Strategic planning and management of national development processes in Latvia

Thanks to achieved productive collaboration of the highest level government institutions with the academic community experts, a national strategic planning system is shaping that is very significant for further development of Latvia. General principles of the system have been approved by the Law on Development Planning System. The conceptual document A Growth Model for Latvia: People First defines a knowledge‐based human‐centred development scenario. The National Development Plan has been approved as a mid‐term programme for implementation of the Model. To monitor progress towards the goal an integrated quantified quality of life index was developed; the index includes priorities essential for Latvia's population and it is based on objective statistical data. Polycentric development and strong cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region are priorities among strategic tasks that have been outlined to realize the growth. But the current two‐faced EU model cannot be evaluated as the most optimum and beneficial for development of Latvia as well as other EU Member States. First Publish Online: 14 Oct 201

Sustainable growth of EU economies and Baltic context: Characteristics and modelling

The united general growth strategy for all EU Member States, a common economic and political vision as well as location in the same geographic region provides a necessary basis for the benchmarking modelling of economies. The main objective of this study is determination of the functional regularities and drivers of the growth of EU economies and the context of the Baltic States in line with the general trend of the EU, as well as development of the growth model, which can be used for sustainable planning and prediction. Analysis of several regularly published analytical indexes suggests a thesis on innovation as the real basic driving force for EU economies and outlines Innovation Performance Index, which have a very strong compliance with the economic growth of particular country. At the same time study of the data set and methodology of the Index indicates space for further optimization. By use of several linear regression tools the growth model was created. It is based on three hard independent statistical indicators (predictors) only; of course, these indicators is a peak of a complex pyramid. Despite of the simplicity of the model, the long-term correlation of fitted values with the real GDP per capita is extremely strong 0.961 – 0.987)

Sustainable growth of EU economies and Baltic context: Characteristics and modelling

The united general growth strategy for all EU Member States, a common economic and political vision as well as location in the same geographic region provides a necessary basis for the benchmarking modelling of economies. The main objective of this study is determination of the functional regularities and drivers of the growth of EU economies and the context of the Baltic States in line with the general trend of the EU, as well as development of the growth model, which can be used for sustainable planning and prediction. Analysis of several regularly published analytical indexes suggests a thesis on innovation as the real basic driving force for EU economies and outlines Innovation Performance Index, which have a very strong compliance with the economic growth of particular country. At the same time study of the data set and methodology of the Index indicates space for further optimization. By use of several linear regression tools the growth model was created. It is based on three hard independent statistical indicators (predictors) only; of course, these indicators is a peak of a complex pyramid. Despite of the simplicity of the model, the long-term correlation of fitted values with the real GDP per capita is extremely strong 0.961 – 0.987)

A knowledge‐based human‐centred growth model for Latvia

A growth model for Latvia is presented. The main resource for growth is the knowledge and wisdom of Latvia's inhabitants, and the ability of each individual to make use of this resource. Raising the quality of life in every aspect for each individual is the main goal of growth. The collective knowledge of the people must be used to achieve this. In achieving this goal we must make use of coordinated and balanced development of each aspect of life, taking into account the unity of activities and the expansion these activities beyond frameworks of individual sectors, institutions, formal state structures and across borders. The model has been approved by Saeima (Parliament) in 2005. Several activities have been started to implement the model. Firstd Published Online: 14 Oct 201

Measuring the Implementation of the <i>Agenda 2030</i> Vision in Its Comprehensive Sense: Methodology and Tool

The contribution of the energy sector to human development (HD) is one of the aspects that requires measuring growth of the overall sustainability of HD. The UN program, Agenda 2030, has defined the vision of advanced development by introducing a sustainable HD paradigm, the balanced integrated development paradigm, in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The overall performance of countries is not currently assessed; there are several proposals for measuring sustainable HD level, but none have become widely accepted due to their weaknesses. The selected indirect measurement method reflects the interlinkage of development dimensions in real cases of low data availability. By combining the strengths of existing proposals and eliminating their weaknesses, the measuring methodology has been created and an appropriate tool—the Advanced Human Development Index (AHDI)—has been designed, which ensures unity and concordance of all included comprehensive dimension indices. The calculations confirm the accuracy and simplicity of the measurement. The proposed methodology and AHDI, as a simple, balanced index that is based on result-oriented headline indices, provide the big picture, which will be transparent, acceptable and usable for experts, politicians and the global community to assess the achieved development levels and to make strategic decisions for the coming period

Measuring the Implementation of the Agenda 2030 Vision in Its Comprehensive Sense: Methodology and Tool

The contribution of the energy sector to human development (HD) is one of the aspects that requires measuring growth of the overall sustainability of HD. The UN program, Agenda 2030, has defined the vision of advanced development by introducing a sustainable HD paradigm, the balanced integrated development paradigm, in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The overall performance of countries is not currently assessed; there are several proposals for measuring sustainable HD level, but none have become widely accepted due to their weaknesses. The selected indirect measurement method reflects the interlinkage of development dimensions in real cases of low data availability. By combining the strengths of existing proposals and eliminating their weaknesses, the measuring methodology has been created and an appropriate tool—the Advanced Human Development Index (AHDI)—has been designed, which ensures unity and concordance of all included comprehensive dimension indices. The calculations confirm the accuracy and simplicity of the measurement. The proposed methodology and AHDI, as a simple, balanced index that is based on result-oriented headline indices, provide the big picture, which will be transparent, acceptable and usable for experts, politicians and the global community to assess the achieved development levels and to make strategic decisions for the coming period

Ecological affinity changes in a Sudano-Sahelian rodent community after slash-and-burn farming (Gonsé Forest, Burkina Faso)

International audienceDuring the decades the district heating's (DH) advantages (more cost-efficient heat generation and reduced air pollution) overcompensated the additional costs of transmission and distribution of the centrally produced thermal energy to consumers. Rapid increase in the efficiency of low-power heaters, development of separated low heat density areas in cities reduce the competitiveness of the large centralized DH systems in comparison with the distributed cluster-size networks and even local heating. Reduction of transmission costs, enhancement of the network efficiency by optimization of the design of the DH networks become a critical issue. The methodology for determination of the key drivers of the cost-efficiency of the DH networks to implement the most efficient (cost-minimal) thermal energy transmission was developed in this study. An inductive benchmarking modelling was applied; the general causal regularity is based on the observations of specific cases, thus determining the relationships between the network's design and thermal indicators as predictors and transmission costs as the target variable. The key drivers of the network efficiency were disclosed-the network length and the largest inner diameter of the pipes. The methodology is applicable for use by municipalities and heat providers for the heating planning of the new housing developments as well as renovation and/or expansion of the existing DH networks