Journal of Innovation Ecosystem
Year:2023 | Volume:3 | Issue:4|Papers Count:6

The global competitiveness index of the economy in different countries shows the potential of countries for production and growth and competition in the world arena. Several factors affect this index. One of these variables is the innovation level of countries, which is measured using the global innovation index. Based on this, this study examines the effect of global innovation index on the global competitiveness of OPEC member countries during the time period of 2010-2022 using panel data. The countries investigated in this study include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. The results of the model estimation have shown that the global economic innovation index has a positive and significant effect on the global competitiveness index of countries. Other research results have shown that research and development expenses and the productivity of all production factors have a positive and significant effect on the competitiveness of OPEC member countries. Also, the cross effect of innovation and research and development has a positive and significant effect on the competitiveness of countries.

This study examines the effect of political risk on the entrepreneurial activities. Political risk has a negative effect on the transparency and predictability of the macro-economic and social environment, the investment rate, the tenure of policy makers and the sustainability of public policies, which all these factors hinder the growth of creativity, entrepreneurship and long-term investment decisions. In this study, the effect of political stability indicators on the density index of business entry in 85 developed and developing countries during the period of 2012-2022 has been investigated. The results of the estimation using the GLS method and then the quantitative method (QREG) show that democratic accountability, bureaucracy, government stability, law and order, social and economic conditions, investment status, corruption control, lack of Internal and external conflicts, the absence of military presence in politics, the absence of ethnic, religious and religious tensions influence the increase of people entering the business. In addition, in the studied countries, a higher level of financial and economic development has a direct relationship with indicators of political stability and facilitates the conditions for entering into entrepreneurship. Therefore, policy makers who are looking for economic development and increasing the level of socio-economic indicators should provide ways for entrepreneurs to enter the business. Considering the importance of political stability indicators and their impact on entrepreneurial activities, one of the expected policies to improve the business situation and increase the role of productive entrepreneurs in the economy of countries can be called the improvement of these indicators.

Macroeconomic conditions are important in the start-up, performance, development and sustainability of businesses. Some concepts related to economic conditions affecting entrepreneurial activities include economic recession and boom conditions, inflation level, monetary and credit policies, financial policies and government expenses, and economic instability. Changes in economic conditions may cause changes in decision-making in starting or continuing businesses. Therefore, awareness of the relationship between entrepreneurial activities and macroeconomic performance is inevitable for entrepreneurship researchers and policy makers. In this study, in order to investigate economic environment factors on the development and sustainability of entrepreneurial activities, the data of 20 developing countries during the years 2009-2019 have been used. Using panel data and the method of generalized moments in panel data, the relationship between variables was analyzed. The results of the research show that government expenditures in the education sector and the amount of credits granted to the private sector have a significant and positive effect on the entrepreneurship index. While economic growth has no significant relationship with the level of entrepreneurship. Also, the level of inflation and interest rate has a positive effect on the entrepreneurship index, so that from the point of view of entrepreneurs, the presence of liquidity and increased demand, as well as the supply of more financial resources, is preferable to reducing their costs.

Some international institutions regularly rank countries against each other based on some indicators. The Intellectual Property Organization and Cornell University are two institutions that publish the Global Innovation Index report every year. In this report, different countries are compared with each other based on eighty-one different indicators, and in the latest report (2023), IR Iran has been sixty-second among one hundred and thirty-two countries. According to many experts, not all indicators of this report are important to all countries. In fact, each country should determine which indicators are important to improve the status of that indicator in line with its national goals and priorities. In this report, after reducing some of the indicators, the ranking status of each indicator has been specified for the country, and based on the opinion of experts and with the help of a questionnaire, the importance of each indicator has been identified in line with national goals and priorities. In the following, by using the analysis of the gap between the indicators and the two-dimensional matrix of the ranking status - the importance of each indicator, the most important indicators that need to be improved in the country are identified and solutions to improve their status are provided. In the end, nine important indicators for the country have been identified, and in five cases, data for the desired indicator has not been provided in the report of the global innovation index for the country. In fact, the indicators that need to be improved in the country are in the areas of venture capital investment, research and development spending, the export of information and communication technology and high-level technologies, foreign direct investment, student assessment, and patents.

Science and technology parks play a key role in Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization, policy tool for technology diffusion through entrepreneurship and for knowledge economy. Purpose of this study was to identify the role of science and technology parks in order to creating innovation ecosystem. The research method was mixed. In qualitative section, the statistical population consisted of experts in the fields of academia, industry and government. Participants were selected by purposive sampling from 20 participants. In quantitative section, population consisted of 440 individuals who were among the middle and executive managers of four domains of university, industry, government and intermediary institutions that were selected by stratified random sampling method. The sample size was 205 using Cochran formula. Data were collected in the qualitative section by semi-structured interview method and in the quantitative section by a researcher-made questionnaire. The thematic analysis method was used for qualitative data analysis and partial least squares method was used for quantitative data analysis. These factors explained about 90 percent of the changes in the innovation ecosystem. The results showed that the roles of science and technology parks in the ecosystem of university, industry, and government are three supportive, mediator and capacity building roles.

This research aims to analyze the regional innovation system in Kurdistan with a structural-functional approach and tries to identify the weaknesses of this system and provide policy recommendations to improve it. The approach of the research is qualitative and in order to collect analysis of interviews of regional experts have been used. The data has been collected in an analytical-descriptive manner through the study of articles, reports, documents, and interviews with experts regarding the innovation system of Kurdistan. The findings of the research show some of the weaknesses of the innovation system of Kurdistan, which can be attributed to structural problems such as weak cooperation and interaction of actors, lack of financial resources for commercialization and innovative activities, lack of access to capable human resources, lack of compatibility between the agricultural sector and water resources. The limited market for innovative products, the lack of suitability of training courses with the advantages and priorities of the province, the low productivity of human resources, and the small scale of enterprises and agricultural units. Focusing on strengthening interactions between actors, creating industrial clusters such as the production of auto parts, and agricultural tools and creating downstream iron industries, aligning research and study activities with the potentials related to the province's border with Iraq, establishing think tanks and action in the field of products Having a competitive advantage such as strawberries and holding technological training can help to improve and promote the regional innovation system of Kurdistan.