Upgrading technology in Central and Eastern European economies

Effects of Soft Loans and Credit Guarantees on Performance of Supported Firms: Evidence from the Czech Public Programme START

“…Evaluations of the entrepreneurship policies in the Central and Eastern European countries have not received much research attention so far and therefore there is a substantial research gap, which needs to be fulfilled, e.g., [54,55,59,[102][103][104][105]. The main purpose of this article was to contribute to this perceived research gap by the performance of an empirical evaluation of the programme START, funded from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which was providing credit guarantees and zero interest soft loans to the newly established entrepreneurs during the period of years 2007-2011 in the Czech Republic.…”

The effects of EU R&I funding on SME innovation and business performance in new EU member states: Firm-level evidence

“…Technology upgrades and innovation that lead to the creation of new and competitive market products and services have been a pivotal issue in the economic growth of most new EU members from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), especially since the global financial crisis. A number of empirical studies by authors familiar with the region (see Radošević, 2017;Radošević et al, 2020, Hashi & Stojčić, 2013aHashi & Stojčić, 2013b;Stojčić, 2020;Stojčić et al, 2020;Radas et al, 2020) have detected and investigated the issues behind its modest innovation performance and low productivity gains, despite the continuous increase in external R&I funding, including public funds from the EU and national sources.…”

“…Several important findings have emerged from empirical studies that focus on the specific problems of innovation performance in new EU member states from this region. When analysing the determining channels and mechanisms that have the biggest effect on the innovation performance of CEE countries, Radošević (2017) considers that unlike advanced countries, their growth comes less from R&Ddriven innovation and more from the spillover and absorption effects of the intensified interactions of domestic R&D with imported advanced technology. He argues that although a singular focus on R&D policies is important for CEE countries, it does not produce effects equal to those in advanced EU economies.…”

“…One of Radošević's (2017) findings is that CEE countries base their current innovation policies mainly on imitating those of advanced EU member states, by "narrowly focusing on R&D drivers of innovation" (Radošević 2017). It may be more productive for CEE countries to pursue their own innovation policies instead, and adjust them to country-specific and regional economic characteristics and challenges so that they better reflect the innovation drivers in local economic structures.…”

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“…5-33 directed investors to focus on high technology sectors, technology parks for startups, and related purposes (Kattel, Reinert, & Suurna, 2009). As Radošević (2017) points out, the post-2008 difficulty for CEECs is how to shift their economies onto a course of progress that is encouraged by investments and enhancements in productivity, considering that development in the observed economies is not based on research-driven innovation. Alternatively, CEECs rely on the cooperation of domestic R&D with more advanced technology from imported inputs.…”