The Link between Human Resources in Science and Technology and Regional Economic Development in the EU

Science and technology is seen as the key factor supporting the performance of regional innovation systems. Furthermore, the innovation intensity in the region could be often crucial for regional economic development. Our research aims to examine the potential link between the economic development of the region and the intensity of science and technology activities proxied by the share of employees in science and technology. The analysis is based on panel data for NUTS2 regions of EU member states in the period 2003-2014. We conducted correlation analysis, panel Granger causality tests and regression analysis. Our results suggest the existence of a significant positive correlation between GDP per capita and the share of employees in science and technology. Moreover, the regions with higher intensity of science and technology activities are mostly characterized by relatively low unemployment rates and a higher proportion of residents with a university education. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Over-bureaucratisation in public procurement: purposes and results

Most countries spend large sums of money (10 to 15% of their GDP) to procure goods, services and other work from private suppliers. Given this large public procurement market, it is clear that poor procurement practices might hinder sustainable development and negatively impact public finances and economic growth. This article uses data from the Czech Republic and Slovakia to show that these countries’ procurement systems are over-bureaucratised, and tries to identify the causes and results of such a situation. Our findings confirm that the systems investigated are characterised by legislation that is both too detailed and frequently amended, and an administrative culture that prefers compliance to performance. With over-bureaucratisation, procurement officials opt for a Rechtsstaat administrative culture of “bureaucratic safety” that generates excessive levels of passive waste of public resources

The Link between Human Resources in Science and Technology and Regional Economic Development in the EU

Science and technology is seen as the key factor supporting the performance of regional innovation systems. Furthermore, the innovation intensity in the region could be often crucial for regional economic development. Our research aims to examine the potential link between the economic development of the region and the intensity of science and technology activities proxied by the share of employees in science and technology. The analysis is based on panel data for NUTS2 regions of EU member states in the period 2003-2014. We conducted correlation analysis, panel Granger causality tests and regression analysis. Our results suggest the existence of a significant positive correlation between GDP per capita and the share of employees in science and technology. Moreover, the regions with higher intensity of science and technology activities are mostly characterized by relatively low unemployment rates and a higher proportion of residents with a university education. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

University Characteristics as Factor Affecting the Creation of University Spin-Offs

The university-spin off company is a specific but rather effective tool for the direct transfer of knowledge and new technology from academia into business. However, this seems to be still a not very common phenomenon in many European countries. The paper aims to compare the characteristics of universities in European countries based on empirical data for 2465 higher education institutions in Europe retrieved from European Tertiary Education Register database. We examined factors that could have a potential effect on the creation of university spin-off companies in Europe. In order to find these factors we applied logit and probit regression analysis. Our results strongly suggest that those universities which are neither strongly focused on a few fields of research, nor very broad in their focus are mostly less active in creating the university spin-off companies. The intensity of PhD study, the share of tuition fees as well as a number of foreign students seem to be factors affecting university spin-off activities. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Research Activities and their Relation to Economic Performance of Regions in the European Union

Background: The intensity of innovation could often be crucial for further economic development of the regions. Science and technology are often seen as the key factor supporting innovation in the regions. Furthermore, we can assume that higher intensity of research activities could lead to better economic performance. Objectives: Research aims to examine the link between the economic performance of the region and the intensity of science and technology activities, proxied by the share of employees in science and technology. Methods/Approach: The analysis is based on panel data for NUTS2 regions of the European Union (EU) member states. We conducted correlation analysis, panel Granger causality tests and regression analysis. Results: Our results suggest the existence of a significant positive correlation between GDP per capita and the share of employees in science and technology. Moreover, the regions with a higher intensity of science and technology activities are mostly characterized by relatively low unemployment rates. Conclusions: Research activities are positive correlated with regional GDP and negatively correlated with unemployment. However, increasing the share of employment in science and technology beyond a certain turning point would not lead to any further positive effects on regional economic performance

Tax morale and prosocial behaviour: evidence from a Palestinian survey

The first empirical investigation is conducted into the relationship between prosocial behaviour and tax morale in the context of state capacity building as in the Palestinian Territories. We consider ‘public spirit’ (a positive attitude adopted by citizens for the benefit of the community) and associational activity (individuals’ engagement in voluntary activities) two major expressions of prosocial behaviour and estimate their impact on Palestinians’ ‘tax morale’ (intrinsic motivation to pay taxes). The empirical analysis employs a unique Palestinian public opinion survey conducted in 2007 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. By using a bivariate probit model, we find that tax morale increases with public spirit but it is lower among Palestinians involved in associational activities. Predicted conditional probabilities indicate that public spirit has more impact when the respondent has low confidence in the institutions and in the rule of law. Finally, more public spirit is required for a self-employed person in order to deal with tax compliance than for a worker in the public sector, unless the worker in the public sector has lower confidence in the institutions and in the rule of law than the self-employed person

What matters: The Formation of University Spin-offs in Europe

Background: Transfer of knowledge from academia to business is one of the crucial issues for creating innovation. Creation of university spin-offs could significantly improve this transfer. Objectives: The main scientific aim is to examine the differences between universities in European countries and identify factors affecting the probability of creating the university spin-off. The paper is also focused on the differences in the specialization and financial sources of universities. Methods/Approach: We compare selected indicators for higher education institutions in European countries and examine potential determinants affecting the probability of academic spin-off formation. With respect to the main aim, the logit and probit regression analyses have been used. Results: Our results show that the creation of spin-offs is typical on the one hand for highly specialized universities or on the other hand for universities with a wide variety of study programs. They should also have an optimum number of doctoral students and have mostly less funding from tuition fees. Conclusions: Several indicators appear to play an important role in the formation of university spin-off. These indicators are the level of specialization, the share of tuition fees in the University budget, and the share of Ph.D. and foreign students