Innovation and an innovative approach in management, education and leadership have been changing over decades, according to the dynamic world we are living in. Changes start at an individual level, with the personality, and only those who have changed themselves can start to lead others towards global change. The Latvian National Development Plan defined aspects of polycentric development for all the regions of Latvia. Each region has resources, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, but human resources are the most important resource for change, creative ideas and sustainable development. The education system changes very slowly, from lecture learning to a more inclusive ‘learning by doing’ approach. This approach has been used in northern countries for a while, but Latvia has just now started to implement the approach. The term ‘innovation’ today is wider than product, process, service or organisational innovation. At a national and regional level of development, it is crucial to encourage inhabitants of the region to stay in or return to rural areas, and create knowledge and enterprises in the region and their home town.The aim of the paper is to evaluate the involvement of residents in management activities and regional development processes, and their willingness to participate in the creation of knowledge and innovative entrepreneurship and co-creation. The paper is a review of literature on theoretical aspects of the creation of innovation in the region in a combination of survey analyses of residents. The methodological approach is based on two steps: a review of research literature, and an analysis of the results of a survey of residents of the region of their willingness to be involved in processes and tasks for regional development, and some aspects of analysis of entrepreneur opinion about innovative solutions in their companies. The article consists of four main parts: 1) the theoretical findings of a systemic approach to innovation and development; 2) the role of the innovation process in development from different perspectives; 3) an analysis of a survey of the region’s residents about their willingness to be involved in processes of regional development; 4) aspects of innovation used in regional entrepreneurship. The significance of the paper is to define aspects of regional development relating to innovation and co-creation.
In order to achieve the best results, many businesses in the service sector are seeking to understand the needs of consumers and involve them in the process of new services development as well. The formation of individualized consumer portrait allows business entities to get to know their target clients and identify their needs. Meanwhile, the management symbiosis is made by this involvement process and business entities have a perfect opportunity to improve their services according to suggestions and experiences of consumers. All companies, that allow their consumers to involve in the process of new services development, can create an enabling environment for the easier generation of ideas and testing of conceptual services. Such companies can be prepared for new services implementation in a more effective way as well. According to the opinions and theories of different authors, this article analyzes the impact of consumers on the process of new services development. In order to evaluate the object of the research more closely, the research was carried out from the perspective of the business subject also. In order to carry out the results of this research, the methods of comparative analysis and synthesis were used.