No abstract

The level of citizens' financial knowledge has a great impact on financial well-being of individuals and society. In this regard public authorities in many countries initiated a process of development and implementation of National strategies to enhance financial literacy level. The initial step of developing a national strategy is evaluation of current situation. Thus, financial literacy measuring issues are frequently debated in the academic and public environment. The goal of the current research is to develop a measurement instrument to evaluate the level of financial knowledge of Latvian citizens. The present paper reflects the results of the authors' conducted survey based on the sample of 169 respondents. A set of 12 questions on financial matters was developed to detect perceived importance and complexity of financial literacy components, as well as to get financial literacy selfassessment scores. Data was processed by means of SPSS, applying such methods, as analysis of means, analysis of frequencies and independent samples t-test. Received results assist to precise the content and wording of questions to be included into the questionnaire for evaluation financial literacy level of Latvian citizens 1 .

The publication comprises the results from the practical scientific investigation to define the profile and distinctions of the Latvian innovative multifunctional material manufacturing industry. The research is carried out by a holistic approach, including expert interviews, qualitative analysis of the official register data, practical survey, and financial data analysis. The paper seeks to give the detailed data on a technological profile of the mentioned representative companies, if there is a synergy or tough competition in the Latvian market. The current research is topical, because it is unique and does not have analogues in Latvia, and the research is timely due to correspondence with recently stated Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation in Latvia. The main findings are associated with recognition of the factors that make impact on commercialisation of the finished goods, obtained financial results and planned directions of development of the respondent companies.

The Paper provides preliminary results with the aim to determine a range of the local scientific activity in the development of advanced technologies on a global scale. Analysis on ranking is made in the Baltic Sea Region accepted as the main limitation of the Paper. The applied methods are logical approach, analysis of the literary sources, assessment of the indicators (including financing, scientific and innovative activities ratios), its dynamics in the scientific field and business arena. The enclosed analytical data ensure the value of the Paper. Among the main findings are: available data for the economic assessment of the nanotechnologies in Latvia are of a general character, limited or controversial. Recently, Latvia has had both the lowest and the highest rankings.

This Paper is a review within a number of the planned articles devoted to finding out and determining a range of scientific activity of the Republic of Latvia on a global scale of nanotechnologies. Purpose of the current Paper is to provide a review on the legal fundamentals in creating a local scientific environment for development of the advanced technologies in Latvia. The main methods applied by the authors are analysis of the scientific and professional literature and official documentation, and logical approach. A focus on the local documentation through integration into the European Union is accepted limitation of the Paper. The main findings ensuring the value of the Paper are: Latvia is not named among the priority regions in the newest EU’s smart specialisation platform. Despite for the nearest years the nanotechnologies are announced in the second priority for the Latvian science development, an international collaboration of Latvia is at very high rate - 70% on average and 77% of the investment volume to the scientific projects is assigned from the EU, limitations in local tooling and professionalism are obvious, it cause currently our country is still at the foundation stage.