The Contribution of Innovative Changes to the Strategic Development of Universities in the Context of Achieving Sustainability

This paper constitutes a scientific approach, where there have been highlighted the most important innovative changes that influence the development of a higher education institution and shape the activity of universities towards permanent adaptation to achieve their sustainability. The topicality of the research topic stems from the need to identify effective measures to achieve sustainability in higher education institutions. The aim of the research is to identify the innovative changes that have a positive impact on the strategic development of the universities. The problem of the research lies in highlighting the most important innovative changes that can affect the universities in achieving their sustainability. In this context, we can reiterate that innovative changes have been defined and analysed from the perspective of the need of university change in the direction of their assimilation within institutions. In addition, the innovative potential of the Republic of Moldova was evaluated from the perspective of the analysis of the categories of scientific researchers, of the research fields, of the expenses undertaken by the state for the development of scientific researches. The research methodology focused on the use of several methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, abduction, deduction, qualitative research through documentation, scientific abstraction. In conclusion, we can reiterate that the Republic of Moldova has a valuable innovation potential, which can lead the country to achieve sustainability. The best solution would be the efficient capitalization of the innovative potential of the country but also its direction towards ensuring an ecological-economic-social balance, in the context of applying a management of university sustainability within higher education institutions.

Management by Development of Innovative Potential of Organization

This article explores the innovation potential of the staff at industrial enterprises. The relevance of the research is confirmed by the increasing interest of companies in innovation. This manifests itself both in the changing organizational structure of enterprises and a new approach to human resource management, for instance, the revision of the key performance indicators of employees. One of the main goals of the research was determining the factors that influence the development of the innovation potential of staff and assessment of their impact. The institutional approach formed the conceptual basis of the study. It allowed the authors to consider the management of innovation potential as a special mechanism for achieving sustainability, stable development of an enterprise, and its strategic success in general. The authors established that organizational and administrative factors have the greatest influence on the formation and development of the innovation potential of staff, while the constraining factors are the lack of an innovative strategy, authoritarian management style, and bureaucratization. Studying the techniques aimed at the development of staff’s innovation potential, the authors concluded that the most effective ones for industrial enterprises are consultations of subject matter specialists. A significant novelty of this work is the model of interaction of participants in the innovation process developed by the authors. The research findings enabled the authors to devise recommendations for the formation and development of the innovation potential of the company’s employees.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL OF YOUNG PEOPLE ON THE BASIS OF THE USE OF THE UNIVERSITY HACKATHON ECOSYSTEM

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Significant contradiction between the need of modern Ukrainian society in innovation-oriented specialist personality, on the one hand, and the level of readiness of university graduates to innovative professional activities, on the other hand, generates the problem of finding ways and means of formation of innovative potential of personality in scientific and educational environment of university on the basis of holistic dual educational concept. Problematic issues of how to organize the process of professional training of future specialists, how to promote the development of their innovative potential, what are the conditions and mechanisms of this process constitute the problem field of this studyMETHODS. The research used methods – activity approach to the problem of personal development; personality-oriented approach to professional training of students; competence approach to university training of students; acmeological approach to the study of human development; mutual influence of personal and professional development; environmental approach – to the problem of formation and development of students' innovation potential. Processing of the results of the survey to determine the proportions of the main components of students' innovation potential on the basis of Hackathon ecosystem was carried out by expert method.FINDINGS. The mechanisms for implementing the concept include the integration of education, science and practice; analysis of innovation needs and innovation capabilities of subjects of education; creation of infrastructure elements necessary for the functioning of the innovation system at all stages of the educational process; formation of a data bank of innovative projects, ready for implementation, technology platforms, information support for the development of innovative youth potential in the scientific and educational environment of the university.CONCLUSION. Scientific and educational environment of the university is a synthesized integrated phenomenon that systematically combines the structures of research, scientific, pedagogical and other activities in their complex interaction to implement the goals and objectives of training and professional and personal development of specialists, ready for innovative activity in the conditions of lifelong learning. The expected results of the concept are expressed in the transition to the use of modern dual educational programs, methods and technologies of educational process implementation in the university, aimed at continuous development of innovative thinking of young people, improving skills and motivation, identifying and setting tasks of creating new knowledge aimed at their solution, information search and processing, independent and teamwork and other competencies of innovative activity based on knowledge of its essence and on practical experience.

