The regional innovations governance: Slovakia with regard to convergence criteria

The introduction of the euro in Europe is subject to several criteria. In 1979, the European Community created the «European Exchange Rate Mechanism» (ERM). On 16 April, 2003, Slovakia, together with nine other countries, signed the EU Accession Treaty in Athens. These countries promised to adopt the single currency (the euro). It has been 10 years since the introduction of the euro in Slovakia. It stands to highlight factors that have contributed to the economic, innovation development experienced in recent years regarding introducing a single currency. This article aims to briefly introduce the euro area and present each country's accession in historical order. the authors presented the general conditions for introducing the euro and then went on to the events related to the regional innovations governance of Slovakia. Using the data from the statistical site Eurostat, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to indicate the closeness of relationships between the average values of inflation and government deficit and the average values of inflation and the public debt. The limitations of the research are that Eurostat's values are only indicative and, in the event of a possible accession, EU bodies would certainly use other, more reliable data. Furthermore, the ERM II criterion for joining the euro area cannot be examined due lack of statistics available on the Slovak koruna's value after the introduction. Another limitation is that the EU sometimes makes adjustments to calculating inflation and average nominal long-term interest rates. There is a lack of a significant relationship between the examined variables in the case of Slovakia. Based on the 2018 inflation rate, the introduction would not have been possible, as it was slightly higher (2.5 per cent) than the limit (2.23 per cent). Therefore, the authors assumed that Slovakia had adopted the euro on time, as if it had not done so on 1 January 2009, it would probably have had to wait a few years for the new opportunity. Although their results are only indicative and not decisive without taking ERM II into account, it is possible to do without specific indicators.

Innovation Ecosystems for the Moldovan Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

In the last decades, the word 'innovation' can be heard more and more on the entrepreneurial side. It has a crucial role in satisfying the customers, competition with other companies, and increasing the turnover of the enterprises. SME's economic performance is directly affecting the national budget. Still, there is not a precise method of assessing and improving the innovation process at neither firm nor national level. The paper aims to analyze the current innovative performance of Moldovan SMEs. The analysis will explore factors affecting enterprise innovation. It will determine how the existing innovation ecosystem affects the one in an enterprise, and what methods should be applied to improve innovation as well as the ecosystem. To gain insight, the study conducted an email survey of 150 companies, which were the object for research in the Republic of Moldova. The primary purpose of the study is to emphasize the importance of innovation issues related to increasing SME's competitiveness, in connection with presenting the theoretical aspects in the field, proving basic concepts and quantifying them in the study of innovation as well as various forms, types, and factors influencing innovative organizations. The objective of these enterprise questionnaires is to accumulate substantial and reliable information that is significant to responding to the fundamental research questions. Methodological tools of the research methods were the tools for statistical analysis based on using primary data from the questionnaire research. The reference period for statistical research was 2013 and 2017. The author collected the data between August and September 2018 based on questionnaires filled in on paper or sent through the email by the enterprises included in the research. The results of the study provide the following insights: product innovation is the primary innovation type among Moldovan SMEs; the country lacks financial resources for innovation support. Also, Moldova's weak innovation ecosystem and lack of highly qualified workers slow down the development of enterprises. At the end of the thesis, several recommendations for enterprise managers as well as high-level government organizations were provided. Keywords ecosystems, entrepreneurs, innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, Moldova.