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The transition to renewable energy resources is a challenge for Romania, as well as for the whole world. The goal of the European Commission is to accelerate the use of renewable resources to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. Romania had in 2022, 40,171 prosumers with the forecast that they will reach 100,000 in 2023. The previous research carried out showed a positive attitude of the household population in Romania towards these energy resources, but also important barriers that considerably slow down the process, Romania being behind the target set by the European Commission. Through this research, we seek to identify how gender differences are reflected in the approach to renewable energy resources to facilitate this transition. The present research covers a gap in the specialized literature by investigating, differentiated by gender, the perception of Romanian residents regarding renewable energy resources. The case study was carried out in 2023 on residents of two cities out of the 266 in Romania, Oradea and Timișoara. The reasons for choosing the two cities are related to their similar economic development, positioning in the same part of the country, and, in particular, their performance in increasing the number of green energy prosumers. A questionnaire survey was carried out with a result of 1098 valid questionnaires with a gender structure that allows a differentiated analysis (42.53 men, 53.18 women, 4.28 unspecified). The internal consistency of the answers was carried out with aCronbach. The data processing methods used are Importance-Performance Analysis, RStudio202207.1+554, and qualitative processing with Atlas.ti22. A hypothesis we tested is whether women are more sensitive to environmental issues and the type of energy produced and consumed or the cost factor is the one that dictates. The results suggest gender-differentiated solutions for raising public awareness and encouraging action. Limits of the paper are found only in the two Romanian cities, the geographical extension of the sample being a possible future research direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we try to reflect on how one of the financial phenomena of the last twenty years, namely cryptocurrencies, has been analysed by the scientific community of the Knowledge Management (KM) field. The issue is relevant because the raise of cryptocurrencies as an economic asset has been occurring in a time in which KM gained social prominence. And also because the evolution of cryptocurrencies should be also related to knowledge about their own value. Within this context, we present a literature review on papers that exist in the SCOPUS database about cryptocurrencies and KM. After analysing those papers, the general idea is that KM is very far away from the cryptocurrency phenomenon; the reason may be that it is very difficult to use the more common models available on KM to analyse cryptocurrencies; also the economic and social agents that might be interested in KM are not those who invest in cryptocurrencies; finally, the data available on cryptocurrencies are mostly speculative, and it is very difficult to make any scientific study on them. These conclusions may be of interest for the KM community at large, because they indicate a new subfield of research, and for practitioners, because they mean that there is not much science in the evolution of cryptocurrencies themselves. Finally, for policymakers, the findings mean the expanding the possibility of use of cryptocurrencies in societies may be extremely risky given their volatility and the lack of precise scientific knowledge about them. The paper is original because it relates to concepts that have only very seldom and scarcely put together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual Capital (IC) has played a major role in driving growth, competitiveness, and sustainability over decades, improving people's well-being and the economic performance of businesses. At the same time, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged as an integrated approach to sustainable development principles of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership, which represent one of the most urgent challenges in our times. The industrial sector is particularly challenged to adopt a sustainable approach to solving development issues by addressing the SDGs. Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG 9) is built on three interconnected pillars: infrastructure, industry, and innovation, all of which are strongly interconnected, sharing the common mission of achieving socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic development. By adopting SDG 9 and its related targets, the global community can benefit from an industrial development that is inclusive and sustainable, with an impact on all other SDGs. From a strategic perspective, IC is predominantly studied as a bundle of intangibles that creates value, thus embodying a set of resources that are decisive in sustaining competitive advantage, which is necessary for sustainability and for ensuring people's well-being and economic growth, in line with SDGs. Despite an increasing number of studies exploring the links between IC and sustainability, a major gap emerges in what concerns the influence of IC on achieving SDGs in specific or interconnected goals. Based on the relevant literature, the aim of this paper is to explore how the characteristics of the IC can foster the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically, the sustainable and innovative development of organizations by adopting Goal 9 and its targets. This paper contributes to the literature on IC as a driver for SDGs. In more detail, it opens some avenues for future research on strengthening capabilities to solve development challenges, involving different actors, stakeholders, sectors, and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of women entrepreneurship as an economic stimulator globally as seen recently is not only heard in social or economic debates, but also in gender related issues. Thus, this paper argues the need for WomEntrepreneurs contribution to the economy and society in general to be recognized and at the forefront. Women are one of the groups that are underrepresented and under-researched in entrepreneurship studies. They are classified and treated under the same umbrella of beings with no capability of managing and growing a business beyond profit making with employees than their male counter-parts. Even though, they have different backgrounds, are brought up differently, accessed opportunities (including their access to different market) and resources differently. Research indicate, women are better educated, skilled and start businesses that have growth potential. That is, there are a select few High-Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs among the female population. These High Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs, even strive under great resource scarcity and high uncertainty. This is despite the challenges of stereo types that want women to constantly prove themselves. The word "WomEntrepreneur, High Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneur and WomEntrepreneurship" has been coined by the researcher to identify opportunity driven women entrepreneurs within the "high growth" women entrepreneurship space which adds as a contribution, and might also prove useful in entrepreneurship studies. Gender plays a huge role in society, as men tend to have easy access to education, business, family and financial support and their businesses are growth driven and perform very well financially. While on the other hand, data indicate that, women find it difficult to secure financial resources. Hence, the aim of this paper is to discuss High-Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs, as a recognized gender of recent times in growing global economies and the individual factors (tested: confidence and risk-taker, reliability and determination) that drive this phenomenon. The paucity of studies addressing women theories and individual WomEntrepreneurs entrepreneurial attributes has led the call for incorporating the validated SIGMO Model, which considers the individual, the firm and the environment, as tested in South Africa which is considered as an economy that is still developing, using data collected from WomEntrepreneurs. WomEntrepreneurs are identified as highly educated than their male counter-parts. The paper addresses High Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurship as a gender issue and also looks at the individual factors that influence and propel WomEntrepreneurs into High-Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs. Thus, in order to answer the research question of this study: How High-growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs contribute to economic growth? The study undertook a quantitative research method, where online surveys were undertaken to access High Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs individual factors that positively contribute to High Growth Formation in firms managed by High Growth and Impact WomEntrepreneurs. Recommendations to policy makers have been drafted, which will encourage and support such an activity to sustain, grow and remove stereo types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper compares the dynamics of research output of universities, which is expressed quantitatively, with the dynamics of transaction costs. Transaction costs are found to determine research performance of universities in terms of publishing research papers, obtaining patents, and participation in conferences and exhibitions. The paper empirically verifies the hypothesis that the transaction rate of knowledge generation expressed as participation in exhibitions in directly proportional to the number of economic units established at universities with the purpose of promoting the application of research achievements. The transaction rate of knowledge generation in the form of conference presentations is shown to be directly proportional to the university contractual work per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge and innovation are key resources of the modern economy. Innovation, transfer, and use of knowledge determine the pace and level of economic development. The ability to transform knowledge into new technologies, products, services, marketing methods, and organizational solutions is both the basis of entrepreneurship and building a competitive advantage that increases the enterprise's chances of maintaining its market position. However, the market commercialization of new knowledge in the form of cutting-edge technological solutions or new products is a complex process with a high risk of failure, thus requiring appropriate and different competencies. Moreover, there are numerous barriers at the point of contact between the worlds of science and business that significantly impede joint work on innovative projects. Therefore, specialized entities have emerged to transfer knowledge and technology from science to the economy. These entities organize the knowledge flow from entities that have to those that seek knowledge. A professional institutional base in this regard is developed by innovation and entrepreneurship centers that partner with both private and public sectors. These centers act as a catalyst for the flow of knowledge and are responsible for building a platform for dialogue and cooperation between science and business, thereby providing conditions for improving the efficiency of knowledge and technology transfer. Their activities are aimed at meeting the needs of entrepreneurs primarily related to the development of innovation, promotion of experimental activities, technology transfer and commercialization of knowledge, and improvement of competitiveness based on new technological solutions. The aim of the present paper is to indicate the importance of business environment institutions to the transfer of knowledge and technology between science and business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is evidently clear that globalization is seen widely in recent times as a means of knowledge-based economy, and more importantly, an instrumental indicator to influence economic development. For this reason, some researchers are increasingly interested in how globalization impacts our society leading to economic growth. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between globalization, internet penetration, and economic development in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Panel Regression analysis is employed to analyze a twenty two-year panel data (from 2000 to 2022), using secondary data from the World Bank, OECD, and UNDP database of the selected countries. We analyze globalization variables such as trade openness, internet penetration as independent variables and used infrastructural investment, political instability index, and labor force participation rate as control variables. Also, with economic development as a dependent variable, we used Human development index, and GNI per capita to ascertain the effect of globalization and internet penetration on economic development. The results showed a significant positive correlation between trade openness with HDI and GNI in both Czech and Slovakia. The analysis also found that internet penetration has a significant impact on HDI and GNI in Czech, but not on GNI in Slovakia. This study highlights the important role that globalization and internet penetration play in economic development and provides valuable insights for policymakers in Czech and Slovakia. The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on the relationship between globalization, internet penetration, and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of international targets that were developed in 2015 by the United Nations. These goals aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity among human kind for all by the year 2030. They are divided into 17 goals and 169 targets that cover all aspects of life - including education, health care, housing, food, energy and climate, peace and justice, governance and sustainable economic growth. Plus, to ensure peace and prosperity. Empowerment is very important element for a community to become developed and to sustain the development. To be able to have self-empowerment, one must first have a sense of self-help and self-determination. Selfhelp and self-determination are related to the idea that helping one's self will create collaboration and improve one's quality of life (Christenson, 1989). Power in community development refers to the ability to influence change rather than the power to exploit or dominate others, it is an action of choice. This paper introduces Rural Community Learning Network (RCLN) Traits Model which offers a helpful insight for rural communities to value and support rural public library as community sustainable development center. This model was develop using qualitative approach through interviews with the rural public libraries' staffs, users and non-users, observations, and examinations of documents. Thematic analysis has been used to identify the empowerment sustainability characters for the traits model. This study concluded that rural public libraries in Malaysia had not fully implemented the empowerment elements which is identified as an important element in rural libraries and community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This working paper aims to explore and critique the entrepreneurship financial ecosystem facing female entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland. Recently, the impact of the entrepreneurial eco-system on entrepreneurial levels has emerged as an important area of research, however, this research suggests that entrepreneurship policies and initiatives are highly gendered (Henry, Foss and Ahl, 2016; Brush et al., 2019; Bosma et al., 2020). This paper seeks to review and critique the financial ecosystem facing female entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland, (NI) as part of the UK, faces a number of specific challenges, both economically and socially and hence developing entrepreneurship is recognised as hugely important as a source of job creation and economic and social development. The paper reviews the current financial supports and initiatives within the financial ecosystem and is consistent with the view that the financial entrepreneurship ecosystem in NI is highly gendered. The research is at an early stage but provides the basis of a more detailed review of the role of the financial eco-system in promoting or limiting female entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to investigate how urban regeneration projects contribute to achieving sustainable development through an intellectual capital (IC) perspective for driving growth within urban communities and improving quality of life. Literature has shown that urban regeneration projects help support urban change. The IC helps drive sustainable development and competitiveness of regions, cities and communities. Urban regeneration projects contribute to better quality of life and drive social and economic renewal of urban communities. This exploratory study proposes a research framework addressed to join urban regeneration projects with IC view on cities and urban communities. This paper can contribute to the extant literature focused on the relationship between urban regeneration processes and the role of intellectual capital as driver of sustainable development. This qualitative study, using a multiple case study methodology, provides a comparative analysis of two urban regeneration projects that help the redevelopment of urban environments and support human and social capital within communities. The findings show that urban regeneration projects significantly contribute to revitalising urban spaces, supporting the components of IC that drive social and economic growth of communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to conduct pilot studies on the main characteristics of knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Poland, especially in comparison to big corporations. The main goal was to define the key challenges connected with KM in SMEs and suggest some solutions. The reason for the choice of the research question was that, although SMEs play a very important role in the economic development of Poland, they are quite vulnerable to business failure due to the limited amount of resources at their disposal. Well-thought out management of knowledge, which is nowadays one of the most valuable assets, could increase their chances of development and business success. A synthetic review of the literature on knowledge management in SMEs was conducted and presented. Opinions of respondents with work experience in both SMEs and big companies in Poland in the form of semi-structured interviews were gathered and analyzed. The results are presented in this paper, followed by discussion and implications. The main conclusion is that SMEs face many more challenges connected with effective knowledge management in comparison to big companies and tend to perceive that investing in KM is a luxury they cannot afford. The prevailing strategy of KM is the personalization strategy. The main problems concern a lack of codification of knowledge and lack of training for staff. Recommendations for the owners of SMEs include trying, despite constant lack of time and money, to organize some valuable training for their staff, setting up codification procedures for the key business processes and implementing low-cost IT tools. All companies, regardless of their size, can benefit from creating a positive, friendly atmosphere of cooperation among their employees. As the study was meant to be a pilot study, a further, more comprehensive research into the subject will be worth conducting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interconnection