According to European and national schedules the Baltic Sea Region must cut its energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions dramatically within the next few decades. Substantial growth of renewable energy sources will be needed as well as a boost in energy efficiency. In this process small and medium sized enterprises (SME) play a key factor. The authors of this book - scientists, entrepreneurs and journalists - discuss how SMEs can make the best investment decisions to reduce their own energy consumption. Additionally the articles analyse new market opportunities opening up for SMEs, as...

Bildungspolitische Strategien heute und morgen rund um das Mare Balticum.Wissen und Bildung sind die Schl sselfaktoren f r eine erfolgreiche Zukunft unserer Gesellschaft. Dies gilt besonders f r die rohstoffarme Ostseeregion und ihre mittelst ndischen Unternehmen: Ohne herausragend qualifizierte Mitarbeiter und F hrungskr fte werden sie im globalen Wettbewerb kaum bestehen k nnen. Die Autoren dieses Buches " Wissenschaftler, Unternehmer und Journalisten " untersuchen die wichtigsten Probleme unserer Bildungssysteme, ausgehend von den allgemeinbildenden Schulen ber die Berufsbildung bis zu den...

The 5th Volume of the Baltic Sea Academy book series takes a look at three sectors that are of particular importance for small and medium sized enterprises in the Baltic Sea Area: - The University of Lund and the Gdansk University of Technology take a look at the potential for innovation from the development of personnel and organisation in companies - The Chamber of Crafts Lublin gives an overview for the fields of Energy, Climate and Environmental protection - The Technical University Vilnius compiled a report on a potential cluster for construction technologies in the Baltic Sea Region.

Vol. 10 of the BSA - Series "Shareholder value," the old, egocentric mantra of business is obsolete. Modern entrepreneurs care about society and the environment - simply because employees as well as more and more customers appreciate fair and sustainable business conduct. Enterprises try to meet this demand by implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a strategic tool to engage with important stakeholders, build trust and enhance long-term competitiveness. SMEs are predestined for such close relations to customers and communities. But still SMEs hesitate to fully engage in CSR,...

The topic that is disclosed in the scientific publication "Building the socially responsible employment policy in Baltic states" is certainly relevant to the context of national economy and social policy. Experience shows that socially responsible employment policy measures are especially widely used in the old EU member states. Relevance of socially responsible employment policy is not decreasing because unfavourable economic conditions aggravate the employment of certain groups of people (especially the long-term unemployed, low-skilled, having low marketable professions and other persons)....

Lack of qualified staff is one of the main reasons for SMEs to not being as innovative as possible. At the same time the available human resources (HR) are not fully employed. In the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) the labour participation of women and elders is very low particularly in the countries south of the Baltic Sea This publication was developed as part of the flagship project of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region "Innovative SMEs by Gender and Age (QUICK-IGA)." The results of the economic and labour market analyses and the BSR-wide study of Best as well as the results and experiences...

At the end of 2012 the Baltic Sea Region Programme initiated the cluster "Innovation in SMEs," starting with ten projects that focused their work on this important topic. During 2013 three additional projects joined the initiative. Most projects are flagship projects within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea region, namely in Priority SME Networks, Innovation and Education. Maintaining a high level of innovative thinking and entrepreneurship is crucial for SMEs to stay competitive and allow growth in the region. This publication gives an short overview of the 13 projects that were implemented...

At the 10th Hanseatic Conference 2015 in Hamburg, representatives from business organisations, academic institutions and policy makers from all countries around the Baltic Sea exchanged their experiences. This book contains the presented papers and a summary of the participants' discussion. Vocational training has dramatically lost its appeal. More and more young people rather opt for study programmes at the university, and refuse to learn practical skills in vocational education. However, the qualifications of the high number of academics do not match the demand of SMEs for skilled workers...