Fostering Green Innovation in Organizations : Accompanied Opportunities and Challenges

The concept of green innovation has been increasingly gaining attention among academics, practitioners, and policymakers, although its way of adoption remains unclear. This study tried to address this gap by providing ways to foster green innovation in organizations. In addition, this study aims to discuss various factors that enable green innovation and accompanying opportunities from this initiative. Moreover, inherent challenges to promoting green innovation in organizations are also elaborated within the scope of this study. Furthermore, this study examines the moderating role of green innovation concerning higher education institute (HEI) and vocational education and training (VET) capabilities and environmental dynamism. This study is concluded after exploring the significance of capability between green dynamic capability and green innovation adoption. We believe that this study opens up a new avenue in the area of green and sustainable innovation and contributes to the environmental literature in general.© IEOM Society International.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Identified necessary skills to establish a center of excellence in vocational education for green innovation

Innovation is critical for any organization to maintain sustainability and to grow. In today's world, where environmental concerns are constantly increasing, companies must adopt greener innovation strategies. These greener ways of innovating promote the monitoring and preserving of our now endangered environment. Current literature lacks data concerning the necessary skills to ease the implementation of green innovations in certain regions, one of them the Vaasa region in Finland. The aim of this study is therefore to identify those skills that can be diffused through necessary educational programs and training. Such necessary skills can be disseminated through the establishment of a Center of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) in a country or region, being this a suitable way by which educational programs and training can be offered. The skills needed for green innovation in the Vaasa region in Finland were collected through two extensive workshops, a series of semi-structured interviews, and a set of questionnaire surveys. This study adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods to meet the expected goals. From the study results, it is noticed that establishing a CoVE can be a good source for the regional companies to get a skilled workforce, which is ultimately essential to adopt a green and sustainable innovation mindset in their products and services development processes. The study is concluded with further research directions.© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A stochastic model to determine the elements of production cycle time in enterprise

A model for the stochastic determination of the elements of production cycle time is proposed and experimentally verified in this survey. The originality of the model is reflected in the idea of using a work sampling model to monitor the production cycle, as one of the most significant indicators of production effectiveness and efficiency, instead of applying classical methods. It has been experimentally proved that for a corresponding representative set the elements of working time range according to normal distribution law and that, dynamically viewed, it is possible using mean value calculations to establish control limits on 3 standard deviations for the individual elements of working time and thus to master the process

A methodology for closing the gap between the competences of students and recent graduates and labour market needs. The case of the Republic of North Macedonia

The youth unemployment is one of the most pressing problems for every economy. For addressing this issue in the Republic of North Macedonia, numerous project initiatives and activities are in the phase of planning and implementation. Part of these is the implemented project: ‘Building capacities for better employability’. Through the project activities, it was proposed to be institutionalized the stakeholder cooperation for matching education curricula according to labour market needs. In order to increase the employability of students and graduates, the main aim which is also the goal of this study, was developing a methodology for closing the gap between the skills of students and graduates and the Labour market needs, by enhancing the entrepreneurial education dominance in high education curricula. Through advanced understanding of the entrepreneurial mind-set, new opportunities in teaching and learning can enhance the University provision. For that purpose, case studies for the best UK practices in employability were developed and a survey for investigating the needs and requirements of the Macedonian high-educational sector was conducted. The research findings comprised rich informative set of recommendations that was a base for developing the methodology for closing the skills gap. The methodology was organised in four main levels with a number of institutions (actors) and activities (measures) related to them. The application of this methodology resulted with an outline of a stakeholder plan that offers insights into other areas of study and research possibilities. The contribution of this study is twofold. It adds on the literature for high-sector education and employability, but also it has practical implications for all stakeholders responsible in coping with the unemployment issue. The proposed methodology assists in monitoring the labour market changes and addressing them with improvements in the university curricula accordingly. It could be a powerful tool in the hands of the stakeholders for better employability of the students/graduates and can facilitate whole process. Overall, it will support the Republic of North Macedonia’s future strategies at Government, University and Faculty level in their strides toward creating more skilful and employable youth

Innovativeness in Macedonian Companies: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey

The importance of innovations for development of knowledge–based economies is widely acknowledged. However, certain challenges for researching the innovativeness in post–socialist economies still exist. We analyse the most influential drivers for innovativeness in Macedonian enterprises. Based on the extended literature review and the firm–level dataset collected by the CIS 2012 (Community Innovation Survey 2012), the conceptual model for identifying the factors that drive innovation was developed and tested with standard multiple regression. The findings confirm that firm innovativeness could be improved by extending the number of collaborators and sources for information and knowledge. Also, further investments in research and development for innovation positively impact the variety of innovation activities in companies. In addition to the theoretical and practical implications, this study is significant because the proposed method could be adjusted and applied in many countries where CIS research is conducted

Water for all : Proceedings of the 7th international scientific and professional conference Water for all

