Service innovations and their evaluation possibilities

Šiuo metu Lietuva aktyviai įtraukta į europinės ir globalinės erdvės procesus. Šie procesai sąlygoja būtinybę spręsti daugelį netradicinių uždavinių, tiesiogiai susijusių su inovacijų plėtra. Inovacinės veiklos plėtojimas ir aktyvinimas įgalina įvairiapusiškai modernizuoti gamybos ir paslaugų teikimo struktūras, tobulinti kuriamus produktus bei naudojamas technologijas, didinti jų tarptautinį konkurencingumą, kuris yra vienas svarbiausių šalies ekonomikos plėtros veiksnių. Inovacijos paslaugų sektoriuje - ne išimtis. Siekiama išnagrinėti paslaugų inovacijų sampratą ir paslaugų inovatyvumo įvertinimo galimybes. Šio tikslo įgyvendinimas grindžiamas tam tikra metodika, t.y. remiantis Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių atliktų mokslinių tyrimų rezultatais, paskelbtais monografijose ir straipsniuose, atliekama vykdytų tyrimų ir mokslinės literatūros analizė, pagrindžianti teorinių sprendimų ir tyrimų būtinumą; vertinant paslaugų inovatyvumą taikyta Lietuvos statistikos departamento ir Europos Sąjungos statistikos tarnybos statistinių duomenų analizė ir sisteminimas. Teoriniais darbo rezultatais yra laikytini įvairių paslaugų inovacijų aspektų teorinis apibendrinimas bei paslaugų inovatyvumo lygį apibūdinančių rodiklių analizė. Šie rezultatai bus naudingi tolesniems paslaugų inovacijų tyrimams bei plėtojant paslaugų inovacinę veiklą Lietuvoje.At the moment Lithuania is involved in global and European processes which provide with the necessity to deal with various non traditional problems which are in a direct link with innovation development. Innovation activities such as service development and activation allow updating the structures of production and service provision, improving products and technologies in use as well as raising their international competitiveness which is among the most important forces in national economical development. The purpose of the article is to explore the concept of service innovation and the possibilities of service innovativity. The purpose will be realised with certain methodology: using Lithuanian and foreign scientific research results, published in various studies and articles; performing the analysis of these research and scientific literature, which document the need of theoretical decisions and research. In evaluating the innovativity of service, the statistic data analysis and systemisation by Lithuanian Department of Statistics and EU Statistical Board will be taken into account. It should be noted that the problem which is investigated in the article has not been widely analysed. The analysis of service and service innovation became popular only in the 90s, though it has been the interest of scientists before, but only as a part of technological innovation. In the analysis, scientific comparative and statistical data is combined. The concept of service innovation in contemporary economical literature is reviewed in various aspects. Scientific sources display different descriptions of service innovations, which reveal main aspects determining service innovations. Mostly the description of service innovation is related to new conception of service, link with a customer, service presentation system and technological possibilities. Mostly acceptable is general service innovativity index which combines 24 different indicators, representing service innovation. On the basis of these indicators, the statistical analysis of the service sector of the Baltic region in the context of ES countries is performed. The results of the analysis show that most of new EU members states try to come up with leading countries, though hardly they will become the leaders as the tempo of EU economical development is quite slow. So next to economy restructurization processes which were in progress for the last 15 years, the Baltic States are in front of radical changes which are essential for well proportioned economic development and life growth. Theoretical generalisation of various innovation aspects and the analysis of indicators which describe service innovativity should be considered as the theoretical results of the work. These results will be useful as the basis of further service innovation research and development of service innovation in Lithuania. In the 20th century, market share in GDP and importance from the angle of engagement and economical growth has increasingly gone up. Thus common innovation trends should be oriented at service. What is more, the links between service firms and technology centres which include not only academic and research institutions, but also business incubators, innovation centres and other similar organisations must be strengthened