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Background and Purpose: In the EU political agenda, the use of forest biomass for energy has grown rapidly and significantly, in order to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the energy dependence on fossil fuels of European member countries. The target of the EU climate and energy package is to raise the share of renewable energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20% in 2020 (Directive 2009/28/EC). With regards to biomass energy, the supply of forest wood biomass is expected to rise by 45% (reference period: 2006-2020), in response to increasing demand for renewable sources. The increase of forest biomass supply could have both positive and negative effects on several forest ecosystem services (ESs) and local development. These effects should be assessed in a proper manner and taken into account when formulating management strategies. The aim of the paper is to assess the environmental, economic and social sustainability of forest biomass harvesting for energy, using the Figure of Merit (FoM) approach. Materials and Methods: Sustainability was assessed through a set of four indicators: two focused on experts' opinions regarding the effects of forest biomass harvesting and the other two focused on the cost-benefit analysis (potential energy obtained and costs for wood chips). The research was developed through four case studies located in the Alpine Region. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered face-to-face to 32 selected experts. The perceived effects of forest biomass harvesting for energy on ESs and local development were evaluated by experts using a 5-point Likert scale (from "quite negative effect" to "quite positive effect"). Results: All experts agree that forest biomass harvesting has a positive effect on forest products provision and local economic development (employment of local workforce, local entrepreneurship and market diversification), while the effects on other ESs are controversial (e.g. carbon sequestration, habitat quality, natural hazards protection and recreational values). Conclusions: Therefore, it can be asserted that the effects of forest biomass harvesting on sustainability vary according to the local context. The results of FoM can support decision makers in order to analyze the environmental, social and economic sustainability of forest biomass harvesting for energy.

The aim of this work is to point out the causality among education, employment and entrepreneurial initiatives of youth labour. The significance of this trinity, as well as establishment of their good coordination and harmonization, is reflected in the fact that recently published "EU development strategy until 2020. indicates reform of educational system as the priority goal and insists on the " new knowledge for new professions", development of private entrepreneurship and solving of high unemployment, which affects a great number of the European Union countries and beyond. In accordance with this, the author explains that there is a closer connection between educational institutions and business environment in the most developed countries, in which the youth unemployment rate is lower. Traditionally good professional education contributed to this to a great extent, helping in reducing of the youth unemployment rate, as well as all other categories of the unemployed persons also in the conditions of economic crisis and moderate economic growth. Unlike these countries, the countries of the Western Balkans are characterized by high youth unemployment rate, primarily resulting from insufficient connection between educational and scientific institutions and economic requirements. The opinion of the author of this thesis is that entrepreneurial education has to be the important component of economic strategy, which is directed to incitement of job creation and reduction of high unemployment rate. In further analysis of the issue of the youth unemployment, unfavourable environment for development of private sector and self-employment of the youth labour stands out. The author also singles out economic and financial crisis, putting them at the first place by their influence on high youth unemployment rate in the region. She gives them smaller significance due to the fact that the countries of the Western Balkans have found difficult to cope with high youth unemployment rate for several decades, this is, even before the beginning of the crisis at the end of 2008. According to her reviews, the auhtor concludes that the countries of the Western Balkans should focus on the reform of educational policy and improve business environment, which would facilitate the investments in the countries of the region, so that they could have greater success in solving the problem of long-term unemployment and social exclusion of the youth labour.

