Meeting at the Polish Embassy in Prague: V4 Goes Innovative
On November 21, 2016, a discussion meeting entitled "V4 Goes Innovative - State of Play and Way Forward" was held at the Polish Embassy in Prague on the subject of digitalization of the Visegrad Group countries - increasing innovation, competitiveness in the European Union markets and the global market. The meeting was attended by representatives of government administration, non-governmental organizations and think tanks.
The meeting also discussed the topic of start-ups – the biggest barrier to creating an innovative ecosystem is no longer the lack of funds, but social factors. A big problem is the fear of risk in society: if a business venture fails (which in the case of start-ups is highly probable due to the innovative nature of its operation), the image costs for the start-up are much higher than in the USA, for example, where the very act of trying to do something innovative is considered a success. It is also important to develop digital competences in the next generations (e.g. through computer programming classes at school), as well as the ability to work in a team. DELab UW was represented by Kristóf Gyódi, who presented the results of research on the role of young enterprises in the V4 countries against the background of the European Union, as well as the digitalization of SMEs and the potential of the region.