Introduction

Summary

The universality of the opinion that the most effective route to economic progress is research skilfully oriented and used to develop innovation, particularly technological, probably needs no more repetition. Science, which determines a society's intellectual level and prosperity, has become the driving force behind the development of the new economy. Stimulation of scientific research and practical application of the results is the subject of the economic policy of any modern state. Both the scientific and technical requirements are now valuable and sought-after around the world because they are a competitive commodity and may be a source of significant revenue windfalls. It should be emphasized, however, that technological innovations do not grow and spread like the proverbial plague. They are created, developed and used as a result of decisions and actions taken by specific actors and the relationships between them. “Technological innovations are hard, deliberate, focused work that requires knowledge, diligence, perseverance, and commitment; they require innovators to use their greatest assets, and this work is the result, caused in the economy and society, because it causes a change in the behaviour of both businesses and consumers” (Drucker, 1992, pp. 152–153). So the speed, direction, and even the randomness of technological innovation, implemented in the specific formulas of innovation processes, is caused by an existing or evolving institutional structure, as well as market expectations and users of already applied technologies. The institutional structure is, admittedly, a framework for creating an innovative environment in a given economy, but the innovation process itself takes place in the organization that positively or negatively affects the involvement of existing potentials and successes achieved. Technological changes are not achievable by a simple transfer of knowledge (e.g. new technology) between different countries, because it is not always the case that the transfer is absorbable; on the contrary, the essence of technological change and the creation of innovation lies in the national and organizational specifics, with their roots in skills, abilities, and level of accumulated knowledge. Nations and organizations are not only differentiated by various quantitative levels of innovation, but also by the ways in which this innovation is accepted in its fragmentary compositions.