ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN LATVIA IN THE CONTEXT OF SMART SPECIALISATION

• Main Authors: Ilva RUDUSA, Evija KOPEIKA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nicolae Titulescu University Publishing House 2014-05-01
• Series: Challenges of the Knowledge Society
• Subjects: entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial environment; smart specialisation; competitiveness; innovations.
• Online Access: http://cks.univnt.ro/uploads/cks_2014_articles/index.php?dir=05_economics%2F&download=CKS+2014_economics_art.058.pdf
• ISSN: 2068-7796; 2068-7796

To stimulate the development of smart specialisation in Latvia, a smart specialisation strategy was elaborated. The objective of the smart specialisation strategy is to set and regularly review priorities and to channel investments, including to choose appropriate policy instruments in accordance with the strategy and to establish a system of monitoring, which is oriented towards raising the competiveness of Latvia’s economy at the regional, European and global levels. The research aim of the paper is to analyse the development of the entrepreneurial environment in Latvia in the context of smart specialisation. Three indexes (the Global Competitiveness Index, the World Bank’s index of the ease of doing business and the Index of Economic Freedom) were used to assess the development of the entrepreneurial environment, and an analysis of business demography as well as an assessment of the development of high and medium high technology industries and knowledge-intensive service industries in Latvia was performed. To assess the development of an industry, one can use such indicators as number of economically active enterprises, number of employees, net turnover and exports.