Ronald Blaško, Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia (source: Courtesy of AmCham Slovakia)
A stronger focus on innovation is the path AmCham considers of critical importance for Slovakia, if it wants to stay competitive both regionally and globally. Many of AmCham’s activities are aimed at helping to strengthen the innovative ecosystem in Slovakia. Innovation trends are also closely followed by AmCham’s Executive Director Ronald Blaško, who has been very passionate about this topic for a long time. He shared some of his ideas and opinions on Slovakia’s innovative potential in this interview.
How do you evaluate the level of innovations in Slovakia?
Until recently, the growth model of Slovakia’s economy has been based on cheap labor force and attracting FDI mostly into manufacturing industries. This strategy has been successful mainly thanks to the automobile industry. However, its potential is slowly fading away and not only Slovakia but the entire Central and Eastern Europe will have to start looking for ways to increase its added value. This can only be achieved through innovations. We are analyzing the situation in countries which offer inspirational examples of how to apply innovations, such as Israel or the Baltic countries.
