Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Policy and Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol Non-timber forest products in transition economies: Innovation cases in selected SEE countries Ivana Živojinović a,⁎ , Jelena Nedeljković b , Vladimir Stojanovski c,e , Anže Japelj d , Dragan Nonić b , Gerhard Weiss a , Alice Ludvig a a European Forest Institute Central-East and South-East European Regional Office (EFICEEC-EFISEE) and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Feistmantelstrasse 4, A-1180 Vienna, Austria b University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry, Kneza Višeslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia c University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria d Slovenian Forestry Institute, Večna pot 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia e University SS Cyril and Methodius Skopje, 16ta Makedonska Birgada 1,1000 Skopje, Macedonia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) Entrepreneurship Innovation Policy support Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ABSTRACT Driven by political and economic reforms since 1990, the forestry sector in southeast European (SEE) countries has faced changes which have resulted, among others, in the rise of private businesses. Many of those businesses have demonstrated innovation in the sphere of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), although these products had been neglected in the past, and their potentials are still underestimated. Therefore, our aim was to get a better understanding of the innovation processes behind three case studies in selected SEE countries (Slovenia, Serbia and FYR Macedonia). For the purpose of this research, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with people responsible for the selected innovation cases in three NTFP-based enterprises. The interviews revolved around questions related to the idea and product development, the firm foundation, the supporting and hindering factors and the actors and their roles in the entire process of business development. To understand the framework conditions, we interviewed representatives of the organizations that were in charge of supporting innovation and business development. The results show that several national policy programs (e.g., in the fields of SMEs, forestry and nature protection) form a framework for supporting NTFPs innovation. However, in all the selected countries, there were no policies specifically tailored for NTFPs. An analysis showed that these innovations were developed solely by the owners and their personal ideas, and most information and financing came from the businesses themselves. The innovation systems in the selected countries did not significantly contribute to the development and running of the businesses. The lessons provided by these cases can be significant for strengthening existing NTFP-related innovation systems and fostering their effectiveness in the future. 1. Introduction 1.1. Forestry in transition economies The process of political and economic reforms in the transition economies of post-socialist countries in southeastern Europe (SEE) 1 have significantly influenced institutional forestry reforms (Glück, 2011; Sarvašová et al., 2014; Nonić et al., 2014; Weiss et al., 2012). Changes in the forestry sector have been made through the adoption of new policies and legislation, changes in the area of land tenure, and private property rights (Bouriaud et al., 2013; Weiland, 2010), which have brought about new possibilities for improving the sector govern- ance and for fostering multifunctional forest management. In the forest sector, wood-based products are still considered the main product due to their great economic importance and well-structured and competi- tive value chains (Lawrence, 2003). However, forest enterprises have been diversifying and expanding their portfolios through the addition of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and services to their businesses (Donnelly and Helberg, 2003; Kathe et al., 2003; Niskanen et al., 2007; O'Brien Mee, 2009; Pettenella et al., 2007). In this paper, we look at NTFPs primarily as a sub-sector of forestry but also note that the realm of innovation in NTFPs can go beyond the forestry sector and include http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.04.003 Received 26 July 2016; Received in revised form 20 February 2017; Accepted 4 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ivana.zivojinovic@efi.int (I. Živojinović). 1 For the purpose of this paper, the south-eastern Europe includes following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey (SEECP, 2017). Forest Policy and Economics 81 (2017) 18–29 1389-9341/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK