Albania ranks last in region for innovation

TIRANA, Aug. 8 – Albania ranks last in the region for innovation, whose role is considered a driver of economic growth and prosperity. The result is revealed in the latest 2012 Global Innovation Index report, published by the French-based INSEAD international business school and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Albania ranks 90th in the report far worse than Croatia (42nd), Bulgaria (43rd), Montenegro, (45th), and Serbia (46th). Further down the list were Romania (52nd), Macedonia (62nd), Greece (66th), Bosnia and Herzegovina (72nd), Turkey (74th).
Albania ranked best in market sophistication (32nd), infrastructure (71st), institutions (74th), and worse on creative outputs (88th), human capital and research (106th), knowledge and technology outputs (113th), business sophistication (138th).
The 2012 Global Innovation Index report indicates that regional countries are lacking in terms of innovation, but many are doing better than other nations in the global survey.
The report ranks countries on the basis of their innovation capabilities and results. For the second consecutive year, Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore lead in overall innovation performance.
“Innovations are essential for modern economy since they open new jobs and increase productivity and growth of the country. The reports show that countries which invested in research and innovation grew stronger in the crisis and are exiting it faster,” Daniela Benavente, lead researcher and project manager for the Global Innovation Index, told SETimes.
The report, in which innovation is broadly defined, primarily includes innovation in business, factoring in innovation in infrastructure, education and its results — knowledge, skills impact on productivity and the use of new technologies in work organisation.
A survey carried out by the Albania’s Investment development Agency (AIDA) has shown foreign investment enterprises (FIEs) rely mostly on imported technology and do not undertake Research and Development R&D in Albania. Only 25 percent of the companies have invested in R&D, while more than 72 per cent have not allocated resources to technology innovation or get at least occasionally involved in R&D projects. Of those companies involved in R&D projects, 32 percent do this in cooperation with one or more other FIEs and 22 percent of them cooperate
with universities. About 54 percent of the FIEs have invested in regular market monitoring. Also, 85 percent of them have strategic plans for the coming years. Investments would be financed by own resources in 56 percent of the cases and only 25 percent through bank financing.