Innovative Business Development and Financing

The positive changes in the rates of innovation performance for the EU-27, according to the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS), show that the annual average growth rates of the leading countries - Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Germany - have significantly decreased during the post-crisis period and range within 1-2%. Among the Baltic States, only Estonia has reached the indicators of the group of innovation followers. Yet, Latvia's rank in the IUS-2010 is the lowest among the EU-27 countries, and its growth rate has to be significantly stimulated. Qualitative researches on innovative performance carried out in Latvia confirm insufficient cooperation between innovative business and science. In addition, they point to the needs to promote venture capital funds for developing innovative processes, including research on possibilities for attracting funding from business angels; to summarise the necessary statistical data regarding this field; and to establish financial infrastructure for engaging private equity funds in innovative development.