Milena Kirilova Filipova

With the deepening of global financial and economic instability, the search for ways to increase fiscal sustainability becomes relevant in the crisis regulation system. This problem is compounded by the emergence of new global challenges, including the COVID pandemic. Timely and complex analysis of the local budget financial sustainability allows one to comprehensively assess financial and economic risks, identify social and other problems, consider planning deficiencies and, on this basis, form a sound and effective regional budget policy. The purpose of the study is to summarize theoretical and practical principles of assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets and to outline the directions for its improvement in Ukraine considering international practices.
The study revealed the lack of a unified system for assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets in Ukraine. On the basis of generalization of theoretical and methodological approaches, a system of indicators for estimating the financial sustainability of local budgets has been identified. The indicators were grouped and calculated. Based on the study of practical experience, measures have been specified that would contribute to a systematic approach to assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets in Ukraine.
It was concluded that a systematic assessment of the financial sustainability of local budgets is a prerequisite for making informed management decisions about necessary adjustments to the budget, improving the quality of budget planning and the effectiveness of budget policy.

Type of the article: Research Article

The conversion of knowledge into organizational and market performance is a central challenge for innovation-driven economies. This study examines how innovation activity and its commercialization shape the entrepreneurial performance of knowledge ecosystems, using green and digital energy start-ups as an empirical context. The aim is to investigate the non-linear relationships among knowledge creation, knowledge commercialization, and start-up development, with particular attention to whether mismatches between innovation activity and market uptake generate diminishing returns or imitation-driven entrepreneurial dynamics. The analysis is based on a balanced panel of 37 countries over the period 2018–2023, comprising 222 country-year observations. The methodology applies TWFE with DK standard errors, complemented by quadratic specifications, turning-point analysis, and lagged models. The findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between innovation commercialization and start-up activity, confirmed by negative, significant squared terms for sales of new-to-market and new-to-firm innovations in green start-ups (β₂ = −0.1588) and digital start-ups (β₂ = −0.1462), with turning points at 0.1428 and 0.0021, respectively. Funding dynamics demonstrate threshold effects: product innovation has a U-shaped relationship with early-stage digital funding (β₂ = 2.0630), while process innovation strengthens later-stage funding for green (β₂ = 1.8100) and digital start-ups (β₂ = 1.8434). The knowledge commercialization gap positively affects digital start-ups (β = 0.1111), suggesting that uncommercialized knowledge may stimulate market entry. Lagged results confirm temporal effects, with past innovation commercialization reducing digital start-up activity (β = −0.2483). Knowledge creation alone does not ensure performance growth; sustainable start-up development requires effective knowledge-to-market conversion.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Open science is increasingly recognized as an innovative educational tool for developing creativity, idea generation and problem-solving skills in higher education, with potential implications for marketing-oriented learning. This study examines how students’ engagement with open science practices is associated with their perceptions of creativity and problem-solving with particular attention to open data, open educational resources, open scientific publications and barriers to adoption. The empirical analysis is based on a cross-sectional survey of 2,250 students from Ukrainian higher education institutions. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients, a correlation matrix and ordinal logistic regression models were applied in RStudio. The results show that the frequency of open science use is positively associated with the overall perceived creative value of open science (ρ = 0.498, p < 0.001). Among specific open science elements, the strongest correlations with use frequency are observed for open data (ρ = 0.295), open educational resources (ρ = 0.260) and open scientific publications (ρ = 0.240). Ordinal logistic regression shows that the overall perceived creative value of open science is the factor most strongly associated with reported open science use (β = 1.236; OR = 3.440; p < 0.001), while open data and open educational resources are also positively associated with engagement. Barriers have weaker associations, although lack of instructor support is negatively related to students’ perception of open science’s creative value (β = –0.092; OR = 0.912; p = 0.015). The findings suggest that open science practices may support marketing-relevant competencies, including evidence-based thinking, data interpretation, creative communication and innovation-oriented problem-solving.

Acknowledgments
This research was funded by an EU grant “Immersive Marketing in Education: Model Testing and Consumers’ Behavior” under the project No. 09I03-03-V04-00522/2024/VA, by the Cultural and Educational Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic under the project “Innovative business models in relation to Generation Z consumer behavior towards economic decarbonization activities” under project No. KEGA 026EU-4/2026 and by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine “Modeling and forecasting of socioeconomic consequences of higher education and science reforms in wartime” under the project No. 0124U000545.