of innovation activity and productivity growth is rather discussed topic, but there is still no consensus on this issue. We study the determinants of enterprise productivity using unique micro level data of the Russian firms augmented with city and regional data. We are aiming to shed light on how knowledge accumulation, human capital, and other external factors affect productivity of Russian firms. Used dataset covers such groups of factors as micro-indicators of firm performance, innovative activity indicators, human capital and education, spatial indexes and others. The paper considers not only Russian enterprises in general, but also their individual subgroups, divided by the type of goods produced, location and size. We conclude that there is a positive impact of the number of patent applications per capita and technology imports on company productivity, with greater effects observed for more "traditional" industrial groups, while for high-tech industries these indicators are insignificant. This, as well as the negative impact of spending on innovation on the productivity, suggest that level of development of basic industries is inadequate, which in turn slows the growth rates of technologically intensive industries. Among the Russian firms, there is a stable positive impact of city specialization on productivity of firms, which indicates the possibility of successful formation of industrial clusters and mono-settlements. There are number of significant differences observed between federal districts as well, confirming an argument for the diversified and region-specific innovation policy. We find that import of technologies has significant positive effect on productivity only for firms in less developed federal districts, while for others it is insignificant. At the same time effects of sending on innovation is effective only for the Central federal district, the most advanced one. The obtained results may be used as a recommendation when constructing and improving the regional innovation policies across Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates regional (Russian) specificity of knowledge management, describes development trends for digital society in the Russian Federation and their effect on the general level of preparedness and capacity for knowledge management at the level of companies and at the personal (individual) level. Trends and current performance of digital transformation of Russian economy are explored. On this ground, the analysis is performed of the potential for development of knowledge management in the Russian Federation in digital economy environment. As a result of the measures taken by the Russian Government, substantial shift in labor market has been recently observed (including emergence of new professions and change in forms of employment and in relations between employers and employees). At the same time at the state level, active and broad-scale deployment of information technologies in socially significant spheres (education, medicine, state services) is taking place. Consequences of these changes have radical implications for preparedness of companies and individuals for positive perception of processes and tools of knowledge management. Of particular significance to this effect is the growth of prevalence in Russia of mobile devices with Internet access, which causes deeper "submersion" of individuals and companies into various Internet-environments of social networks. Conclusion is drawn from this academic research that Russia's transition to a higher level of digitalization of society allows companies to extend their range of sources of knowledge and make further arrangements for exchange of knowledge with the most numerous category - citizens, clients, users. Recommendations are provided for assessment of preparedness of companies, their employees and consumers for more extensive application of KM tools in their activities, and for raising the level of preparedness to dissemination of knowledge among ordinary citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The founding of the AEC (Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community) in late 2015 is contributing to further opportunities in the international market for ASEAN (Association of South Eastern Asian Nations) countries. However, this is also leading to greater competition through an increase in the number of businesses. In Thailand, part of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are significantly important to economic growth, employment rate, GDP and therefore their success has a critical impact on society. In this period of transition, Thai SMEs need the right supporting tools for their organisation to survive and grow. Globally, the adoption of Knowledge Management is becoming widespread with the potential to improve productivity and efficiency of various organisations. Successful Knowledge Management will benefit organisations through improving decision-making, quality of products/services whilst reducing the process lead-time and operational costs thus, contributing to market competitiveness. Despite, the large number of studies on Knowledge Management only few studies focus on SMEs. Furthermore, a systematic literature review conducted as part of this study highlights that whilst Knowledge Management research has been carried out in Thailand much of it is not accessible to non-Thai due to language. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the current practice of Knowledge Management in Thai SMEs within the manufacturing sector and to examine how employees in the organization capture, share and store their knowledge as well as their perceptions about Knowledge Management. Survey questionnaires were distributed to SMEs in Manufacturing Sector in Thailand via online survey software (Qualtrics) and paper based version depending on participants' preference. The total respondents are 311 within 20 manufacturing SMEs across several business sectors. The paper focuses on two research questions which highlight the key differences that exist in knowledge management practices and perceptions in different sized SME's and between management and operational staff roles. In general, the results show the majority of employees in SMEs in Thailand consider Knowledge Management to be a beneficial tool with the potential to solve problems at work. However, it appears that the biggest barrier to knowledge capture is a lack of clear guidelines. Furthermore, the biggest barrier to sharing and storing knowledge is lack of time. This paper reports on the results obtained within Thailand. These results are part of a wider study which is currently