O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion ProcessesReturn

Czechia is one of the most export-oriented countries, reaching high levels of economic complexity. However, its innovative capabilities remain limited. Taking these factors into consideration, we determined the country's optimal diversification path by identifying prospective export sectors which would enhance the country's competitiveness. We combine the product space and proximity methodologies on predicted export data together with a company-level analysis. We identified machinery for specialized industries and parts thereof (SITC 7284), machine-tools for specialized industries parts or accessories (SITC 7281) and power hand tools, pneumatic or non-electric, and parts thereof (SITC 7541) as the most prospective categories in terms of high complexity, expected trade volume growth, proximity to Czechia's existing production capabilities and manufacturing base operated by large, highly innovative Czech-owned firms.

What type of R&D is essential for creating innovations? Is in-house R&D more efficient than purchasing external innovations? The question of various strategies for private firms to succeed in developing innovations is key for ongoing national and international programmes for raising innovativeness of economies. The goal of the paper is to investigate the outcomes of different types of R&D in the context of innovations and to analyse their significance in European countries empirically. In this paper, we aim to provide a quantitative analysis of the problem on the data collected from the Common Innovation Survey. We cover innovations in products, services, production methods, distribution systems and supporting activities. The results suggest that both in-house and external R&D matter for firms' innovativeness, but the effect is stronger for the former for most of the types of innovations considered.

Business R&D spending has been shown to exert both direct and indirect positive effects on value added. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of the returns to R&D has seldom been examined. Using detailed sectoral data from Czechia over the period 1995-2015, this study finds that privately funded business R&D has both direct and spillover effects, but that the publicly funded part of business R&D only leads to spillovers. The results further suggest that both upstream and downstream spillovers matter, regardless of the source of funding, and that during the period studied, R&D returns were heavily affected by the economic crisis. Lastly, private R&D offers significant returns only after reaching a critical mass, while the effects of public R&D spending do not display such non-linearity. This heterogeneity in the returns to business R&D should be reflected in innovation policy design.

The aim of the article is to present a model of sentiment analysis tool application for planning directions of city development. The study presents a model of using sentiment analysis to build city development strategies as well as realization of projects related to it. The presented model is a part of a larger work on developing the concept of the Regional Spatial Business Community (RSBC). The RSBC is created on the basis of electronic communities built by stakeholders involved in the development of a given city. On the basis of surveys, a six-stage city development procedure is proposed. Using the aforementioned procedure, we describe potential data sources, the goals of sentiment analysis application and expected effects. Analyses of the applicability of sentiment analysis are made on the basis of observation of available tools. The obtained model is applicable; however, its implementation requires certain conditions to be met.

This article applies Oaxaca-Blinder and Shorrocks-Shapley decomposition techniques to a logistic diffusion model in order to explain the differences in Total Factor Productivity Growth (TFPG) in European Union (EU) countries for the period 1950-2011. Human capital has a dual positive effect on TFPG by boosting innovation and increasing the catch-up capacity of countries to absorb and imitate foreign technologies. Our results show that there are statistically significant differences in the intensity of these effects between high and low average income EU countries, while there are not between euro and non-euro countries. The mean difference in technical change between high and low-income EU countries is largely the result of three factors. The first is the higher average foreign technology assimilation capacity of low income countries. This is particularly true because they are further from the technological frontier and are able to benefit from the advantage of backwardness. The second is the higher direct effect of human capital on technical change in these countries, while the third factor is the higher slowdown role of proximity in them.

This paper analyses the effect of asymmetry in factor endowments between resourcerich and resource-poor countries on equilibrium bias of technology development and adoption possibilities. First, we show that the bias in equilibrium technology in the resource-poor North is determined by its relative abundance of human capital and physical capital. Secondly, we show that the equilibrium bias in technology in the resource-abundant South is dependent positively (negatively) on the relative abundance (scarcity) of skilled (unskilled) labour and the relative abundance (scarcity) of physical (natural) capital in the North. This force is dampened by the relative scarcity of skilled labour and physical capital in the South. These forces drive wage inequality, high cost of capital and skill technology mismatch in the South, all of which are bad for growth. These effects cumulatively explain part of the observed differences in growth performance between resource-rich and resource-poor countries.

The new EU-entrants face double challenge on the Lisbon road to knowledge-based competitiveness. On the one hand, higher expenditure is required to improve the quality of research and education input and infrastructure, on the other hand, the innovation system changes are necessary to increase efficiency of expenditures. The example of the Czech Republic within EU-25, as to the export performance, productivity and R&D intensity of the so-called hi-tech activities, presents a more detailed analysis of competitive advantage sources and challenges in the less developed EU members. The analysis emphasizes the criterion of (in)completeness of the multinational value chain, which continues to consist mainly of segments with lower quality intensity (assembly operations) in these countries. This aspect plays a crucial role in international comparison of competitiveness within EU-25, and in assessment of success and political support of transition to knowledge-based economy.