Модел на отворени иновации и размена на знаење на претпријатијата во Република Македонија – главни предизвици и фактори

Abstract

The open innovations in the enterprises and exchanging the knowledge between industry and higher educational institutions have direct impact on the overall economic and societal prosperity in the world because there are central elements in the modern, knowledge-based societies. These topics are also primary in many European strategic policy documents. The research goal in this doctoral dissertation is creation of strategic guidance for enhancing the enterprises in the Republic of Macedonia by open innovation and exchanging knowledge with the higher educational institutions. The main research area is creating the triple helix: higher educational institutions - industry - government, especially determining the main challenges and factors that will influence this process. For researching the higher educational sector, an exploratory research was conducted consisting of interviews with key-people from the three institutions that were selected due to their intensive collaboration with the industry. Macedonian enterprises are researched by conducting a survey with 103 companies, while the results are processed by descriptive and statistical methods for identifying the statistically significant trends. In addition, for understanding the potential benefits offered by these advanced concepts, case studies for two European universities with excellent applied activities are developed. The statistical research for the industry identifies the factors that significantly influence the innovations and the knowledge exchange in enterprises, while the qualitative research determines the opportunities, needs and disadvantages of the enterprises, higher education and governmental polices. Based on these findings, recommendations and a plan for their implementation for each of the triple helix sectors is proposed, which are tailored to the conditions of Macedonian society. The practical implications of this research are numerous and very significant, in addition to its theoretical contribution, in first line for getting the county closer to the European family. The implementation of the suggested recommendations opens great potential for enhancing not only the enterprises, but also the other institutional sectors and the society in general.