The paper presents the analysis of a three-stage research conducted by the authors within a social innovation project in collaboration with international master students of Riga Technical University for determining the factors, which motivate people to be involved in the solution of social problems. The authors not only analyse and use the outcomes of the students' research but also provide feasibility study of using the potential of study research at the university, for implementing serious research projects. Data collection from Africa, Asia, America and Europe was organised jointly by all the students via web-based survey for creating an original data base for the collaborative use. The qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the respondents' texts revealed three groups of factors: intrapersonal, interpersonal and external factors which motivate people to be involved in the solution of social problems. Having conducted content analysis of the same texts and comparing the outcomes of the students' and their own research, the authors concluded that study research is worth being used for research projects.
To protect their population during pandemic outbreak, countries apply several preventive restrictions and even shut down their economies to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Since food supply chains in developed countries are complicated and dependent on their external suppliers, these restrictions cause not only economic but also social tension. The limited access to raw materials, packaging material and labour force result in the increasing prices of food products, which forces the population to refuse from quality food products. In the European Union food supply chains, which are negatively affected by protectionist elements and COVID-19 restrictions, the room for manoeuvre of Latvia’s small open economy is limited. The current paper analyses the impact of COVID-19 crisis on global food industry, providing a deeper insight into the case study of Latvia meat supply chains’ experience in overcoming pandemic risks. The research outcomes lead to the conclusion that although COVID-19 impact during first breakout has not caused unexpected and serious consequences for the meat sector companies, the main internal and external risks are associated with further uncertainty and instability in the EU markets. Based on extensive analysis of meat sector specifics, the authors have summarized the recommendations for meat sector companies to better prepare for further potential pandemic situations. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01257 Full Text: PDF
Promotion of social innovation has been identified as one of the EU priorities because it contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of citizens and national competitiveness. In Latvia, concrete ways to promote social innovation remain not defined yet, therefore the study focused on elaboration of alternative scenarios of social innovation development that would enhance the growth of the economy of Latvia: self-initiative scenario, enterprise initiated development scenario and public participation scenario. The authors defined the aim of the research to evaluate social innovation scenarios for the development of the economy of Latvia. The scenarios were evaluated based on the analytic hierarchy process, which led to the conclusion that the most appropriate scenario for the promotion of social innovation in Latvia is the development of public participation scenario. This scenario emphasizes the need to create an appropriate legislative framework for promoting social innovation and the development of financial and information support tools for social innovation promoters and implementers in Latvia.
<em>The<strong> </strong>purpose of the paper<strong> </strong>is to</em> <em>clarify the role of education in promoting social innovation processes in the society based on the main findings of the theoretical study conducted from October 2014 to January 2015 within the project “Involvement of the Society in Social Innovation for Providing Sustainable Development of Latvia” supported by the National Research Program 5.2.</em><strong> </strong><em>EKOSOC-LV. The paper provides the analysis of causal interaction between social innovation and education, as well as two conceptual models which disclose the relationship between social innovation and education and the triple role of education in promoting social innovation; both are elaborated by the authors. </em>
Today technological progress is reshaping global economic development and changing the overall welfare of societies. Therefore, it is important to assess challenges and readiness of the European Union to use its capacity to ensure that technologies benefit people and bring them towards more inclusive societies enhancing opportunities to use artificial intellect for making health, education, agriculture, services and manufacturing industries more efficient and user friendly. The Digital Economy and Society Index analyses the digital performance of the EU Member States across five main dimensions: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology, digital public services. However, despite intention to jointly develop Digital Single Market, the gap between the EU top digital countries and less digitally advanced countries remains large. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the digital performance indicators of the EU countries, in particular focusing to Poland and Latvia to assess their progress and potential of their human capital's digital skills. The research is based on theoretical literature studies on industrial revolution stages, European Union Commission documents, indexes and publications available in relevant public institutions such as ministries and industry reports. The research employed monographic method, analysis and synthesis methods as well as graphical data analysis. The research results give evidence that currently Poland's human capital is significantly better prepared for making use of future digital economy challenges than Latvia's human capital, and there is a close link between countries' R&D expenditures proportion of GDP and their human capital's readiness to integrate in digital economy.
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