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Risk attitude is an elementary attribute of entrepreneurial behaviour. Determinants of risk-taking propensity have been widely investigated in the group of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs so far. There is a lack of evidence on determinants of risk-taking propensity in the farming business, which is considered as risky business because of the ongoing climate change and epidemic outbreaks. Alternatively, the risk of lower European Union budget raised the question, how to implement publicly supported financial instruments for micro and small farmers which have lower credit rating. The purpose of this study is to find socio-demographic determinants of the risk-taking propensity of the Czech micro farms, controlling for the type of farming.

The survey of 747 micro farmers was processed through ordinal logistic regression. The study is based on the subjective self-assessment of the risk-taking behaviour which is frequently used to measure risk-taking attitude. The results are representative from the type of farming point of view.

The model provided clear evidence that age, household size, living with the partner/wife/husband and level of education have a significant relationship with risk-taking propensity. The most risk-tolerant farmers are young with less formal education and living in small households. The risk-taking propensity varies by the type of farming. Specialized crop farms have significantly higher risk-taking propensity than farms with a substantial share of livestock production. Alternatively, gender, feeling about household income and religion are not significantly related to the risk-taking propensity of the Czech micro farms.

The main limitation of the study is the number of explanatory variables and the use of self-assessment of risk-taking attitude. The risk attitude can be explained by other variables which require in-depth qualitative research, such as past risk experience, the structure of decision problems, market orientation and operation under subsistence conditions.

The significant determinants of risk-taking attitude of micro farmers are important for banks, the Czech Support and Guarantee Fund for Farmers and Forestry and for policymakers who design the rules for post-2020 common agricultural policy. The study is original and valuable for the Central and Eastern European countries’ implementation of financial instruments as new rules for investment support are being prepared and research on the risk-taking attitude of the most vulnerable segment of farmers has not been conducted.

The originality of this study is from the perspective of agricultural sector as well as from the micro farms point of view. The results have commercial and political implications. Younger farmers, singles and lower-educated farmers have significantly higher risk-taking propensity and can be potentially risky clients for banks. Such farmers represent the financial gap in the credit market, and their viable development projects could be subject for implementation of financial instruments co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development in the forthcoming programming period past 2020.

Innovation ecosystems face many environmental challenges. The literature review shows that innovation ecosystems accelerate innovation activity, but empirical studies have not provided enough case studies focusing on the minimum-waste business strategy as one aspect of the circular economy. Various forms of interaction between members occur in the innovation ecosystems, which determines the level of cooperation. This paper aims to show the structure and forms of cooperation in an innovation ecosystem using the Czech Hemp Cluster (CHC) and its surroundings and suggest research directions in the field of interaction between members in an innovation ecosystem. Although hemp is associated with the production and distribution of narcotics, it is a versatile plant supporting the minimum-waste business strategy.

The research is based on a theoretical part of a literature review of major scientific articles on innovation ecosystems from 2016 to 2021. The case study of the CHC and the hemp ecosystem is based on qualitative research in the form of a content analysis of the mission of the cluster members. In addition to content analysis, the classic multidimensional scaling method and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to reveal ecological guilds.

The case study highlighted the specific relationship between the cluster and the ecosystem. The cluster does not determine the ecosystem boundaries, but the ecosystem is a much broader system of cooperation and interaction between organisations. Clusters emerge after an ecosystem has existed for a particular time to coordinate collaboration and information between organisations and stakeholders. The analysis of the CHC revealed the specific role of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the innovation ecosystem. NPOs are not engaged in primary functions in the value chain, but they provide supporting activities through coordinated networking, disseminating information on innovation, awareness-raising and stakeholder education. Compared to natural ecosystems, innovation ecosystems are typically characterised by higher forms of collaboration between members.

An exciting opportunity for research on innovation ecosystems is the ecological guilds taken from natural ecosystems and whose identification can help define the boundaries of innovation ecosystems. An opportunity for further research is the comparison of NPO-based and government-based clusters playing a central role in developing innovation ecosystems. Regarding the problematic generalisability of the case study to the entire agricultural production, a challenge is a search for minimum-waste business models in agriculture characterised by the biological nature of production.

Theoretical and empirical studies have not yet considered innovation ecosystems in the minimum-waste context to a sufficient extent. The paper builds on previous scholarly studies focusing on innovation ecosystems and, for the first time, discusses the role of NPOs in the innovation ecosystem. The CHC case study adds a suitable minimum-waste business model to the still very scarce literature on sustainable innovation ecosystems. The article discusses the purpose and forms of cooperation in an innovation ecosystem, identifies a complementarity of roles in the innovation cluster and describes the interrelationship between the cluster and the ecosystem. Discussion of the ecosystem leader in the cluster-based innovation ecosystem shows the differences between Czech, Polish and German life science ecosystems.