O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and IncentivesReturn

The paper aims to form a useful tool for evaluation of sustainable innovation process in large manufacturing company. Several studies proved positive correlation between innovation and increased performance of companies and since large companies have the advantage of wide-range activities which opens new possibilities to innovate, they became driving force in innovation field. The main determinants of successful innovation are established based on literature research and used to create a questionnaire for the purpose of the examination of innovation management in selected company. Research suggests that main determinants need to be managed jointly because it is not possible to separate completely one determinant from another. The synergetic effect of all determinants complying together is proven to be a cause of successful innovation.

This study complements our long-term systemic research so as to promote technological innovation in the EU countries. The main research goal of this study is to examine technological innovation in the developing EU countries and to identify positive and negative technology innovation-related processes. In terms of the methodology of this research, as the main method was chosen Patent analysis of the WIPO database (1980-2014), which we perform in a long term. The patent data were analyzed, verified and summarized for the purposes of this study and subsequently completed by Bibliometric analysis of the technological innovation activities in these countries - for identifying relevant trends. In the analytical part of our study was in particular examined the overall development of technology patents in the developing EU countries. According to these indicators, among the most successful technology developing countries in the EU mainly belong Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the more successful are also Greece and Bulgaria. Such a long-term study in our conditions has not been realized yet.

Certain fundamentals of the nanotechnology (NT) discipline can be already found in 1870, when two professors Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston experimented and later patented inventions on the existing arc lamps and dynamo design. The emergence of NT as a new scientific discipline can be found a hundred years later and it is also connected with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope and the discovery of fullerenes. Among the first companies that patented NT were: General Electric, Unisys, Honeywell, DuPont, Bell Labs, and IBM. Among the first patenting areas of NT were: nano-materials, nano-manufacturing and nano-interactions. This scientific study has two particular goals. Methodological part (Chapter 1 and 2) provides a clear insight into selected topical issues of patenting, searching and categorization of NT. This part is often overlooked/simplified in many scientific papers on NT, which brings a lot of uncertainty for this discipline. The second part is the systemic analysis (Chapter 3) that is to provide a clear insight into the patented NT in the EU, based on the comprehensive statistics of the European database of EPO patents (1940-2015). But, the main scientific goal of this study is to make some conclusions for the promotion of innovation and patenting NT in the EU.

Innovation and innovation potential of the regions have played the key role for regional competitiveness. Hence the prime objective of the paper is to investigate evaluation of innovations using multi-criteria model, namely the Regional competitiveness Index (RCI) developed in 2010 by the Research Centre of European Commission for the purpose of regional competitiveness measurement of the EU regions at the NUTS 2 level. However, the model is still relatively unverified. Thus the paper finds out to what extend this measure is applicable in the regions at level NUTS 3. The indicators characterizing innovation potential of the region are revealed using multivariate analysis (namely principal component analysis). The evaluation compares mutual level of innovations in individual regions along with their development in years 2004 - 2009. The results of this paper will be used for construction of a holistic RCI model and for overall evaluation of competitiveness of regions in the Czech Republic.

One of the most important attributes of a competitive economy is the ability to innovate. This ability depends not only on technological progress and capital, but also on the environment in which innovation is implemented. Activities leading to innovations are costly and very risky. Companies are therefore looking for a stable environment. A stable environment can provide quality institutions, which include: the conditions for starting a business (so-called start-up), clear and transparent rules when dealing with public administration, investor protection, tax burden, low corruption, competence of public administration and its integrity, the same access to information, etc. Comparison of selected indices and their analysis shows that the trends in these indices have an impact on the innovation performance of countries. The last part will compare these selected indexes and scores together, show the results for EU 27, analyze them and confirm or refuse the relationships between these variables.

The article focuses on the strategic management of information and communication technologies (ICT), which have become a strategic factor in achieving business goals. The theoretical part focuses on the position of Informatics in business management, ICT management in the enterprise, the definition of strategies and information methodologies and models of modern business management science with a focus on the business management of Informatics under the ITIL methodology, including procedures for the introduction and overview of the main benefits. The practical part of the article further addresses the strategic management of ICT in an anonymous company based on the ITIL methodology.

The level of development of the company itself is very closely linked to the evolution of the business environment and therefore it is essential that business practice to pay attention not only to work with innovative potential, but the actual design and practical use of innovations. Use of innovative potential and creating innovation plays currently one of the important roles not only for performance management of individual enterprises, but also plays a key role in the development of territorial units. The article deals with the development of selected innovative activities (number of patent applications filed, export high-tech goods and services, the amount of total spending on research and development) within the selected territorial units of the Czech Republic.

Today, the companies place emphesis on the management of knowledge workers. They began to realize that such a worker is the most valuable asset, that a company can have. Knowledge workers have a broad range of knowledge and the company should take care of them and satisfy them. They will not retain the knowledge and will share them with their colleagues. Therefore, it is necessary to set such an incentive system in the company, that would encourage all employees in a such behavior. They are the ones who come up with new ideas that can lead to the innovation that can be a breakthrough for the company. This article aims to highlight the importance of the human factor, as most precious resource, which the company may have, further describe the pro-innovation environment in the company and using the uncontrolled interview to verify whether the factors that counteract creative thinking, occur even in a company which the author works in.