In recent years the Hungarian administration of justice trialed some of the most famous murder cases of the 1990's which were contract killing between organized crime groups. These trials brought up many new information about the life of organized crime gangs and given a better opportunity to criminologist to understand the recent activity of the organized crime gangs. I wrote my thesis about how organized crime successfully survived the crisis of the regime change. The following research based on a tight cooperation with Pest County Police Headquarters where I analyzed criminal files about organized crime gangs after the regime change. The main question of the research was: what sociological and economical factors contributed to the strengthening of organized crime In Hungary? Where can we discover the responsibility of the state? How state regulation affected organized crime? The present days organized crime roots from illegal criminal groups existed in the socialist period. Thanks to the liberal economic reforms in 1981 the second economy had a great economic potential during the socialist period. Organized criminal groups often invested in private sector thus corporate crime became linked to organized crime. Due to their better economic conditions the criminal networks could establish different kind of private ventures, like restaurants, pubs or tobacco shops. After the declaration of democracy many organized crime networks took advantage of regulatory gaps. They preserved their status and informal capital from the second economy. Due to the economical change the new entrepreneurs informally forced to borrow capital from organized crime groups, or they used these group's money to recover their debts. They could not turn to court because of their illegal transactions. Other organized crime networks misused government subsidies and created semi-firms, which could operate successfully due to the problems of state control. My research seeks to show that during the third Hungarian Republic from the 1990's organized crime groups have worked with the help of entrepreneurs. Due to the economic crisis of 2008 and the emergence of political extremism the organized crime groups became number one public enemies, who are again using the same methods what were successful during early 1990's. A kind of semi-legal market and entrepreneurship has developed since 2008. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s2p219

The category of "economic selfishness" is the most important value orientation of businesses that define the line of economic behavior in the short and long term perspectives. Current researches are devoted to overcoming the problems of so-called "market failures" by the tools of state regulation. However, scientists still ignored source of such problems that we see in the value orientations of economic actors that determine the appropriate type of economic behavior in the short and long term perspectives. The goal of article is to determine the role of the institution of the state in limiting the economic self-interest as a factor that has a destructive impact on social stability in the country. The article considered the role of government in regulating of the level of economic self-interest, which should be limited to a reasonable level. Proved that the task of the state is to develop an appropriate institutional framework as a combination of formal and informal institutions, designed to promote the establishment of mutually beneficial rules of interaction between economic actors on the principles of fairness, trust, maximum consideration of the rights and interests of other market participants. It is proved that the result of government regulation in this area should be improving of social sensitization of entrepreneurship. ; Категорія "економічний егоїзм" належить до найважливіших ціннісних орієнтирів суб'єктів підприємницької діяльності, що визначають лінію їх економічної поведінки у короткостроковому та довгостроковому аспектах. Сучасні дослідження присвячені подоланню проблем так званих "провалів ринку" інструментами державного регулювання. Однак, поза увагою науковців залишається джерело подібних проблем, яке ми вбачаємо у ціннісних орієнтаціях економічних суб'єктів, що детермінують відповідний тип економічної поведінки у короткостроковій та довгостроковій перспективах. Метою статті є визначення ролі інституту держави в обмеженні економічного егоїзму як чинника, що має деструктивний вплив на соціальну стабільність в країні. У статті досліджено роль держави у регулюванні економічного егоїзму, котрий повинен бути обмежений до раціонального рівня. Доведено, що завданням держави є формування відповідного інституційного середовища як сукупності формальних та неформальних інститутів, покликаних сприяти встановленню взаємовигідних правил взаємодії між економічними суб'єктами на принципах справедливості, довіри, максимального врахування прав та інтересів інших учасників ринку. Обґрунтовано, що результатом державного регулювання у даній сфері повинно стати підвищення рівня соціальної сенсибілізації підприємницької діяльності.

South African rand depreciated in 2013–2014 under the influence of a number of factors. Internationally, its weakness was associated with the capital outflow from all emerging markets as a result of QE's tapering in the US. Domestically, rand plummeted because of the deterioration of the macroeconomic stance of South Africa itself: economic growth stalled and current account deficit widened again. Consumer spending was restrained with the high household indebtedness, investment climate worsened with the wave of bloody strikes, and net export was still prone to J-curve effect despite the degree of the devaluation happened. But, in its turn, those problems are a mere reflection of the deep institutional misbalances inherent to the very model of the national economy. Saving rate is too low in South Africa. This leads not only to an insufficient investment, but also to trade deficits and overdependence on speculative capital inflows. Extremely high unemployment means that the country's economic potential is substantially underutilized. Joblessness is generated, first and foremost, by the dualistic structure of the national entrepreneurship. Basic wages are being formed by way of a bargaining between big public and semi state companies, on the one hand, and trade unions associated with the ruling party, on the other. Such a system is biased towards protection of vested interests of those who earn money in capital-intensive industries. At the same time, these rates of wages are prohibitively high for a small business; so far private companies tend to avoid job creation. A new impulse to economic development is likely to emerge only through the government's efforts to mitigate disproportions and to pursue an active industrial policy. National Development Plan adopted in 2012 is a practical step in that direction. But the growth of public investment is constrained by a necessity of fiscal austerity; as a result, the budget deficit remained too large in recent years. South African Reserve Bank will have to choose between a stimulation of economic growth with low interest rates, on the one hand, and a support of rand by tightening of monetary policy, on the other. This dilemma will greatly influence prices of securities and yields at South African financial markets.

