How is Slovakia ranked in the Global Innovation Index 2018? – Journal N

One of the best indicators that measure innovation in the economy is . The Global Innovation Index (GII) which shows the progress of innovation for more than a decade. Just a few days ago, a new 2018 GII was published: hundreds of pages related to innovation can be summed up in several stories that unveil clear trends in innovation. Let's see how these specific conclusions emerge in the context of Slovakia.

1. Optimism in terms of innovation and growth is in place

Slovakia has long been one of the top 50 most innovative countries. Switzerland, leader of innovation since 2011, reigns without threat, the other divisions being the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and the US, but Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland have also reached the top 10. Slovakia ranks 36th among the moderate innovators whose innovative performances are at the level of expectations. Austria is in 21st place, the Czech Republic and Hungary, as well as Slovakia, are among the moderate innovators and are only a few places in the rankings.

2. Investing in advanced technologies in the energy sector is essential for sustainable development

According to estimates, the world will need 30% more energy by 2040 that & # 39; aujourd & # 39; hui. Traditional approaches to energy supply are not sustainable, so the attention of global innovators is advancing on investment in new ways of producing, distributing and storing energy. ;energy.

Innovation in Slovakia is mainly focused on ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). This field is the most efficient in terms of capital demand – just have a powerful laptop and good knowledge. In 2016, venture capital funds mainly invested in ICT companies. Of the total funds invested in start-ups in Slovakia, 63.3% were in these companies, so that they have the largest share compared to neighboring countries. On the contrary, we are lagging behind in investing in capital-intensive industries such as biomedicine, robotics or clean technologies (proecological technology – an example in Slovakia is GA Drilling or Voltia, two venture capital firms Neulogy Ventures).

Investing in capital-intensive industries capable of revolutionizing innovation can help us cope with automation and robotization, which are becoming a reality for a growing number of jobs and sectors. The public sector also plays a key role here. Investments in these industries are often difficult and their returns are much longer than investments in ICT. This is why it is often the public sector whose financial and institutional support for advanced technologies sends the right signal to private investors.

3. China's rapid growth can be an example for other middle-income economies

The emergence of China as the engine of technology can no longer be doubted. In the above-mentioned rankings, he climbed to 17th place this year, although he is not yet among the high-income economies, as is the case with the other top-20 countries. Chinese innovation is visible in an ever increasing number of technological giants, in investment in research and development or in the education level of the population. China is the world's number one R & D spending, which mainly targets the promising fields of artificial intelligence or robotics. This country is a phenomenon, there is no doubt.

Apart from China, they are also in the European economies – even in our immediate neighborhood, which are among the innovative leaders whose innovation performance has surpassed their economic level and the performance of economies. Similar. These are, for example, Ukraine or Bulgaria, which increase from year to year a few places higher.

4. Rich economies with a diversified industry are more innovative than highly specialized ones

The Slovak economy is very present in the automotive industry and will face the threat of automation. According to the OECD study, up to one third of jobs in Slovakia are highly automated. As the main reason for the OECD, too much emphasis is placed on the automotive industry. Automation and robotization will become a reality in the coming years for the Slovak economy, which should already respond flexibly to changes in the labor market that will bring technological advances

The answer to these changes could be an increase in the number of jobs in industrial production, These are not routine tasks, that is, tasks that require the performance of relatively complex tasks that can not be organized in a systematic order or repetition code. Non-routine jobs are more difficult to replace with machines and are therefore more resistant to automation. These are creative workstations such as programming or recurring decisions in the workload. The proportion of these non-routine posts represents only about 18% of our industrial output, at least among all OECD countries.

To increase the number of non-routine jobs, we need to diversify industrial production that will not focus solely on the auto industry. these positions. For Slovakia to become a knowledge-based economy, it is necessary to improve the information infrastructure and reform education. Improving the skills of the workforce could increase the number of people in non-routine jobs in new, fast-growing sectors. This would reduce the potential negative impact of possible automation on the Slovak economy

5. Regional differences persist in innovation, most science and technology centers are located in the United States. United, China and Germany

technological revolution in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics or virtual reality. Rather than at the level of national economies, so-called clusters are formed at the regional level, often also in neighboring countries. Innovative clusters are places of high density of interconnected technology companies, customers, suppliers and institutions that contribute to ecosystem development. A typical example of clusters is, for example, Silicon Valley, London and its Tech City, Berlin or Paris.

Slovakia, especially Bratislava, can benefit mainly from its proximity to other major centers – Vienna, Brno and Budapest and the opening of its economy. The very high flexibility of the labor market within the EU and the saturation of the capital market are creating great conditions for deepening cooperation between these regional centers. One of the essential conditions of this cooperation is legislation open to innovation, a quality service of the state in the field of e-government.

It has great potential for citizens and businesses because it can speed up and simplify bureaucracy with the authorities. According to the statistics of the e-government service, only 47.9% of citizens will use the Slovak Republic, which is below the OECD average, which is 53.8%. A positive example of how communication with authorities on the Internet has reduced the bureaucratic burden on citizens can be found in Estonia, where nearly 77% of citizens communicate with authorities via the Internet. This measure has helped to improve the innovative and start-up landscape ecosystem and has created digital power from Estonia, which is home to several successful technology companies including Skype, Pipedrive and Taxify.

The key to the success of regional clusters in strong international competition is primarily a flexible labor market with skilled people, good funding opportunities, innovation-friendly legislation, commercial simplicity and an attractive city. with a high quality of life. If we want the small, open economy to succeed in the ever-changing world of innovation, the development of these areas should be a priority for current and future governments at the national and regional levels

. Article: Adela Zábražná

The author is the Executive Director of the Slovak Alliance for the Innovative Economy u.