Innovation and entrepreneurship: theory, policy and practice.

• Main Author: Elias G., Carayannis Elpida T., Samara Yannis, L. Bakouros.
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2020
• Subjects: Entrepreneurship.
• Online Access: http://dspace.uniten.edu.my/jspui/handle/123456789/17486

As today’s global economic landscape is changing rapidly, the ability of businesses to introduce new innovative products to the market faster than their competitors is perhaps their most distinct competitive advantage. This becomes obvious by the signifi cant market share that the innovative companies gain while increasing profi tability. Extensive research in this fi eld has shown that companies that are constantly innovating normally double their profi ts compared to others. The term innovation refers to a process that comprises three stages: the conception of a new idea, its evaluation, and, fi nally, its practical implementation. Thus, innovation is an important element of modern entrepreneurship. Innovation management, namely, how a new idea is created, how and by what criteria it is assessed, or how it is fi nanced, is a very tedious and demanding process, and a component element of effective entrepreneurship. In this context, innovation management techniques and models of increasing sophistication are being developed internationally; these, in turn, serve as a basis for the development of many methodologies of measuring innovation at the individual, national, European, and international level. It is important to mention that according to the conclusions of the European Commission, based on the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Greece is last in the list of the EU-15 area countries and one of the last in the EU-27. The weakest points of the innovation system of Greece are identifi ed in the production of new products, risk capital, patenting, broadband penetration, lifelong training, investment in research on the part of fi rms, high-tech exports, and fi nally employment in medium-high-technology manufacturing. This has resulted in low innovativeness and competitiveness of the Greek economy. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that both the infl ow of foreign capital in Greece and the Greek direct investments abroad represent a very small proportion of the total output and input of the eurozone. The important role of innovation in fi rm profi tability and overall sustainable economic growth, coupled with the disappointingly low yield of the Greek Economy in this fi eld, have made the design of an effective innovation policy in Greece imperative. It is obvious that such a policy can be based on young scientists and entrepreneurs who will have a suffi ciently high level of knowledge in innovation and entrepreneurship.