drawing comparisons between Thailand and The United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge management (KM) has long been associated with organizational practices for innovation, i.e. innovation strategies, and enterprises' innovation strategies have long been associated with firm performance. The existing research has much proliferated in demonstrating benefits of interconnecting the three areas and has presented many KM practices as prerequisites for successful innovation and/or firm performance. However, the integration of different kinds of KM into firm activities, especially into innovation activities, results in varied firm performance. Just as the nature of innovation conditions firm innovativeness (e.g. new-to-market innovation is considered to be superior to new-to-firm innovation), so too different kinds of KM lead to the implementation of more and less sophisticated innovation strategies, thus resulting in unequal firm performance. So, which KM practices contribute to the emergence of the most sophisticated innovation strategies? How is KM, via the innovation strategies, related to firm performance? The paper is aimed at answering these questions and identifying KM practices typical of innovation strategies with varied levels of sophistication. Here, the sophistication depends on coherence (e.g. positive or negative, strong or weak) between the extent of an innovation strategy of an enterprise and the enterprise's performance indicators. Thus, the link between kinds of KM and firm performance is not proximate in the paper. Instead, innovation strategies act as mediators. For the identification of innovation strategies, CIS8 database was used. It covers 60 innovation variables across 127,674 organizations from 12 core and 19 additional sectors and from 16 European economies. The innovation variables include different KM practices as well. Two firm performance indicators were also used in the research. The methods included exploratory factor analysis and correlation analysis. At each stage, the analyses were accompanied by rigorous validity and reliability tests. In total, six innovation strategies were identified. This let to decide about which KM practices are associated with the best firm performance and vice versa. In addition, the findings let to observe and compare the sample European economies by innovation strategies utilized there. The paper is original because of mainly three aspects. First, different KM forms are interrelated with firm performance and national economic-institutional contexts. Second, impressive scope of the paper (compared to the existing literature) should be noted. And third, the paper is original in its attempt to focus on KM practices within innovation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the shift to the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE), knowledge becomes a driver for economic growth and becomes more important than capital, land and labour. This shift makes Intellectual Capital (IC) and resources vital for companies to create wealth, value and gain competitive advantage. The State of Qatar, in its "Qatar Vision 2030" plans to transfer its economy to KBE. This has put a pressure on companies to depend more on IC. The companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) have started to identify and report about their IC, and there is an expectation that the reported IC information might affect the market value of these companies. This paper investigates the relationship between the IC information reported in the annual reports and market value of the companies listed on the QSE. The study found that IC information has a significant relationship between IC information and firm market value. This finding indicates that companies report about their IC to help the stakeholders (including shareholders and investors) to understand the real value of the company (which includes IC values). This shows that the companies have started to depend more on IC to contribute to transforming the economy to KBE. This is the first study to examine the relationship between IC information and market value in Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present research is to show the working-out of institutional structure of economic development system with respect to the concept of Knowledge Economy. Evaluation of the functioning of development institutions, analysis of the degree of its elaboration and establishment of mechanisms to control institutions rendered their representation possible in the form of a single institutional framework with clearly defined hierarchical links. This structure may take the form of institutional atlas, acting at both country and regional level. In this paper the institutional atlas is a summary classification of institutions, which combines several types of systematization of these institutions by various criteria: place of appearing (endogenous, exogenous), sphere of knowledge (social, technological, economical, political, cultural, and ecological), management functions (developing institutions of planning, organizing, incentive and control) and spheres of activity (developing institutions of producing, distributing, using and merchandizing). We attempt to institutional model of economic institutions of region development, which is caused by one of the features of Russian economic space - its heterogeneity, and uneven development. As a result we got the institutional atlas of region development of entrepreneurship as a special case of the atlas of economic development institutions. The atlas of region development entrepreneurship institutions includes 79 institutions aimed to ensure of sustainable development, economic security and stimulating innovation activity of the Ural region through entrepreneurship development as a main driving force of economic development. This atlas can be used for analysis of the degree of elaboration of region development entrepreneurship institutions and to develop mechanisms to control these institutions. Accordingly in this paper the hierarchical structure of region economic development institutions was worked out. Such a hierarchy is responsible to develop strategic decisions on investments of existing economic institutions. It's a good illustration of agent's interactions in the development of economic systems to addition the atlas by traditional institutions - organizations, such as business incubators, venture and innovation funds, and others. Selected sequence of economic institutions would allow defining weak places of institutional designing. And so the practical content of the atlas by specific norms and rules can be the basis of recommending authorities