Klaipėdos universitetas

Innovation is not only an economic mechanism, or a technical process. It is primarily a social phenomenon in which the motivation and participation of employees are determinants of success in the process. Hence, many authors emphasise the social dimension of innovation. The paper summarizes the conclusions of the studies conducted among employees from Polish companies on identification of “soft” determinants of innovation processes in the organization, such as human resources, innovative climate and culture conducive to innovation.

The research andanalysis of strengths and weaknesses of national innovation system is extremelyimportant to successful and efficient innovation support policymaking.Innovation support policies should take into consideration all specifies ofnational innovation system in the country, not being one-size-fits-all. Untilnow, little analysis on the Latvian innovation system was made. The paper aimsto show Latvian innovative performance and to propose factors forwell-functioning innovation system of Latvia. This research gives apossibility to researchers and policy-makers to investigate the mismatchbetween policies and problems and identify policy gaps.

Innovations and innovative activities are becoming themost important feature of a country or region development. For this reason agreat amount of literature highlights this topic. There are a lot of documents,strategies and programs signed which try to enhance business competitivenessand productivity. Formation of regional policy should make that thisdevelopment will ensure a high quality of life throughout the country. Economicgrowth of countries in encouraging to look for more efficienty, which isdirectly related with innovative entities. The significance of innovations isthe focus of EU regional policy. Although the innovation phenomenon is widelyanalyzed, consistent and specified concept is not formulated. Thus, this paperwill primarily discuss the diversity of innovation concept and interface withthe regional concept. Another part of the work aims to reveal the determinantsof the regional development influencing innovation activities by differentauthor’s approaches. The final section of this paper is to present adoptedmethodological matrix for innovativeness evaluation for regions in Lithuania.In Lithuaniainnovativeness is counted just on a country’s level, no territorial importanceis emphasised. Even though innovations are closely related with regionalpolicy. So the main purpose of this paper is to make methodological basis formore detailed (in a territorial contex) analysis of innovativeness in Lithuania’sregions.

The article presents the practice of Capacity Building project (CBP) activities underlining the sustainable development importance in the context of Cross Border Cooperation, which was implemented in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania. The article is based on the analysis of statistical data and South Baltic Program documents adopted by the European Commission. The knowledge and experience of CBP formulated in this paper could be useful for future capacity building initiatives in the South Baltic region or in other territorial cooperation programmes. Article authors were official representatives of this project in Lithuania Region and actively participated during the Capacity Building project activities implementation process, took responsibilities during the interview and questionnaire givens collecting in Lithuania, were mentoring the Rent-of-Expert process and made individual consultations, organized trainings and workshops.

This article identifies relevance of Organizational and Process innovations in International logistic companies and explains be the main benefits that could have be expected through implementation of Organizational and / or Process innovation concept. Article presents the main Organizational and Process innovations approaches and innovation contest in logistics technologies, defines the proposed Organizational innovation on Logistics applicable management system solution and explains the Process innovations trends of Logistics development trough Smart Specialization priorities.

Published patent applications. All published applications for inventions subdivided into the three groups. The number of applicants (inventors) in the separate application are ascertained. The number of published applications in the International Patent Classification sections for the 2005-2014 years are ascertained. Selecting published applications R&D and high technology development directions are described.

Innovation is often recognized as a vital source of competitive advantage for business. Taking into account the conditions of increasing globalization at a high level of intensity as well as a rapidly changing technological landscape and also continuous customer demands for new products and services on the modern market, it is needed to assume that businesses have to innovate in order to survive and prosper in the contemporary environment. In the context of the paper at hand the main attention is given to the analysis of the theoretical and empirical aspects of the concept of innovation. There were applied such economic science research methods as monographic, grouping, reference, generalization, graphical analysis and content analysis.

Straipsnyje aptariami inovacijų diegimo žingsniai, kaip galima būtų tobulinti šį procesą. Inovacijų diegimo žingsnių tobulinimas – tai nuolatinis aktyvus procesas, keliant naujas idėjas, įvertinant jų veiksmingumą ir priimant sprendimus dėl jų diegimo bei kontroliuojant vykdymo eigą. Privačiose sveikatos priežiūros įstaigose inovacijų diegimo žingsniai nepakankamai tyrinėjami. Šiuo tyrimu siekiama, aprašius inovacijų diegimo žingsnius, išsiaiškinti sveikatos priežiūros įstaigos darbuotojų nuomonę apie inovacijų diegimo žingsnių tobulinimo poreikį. Kiekybiniame tyrime dalyvavo 152 respondentai: gydytojai, slaugytojai, laborantai. Pasirinktas netikimybinis tiriamų grupių parinkimo būdas – atsitiktinis. Tyrimo instrumentas – anoniminė (bevardė) anketa, kurioje pateiktais teiginiais siekiama nustatyti inovacijų diegimo padėtį ir proceso tobulinimo poreikį. Tyrimas atliktas privačioje sveikatos priežiūros įstaigoje Klaipėdos mieste. Nustatyta, kad tirtoje sveikatos priežiūros įstaigoje būtina tobulinti inovacijų diegimo (3-ias žingsnis) idėjų pateikimą ir įgyvendinimo kontrolę (8-as žingsnis). Įstaiga turėtų skatinti darbuotojų įsitraukimą į inovacijų diegimo procesą, didinti jų motyvaciją, tobulinti inovacijų diegimo kontrolės formą, tai drausmintų darbuotojų veiklą. Nuolat tobulinami inovacijų diegimo žingsniai suteikia daugiau galimybių įstaigai stebėti savo inovacinę veiklą, įvertinti pranašumus ir trūkumus, laiku atlikti koregavimo veiksmus. Tai lemia inovatyvią, efektyvią, kokybišką įstaigos veiklą.

The rapid development of internet and technologies in the 21th century is providing an opportunity for the development of digital democracy – citizen engagement in the decision-making process in an easier, faster and more contemporary way. The paper analysis Latvian public administration’s attitude to the development of digital democracy in Latvia, looking into digital engagement as a possible solution that could foster the low rates of civic and political participation in Latvia. Research methods of the paper consists of an analysis of academic publications on digital democracy and political engagement, and survey to the representatives of the public administration in Latvia. Conclusions of the paper suggest that there are good preconditions for the development of digital democracy in Latvia, however, there is a need for a common regulation for how digital communication and online participation is coordinated. Public institutions should pay more attention to Latvian youth, educating them about public administration and political engagement, thus ensuring that gradually Latvian citizens become more knowledgeable about advantages and necessity to participate in the decision-making process of public administration in Latvia.

Countries and businesses focus on processes optimization aiming to cut cost and increase profit. The main keyword for achieving it is usually “innovations”. Innovations is one of the most popular trends in most economies and businesses. The paradox is that there is the lack of understanding the concept both in business and science. The term of innovations is not a new topic in the research literature. However, the problem is that the definition of the concept of innovations is constantly evolving and there is no clear definition. The paper aims to define the concept of innovations and identify the changes in the concept by reviewing the scientific literature.Literature analysis revealed that the development of innovations concept started in 1934, approaching the concept from the novelty perspective. Later new perspectives were introduced such as interaction processes, value creation and social progress. Today the concept can be defined as following: innovation is a company or consumer-initiated economic, managerial, psychological or technological process of renewal within a company, which results in greater added value and a competitive advantage.