Knowledge Spillovers in Regional Innovation Systems

This book provides an assessment of the evolution and dynamics of regional innovation systems (RISs) and the economic and social impact of resulting knowledge spillovers, presenting comparative case studies on the regions of several Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and Estonia).

It analyses RISs on the basis of several dimensions, such as absorption capacity and intellectual capital, and using several methods such as data envelopment analysis, patent network analysis, and weighted sum approach.

Further, by looking at the economic and social impact of knowledge spillovers in RISs and networking, it identifies key distinguishing factors, including foreign direct investments, still prevalent centralized decision-making, EU-driven innovation policies and public financing of innovations. Sectoral case studies, e.g. from the automobile, chemical and other hi-tech manufacturing industries, are presented to help readers understand the different types of knowledge spillovers in CEE countries and the evolution and dynamics of RISs, and provide a multifaceted overview of the CEE regions.

Jan Stejskal
Born in Moravska Trebova, Czech Republic, studied at University of Pardubice (economics of the public sector), Ph.D. obtained at the same university in public and regional economics (dissertation title: Industrial clusters and their development in regions). He is associate professor of Public and Regional Economics at University of Pardubice, Faculty of Economics and Administration in Pardubice, Czech Republic. He is the author or co-author of more than ten books and monographies. He is the supervisor of Ph.D. students and works on research in regional development, regional economics and policy.

Petr Hajek
Born in Duchcov, Czech Republic, received B.S. and M.S. degrees in economic policy and administration from the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and a Ph.D. degree in system engineering and informatics from the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, in 2006 (dissertation title: Modelling municipal creditworthiness using computational intelligence methods). He is currently an associate professor with the Institute of System Engineering and Informatics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic. He is the author or co-author of three books and more than 70 articles. His research interests include economic and financial modelling.

Oto Hudec

Born in Nitra, Slovakia, studied at the Comenius University in Bratislava (probability and statistics), Šafárik University in Košice (theory of systems) and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Charles University in Prague for a thesis entitled 'Location of emergency service facilities'. He is a professor in the field of Public Administration and Regional Development at the Technical University in Košice, Faculty of Economics. Since 1985 he has been working at The Technical University of Košice, in the years 1996-2014 as deputy dean of its Faculty of Economics. He has been the director of the Institute of Regional and Community since 2002. His research interest is in urban and regional science, regional innovation systems and regional and local policy.