Analysing a Bottom-up Methodology for Developing Communal Biogas Plants in Croatia

This research presents a bottom-up methodology for assessing biogas potentials applied in a local community in Croatia. The research is based on analysing the flow of resources on a local level and capability of local actors to innovate and cooperate. Our method grades the local actors – in this case, owners of family farms in Gundinci municipality in Croatia – based on their farms’ biogas potential (or the amount and quality of manure they produce) and an indicator which we refer to as innovative-cooperation capacity. This methodology builds upon the biogas potential analysis by identifying farmers who are willing to improve their farms manure management system and cooperate in the field of biogas production in Gundinci. The replication of this methodology could stimulate rural development, through pinpointing realizable biogas projects, which could generate new money flows for the local economies and help farmers meet the norms of the European Union Nitrates Directive which regulates manure management, in order to control nitrogen flows in agriculture

Adoption of digital and ICT technologies and firms’ productivity

This paper has two main goals. First, it aims to answer the question on how the usage of ICT and digital technologies affects firm productivity. Second, it aims to analyze how change in the share of the manufacturing sector and/or the service sector in a given region direct changes in firm productivity. The analysis was carried out using a financial dataset of Croatian enterprises in the period from 2009 to 2019 and Eurostats’ Digital Economy and Society data, based on “Community survey on ICT usage and ecommerce in enterprises”. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis and panel data methods. The results indicate a positive relationship between adoption of ICT technologies and firm productivity, and a negative correlation between adoption of digital technologies and firm productivity. Furthermore, the results show a high degree of deindustrialization of certain regions and a positive correlation between industry intensity in certain regions and firm productivity. Finally, there seems to be a positive premium on productivity for larger-sized firms, firms participating in international trade, companies situated near to key international markets (i.e., located in counties bordering with the City of Zagreb)

Evaluation of Croatian innovation capability

In this paper we try to assess and evaluate Croatian innovation capability thorough the framework of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), a system of innovation indicators. Economic theory perceives innovation as a source of national competitiveness and the EU set the ability to compete within the single market as the main economic criterion for EU accession. Through the use of EIS indicators we are able to compare and rank Croatia's achievements in innovation policy against EU and Central and Eastern Europe countries (CEEC). Croatia ranks well by European standards in comparison to other CEEC, in particular Bulgaria and Romania, but has not made a significant progress in its innovation potential and policy with respect to the EU

ANALYSING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENT-EMPLOYER INTERACTION - THE CASE STUDY FROM CROATIA

The main objective of the paper is to examine a specialized mechanism for encouraging cooperation between entrepreneurs and students in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. By using a specialized mechanism, the students could have the opportunity to complete their internships and work on student jobs within their chosen fields, which means they will be able to apply their knowledge and skillsets on appropriate tasks. At the same time, perspective employers could assess potential employees more effectively and easily define appropriate tasks for them. We argue that the mechanism is suitable for application on a regional (subnational) level in Croatia, as a dimension of the Regional innovation system (Edquist, 2004). Presence of appropriate institutions as well as the availability of adequate skills aimed at facilitating employment of personnel for appropriate job positions is a prerequisite for the functionalizing of mechanism. Regarding the results of analysis of the interaction between students and employers, we conclude that both groups recognize the importance of the students’ proactive behavior in seeking jobs, internships and apprenticeships

Iz krivog u pravo: Industrijska politika i (de)industrijalizacija u središnjoj i istočnoj Europi

Over the past two and a half decades, the economic landscape of Central and Eastern European economies went through several waves of transformation. The demise of traditional industries and the rise of the service sector during the 1990s inclined economic structure towards deindustrialization. The events over the next years paved the way for the rise of new industries in many of these countries and embarked them on the route of reindustrialization. However, in some countries the rise of new industries was more modest and took place at a much slower pace. Such development can be attributed to the process of industrial restructuring as well as industrial policies. The recent rise of awareness about the importance of industrial development for the growth and well-being of nations makes it relevant to investigate the sources behind changes in the economic structure of Central and Eastern European countries. Our findings reveal two groups of CEECs, defined as reindustrializing and those going through deindustrialization. The research identifies loss of competitiveness as the principal driving force of such an outcome. No support was found for horizontal policies. The reindustrialization mainly takes place through productivity improvements in less knowledge and technology intensive activities. Such findings are in line with those on the position of CEECs in global value chains.Tijekom protekla dva i pol desetljeća ekonomski krajobraz zemalja središnje i istočne Europe prošao je nekoliko valova transformacije. Propast tradicionalnih industrija i uspon uslužnog sektora tijekom 1990-ih usmjerili su ekonomsku strukturu prema procesu deindustrijalizacije. Događaji narednih godina u nekim zemljama regije otvorili su prostor za rađanje novih industrija dok je u drugim nastanak novih industrija bio slabijeg intenziteta. Ovakav razvoj događaja može se pripisati procesu industrijskog restrukturiranja i industrijskim politikama. Recentni porast svijesti o važnosti industrijskog razvoja za rast i blagostanje nacija zahtijeva razumijevanje uzroka promjena u ekonomskoj strukturi zemalja središnje i istočne Europe. Istraživanjem su identificirane dvije skupine zemalja označene kao reindustrijalizirajuće i deindustrijalizirajuće. Promjene konkurentnosti identificirane su kao ključni pokretač takvog ishoda. Rezultati istraživanja ne pružaju potporu horizontalnom pristupu ekonomske politike. Reindustrijalizacija je uglavnom pokretana poboljšanjem proizvodnosti izvoza u sektorima slabijeg intenziteta znanja i tehnologije u skladu s položajem analiziranih zemalja u globalnom lancu dodane vrijednosti

