PERSPECTIVES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY, INNOVATIVENESS, AND COMPETITIVENESS OF CEFTA COUNTRIES

Knowledge and innovativeness are the key determinants of the competitiveness of countries in the contemporary economic conditions. Based on these facts, the paper presents a comparative analysis of readiness for the development of the knowledge economy, the achieved level of innovativeness and competitiveness of countries involved in the Central European Free Trade Agreement – CEFTA  and a group of selected EU countries), which used to be CEFTA members. The aim of the study is to assess differences in the levels of readiness for the development of knowledge economy, innovativeness, and competitiveness of these two groups of countries. The research results confirm the significant lagging of CEFTA countries in relation to the selected EU countries, once CEFTA members.Key words: competitive advantage, innovation, knowledge economy, CEFTA, selected EU countries

ANALYSIS OF SERBIAN INNOVATION POTENTIAL IN THE PERIOD 2009-2012

In this paper a review of significance of country’s innovation potential for its economic growth and development is displayed first. Afterwards, positions and values of the global innovation index for the top 25 most innovative economies, for Serbia and for selected countries from its surroundings, for the period from 2009 to 2012 have been displayed. In order to classify selected countries into two or more groups, based on their similarity according to innovation performances, cluster analysis is conducted. The relations between innovation inputs and innovation outputs have been studied on the example of selected groups of countries (the group of European innovative leaders and Serbia with neighboring countries) through the correlation analysis. Key words:  innovation, innovation inputs, innovation outputs, innovation efficiency

Predicting the survival probability of functional neuroendocrine tumors treated with peptide receptor radionuclide therapy: Serbian experience

IntroductionPeptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) is a treatment option for well-differentiated, somatostatin receptor positive, unresectable or/and metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Although high disease control rates seen with PRRT a significant number NET patients have a short progression-free interval, and currently, there is a deficiency of effective biomarkers to pre-identify these patients. This study is aimed at determining the prognostic significance of biomarkers on survival of patients with NETs in initial PRRT treatment.MethodologyWe retrospectively analyzed 51 patients with NETs treated with PRRT at the Department for nuclear medicine, University Clinical Center Kragujevac, Serbia, with a five-year follow-up. Eligible patients with confirmed inoperable NETs, were retrospectively evaluated hematological, blood-based inflammatory markers, biochemical markers and clinical characteristics on disease progression. In accordance with the progression og the disease, the patients were divided into two groups: progression group (n=18) and a non-progression group (n=33). Clinical data were compared between the two groups.ResultsA total of 51 patients (Md=60, age 25-75 years) were treated with PRRT, of whom 29 (56.86%) demonstrated stable disease, 4 (7.84%) demonstrated a partial response, and 14 (27.46%) demonstrated progressive disease and death was recorded in 4 (7.84%) patients. The mean PFS was a 36.22 months (95% CI 30.14-42.29) and the mean OS was 44.68 months (95% CI 37.40-51.97). Univariate logistic regression analysis displayed that age (p<0.05), functional tumors (p<0.05), absolute neutrophil count (p<0.05), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio-NLR (p<0.05), C-reactive protein-CRP (p<0.05), CRP/Albumin (p<0.05), alanine aminotransferase-ALT (p<0.05), were risk factors for disease progression. Multivariate logistic regression analysis exhibited that functional tumors (p<0.001), age (p<0.05), CRP (p<0.05), and ALT (p<0.05), were independent risk factors for the disease progression in patients with NETs. Tumor functionality was the most powerful prognostic factor. The median PFS (11.86 ± 1.41 vs. 43.38 ± 3.16 months; p=0.001) and OS (21.81 ± 2.70 vs 53.86 ± 3.70, p=0.001) were significantly shorter in patients with functional than non-functional NETs respectively.ConclusionThe study’s results suggest that tumor functionality, and certain biomarkers may serve as prognostic survival indicators for patients with NETs undergoing PRRT. The findings can potentially help to identify patients who are at higher risk of disease progression and tailor treatment strategies accordingly

Preliminary Interdependency Analysis: An Approach to Support Critical Infrastructure Risk Assessment

We present a methodology, Preliminary Interdependency Analysis (PIA), for analysing interdependencies between critical infrastructure (CI). Consisting of two phases – qualitative analysis followed by quantitative analysis – an application of PIA progresses from a relatively quick elicitation of CI-interdependencies to the building of representative CI models, and the subsequent estimation of any resilience, risk or criticality measures an assessor might be interested in. By design, stages in the methodology are both flexible and iterative, resulting in interacting CI models that are scalable and may vary significantly in complexity and fidelity, depending on the needs and requirements of an assessor. For model parameterisation, one relies on a combination of field data, sensitivity analysis and expert judgement. Facilitated by dedicated software tool support, we illustrate PIA by applying it to a complex case-study of interacting Power (distribution and transmission) and Telecommunications networks in the Rome area. A number of studies are carried out, including: 1) an investigation of how “strength of dependence” between the CIs’ components affects various measures of risk and uncertainty, 2) for resource allocation, an exploration of different, but related, notions of CI component importance, and 3) highlighting the impact of model fidelity on the estimated risk of cascades

