Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The paper reflects on question of regional policy ensuring food security in the context of closely interrelated economic, social and ecological components. Having performed analysis of common agricultural policy, programs for rural development, impact of world trade organization, integrated product policy, question of food security monitoring, influence of multinational companies, genetically modified products, programs for food support; we come to the conclusion that to the main trends of regional policy in the sphere of food security belong: establishing interregional and international import-export food operations, creation of regional reserves of strategically important products, direct/indirect financial and consultation support of agricultural enterprises, development of infrastructure facilities for transporting, storage, distribution of products, food support for socially unprotected groups of population, promoting development of eco-oriented production, implementation of control measures for the prevention of counterfeit in the trading network, control of production and sale of genetically modified products, formation of ecologically oriented thinking population.

In the coming decade, implementation of smart specialisation strategy concept will be topical for all EU member states given a special focus made on the areas of technology and innovation. Members of academic community conduct research in these areas to identify the challenges and offer optimal solutions to the complicated problems. It is of particular importance for the countries with a relatively modest capacity for innovation. Some of the aims of the Latvian smart specialisation strategy are to establish a platform for cooperation between research community and the private sector and to develop nanostructured materials industry. The paper analyses research results in the field of nanotechnology in Latvia using the data on the publications and projects, as well as publication citation indices. Publicly available information on performance results of the selected enterprises in the field of nanotechnology is analysed and benchmarked using public data on performance indicators of the manufacturing industry with regard to technological intensity.

The paper analyses the results of a research conducted with the aim to study topical questions on social innovation attempting to disclose its role expressed via its mission and impact on the Latvian society in the context of sustainable development. The authors present the methodology, conduct and results of the qualitative content analysis of the texts of a focus group discussion with participants from the fields of entrepreneurship, education, communication, sport and charity. The empirical data were analysed with open coding using AQUAD 6 software for the registration of conceptual codes, data processing and creation of frequency tables of categories developed. Having summarised the main findings, it was concluded that social innovation may promote the development of both individuals and the entire society improving the quality of people’s life. The research resulted in the revelation of five domains of social innovation impact including the development at the: intrapersonal, interpersonal interaction, societal growth, innovation, and work opportunity levels.

Protecting natural resources, for example through a functioning of environmentally protected areas at present is actually connected with eco-development concept, which helps to avoid some mistakes and socio-economical wastes. Creating and functioning of protected areas must be correlated with the development of the neighboring areas, in such a way that it would not be a threat for natural environment. Such neighboring areas are for example military training areas, which partly conserve the environment, as rich nature reserves, including protected areas are located on the majority of them. Therefore, the aim of the article is to examine the connection of protected areas on active military training areas. The article contains the diagnosis of military training areas in connection with protected areas and evaluation of the role of military training areas in nature conservation. The activity of the army on training areas, in view of current intensity and form of activities, should be regarded as not detrimental for nature.

The aim of this article is to analyse the essence of the harmonisation of public and private interests in the public service. The necessity of the harmonisation of public and private interests in the public service is based on the following features: civil service reliability and implementation of its purpose in order to guarantee the public interest; clear, binding standards of conduct applicable to all persons employed in the public service, regardless of their duties and career development nature; aim to prevent the emergence and spread of corruption in the public service; constitutional requirements for the implementation of public service. The article reveals that there are two key elements of a conflict of interest: 1) official duties that ensure the implementation of a public interest; 2) private interest which may negatively affect the performance of official duties. It follows that if a conflict of interest in the public service is not resolved or addressed properly, sooner or later it turns into corruption, and cause significant damage to the state itself. It is therefore very important timely identification, removal and management of the conflict of interest.

The aim of the presented paper is to examine how technology transfer is being approached in the latest scientific literature, and whether interrelations of technology transfer and sustainable development are being elaborated. Clusters in this context are perceived as networks (not necessarily proximate in geographic terms), which serve as technology transmittors. Efficiency of clusters is being addressed. The ultimate aim of the research is to develop framework, which would allow proceeding analysis of links between technology transfer phenomenon and sustainable development process.

The Žilina region is located in north-western Slovakia. Considering the amount of GDP, unemployment, employment and average wage, it belongs among the medium-performance regions in Slovakia. FDI is considered one of the factors promoting its sustainable development, economic performance and balancing regional differences. A positive aspect of FDI in terms of regional development is the fact that they contribute to an efficient allocation of resources, as investors are directing their investments in those regions where they expect the achievement of economies of scale. FDI began to increasingly flow to the Žilina region after 2004, in connection with the arrival of KIA Motors and establishing its subcontracting partners. The aim of this article is to point out the condition and development of economic performance and FDI in the Žilina region, and to demonstrate a causal relationship between FDI and the sustainable development of the region.

Considering lack of benchmarking and observation data, the article analyses issues of technology transfer in Lithuania. Comparison of Lithuanian innovation performance with EU country members is given as well as foreign direct investments in last period. While analysing main technology transfer networks, article explains what problems Lithuanian clusters meet in each model. The main conclusion is that Lithuanian clusters lack experience and investments, also Lithuanian enterprises are mainly small and may not be interested to invest in the development and adoption of technology.

The ultimate goal of an enterprise is value creation (Rappaport, 1986; Mills and Weinstein, 2000; Jensen, 2001) and it has a great importance for its owners (i.e. shareholders). The concept that is currently coming to the forefront, however, is that of sustainable value. The present paper deals with the definition and evaluation of basic points of departure, approaches and selected tools that lead to measuring corporate sustainability. The last section presents a theoretical basis of measuring corporate sustainability based on sustainable value, which will be the basis and starting point for primary research in selected industries.