The Evaluation of Regional Innovation Systems' Efficiency in New Member States of European Union: A Nonparametric Approach
The Evaluation of Regional Innovation Systems' Efficiency in New Member States of European Union: A Nonparametric Approach

Summary/Abstract: In most recent regional studies, especially in endogenous growth theory, regional innovative activities, knowledge spillovers, highly educated work force and investment in high technology products with high value added is considered as main factors of long term regional economic growth. The generation of products with high value added and structural changes in regional production structures require a lot of investment, especially in new member states of EU in Eastern and Central Europe with low level of innovative activity, as being modest or moderate innovators according to EU Innovation Scoreboard (European Commission, 2014). Do investments in an innovative activity pays off and is current regional labor creates efficient level of output – these questions are analysed in this paper by application of nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) that is applied to indicate technical efficiency of regional innovation systems of EU new member states in Central and Eastern Europe. The most technologically inefficient NUTS2 regions in Central and Eastern Europe are indicated in this research that means more attention from government institutions to these regions should be made to find available strategies to enforce higher level of regional innovative activity with current available resources, as regional maximal potential is not reached. For some inefficient regions it means that a lot of capital is invested in innovative activity but it still do not generate efficient output. From the one side, these regions have potential to growth by enforcing its innovative activity with current inputs, from the other side, it is a question if these regions have an ability to develop high technologies and more investments into innovative activities will pay off.

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