Актуальность определяется тем, что в настоящее время проблема устойчивого социально-экономического развития моногородов относится к одному из приоритетов государственной политики. Целью является разработка рекомендаций по совершенствованию направлений государственной финансовой поддержки моногородов в РФ на основе исследования успешной практики других государств. На основе анализа зарубежного опыта стратегического развития монотерриторий выделены и охарактеризованы такие направления диверсификации экономик монотерриторий, как стратегия замещения отрасли промышленности, развитие предпринимательства, свободные экономические зоны, роль кластеров в экономике. Для доказательства гипотезы использовались методы и приемы системного и логического анализа, синтеза управленческих решений и подходов; методы научной классификации, сравнения и обобщения предметов и явлений; при исследовании проблематики были исследованы экономические предпосылки образования монотерриторий. Результатом исследования явились рекомендации по диверсификации экономик монотерриторий на основе государственных и региональных мер финансовой поддержки. Сделан вывод, что выигрывают те регионы, которые благодаря историческим условиям и обустроенности территории способны создать обстановку инвестиционной и социальной привлекательности, обеспечивающую возникновение конкурентоспособных промышленных зон с учетом национальных, территориальных и политических особенностей. ; The relevance is determined by the fact that at the present time the problem of sustainable socio-economic development of single-industry towns is one of the priorities of state policy. The aim is to develop recommendations for improving directions of state support for single-industry towns in RF on the basis of studies of successful practices of other states. Based on the analysis of foreign experiences strategic development of mono territory isolated and characterized such areas diversification of the economies of monoculture as a replacement strategy industry, entrepreneurship, free economic zones, role of clusters in the economy. To prove the hypothesis were used methods of systematic and logical analysis, synthesis of management decisions and approaches; methods of scientific classification, comparison and generalization objects and phenomena; in the study of the problems were examined economic background education of monoterritory. The result of the study was the recommendation to diversify the economies of monoculture based on state and regional support measures. It is concluded that benefit has those regions that, due to historical conditions and arrangement of the territory are able to create an environment for investment and social attractiveness, ensuring the development of competitive industrial zones, taking into account national, territorial and political features.

Adriana Gini,1,2,* Denis Larrivee,2,3,* Michele Farisco,4,5 Vittorio Alessandro Sironi6 1Neuroradiology Division, Neuroscience Department, San Camillo-Forlanini Medical Center, Rome, Italy; 2International Neuroethics Society, Bethesda, MD, USA; 3Educational Outreach Office, Catholic Dioceses of Charleston, SC, USA; 4Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; 5Biogem Genetic Research Center, Ariano Irpino, Italy; 6Research Center on the History of Biomedical Thought, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Studied since antiquity, the human brain has recently been the inspiration for an international neuroscientific entrepreneurship, the Human Brain Project in Europe and the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies initiative in the USA. Different in their approach, both regard the human brain as one of the greatest challenges of 21st century science and the organ that makes us "human". However, it is mainly the necessity of developing new therapies that affect up to a billion people worldwide, which has propelled the search for extensive expertise and investment in neuroscience research. The debate on ethical and social policy issues as well as the research and medical strategies of such gigantic efforts has involved participants as diverse as neuroscientists, philosophers, scholars in ethics and law, politicians, and the general public, rendering modern neuroscience an interdisciplinary and conflictual endeavor. In fact, the brain is described as the biological underpinning of our thoughts, emotions, perceptions, free willed actions, and memories, features unique to our humanity. In this review, three neuroscientists and a philosopher from the neuroethics community provide their perspectives for an up-to-date survey of salient neuroethical issues, ie, modulation of free will and neuropharmaceuticals and neurotechnologies that enhance cognitive capacities, as well as an introduction of the reader to the controversial new discipline of neuroethics. Written for nonexperts in the field, it is intended to reflect on and to impart information helpful in understanding the challenges and the perils of modern neuroscience, whose tools are so powerful as to jeopardize what is uniquely "human" through willful mind manipulation. We conclude that, for any future effort to "recreate" the mind and, at the same time, keep what is uniquely ours, it will be necessary to reflect ethically and review carefully man's past best efforts at self-understanding. Keywords: neuroethics, free will, neuromodulation, human nature, neuroscience, neurophilosophy