to strengthening regulatory support those or other institutional units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present research is to show the working-out of institutional structure of economic development system with respect to the concept of Knowledge Economy. Evaluation of the functioning of development institutions, analysis of the degree of its elaboration and establishment of mechanisms to control institutions rendered their representation possible in the form of a single institutional framework with clearly defined hierarchical links. This structure may take the form of institutional atlas, acting at both country and regional level. In this paper the institutional atlas is a summary classification of institutions, which combines several types of systematization of these institutions by various criteria: place of appearing (endogenous, exogenous), sphere of knowledge (social, technological, economical, political, cultural, and ecological), management functions (developing institutions of planning, organizing, incentive and control) and spheres of activity (developing institutions of producing, distributing, using and merchandizing). We attempt to institutional model of economic institutions of region development, which is caused by one of the features of Russian economic space - its heterogeneity, and uneven development. As a result we got the institutional atlas of region development of entrepreneurship as a special case of the atlas of economic development institutions. The atlas of region development entrepreneurship institutions includes 79 institutions aimed to ensure of sustainable development, economic security and stimulating innovation activity of the Ural region through entrepreneurship development as a main driving force of economic development. This atlas can be used for analysis of the degree of elaboration of region development entrepreneurship institutions and to develop mechanisms to control these institutions. Accordingly in this paper the hierarchical structure of region economic development institutions was worked out. Such a hierarchy is responsible to develop strategic decisions on investments of existing economic institutions. It's a good illustration of agent's interactions in the development of economic systems to addition the atlas by traditional institutions - organizations, such as business incubators, venture and innovation funds, and others. Selected sequence of economic institutions would allow defining weak places of institutional designing. And so the practical content of the atlas by specific norms and rules can be the basis of recommending authorities to strengthening regulatory support those or other institutional units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMEs account for over 99% of all European businesses and in recent years they have proved themselves to be the engines of economic growth, along with the main sources of new employment. Today's competitive environment calls for a dynamic, self-sustaining culture of innovation within SMEs in order for them to be better equipped to face future challenges. The paper is built on the doctoral research carried out by the paper's author, along with the author's involvement in the national research project INOVEX „Increasing the quality performances within cooperative processes in SMEs through expert systems in innovation engineering and management‟ and the research project entitled "Instrument for evaluating Romanian SMEs maturity at strategic and operational level for sustaining their performances on the long-term". For the INOVEX research, several categories of basic processes were taken into account and within each category, 92 sub-processes and 227 activity modules (categories of problems) were identified. The main objective of the paper is to provide possible directions for sustaining innovative activities within Romanian SMEs. The first section discusses the problems identified in Romanian SMEs regarding several processes selected, namely research-development and introducing large-scale innovation, processes for continuous improvement of product development activities and institutional development processes. In the second part of the paper, the main types of innovation within SMEs are emphasized, along with the factors that are most likely to be considered by SMEs within the process for innovation planning. The paper also seeks to analyze the process of improvement related to organizational processes, products, and management system of Romanian SMEs that cover the objectives for improvement defined by the organization, employees' role in the process of improvement as well as the potential rewards offered for the employees 'involvement. Based on the main constraints identified in Romanian SMEs concerning innovation-related processes along with the analysis of the framework for implementing innovative activities within SMEs, the paper intends to identify possible directions to follow by Romanian SMEs in becoming more innovation-oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to understand the factors that contribute to venture creation within a specific pool of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Portugal – state-owned HEIs – through innovation networks. The paper reviews the literature on current approaches on firm creation through models of innovation networks and analyses data collected through a questionnaire completed by 255 nascent entrepreneurs who, in one form or another, had attended HEIs with the specific purpose of developing their entrepreneurial capacity. The data was submitted to factor analysis and logistic regression model and results show that cooperation and development of relationships with other agents in the innovation network emerge as the main form through which HEIs stimulate firm creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is a key tool in achieving EU's plans regarding economic development but, for the most part, Romania has been slow to keep up the pace. Besides problems in obtaining financing and receiving legal support, a recent Ernst and Young report (2013) furnishes a bleak picture: more than half of the local entrepreneurs interviewed regard failure either as a barrier to future business projects or as a lack of necessary skills, while only 12% see it as a learning opportunity. One possible explanation for the high levels of fear inspired by entrepreneurship could be connected with the absence of true models in the popular culture. Although the media has covered the story of successful new businesses, most Romanian business owners bring to the market products that are not innovative and they don't use any technological advances (Mati? et al., 2011), barely fitting the description of an entrepreneur and thus representing non-models for entrepreneurial innovation. This paper argues that teaching entrepreneurship should be first of all about choosing the right pedagogical philosophy and that this choice is contingent on the characteristics of the cultural environment. In a society clearly unprepared to foster new entrepreneurs, the emphasis has to be placed on creating the right emotional response to entrepreneurial opportunities through methods that use play as a strategy to engage students in entrepreneurial games created in bubble environments in which different rules apply and failure is not followed by any harmful consequences (Huizinga, 1955). Thus, we propose a pedagogical strategy that would provide students with experiential activities perceived as opportunities for them to actually embody the persona of the entrepreneur. This way they get the much needed habitus (Bourdieu, 1990) that allows them to embrace failure as a learning opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In such a competitive world, where companies face new challenges every day, clusters, defined as strategies that dynamize national, regional or world economic growth, have become a space leading to knowledge creation, ownership, transferring and diffusion inside companies. This strategy represents a growing source for companies and cities as much as they allow companies belonging to a common sector group into business networks, also, they can spot new business opportunities and become more competitive and sustainable. Knowledge clusters involve different agents from diverse nature such as governmental, private, industrial, educational or entrepreneurial. In other words, these represent a space where demandants (companies) and knowledge offerors (universities, research institutes, consulting groups, etc) interact. These clusters' main goal is to support knowledge creation, ownership, and application processes which can lead to a better development of competitiveness among companies by means of creating a dynamic exchange of information among the companies belonging to the cluster. This paper aims at presenting a model for risk analysis in the process of building a knowledge cluster between private companies and high education institutions (IES*) from a qualitative point of view. This methodology has been used in a process of building a knowledge cluster in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to make national knowledge management strategy (NKMS) in particular small island economies within developing countries, not only the macro economic indicators but also knowledge economy variables should be considered. The paper is trying to find answer by questioning "how national knowledge management strategies could be applied by the small island economies" based on the knowledge economy variables such as gross domestic investment to GDP ratio, trade to GDP ratio, higher education enrollment ratio, telephone main lines, the mobile subscribers, and the number of Internet users. At this point, the empirical part of the study investigates the availability of knowledge economy variables of TRNC, as a small island. The results show us that, as a developing country, TRNC has inadequate knowledge economy variables for making NKMS. In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of these inadequacies were discussed and proposed suggestions for TRNC which is at the developing stage of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge economy will be competitive if it achieves high economic performance. The performance of an economy may be assessed by comparing the obtained results with predetermined standards, taking into account aspects related to the use of available resources. The current paper evaluates the performance of knowledge economy in Romania in comparison to the recently joined countries to the EU. The used methodology is Data Envelopment Analysis, which allows assessing performance against a reference system. Characterizing the performance of knowledge economy relied on representative indicators from education and training, science, technology and innovation, and information society, which contributes to the economic growth by increasing gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The dynamic analysis was used in order to assess the recorded progresses. The results of the analysis show the modest position occupied by Romania in comparison with other countries, which indicates that there are many area where action should be taken so that the results of implementing knowledge economy might be as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In such a competitive world, where companies face new challenges every day, clusters, defined as strategies that dynamize national, regional or world economic growth, have become a space leading to knowledge creation, ownership, transferring and diffusion inside companies. This strategy represents a growing source for companies and cities as much as they allow companies belonging to a common sector group into business networks, also, they can spot new business opportunities and become more competitive and sustainable. Knowledge clusters involve different agents from diverse nature such as governmental, private, industrial, educational or entrepreneurial. In other words, these represent a space where demandants (companies) and knowledge offerors (universities, research institutes, consulting groups, etc) interact.These clusters' main goal is to support knowledge creation, ownership, and application processes which can lead to a better development of competitiveness among companies by means of creating a dynamic exchange of information among the companies belonging to the cluster. This paper aims at presenting a model for risk analysis in the process of building a knowledge cluster between private companies and high education institutions (IES*) from a qualitative point of view. This methodology has been used in a process of building a knowledge cluster in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present the world community faces the challenge of building the Smart economy. It is well recognized that the economic progress comes from increased productivity, innovation, competitiveness, economic renewal and creativity of the workforce. The goal of the smart economy is to restore and retain a sustainable economic growth after a depressing crises, to provide a high-quality education system, to promote innovative business environment, to ensure high productivity, to translate knowledge creation into economic return. In this context innovative universities aim at training knowledge