Assessing Countries' Readiness for Developing Knowledge-Based Economy

Knowledge and innovation have had the biggest significance in development since the very beginnings of human civilization. However, globalisation and technological revolution in the last few decades have made knowledge a key factor of macro competitiveness and economic growth in certain countries. Both developed and developing countries tend to raise the level of their own readiness for development of knowledge economy to the greatest possible extent. Putting knowledge in the center of economic processes, economy is being transformed to knowledge economy. Assesing countries’ readiness to develop knowledge-based economy is significant due to the fact that results will be the basis for defining development policy and a necessary element of its implementation at different levels of economic structure of society

Networked Readiness as a Means of Improving SMEs Collaborativesness

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) represent the key determinant of productivity growth, poverty reduction and living standards improvement. ICTs have an effect on improving the production process, accessing new markets, as well as promoting competitiveness of companies and countries. Since 2001, the dynamics of ICTs implementation on a country level has been monitored by The Global Information Technology Report, thereby contributing to general awareness about possibilities of their usage in everyday life and work. The Report consists of four parts, including one named Networked Readiness Index (NRI). NRI includes decisions about access to and usage of available ICT infrastructure, as well as available digital resources including both software and skills. Given that NRI facilitates identification of areas needing economic and development policies intervention, this paper emphasizes the impact of a country networked readiness on improving the SMEs collaborativeness

The Western Balkan Countries' Readiness to Network

The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) includes decisions relating to access and the usage, that cover not only available ICT infrastructure, but also digital resources, such as software and skills. In addition, NRI includes an estimation of the specific economic and social effects of the ICTs. Given that NRI facilitates identification of the areas where policy intervention – through investments, wise regulation and/or incentives – could increase ICT effects on the economic growth and development, the paper provides an analysis of the Western Balkan countries’ networked readiness, using data for 2013

The Readiness of the Selected European Countries for the Development of Knowledge Economy

The country’s readiness for the development of knowledge economy was measured using the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) and the Knowledge Index (KI) of The World Bank Institute’s Knowledge for Development Program, 2012. The assessment of the position of the observed countries for the development of knowledge economy is based on the use of a number of analytical procedures. Cluster analysis was used first in order to check for the level of differences according to the KEI parameters and to group the selected countries into clusters, aimed at detecting the deviation of the observed European countries from the remainder of the group. Then we used the radar cart analysis of the four KEI pillars and their key variables in order to identify the current situation with respect to the values of partial indicators of the KEI pillars and establish the relative positions of the selected countries. Finally, over time comparison of the current values of the KEI pillars with the 2000 data was used to illustrate the dynamics of the development of the KEI pillars in crisis conditions. Research results have indicated that there is a prominent lag in the readiness of the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia) behind their EU environment (Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS A DETERMINANT OF SMES COLLABORATION AND INNOVATIVENESS

Studies of small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) development around the world show that the most significant factor for increasing their numbers and improving business success is the free enterprise, as exogenous, and innovation as an endogenous variable. At the same time, the dominant view in economic theory is that innovation is a key generator of changes for which the SMEs can be considered as a kind of metaphors for a successful business over the last twenty years in a number of economies. Arguing that cooperation between SMEs is increasingly common generic strategy of their development, the paper first explains the importance of collaboration to increase innovation and competitiveness, and then provides possible models using information technology such as Workflow Management Systems (WfMS), Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Service-Oriented Cloud Computing Architecture (SOCCA) to support the collaboration of these business entities. Solutions provided are aimed at improving the innovativeness of SMEs and fully follow the requirements of the so-called fifth-generation innovation process whose key attributes are integration and flexibility

Innovation and Cyclical Movement of the Economy

By directing the interest for the phenomenon of long waves, the paper considers, after the explication of the stance that technological innovation represents a key cause of the long term wave movement of a market-based economy, the inventions that enabled such movement and makes an attempt to recognize the spatial and time coordinates of their creation and wide market valorization. The beginning stance is that the market-based economy in its genesis has passed through five decade cycles that have been marked by the leading technology of its time and that is currently at the beginning of the sixth long cycle that is designed with the quality by the advances in the field of nanotechnology