The new millennium is witnessing a lot of transformational challenges in almost all realms of life including the educational system, bringing about world class standards. Consequently, education reform has become necessary in pursuance of educational quality and effectiveness. Unfortunately most educational reforms in the past decades have resulted in serious frustration and failure even though they are often based on good will. This discourse will highlight the need for transformation in education in terms of Quality Assurance (QA) indicators for quality education that is currently experiencing three waves. The different waves are based on the different paradigms and theories of education quality and school effectiveness, and they result in different strategies and approaches to education quality assurance. The first wave of school transformation focuses mainly on Internal Quality Assurance Indicators and makes effort to improve internal school performances particularly the methods and processes of teaching and learning. The second wave emphasizes Interface Quality Assurance in terms of organizational effectiveness, stakeholders' satisfaction and market competitiveness and makes effort to ensure satisfaction and accountability to the internal and external stakeholders. This paper further explained that school transformation should move towards the third wave which emphasizes strongly Future Quality Assurance Indicators in terms of relevance to the new school functions in the new century, as well as relevance to the new paradigm shift in education concerning contextualized multiple intelligences (CMI), globalization, localization and individualization. Based on the paradigm shift, a new QA indicator in terms of value added and value created indicators which are completely different are added to the list. The enhancement of value added depends heavily on improvement of internal processes while value created relies mainly on the increase in goal relevance and stakeholder satisfaction with quality of education services. Continuous institutional development becomes necessary for total QA in the secondary school system and quality management of the new secondary school curriculum that emphasises entrepreneurship education. Consequently, transformation from the traditional ways of school management, to new creative and innovative approach, such as introduction of Tripartite Curriculum for inculcating multiple intelligences, instead of mono-intelligence that is currently prevalent in the Nigerian secondary school curriculum, is therefore advocated for. so that the current paradigm shift to a new secondary school curriculum in Nigerian will surely be a success.

Global informatization, manifestations of which are characteristic for the past decades, became the basis of the formation of the new model of the economy – digital economy, which became the development strategy of the most developed countries of the world. In Ukraine there is not any consistent tactic of building up a national digital economic business space as yet. Therefore, the purpose of the article was to substantiate theoretically the essence of digital economy and its conceptual reflection in the economic policy of the EU, as well to analyze the status and specific features of the Ukrainian economic system in terms of integration into international digital environment. The research methods are system analysis. Based on a number of scientific sources, it was revealed that the conceptual basis for the development of the digital economy in Europe consists of 5 metrics of the program of digital entrepreneurship: a) digital knowledge and ICT market, b) digital business environment, c) access to finance for businesses, d) digital skills of the labor force and electronic leadership, e) creating supporting entrepreneurial culture. In the course of the study we defined the centres of growth of digital technologies and communication in Ukraine, which can become the basis for further positive changes, at the same time we identified the main obstacles, as well as the lagging industries, because of whose performance the world ratings of Ukraine go down. A conclusion was made about the need to build an efficient national strategy for the development of the digital economy taking into account both positive and negative aspects of the experience of the EU countries. The scientific novelty of the work is in identifying features of the development of information and telecommunication technologies in Ukraine, which are in the uneven "informatization", depending on the industries and sectors of the economy, in the lack of digital strategy of the state, in the inconsistency in regulatory policy and distrust of the population in modern financial instruments. The findings made as the results of the research can be used for differentiation of users of digital information and the development of strategy of their engagement in certain segments. In the future, it is advisable to examine the European experience about the inclusion of objectives concerning the development of the digital economy in the global plan of reformation of the state.

