. The total score expresses the regional competitiveness in relation to the competitiveness of the Czech Republic as a whole. The main year evaluated is the year 2012. We also compared the results to the year 2008. The most competitive region is Prague (it does not do well in output factors only), but also the South Moravian, Central Bohemia and Pilsen regions are highly competitive. The least competitive regions are the Ústí, Karlovy Vary and Vysočina regions

Assessment of Regional Innovation Systems as an Assumption for Innovation Policy Adjustment

The role of regions in promoting innovation is gaining increasing signifi cance. For a policy to be effi cient, it is fi rst necessary to analyze the innovation performance and the character of the innovation system. The aim of this paper is to propose and implement a methodology for the evaluation of regional innovation systems using the index of the regional innovation system (IRIS) devised by the authors. The analysis is performed using the example of Czech NUTS3 regions. The evaluated indicators were divided into fi ve groups (factors): Knowledge, Businesses, Intellectual property, Political support, and Results. Based on the standardization and rescaling of the factors, the IRIS was calculated. The regions were divided into groups by means of the cluster analysis. The highest value of the IRIS was achieved by Capital City Prague, followed by the South Moravian region. The lowest value was achieved by the Karlovy Vary region.</p

The 20th Jubilee Colloquium on Regional Sciences: A Conference Report

The history of the International Colloquium on Regional Sciences reaches back to 1998. Over the years, its format has dramatically changed and the Colloquium has become a respected event, which attracts dozens of experts from the field of regional research every year. The contributions focus on the issue of regional disparities, the impact of the public administration activities, the evaluation of the economic, innovation and knowledge potentials of regions, as well as spatial aspects of transport, tourism, population, business environment, and the environment as such. The critical discussions have successfully led to consensus concerning the complex and often long-term problems in the economy of regions. Additionally, the assessment of the impacts of public policies, in particular regional development programmes, is significant. Participants' contributions not only enrich the practice, but many of them considerably extend the theoretical foundations of regional sciences. The Colloquium is also a platform for the creation and development of the links between researchers and academic institutions. All of this represents a significant potential for future years of this event

The regional relationship between quality of business and social environment: harmony or disharmony?

The paper assesses the relationships between the quality of business and social environments on the example of micro-regions (districts of municipalities with extended powers) and meso-regions (NUTS 3) of the Czech Republic. The applied approach develops the concept of the quality of life including the identification of system links to regional competitiveness and sustainability of development. In this context, the assessment of the business component of the regional environment that has been already carried out was supplemented with the assessment of the social component, when the regions were divided into progressive, standard and regressive. In both cases, it has been proved (in correspondence with core-periphery theories) that there is a tendency towards a decrease in the environment quality in the direction to regional borders. Subsequently, we evaluated the balance of the classification of regions (districts) within the individual components and based on this, the districts of municipalities with extended powers were divided into three types: business-oriented (type A), complex (B) and socially oriented (C). The proportion of the “balanced” type B is slightly lower than that of the two remaining “unbalanced” types. Naturally, the results of NUTS 3 evaluation correspond with this. A similar result was obtained in the case of the evaluation of regional harmony, which is understood as a qualitatively higher level of balance meeting socially desirable development standards. In correspondence, its level is defined by the proportion of type B regions (excluding the regions with business as well as social environment quality below average and also regions that are environmentally devastated) and type A regions (excluding the regions with social environment quality below average). The results show that from the perspective of the distribution of inhabitants, relatively harmonic relationship prevails, while from the purely territorial perspective, the prevailing relationship is disharmonic. The obtained knowledge corresponds with the hypothesis about a positive effect of the regional harmony of the business and social environments on the long-term sustainability of development (a bad quality of social environment significantly reduces not only residential but also investment attractiveness of regions)