National innovative performance and sustainable development – the case of Slovakia

Innovation are considered as the engine of sustainability and economic growth. Innovations are an integral part of the business that is expressed in scientific and research activities. If a company want to gain competitive advantage, it must do the business activities in accordance with economic, environmental, social and institutional factors. Business activities in this area are reflected in macroeconomic indicators of the country. This article deals with innovations and sustainable development issues. The main goal of research is testing interaction between innovations and sustainable development through the selected indicators. Summary Innovation Index (SII) represents innovations and sustainable development is represented by the set of indicators from four areas: economic, environmental, social and institutional. The analysis is based on values of the Summary Innovation Index proposed by the European Commission to measure the competitiveness of European countries in terms of innovation activity and values of sustainable development indicators such as GDP per capita, energy intensity of the economy, migration, transport performance, greenhouse gas emissions, application of environmental management system, mining and consumption of mineral resources, etc. The research is carried out on the case of Slovakia with application of mathematical-statistical apparatus (correlation analysis). The main benefit of research lies in the identification of strengths and weaknesses of Slovakia in analysed areas and determining the expected development.