Innovation as a factor of economic development in the conditions of Covid-19 health crisis

Abstract

Given the great importance of innovation for economic development, each country strives to adapt its business environment to the continuous development of innovation. At the beginning of the Covid-19 health crisis, the question was what the impact on innovation would be. Investments in innovations have shown great resilience in the conditions of the pandemic, especially in the field of modern information and communication technologies and scientific research activities. North America and Europe continue to be ahead of other regions in terms of innovation. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of innovation as a factor of economic development in the conditions of the Covid-19 health crisis. The first part of the paper points out the role of innovation as a factor of economic development. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of the Global Innovation Index for 2021 and the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on innovation. The third part of the paper analyzes the innovation in the Republic of Serbia and gives recommendations for improving the innovativeness of the economy of the Republic of Serbia in the conditions of the Covid-19 health crisis. After a comprehensive analysis of the available literature, relevant conclusions are presented.