Latvia is itself a TL2 region. Its regional and country-level data can be visualised by choosing “Latvia” from the country drop-down menu in the Dashboard.
R&D spending and employment indicate the extent to which the public and private sectors invest in the production and diffusion of innovation. In the innovation diffusion typology, it is a measure of innovation assets in a region, one of the framework conditions.
Business sector R&D employment in Latvia is in the bottom 20% of all regions compared to OECD regions. In contrast, government R&D employment in Latvia is in the top 40% of all OECD regions. This suggests an important role for the public sector in creating innovation and channels for innovation diffusion in Latvia.
Patent measures reaffirm the important role of the public sector in Latvia. Patents can showcase both innovation channels and outcomes of innovation diffusion. For example, collaboration in patenting can be a channel through which businesses learn from academic institutions or each other. Patentable inventions are one outcome of innovation diffusion as it requires substantial knowledge about previous innovations. Overall patenting intensity (the number of patents filed per inhabitant) in Latvia is in the bottom 30% of OECD regions. This is consistent with Latvia’s relatively low levels of private sector R&D spending. However, Latvia compares favourably to other OECD regions on patenting activity in government and in universities where they rank among the top 10% compared to other OECD regions.