workers, forming the competences of learners in line with the requirement of modern labor market in the Smart economy. The graduates face the challenge to generate new ideas and to work in the knowledge- intensive industries that supply advanced ICT devices, systems and networks. The universities in the smart economy need to transform the infrastructure to meet the challenges. The paper presents the innovative infrastructure that facilitates a more full perception of new knowledge, interoperability between internal and external knowledge, a high degree of knowledge and innovation in universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to make national knowledge management strategy (NKMS) in particular small island economies within developing countries, not only the macro economic indicators but also knowledge economy variables should be considered. The paper is trying to find answer by questioning "how national knowledge management strategies could be applied by the small island economies" based on the knowledge economy variables such as gross domestic investment to GDP ratio, trade to GDP ratio, higher education enrollment ratio, telephone main lines, the mobile subscribers, and the number of Internet users. At this point, the empirical part of the study investigates the availability of knowledge economy variables of TRNC, as a small island. The results show us that, as a developing country, TRNC has inadequate knowledge economy variables for making NKMS. In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of these inadequacies were discussed and proposed suggestions for TRNC which is at the developing stage of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant research on services has strongly emphasized knowledge-based services as the driver of economic growth and innovation. Thus, prior literature has separated between "knowledge-intensive" and "other" services, and suggested that the knowledge-intensive services are often those responsible of innovation and value creation. In our view this is an over simplification of prevailing reality in services business. In this study, we suggest - in contrary to the earlier studies - that all services are knowledge-intensive by nature but they differ along the nature of knowledge processes involved from the perspective of the customer and provider. In exploring the issue, we adopt a "problem-based perspective" on knowledge-intensity in services business, following the latest theoretical developments in the field of knowledge-based view of the firm and related problem-solving perspective. Our paper sketches a framework where the knowledge processes regarding service co-creation and delivery are conceptualized on two axes - 1) knowledge required from the customer in defining and executing the service and 2) nature of the service-providing process. In the framework, the knowledge intensity of services is explored from an interactive perspective, where problems are identified and solved in collaboration between customers and providers. In this, varying kinds of knowledge sharing is needed between the customer and the service provider, and also different types of problem-solving and knowledge creation processes in service delivery from the provider perspective. On the basis of the developed conceptual framework, we provide implications concerning organizing of various types of services, as well as new insights on the discussion on knowledge-intensity in service business and relevance of knowledge management challenges and practices for this field. The results show that every type of service actually involves knowledge-intensity, but the nature of the knowledge sharing and knowledge creation processes varies along the customer knowledge requirements and the problem-solving process of the provider in delivering the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades has seen increased interest in the universities role in the economy. Traditionally universities' primary mission was to engage in teaching, research and disseminate knowledge across both academic and student communities (O'Shea et al., 2005). They also provided highly educated and qualified personnel to industry. However more recently there has been a focus on transferring and commercialising knowledge within universities. Increasingly universities are being recognised as an important source of new knowledge especially in the areas of science and technology (Sharma et al, 2006). This has led to increased interest on technology transfer (TT) from universities to industry as an economic development strategy (Etzkowitz, 2003; Fritsch and Slavtchev, 2007). The aim of this study is to identify the key knowledge management (KM) activities that exist within the TT process of a single University case study to identify areas which could be improved resulting in an increased number of patents and spin off companies. This paper will begin by identifying the University technology transfer (UTT) stages followed by a discussion of KM through an absorptive capacity (AC) lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge based economy, collaborative ways of generating and managing knowledge has been growingly seen as promising means to foster innovation, economic growth and social development in several applied fields. Thanks to the diffusion of the Internet, the Web and social network applications, people interact and collaborate in order to create, share and disseminate pictures, video and knowledge. We move from the observation that while the Internet and the Web are positively affecting both social and business aspects of life, their influence on the academic publishing sector seems to be still marginal. While scholars are still debating on the impact of the Open Access paradigm and its economic sustainability, several Web 2.0 applications might radically affect scholarly publication and in particular the way in which knowledge is produced and disseminated. Moreover, many specific scientific publishing initiatives are facing on the Web. These are: PLOS one, ArXiv, Nature Network, SSRN and Sprouts. Although these initiatives are raising new collaborative issues on several aspects of scientific knowledge creation and dissemination, their effects are even less explored than Open Access. This paper explores the impact of the Internet, the Web and other collaborative platforms on the whole scientific publishing sector. This analysis shows that authors, readers and scientific publishers bear some interesting peculiarities which should be taken carefully into account in order to shed light on threats and opportunities of Open Access and Web 2.0 initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]