Innovation Support and Eco-Innovationin the Slovak Republic in the Intentionsof Sustainable Development

The Slovak Republic has a precisely established system of institutional support for innovation, which provides a wide system of opportunities for innovation development. Nevertheless, the Slovak Republic is in the last place in the innovation application within the EU, while the biggest problem seems to be the insufficient connection between R & D on the one hand and companies that could apply new ideas in practice on the other hand. Another big problem is the system of innovation funding, which is a big problem in Slovakia, especially at this time (consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic). Eco-innovation is now an integral part of business strategy in all developed countries. The Slovak Republic is on the last places in EU in this indicator, as the funding of eco-innovations is even more complicated due to the financing of “classic” innovations. Nevertheless, there are several successful eco-innovation projects in Slovakia, which we can consider as a contribution to sustainable development. The eco-innovation index of Slovakia shows that the Slovak Republic belongs to the group of catching-up countries and there is a huge space for improvement, which will probably be used largely in the near future. © 2021, HARD Publishing Company. All rights reserved.