R&D INVESTMENTS IN SLOVENIA

The study analyzes the potential impact of implementation of the Lisbon strategy on Slovenian economic performance. The focus of our work is the recommendation of the strategy that the EU members should invest 3 percent of their GDP in research and development (R&D). We analyze this recommendation using comparative descriptive analysis and a simulation of research output with the neural networks. On the example of Slovenia we show that the Lisbon targets, especially the goal of investing 3 percent of GDP in R&D, are not necessarily a part of an efficient economic policy. There is no necessary connection between increases in R&D spending and economic efficiency. The investments in R&D are strongly related to the interactions between the research sector and businesses and depend on the market players while the economic policy makers should do their best to support R&D activities through the structural reforms. This policy prescription applies primarily for the transition countries.