Innovation in the computer industry

A learning-curve approach has been employed to study inventiveness in the computer industry. The appearance of new models as well as the appearance of new computer manufacturers have been following typical logistic S-curves over the last 26 years of computer history. Innovation seems to come in S-waves, and even though many of today's major manufacturers are close to exhausting their maximum innovation potential in their present S-wave, the overall computer market is rather “young”. In contrast, the personal computer market is already beyond its maturity phase. Remarkably invariant over the 26 years considered, and through the complete range of computer sizes, remains the fact that for every five new computer models appearing on the market, there is one new computer company emerging also.

Modeling the Selection of Innovative Strategy for Development of Industrial Enterprises

The assessment of the state of the innovation sphere of Poland in relation to the world level shows that Poland has educational and scientific potential allowing to produce scientific ideas and developments but the level of their commercialization remains low. As a result, Poland lags in terms of such criteria for the development of innovation sphere as labor productivity and financial support for innovation activities. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of fuzzy sets and the matrix approach — in modeling the selection of strategies to stimulate innovative development of industrial enterprises. The construction of a matrix of strategies is based on the diagnosis of the total potential of industrial enterprises and the level of its implementation in the innovation sphere. Modeling of the selection of innovation development strategy for industrial entities based on the use of fuzzy set theory in assessing the level of investment attractiveness and innovation potential of enterprises is carried out. Based on the proposed methodological approach, the strategic directions of innovative development of three Polish industrial enterprises are substantiated.

STARTUPS IN RUSSIA

These days, startups are playing an increasing role in the development of the country's national economy and its economic stability. They are based on a risky and innovative nature. The development of startups in Russia serves to support its economy and increase its innovation potential. It is necessary to structurally investigate and develop the domestic venture market, which will open the way to the international market and foreign investments in the future

“Goldilocks” gender mix for maximal innovation likelihood at Indian firms

PurposeGender diversity is known to trigger creative and relationship conflicts alike, the former a boon for innovation and the latter a bane. This study aims to explore the possibility of a gender mix that is “just right” for balancing the intensities of varied forms of conflict to boost innovation in firms in India. Specifically, this paper investigated the presence of an optimal level of women as a percentage of the firm’s full-time permanent employees (Percent-Women) that maximized the firm’s likelihood of product innovation (Product–Innovation–Likelihood).Design/methodology/approachLogistic regression analyses of firm-level data of Indian establishments of varied sizes and industries from World Bank Enterprise Surveys 2014 was performed. Instrumental variable addressed the potential endogeneity of Percent-Women.FindingsThe analysis demonstrated an inverted U-shaped relationship between Product–Innovation–Likelihood and Percent-Women. Product–Innovation–Likelihood peaked when Percent-Women lay between 35% and 58%, i.e. when the firm was gender-balanced or close to it.Practical implicationsThe finding of an optimal level of female inclusion presents to firms a defined target of gender mix to be achieved, failing to which they may be limiting their innovation potential. It compels firms to view gender diversity as a business imperative with definite implications for their long-term performance.Social implicationsFor India, the demonstrated relationship between workplace gender diversity and innovation brings additional reason and urgency to public initiatives, such as female literacy, for boosting female economic engagement. Innovation can power the next stage of the Indian growth story by engaging the heretofore insufficiently tapped female worker.Originality/valueBy demonstrating an optimal degree of female inclusion at which innovation potential peaks, the study reconciled opposing theories of diversity-driven conflicts and went beyond the commonly observed simple linear relationship between female inclusion and innovation. Further, the paper focused on India, a major developing economy with a vast female populace and growing innovation ambitions but scarcely researched for gender diversity’s role in innovation.

Conceptual Design of a Comprehensive Farm Nitrogen Management System

Data that are required for nutrient management are becoming increasingly available in digital format, leading to a high innovation potential for digital nitrogen (N) management applications. However, it is currently difficult for farmers to analyze, assess, and optimize N flows in their farms using the existing software. To improve digital N management, this study identified, evaluated, and systematized the requirements of stakeholders. Furthermore, digital farm N management tools with varying objectives in terms of system boundaries, data requirements, used methods and algorithms, performance, and practicality were appraised and categorized. According to the identified needs, the concept of a farm N management system (FNMS) software is presented which includes the following modules: (1) management of site and farm data, (2) determination of fertilizer requirements, (3) N balancing and cycles, (4) N turnover and losses, and (5) decision support. The aim of FNMS is to support farmers in their farming practices for increasing N efficiency and reducing environmentally harmful N surpluses. In this study, the conceptual requirements from the agricultural and computer science perspectives were determined as a basis for developing a consistent, scientifically sound, and user-friendly FNMS, especially applicable in European countries. This FNMS enables farmers and their advisors to make knowledge-based decisions based on comprehensive and integrated data.