In search of key determinants of innovativeness in the regions of the Visegrad group countries

Research background: Discussions on the state of the economy in times of crisis focus not only on maintaining or improving innovativeness, but also on the emergence of new dimensions of this phenomenon and changing the significance of individual determinants of innovativeness. Innovativeness is a complex, multidimensional and difficult to measure phenomenon, which implies the need to select various indicators and methods for its assessment. Synthetic measures of innovativeness are widely used in comparative analyses, in particular presenting results in international or interregional cross-sections. The degree of innovativeness should also be assessed at different levels of economic aggregation. The lower the level of aggregation, the easier it becomes to capture the specific determinants of the increase in innovativeness of a given area. Purpose of the article: The main aim of the paper is to attempt to measure the relationship between expenditures and results of innovative activities for NUTS-2 regions of the Visegrad Group countries. Three variables were adopted to describe the effects of innovative activity: PCT patent applications per billion GDP (in PPS), trademark applications per billion GDP (in PPS) and public-private co-publications per million of population. Methods: The study covered 37 NUTS-2 regions of the Visegrad Group countries in the years 2014–2021. From the point of view of the purpose of the paper and the need to search for the relationship between expenditures on innovative activity and the results of this activity, it is worth emphasizing that the use of static and dynamic econometric models proved to be a substantively correct solution leading to the formulation of clear conclusions. Findings & value added: The conducted research confirmed that business R&D expenditure on GDP has a positive effect on inventions expressed by patents and trademarks, especially in the long run. In addition, the literature review and empirical analyses indicate that the main determinants of innovativeness (both before and during the pandemic) are the expenditures of economic entities on R&D, competences expressed by the level of education or participation in tertiary education, as well as the number of ICT specialists and the percentage of people employed in science and technology. Despite the deterioration of many macroeconomic indicators in the countries of the Visegrad Group, the expenditures of the business sector on R&D in most regions did not decrease between 2019 and 2021. The added value of the paper is the presented research procedure, which can be used in analyses of innovativeness also for other groups of regions.