Technical Discussion: Time to quickly react and accelerate business innovation process

Albanian companies – not only consumers but can also producers of innovation?!

Tirana, 12 March 2021 / The Secretariat of Albania Investment Council, in collaboration with INNVEST, organized a focus group meeting to discuss at the technical level main business challenges to access innovation. The event attracted the attention of various stakeholders from the public and private sector, as well as academia. The objective of this meeting was to present preliminary findings identified by the Secretariat through its work methodology, as well as the potential recommendations prepared in the context of the upcoming meeting of the Investment Council with the agenda item: “Innovation in Entrepreneurship as a Challenge to Increase Competitiveness.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused profound disruptions to the global economy, forcing companies across industries to innovate in order to survive. New business challenges raised during this current turbulent time are also proving how this moment can turn them into business opportunities, especially for leading digital platforms. To identify the main challenges in the Albanian context, during February-March, the Secretariat held individual meetings with around 40 stakeholders (public & private sectors, academia, developing agencies and partners, etc.), as well as conducted an online survey with 78 companies.

During this meeting, the participants expressed their comments on the preliminary findings of the Secretariat. In support, they emphasized the need for prioritization of the innovation agenda and current challenges from a business perspective, the need for a mechanism to coordinate all the actors and serve as a focal point for the consultation and dissemination of the right information. It was highlighted the need to accelerate the setup of sustainable cooperation between the public institutions, universities and the business, as well as to promote the collaboration of the business with the regional institutions. In this context, participants asked for better regional coordination, reiterating that innovation should be promoted throughout Albania (not only in the capital).

The raised comments and suggestions will be reflected by the IC Secretariat in the final draft of the analysis to be submitted to the IC members by next week. The final and approved analysis will be published on our website in the next weeks.