Scientific Capacity of Products of Innovative Activities in Latvia
Economics and Management 2010
Elīna Gaile-Sarkane, Anatolijs Magidenko

Innovation activities are main priority of European Union as well as of Latvia. Schumpeter (1934) was one of the first authors who emphasised the role of innovation in business and identified it as a process of creative destruction through which wealth was created when existing market structures were interrupted by the introduction of new products or service. Many other world famous authors like M. Porter, P. Drucker, etc. have tackled questions of innovations and significance of innovation capacity. Innovation, in the form of new products, processes, and ways of managing, underpins the growth of productivity that is necessary for a rising standard of living. Innovative capacity is especially important for advanced nations if they are to support higher wages than developing economies who can rapidly imitate. Innovative capacity in a nation or region is heavily rooted in its microeconomic environment, in areas such as the intensity of scientists and engineers in the workforce, the degree of protection of intellectual property, and the depth of clusters. Innovation also holds the key to solving many of the world’s most pressing social challenges such as health care and improving the quality of the physical environment (HBS, 2001). There are many economic and social indicators that are regularly compiled and published online, in the press, in statistical abstracts or in journals. Income, prices, interest rates, trade balances, school enrolments are but a few examples. Innovative capacity could be provided regularly as an indicator of technological performance and potential, in much the same way as the indicators mentioned before (Luiz, 1990). The authors agree with that statement and want to develop most appropriate method for evaluation of innovation capacity. One of most important stimulus for development of innovation is scientific capacity. According to the authors viewpoint scientific capacity of products is a base for development of innovations and mainly it consists from intellectual, human, physical and social capital of a company. Professor Auyang (Auyang S.Y., 2004) in her researches emphasizes that “capitals are products of technological activities: education, research, development, industry, and other productive works. Some products of these activities, notably high-tech goods and services, are consumed by people and most familiar to them as the essence of “technology.” Not all products are consumed, however. Many are plowed back as social investments that expand technological capacities”. According to the latest statistics (European Innovation Scoreboard 2008) Latvia are among “Catching-up countries” in development in innovation performance and experiencing a decline in their performance. Therefoer it is important to evaluate scientific capacity of products what are result of innovation of Latvian organziations.


Atslēgas vārdi
innovation, scientific capacity, products, model of evaluation

Gaile-Sarkane, E., Magidenko, A. Scientific Capacity of Products of Innovative Activities in Latvia. Economics and Management, 2010, No. 15, 655.-661.lpp. ISSN 1822-6515.

Publikācijas valoda
English (en)
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