Measuring the Potential for Technology Entrepreneurship Development: Serbian Case

Research Question: This paper explores the potential for technology entrepreneurship development at the country level through the creation of a new composite index. Motivation: Motivation for this paper arises from the fact there is a lack of the composite indices used exclusively for technology management as identified by Jovanovic et al. (2017). Technology indices are mostly used as important components of other composite indices used for tracking a country performance from the perspective of other global phenomena (e.g. competitiveness and innovativeness). The novelty of this paper reflects in the proposed Technology Entrepreneurship Development Potential (TED-pot) index which has multiple significances. It could serve as a help for policy makers in creating national policies; other companies and countries looking for the adequate environment to invest in technology entrepreneurship projects; academics who benefit from a new country-level view on technology entrepreneurship, especially ICT entrepreneurship. Idea: The idea of the paper was to create the TED-pot index to enable the cross-countries comparisons and examine whether the potential of Serbia lies in its entrepreneurial ICT sector. Data: Four indicators included in the created index are measured by the World Bank. The index is applied on six ex-Yugoslav countries and the EU for the period 2009-2014. All the data is collected from the World Bank database. Tools: The final index value is obtained by using the simple weighted function with equal weights. The overall TED-pot has been built upon the equal weighting of the two created pillars: ICT potential (ICT-pot) and Entrepreneurial potential (E-pot). The values for each pillar are calculated by the same procedure, through the simple mean of certain indicators. Findings: According to the calculated TED-pot values, Serbia stands out as a country with the greatest potential for technology entrepreneurship development in the region. Analysing individual pillars, ICT-pot indicates Serbia has very strong ICT sector, far ahead of other countries in the region, while the E-pot values show there is a space for administration to ease and speed up the process of starting new businesses in Serbia. This is a pilot research and the first presentation of the created index, which calls for further investigation. Contribution: This paper expands exiting research related to the country-level measurement in the field of technology management and entrepreneurship, especially focusing on ICT entrepreneurship development

Differential expression and localization of Ankrd2 isoforms in human skeletal and cardiac muscles

Four human Ankrd2 transcripts, reported in the Ensembl database, code for distinct protein isoforms (360, 333, 327 and 300 aa), and so far, their existence, specific expression and localization patterns have not been studied in detail. Ankrd2 is preferentially expressed in the slow fibers of skeletal muscle. It is found in both the nuclei and the cytoplasm of skeletal muscle cells, and its localization is prone to change during differentiation and upon stress. Ankrd2 has also been detected in the heart, in ventricular cardiomyocytes and in the intercalated disks (ICDs). The main objective of this study was to distinguish between the Ankrd2 isoforms and to determine the contribution of each one to the general profile of Ankrd2 expression in striated muscles. We demonstrated that the known expression and localization pattern of Ankrd2 in striated muscle can be attributed to the isoform of 333 aa which is dominant in both tissues, while the designated cardiac and canonical isoform of 360 aa was less expressed in both tissues. The 360 aa isoform has a distinct nuclear localization in human skeletal muscle, as well as in primary myoblasts and myotubes. In contrast to the isoform of 333 aa, it was not preferentially expressed in slow fibers and not localized to the ICDs of human cardiomyocytes. Regulation of the expression of both isoforms is achieved at the transcriptional level. Our results set the stage for investigation of the specific functions and interactions of the Ankrd2 isoforms in healthy and diseased human striated muscles

Economics of Digital Transformation

The papers published in this monograph present best papers presented at the first conference of the Faculty of Economics and Bussiness of University of Rijeka organized on the topic of “Economics of digital transformation” from 2nd to 4th of May, 2018 in Opatija, Croatia (www.edt- conference.com). During the three days of the conference more than 50 researchers from European region contributed with their presentations. We are particularly proud on the results of our doctoral workshop where nine young researchers presented their research while five papers were published in the monograph. In this way we are building our future research capacities and expose young researchers to rigorous scientific challenge

Economics of Digital Transformation

The papers published in this monograph present best papers presented at the first conference of the Faculty of Economics and Bussiness of University of Rijeka organized on the topic of “Economics of digital transformation” from 2nd to 4th of May, 2018 in Opatija, Croatia (www.edt- conference.com). During the three days of the conference more than 50 researchers from European region contributed with their presentations. We are particularly proud on the results of our doctoral workshop where nine young researchers presented their research while five papers were published in the monograph. In this way we are building our future research capacities and expose young researchers to rigorous scientific challenge