Abstract
Main drivers of innovation in the economy are undoubtedly businesses. Entrepreneurs are expected to be inventive, to have initiative in discovering new products, methods, markets and be willing to take risks, which is also a prerequisite for successful business. Our research, while accepting the crucial role of enterprises in innovation, focuses on the role of regional authorities, which through innovation policies can greatly influence the development of innovation potential in the region. In our research, we rely primarily on existing studies of regional policy in general and we highlight the reasons for which the regional policy started to address the innovation potential. Next, we have analyzed the situation in Slovak Republic compared with the innovative potential of 28 EU countries and the changes that occurred in the years 2004–2013. In order to evaluate the innovation performance we have used six selected indicators that are part of a composite indicator—the Summary Innovation Index (Hollanders et al., Innovation Union Scoreboard: The European Commission Report, 2015. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/. Accessed 16 June 2015). Finally, this chapter shows the importance and role of regional territorial authority in creating the innovative potential of the region, focusing on the Košice region. We present a specific case of cross-border innovation regional policy, common to the Kosice region in Slovakia and Northern Hungary region, and we summarize the results that this policy has made.
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Notes
- 1.
IUS distinguishes eight innovation dimensions for each of the three main groups and the set of 25 indicators that analyse the results of the EU innovation system.
- 2.
The regional authorities in fulfilling their duties rely on two documents: Program of economic and social development of VUC that results from the strategic planning of regions and Territorial plan VUC based on their territorial development.
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VUC are responsible for the following areas:
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Social, economic and cultural development of regions;
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Management of own budget, of investment and public contracts;
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International and trans-regional cooperation;
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Regional planning;
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Social welfare, including homes for children, social policy and coordination of all subjects related to this area;
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Healthcare, including the establishment of hospitals of second type, management of non-State healthcare as psychiatric hospitals and dental services);
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Education, including secondary, professional, art and vocational schools, construction and maintenance of buildings, payment of teacher on behalf of the state;
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Transport, including the construction and maintenance of regional roads, coordination of railway system on its territory;
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Culture, including regional theatres, libraries, museums, galleries and cultural centres;
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Tourism, including the planning of regional tourism and regional tourism development;
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Sport;
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Youth;
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Human pharmaceutics, including issuing licences for public pharmacies, executing control of public pharmacies, managing stand-by pharmaceutical services or decision-making on pharmaceutical reserves;
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Civil defence (in cooperation with state bodies).
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Horehajova, M., Marasova, J. (2018). The Regional Innovation Policy: The Situation of Slovakia. In: Dias, A., Salmelin, B., Pereira, D., Dias, M. (eds) Modeling Innovation Sustainability and Technologies. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67101-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67101-7_5
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