The 7th International Scientific and Professional Conference Water for all is organized to honour the World Water Day by the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG), Danube Parks, Croatian Food Agency, Croatian Water, Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek, Faculty of Civil Engineering Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek Department of Biology, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek Department of Chemistry, Nature Park “Kopački rit”, Osijek- Baranja County, Public Health Institute of the Osijek- Baranja County and „Vodovod-Osijek“ -water supply company in Osijek. The topic of World Water Day 2017 was "Wastewater" emphasizing the importance and influence of wastewater treatments on global environment. The international scientific and professional conference Water for all is a gathering of scientists and experts in the field of water management, including chemists, biologists, civil and agriculture engineers, with a goal to remind people about the significance of fresh water and to promote an interdisciplinary approach and sustainability for fresh water resource management. The Conference has been held since 2011. About 300 scientists and engineers submitted 95 abstracts to the 7th International Scientific and Professional Conference Water for all, out of which 33 was presented orally and 62 as posters. 47 full papers were accepted by the Scientific Committee. 38 full papers became the part of the this Proceedings while 9 papers were accepted for publication in Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology and Electronic Journal of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Osijek - e-GFOS

Minerals From MacedoniaIII. Determination of Calcite and Aragonite in Mineral Mixtures Using FT IR Spectroscopy

The appearance of the VI mode (1083 em-I) in the Ff IR spectrum of aragonite (absent in the spectrum of calcite) as well as the lower frequency of the V4 mode in the spectrum of aragonite (713 and 700 em-I) than in that of calcite (732 em-I) made it possible to detect the presence of aragonite in calcite and to determine its content. Similarly, the higher frequency of the V4 mode in the spectrum of calcite (732 em-I) than in aragonite (713 and 700 em-I) was used to detect impurities as well as to determine the content of calcite in aragonite

Macedonian National Innovation System - Main Challenges

It is generally accepted that the National Innovation Systems (NIS) are one of the most comprehensive systemic approaches that give insight into innovative and economic performance of a country. This insight is essential for policymakers to develop legislatives for enhancing the innovative performance and success of today’s knowledge based economies. The development of the NIS is a complex, path-dependant process due to the differences in the development of the main sectors involved: the academia and the industry. Macedonian later emergence of the NIS is explained by the fact that after 1990, with the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) there were significant losses in the Yugoslav, East and Central European markets. This process was accompanied by disintegration of many large industrial complexes, leading to a large number of bankruptcies and lay-offs. The existing strong governmental support for the scientific and research projects in the Federation was disrupted and disabled by these rapid changes, which was also reflected in the breakdown of direct links between academia and industry. The following two decades were transitional, and this period of recovery was terminated with the adoption of several strategic documents such as: industrial policy; program for science-research work and technological development; innovation strategy; and strategy for intellectual property. Finally, in 2013 the Law on Innovation Activity, which includes establishment of Innovation Fund, was adopted. This paper aims to retrospect the main activities for developing innovation infrastructure and enhancing innovation capacities. Moreover, it offers critical assessment of the improvements and the main challenges faced. The presented overview is designed to assist policymakers in further monitoring, evaluation and improvements, and to provide researchers with a solid base for the additional in-depth analysis of the impact of the implemented and proposed measures

Minerals from Macedonia V.Characterization of gypsum, barite and their synthetic analogues by FTIR and RAMAN spectroscopy

The Fourier transform infrared (FfIR) and Raman spectra of gypsum (CaS04'2H20) and barite (BaS04) from various localities in Macedonia were studied. Contrary to the group-theoretical predictions, it was found that the band originating from the V2 sulfate mode (expected at around 450 cm-I) does not appear in the infra­ red spectra of either gypsum or barite, apparently due to the high effective symmetry of the force field for this mode. The infrared and Raman spectra of natural gypsum and its synthetic analogue are very similar. On the other hand, slight frequency differences (especially pronounced in the region of the V3 sulfate modes) were registered in the infra­ red spectrum (and, to a considerably lesser extent in the Raman spectrum as well) of synthetic BaS0 4 when compared to the spectrum of mineral barite. Also studied were the FTIR and Raman spectra of a mineral previously character­ ized as anhydrite. Although its morphological characteristics (shape, color and transparency) were quite different from those of gypsum it was shown that the studied mineral is in fact gypsum

Minerals from Macedonia. IV. Discrimination between some carbonate minerals by FTIR spectroscopy

The use of FTIR spectroscopy to distinguish between some geologically important carbonate minerals (calcite - CaCO3, aragonite - CaCO3, siderite - FeCO3, magnesite - MgCO3 and dolomite - CaMg(CO3)2) originating from Macedonia and to detect mineral impurities in them is considered. It was shown that the series of the studied isomorphous calcite type minerals is an ideal test case for the evaluating the influence of the corresponding cation upon the band frequencies of the carbonate 3, 2 and 4 modes in their infrared spectra. It enables to distinguish the isomorphous calcite type carbonates from one another. In the course of the quantitative determination of the composition of mixtures it is shown that the limit of detection of impurities of aragonite in the mixtures with calcite (or other calcite type minerals) is around 1wt %. The spectra of natural calcite and siderite were compared to those of their synthetic analogues