The third focus group, USK

On June 27, 2024, the third round of research was held with a focus group of respondents organized by the project team from the Faculty of Economics-Skopje, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje. The research was organized in the form of an online interview through the Microsoft Teams platform and it lasted about two and a half hours. The focus group consisted of five respondents, of which four respondents are experts and directly involved in entrepreneurship and innovation and one respondent who is a lawyer in the field of commercial law and IPPR. The entire interview was recorded and properly stored for current and further processing.

In the third round of research with the identified focus group, questions grouped into four segments (groups) were asked and discussed in order to identify attitudes and perceptions related to technology transfer in open innovation ecosystems. The research segments addressed 1) open innovation ecosystems, 2) technology transfer, 3) intellectual property rights protection (IPPR) and 4) innovation support schemes/methods. Respondents gave additional recommendations:

• Consistent policies and strategies at the national level.
• Political stability and becoming an attractive country for opening a business and working.
• Attracting digital nomads.
• Facilitation and access to social and community services (indirectly related to business), such as kindergartens, entertainment and recreation, etc. through which free time is influenced and creativity is initiated among entrepreneurs and innovators.
• Initiation of greater R&D of foreign IT companies operating in R.N. Macedonia for foreign market (outsourcing companies).

The respondents indicated that greater political stability and security in the country and the region, acceleration and retention of the EU integration process and ensuring good partnership relations with other countries are needed.