Purpose
– The purpose of the paper is to advance the understanding of the role design education plays in sustainable development. It presents a capacity building framework that can be accommodated in various levels of design curriculum development. The framework allows for a macro-view on the key clusters of competencies for ecodesign while allowing for alignment with quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluation and assessment. The proposed framework does not intend to be universally prescriptive, and it should provide a context for the development bespoke educational programmes and activities.


Design/methodology/approach
– The research utilises a variety of data sources and methods to provide answers to the research questions. Empirical data were collected through the course of a two-year programme of capacity building with design educators in Wales. This two-year programme incorporated a series of workshops and scoping discussions with teaching staff. Additional data were collected through a literature review and best practice scanning. Thus, the research did not follow a linear process. Instead, it was performed according to an iterative process, evolved by interaction between a theoretical foundation (capacity building, ecodesign education) and empirical material (workshops, literature review).


Findings
– Design education may need to situate itself away from the traditional art or engineering setting to facilitate greater interdisciplinary learning. This repositioning of design education will allow for multidisciplinary relationships with other schools and communities such as social science, business or planning. There will be a role for the promotion of international design institutes that provide a more concentrated experience of the value of design and design education.


Research limitations/implications
– This paper sought to explore the context of capacity for sustainable development as it relates to design education. It briefly highlighted some gaps in the literature on capacity building for ecodesign education along with proposing a conceptual framework of key competencies. The intention is to initiate a discussion on the means by which these can be integrated into mainstream design education, lifelong learning and entrepreneurship training.


Originality/value
– There is no similar framework presented in the literature. Much of the research originates from original research conducted with four universities in a unique programme of capacity building. The paper provides the basis for deeper insights into the interdisciplinary perspectives required. This is something the authors hope to report on this year.

After independence was achieved and throughout the 19th century, political, economical and cultural Colombian elites invented a model of nation based on the idea that highlands and white race were progress exclusive raw material, as though; based on racial and geographical attributions a regional hierarchy was built, and this allowed the configuration of local identities defined by this model. Meanwhile, besides Antioquia had an important presence of African and African descendant population since colonial times, from different enunciation places and turning over the colonization entrepreneurship of the 19th century as a the foundational myth, representations that showed Antioquia and its inhabitants as a successful correlate of the relationship between Andean highlands and white race started to be created, opposing to the negative valuation over lowlands and black population. This article, on one side, examines which were the representational mechanisms of Africans and their descendants in Antioquia through Tomas Carrasquilla literary work, and, on the other, wants to make evident that those creations marginalized the contributions done by Africans and their descendants to Antioquean history. ; Tras el logro de la independencia y a lo largo de todo el siglo xix, las élites políticas, económicas y culturales colombianas trazaron un modelo de nación basado en la idea de que las tierras altas y la raza blanca eran materias primas privilegiadas del progreso; así, con base en atribuciones raciales y geográficas se construyó una jerarquía regional que dio lugar a la configuración de identidades locales definidas en función de ese modelo. Entretanto, aun a pesar de que Antioquia contaba con una importante presencia de africanos y afrodescendientes desde la época colonial, desde diversos lugares de enunciación y acudiendo a la empresa colonizadora del siglo xix como mito fundacional, se empezaron a elaborar representaciones que mostraban a Antioquia y a sus habitantes como correlato exitoso de la asociación entre raza blanca y montañas andinas, en contraste con valoraciones negativas sobre las tierras bajas y pobladores negros. El artículo busca por una parte examinar cuáles fueron los mecanismos de representación de los africanos y sus descendientes en Antioquia, mediante el análisis de la obra literaria de Tomás Carrasquilla y, por otra, evidenciar que esas elaboraciones marginaron los aportes de los africanos y sus descendientes a la historia antioqueña.