ANALIZA KLJUČNIH RAZVOJNIH TEHNOLOGIJA U INOVATIVNOM OKRUŽENJU U HRVATSKOJ

Broj priznatih patentnih prijava u području ključnih razvojnih tehnologija smanjuje se u Hrvatskoj, za razliku od broja priznatih europskih patentnih prijava koji se povećao u razdoblju od 1997. do 2018. Jačanjem važnosti europskih patenata prijava povećava se važnost upotrebe ključnih razvojnih tehnologija u odnosu na njihovo stvaranje. Pri analizi patenata koji se identificiraju kao ključne razvojne tehnologije, na NUTS 2 razini koristili su se pokazatelji apsolutne i relativne tehnološke specijalizacije. Ti su patenti koncentrirani na području Grada Zagreba. Ipak, povećala se relativna važnost Panonske i Sjeverne Hrvatske u području ključnih razvojnih tehnologija u razdoblju 2012. – 2018. u odnosu na razdoblje 1997. – 2001. Zbog smanjenja broja odobrenih patentnih prijava u ovom području, nemoguće je govoriti o tehnološkoj specijalizaciji. S obzirom na jačanje važnosti upotrebe ključnih razvojnih tehnologija, potrebno je poticati policy programe koji će se u većoj mjeri koristiti ovim tehnologijama kao podlogom razvoja inovativnih proizvoda

Aktivnosti istraživanja i razvoja (I&R) kao faktor rasta malih i srednjih poduzeća u stranom vlasništvu u odabranim zemljama srednje i istočne Europe

This paper aims to explore the role of R&D activity as a factor of growth of foreign owned SMEs in selected Central Eastern European countries (Croatia, former East Germany, Poland and Romania). The paper is based on the micro-level approach, i.e. it focuses on the characteristics of foreign owned SMEs in the selected countries where the population of foreign owned SMEs in each country is divided into two groups. The first group consists of the firms that have achieved high growth, and the control group consists of the remaining firms.i srednjih poduzeća u stranom vlasništvu u odabranim zemljama srednje i istočne Europe (Hrvatska, Istočna Njemačka, Poljska i Rumunjska). Istraživanje se zasniva na mikro analizi tj. fokus je na obilježjima malih i srednjih poduzeća u stranom vlasništvu u svakoj od selektiranih zemalja gdje je populacija malih i srednjih poduzeća u stranom vlasništvu podijeljena na dvije skupine. Prva je skupina ona poduzeća koja su postigla visoki rast i druga je kontrolna skupina, poduzeća koja nisu postigla ubrzani rast. Empirijska analiza se zasniva na poštanskoj anketi izravnih stranih ulagača u proizvodnji u selektiranim zemljama. Prikupljanje podataka izvršeno je u 2006. i travnju i svibnju 2007. godini. Rezultati pokazuju da su mala i strana poduzeća s visokim rastom pokazivala tendenciju za suradnjom u aktivnostima I&R ponajprije s ostalim poduzećima (snabdjevačima i potrošačima), za razliku od ostalih poduzeća koja su pokazivala tendenciju prema suradnji u I&R aktivnostima s ostalim jedinicama multinacionalnih kompanija i to u slučaju bivše Istočne Njemačke, i ovaj je nalaz statistički potvrđen upotrebom hi-kvadrata. U kontekstu aktivnosti I&R kao izvora znanja za inovacijske aktivnosti i aktivnosti I&R malih i srednjih poduzeća s ubrzanim rastom istaknuta je važnost aktivnosti I&R suradnje s lokalnim snabdjevačima i potrošačima. Ta je aktivnost relativno važnija u usporedbi s ostalim izvorima znanja kao što su postojeće znanje multinacionalnih kompanija i suradnje u aktivnostima I&R sa znanstvenim institucijama