Technology platform, technology watch and technology foresight. tools of innovation of regional development: the case of Western Macedonia

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the interaction of three Innovation Management Tools, IMT, which are related immediately to the Sustainable Growth of Region. The first part of this paper deals with innovation in Western Macedonia and its technological delay against the European and mainly against the National Level. This gap of the Region toward either National or European means is really disappointing. In order to decrease this gap, an intergraded initiative of innovation, the Innovation Pole of Western Macedonia was designed and materialized with main axis the energy sector, the sector that is to say where the Region has comparative advantage and appreciable concentration of academic, research and production – enterprising activities. The success and the sustainability of this initiative are based, among others, on the use and synergy of IMT’s, as Technology Platform, Technology Watch and Technology Foresight. In the second part of the paper there is a presentation of the development and execution of those three tools of innovation in the Region. The planning, the execution and the analysis of the results of the application of these tools, gave a series of useful conclusions and it led to proposals that are presented in the end of this paper with main conclusion the need of co-ordination and common actions of all those in a Regional concept a Regional Level.