Municipalities and regions will become more important in creating innovation potential and employment in the future. To achieve this, they should support local companies and cooperate with them when developing various innovative solutions.
Such cooperation is still missing, and not even the recently presented draft plan of reforms to be financed by EU funds contain support in this field, according to Radoslav Mizera, co-founder, vice president and innovation officer for Finnish-Slovak company Solved.
What you can read in this interview:
- What the draft reform plan introduced by the Finance Ministry is missing
- Where is Slovakia’s innovation potential
- How municipalities can become smarter
- Why it is important for private companies to invest in science
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): How do you assess the draft plan of reforms to be financed through the EU recovery plan, particularly the suggestions for a green economy?
Radoslav Mizera (RM): The plan focuses mostly on investments in construction, like the thermal insulation of public buildings, and infrastructure, e.g. the modernisation of railway transport as an alternative to road transport. These investments often involve foreign companies that provide standardised solutions, materials and technologies.
But Slovakia needs to develop innovations, which this plan sets aside. We should create the potential for ecological innovations by investing in science, research and education. We also need to help local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by creating a space for their innovative products and processes.
TSS: Which sectors should Slovakia focus on?