Статья посвящена изучению особенностей участия публично-правовых образований в отношениях, урегулированных нормами гражданского права. Задача: Вопрос о возможности участия публично-правовых образований в отношениях, урегулированных нормами гражданского права не редко становился проблемой исследования многих ученых в связи с тем, что в период активного развития предпринимательской деятельности все чаще обсуждается вопрос о возможности публично-правового образования быть участником гражданско-правовых отношений, то есть заключать договора, выполнять какие-либо обязательства либо передавать свое имущество и т.д. Модель: Методологическую основу исследования составили следующие методы, присущие теории и истории права и государства, истории учений о праве и государстве: общенаучные, частнонаучные и специальные методы научного познания объективной действительности, в том числе диалектико-материалистический, анализа и синтеза, системно-структурный, сравнительно-правовой, формально-юридический, правового прогнозирования и др. Выводы: Публично-правовые образования могут быть участниками большинства видов гражданско-правовых отношений, но, как и подобает особой категории субъектов, с соответствующими особенностями. Оригинальность/ ценность: Актуальность научной работы обусловлена давностью изучения учеными и исследователями данной проблемы и отсутствием на сегодняшний день однозначного мнения по исследуемому вопросу. ; The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the participation of public law entities in the relationships which are regulated by the civil law. Objective: The problem of the possibility the participation of public law entities in the relationship, regulated by civil law often become a problem of the research of many scientists due to the fact that during the period of active development of entrepreneurship is increasingly discussed the possibility of a public legal education to be a member of civil relations that is, to enter into contracts, to perform any obligation or to transfer their property, etc. Material and methods: The methodological base of the research accounted the following methods of the theory and history of law and government, history of law and state: common scientific, private scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge of objective reality, including dialectical-materialistic, analysis and synthesis, comparative legal. Results: Public law entities can participate in most types of civil law relations, but, as befits a special category of subjects, with the corresponding features. Conclusion: The relevance of scientific work due to remoteness of scientists and researchers studying this problem and the unequivocal opinion on the issue studied.

Artykuł przedstawia zmiany systemowe wprowadzone w Polsce po 1989 r., które umożliwiły przejście z gospodarki centralnie sterowanej do wolnorynkowej. Podjęcie głębokich i szerokim reform o charakterze prawnym, gospodarczym i społecznym pozwoliło na ukształtowanie demokratycznego ustroju po wielu latach sprawowania władzy komunistycznej. Transformacja systemowa była możliwa dzięki znaczącym przemianom podstaw prawnych, począwszy od zmian w ustawie zasadniczej, określającej istotę prawa własności i obowiązek jego poszanowania, poprzez uchwalenie innych aktów prawnych koniecznych do zmiany stosunków własnościowych (takich jak ustawy o komercjalizacji i prywatyzacji przedsiębiorstw państwowych, prawa o działalności gospodarczej czy ustawy o gospodarowaniu nieruchomościami rolnymi). Równoległe reformy systemu bankowego oraz polityki pieniężno-kredytowej umożliwiły napływ kapitału zagranicznego i pozwoliły na rozwój prywatnej przedsiębiorczości. W wyniku przemian ustrojowych, jakie zaszły w ostatnich 25 latach, Polska jako demokratyczne państwo prawa jest członkiem Unii Europejskiej, a polska gospodarka rynkowa staje się coraz bardziej konkurencyjna. Niestety, mimo głębokich przekształceń w sferze własnościowej, Polska przez ostatnie ćwierćwiecze nie rozwiązała kwestii zwrotu prawowitym właścicielom własności przejętej bezprawnie przez władze komunistyczne. ; This paper presents structural changes that took place in Poland after 1989, and which enabled its transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. The deep and thorough legal, economic and social reforms undertaken in that period made it possible, after years of communist rule, to shape a new, democratic system. The systemic transformation was possibleowing to some basic amendments to the Constitution, including the articles defining the essence of ownership and the duty to respect it, as well as the adoption of other legal acts necessary to re-define ownership relationships (such as the law on commercialisation and privatisation of state-owned enterprises, or the law on the management of agricultural property). The concurrent reforms of the banking system and the monetary and credit policy enabled inflow of foreign capital and development of private entrepreneurship. As a result of the transformations of the past 25 years, Poland is now a democratic state and a member of the European Union, while Polish economy is getting increasingly competitive. Sadly enough, despite these substantial structural transformations in the ownership sphere, in the last quarter of the century Poland has continued to be unable to resolve the problem of returning to the lawful owners the property taken by the communist regime.

