Some constraints on innovation processes in small countries

The key factor in the development of up-to-date productive forces is the overall application of sci­entific and technological knowledge. Countries of small economic dimension are in this sensitive field handicapped by some limitations. The first and essential one is that of limited economic and human resources for research and development. This constraint has a static as well as dynamic dimension. Another one is that of the inufficient magnitude of their national market. Thus the same amount expended on research (and - all other things held constant - also the same result) leads to different scopes of the application room as well as to totally different economic repercussions. Specialization of research and development, which offers a certain remedy, involves a contradicti­on, as economically significant discoveries result at present usually from multidisciplinary research and the comprehensiveness of knowledge is thus important also for small countries. The author further deals with the relationship between basic and applied research in a small count­ry and with the impacts of lower degree of competitiveness in a small economic space on innovation activity. Attention is devoted also to the influence of small scale of the enterprises in small countries on research and development activity