This study seeks to advance understanding and to provide empirical evidence of relationship of knowledge management components (knowledge acquisition, knowledge transfer, and knowledge use), business innovation and organizational performance. In this research are analysed at theoretical and empirical level the knowledge management components: acquisition, transfer and use of knowledge, and its importance for business innovation and organizational performance. We propose a model that includes both direct effects and indirect effects. The predicted effects are tested with data collected of 201 Spanish firms of high-tech services and high-tech manufacturing; the paper performs an empirical analysis using structural equation modelling. Results of this investigation confirm that knowledge management components have positive direct and indirect influences on the business innovation and therefore improve the company's performance.

Smart' is a term that has earned considerable scientific attention in different areas of research over the last few years. The variety of areas the term 'smart' is used nowadays calls for the development of a comprehensive and inclusive definition that would fit to all the contexts and situations. Many researchers focus on the fragmentary aspects of the concept 'smart', but systematic research in this area is hard to find. In response to the increasing use of the concept 'smart', the main aim of this paper is to provide an accurate definition of 'smart' which would be applicable in different areas of modern economy. A standardized definition could be used as an 'umbrella' for the development of other relevant topics. This conceptual paper also introduces the 'smart' framework, which incorporates all the components of the definition: challenges, environment, orchestration and sustainable welfare. The 'smart' framework was built by integrating different concepts and principles, such as technology reference models (TRM), open systems interconnection principles (OSI), etc. It reveals the peculiarities of 'smart' performance and application under the conditions and challenges of modern economy.

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This paper aims to redevelop the national innovative capacity framework and specify the influence of its’ elements on shaping the innovation performance of the EU nations. The objects of the empirical research are the EU member states for the period of 2000–2018. The collected data is employed in a multivariate Granger causality analysis that illustrates the causal links between the analyzed indicators and considers their dynamics. The results demonstrate that countries seeking to increase the levels of innovative outputs should mostly focus on scientific excellence and international economic activities. A redevelopment of the framework also helped discover that gender equality and corruption have causal links with all forms of the investigated innovation indicators—technological, non-technological, and commercial ones. The outcomes of this study highlight the most critical areas where EU member states could focus to improve their national innovation performance and may assist policymakers in the designing process of future innovation policies.

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