Changes of the political and economic concept initiated during the 1980s and still ongoing have significantly altered the strategy of agribusiness development. The direction has switched from the development of the agro-industrial complex that is focused on socialization of agriculture and creation of large corporate business systems towards a completely opposite concept, which implies privatization and development of small and medium enterprises. Current state of small and medium size agricultural entrepreneurship in Serbia is far below its potential and below satisfactory. Underused economic potential of agriculture is a great opportunity for the development of both SMEs and the agribusiness. The ranking of districts based on the prominence level of examined parameters will enable a formation of related groups and a determination of similarities or differences in the observed regions. In this study, we used cluster analysis to determine how the districts in Serbia are grouped according to development level of small and medium agribusiness enterprises in order to obtain insight into the current state of regional development of this sector, as well as into the possibility for developing the least developed regions in Serbia. Cluster analysis yielded five homogeneous groups, whereby each cluster has its own special characteristics in terms of prominence of certain observed indicators. ; Promene političkog i ekonomskog koncepta koje su započete osamdesetih godina prošlog veka i traju do današnjeg dana bitno su promenile strategiju razvoja agrobiznisa. Sa koncepta razvoja agroindustrijskog kompleksa usmerenog ka podruštvljavanju poljoprivrede i stvaranju korporativnih velikih poslovnih sistema, prešlo se na sasvim suprotni koncept, odnosno privatizaciju i razvoj malih i srednjih preduzeća. Nivo razvijenosti malog i srednjeg preduzetništva u poljoprivredi Republike Srbije je daleko ispod mogućeg i zadovoljavajućeg. Veliku šansu za mala i srednja preduzeća, a samim tim i za razvoj agrobiznisa, predstavlja nedovoljno iskorišćeni ekonomski potencijal koji poseduje poljoprivreda. Rangiranje okruga prema stepenu ispoljenosti ispitivanih pokazatelja omogućiće formiranje srodnih grupa, te definisanje sličnosti ili razlike posmatranih regiona. Klaster analiza je metod koji će utvrditi kako se grupišu okruzi u Republici Srbiji prema nivou razvijenosti malih i srednjih preduzeća iz oblasti agrobiznisa i tako dobiti uvid u trenutno stanje regionalne razvijenosti ovog sektora, te mogućnosti razvoja najnerazvijenijih područja u Srbiji. Analizom grupisanja izdvojeno je pet homogenih grupa okruga, pri čemu svaki klaster ima specifičnosti u pogledu izraženosti pojedinih od posmatranih indikatora.

The economic crisis and the declining competitiveness of Europe, led to the orientation of cohesion policy for smart growth based on knowledge and innovation. Poland and its regions are in a specific socio-economical position characterized by a low share of higher value-added products and high technology-intensive ones in total export. They still need to bridge the gap towards the more developed EU countries and regions by shaping their competitive advantage. The only way to develop and maintain a competitive advantage is to trigger knowledge- and innovation-based entrepreneurship. Cohesion policy funds open up great opportunities for innovation. Nowadays, when the programming period 2007 - 2013 came to an end, it is increasingly important to assess effectiveness of the EU intervention in the context of innovation. The main aim of this study is to present the methodology that allows to assess the role of the EU operational programs in determining the long-term development based on pro-innovative business sector. To present methodology clearly, it will be presented on the example of the Innovative Economy Operational Programme 2007 - 2013 (IE OP) for Lower Silesia region. The first stage of the study will contain a review of literature and a proposition of typology of innovations in the context of their impact on the long-term development. The detailed analysis of more than 100 projects under the IE OP in Lower Silesia will be done to assess effectiveness of the implementation of co-financed research & development projects. The aim of this stage is to deepen the knowledge about the positive and negative factors affecting the implementation of the results of R&D in practice. On the base of the typology and results from previous stages, projects will be classified to created categories of innovation (e.g. imitative, product-oriented, process-oriented etc.). The results will verify whether in the analyzed projects dominates imitative type of innovation, which is typical of regions that are still shortening the distance towards the centers of socio-economic development. This, however, can lead to an "average income trap" that does not guarantee non-cost competitiveness. The results of the study may be used in future analysis as a contribution to the macroeconomic quantitative studies of the cohesion policy impact.