The Community Research and Development Information Service - CORDIS

Regional Research & Innovation Service

Infrastructure

The potential of Krakow, the key academic centre in the Malopolska Region, makes the city one of the leaders in Poland, second only to Warsaw. Krakow’s scientific potential has helped develop institutions of higher education in other major cities of the voivodeship, namely, Tarnow, Nowy Sacz, Chrzanow, and Nowy Targ.
The schools of higher education of Malopolska have ranked among the best in Poland for years. In terms of the number of students, Malopolska ranks as the third in Poland (after the Mazovia and Silesia Region). In 2003, 28 schools of higher education in the Malopolska Region had 167 278 students, which constitutes nearly 10% of the overall number of students in Poland.
Nearly 12,7% of the general number of Polish scholars are employed in the institutions of higher education of Malopolska. In recent years these schools have opened many new, attractive programs and specializations, trying to meet the needs of the job market. Information Technology is especially popular, as are the programs connected to it. Other popular programs include: Information Society, European Studies, Management and Marketing in Tourism, Culture and Healthcare. In terms of funds budgeted for scientific-research activities, the region ranks as the second in the country.

According to various research (i.e. ‘Innovation supply in Malopolska region’, a part of ‘Enhancing Regional Innovation Strategy – RIS Malopolska’ project), these are the most crucial needs of higher education in the region:

  • the need of creating special funds for the development of innovational projects, and also for the improvement of cooperation with the enterprises (mainly SMEs);
  • the necessity of a better cooperation with the institutions acting as intermediaries in the transfer of technologies;
  • the necessity of improving the technical facilities (i.e. always-on internet connection);
  • low level of competitiveness of many organizational units of the schools of higher education in the market.

One of the solutions is the creation of new and the strengthening of the old centers of the transfer of technologies at the schools of higher education, their involvement in the national economy, and the formation of structures supporting academic enterprise. These activities should take into account institutions already existing or networks of institutions supporting entrepreneurship and enterprises.
The potential of institutions and companies commercially involved in the transfer of technologies, innovations and knowledge, and companies that act as an intermediary in these types of activities. The evaluation of the potential of this group of actors in the innovation market is difficult. It is estimated that there are a dozen or so such companies operating in Malopolska7. Some of them are connected to institutions of higher education through their employees and some use the terms “innovation” or “innovative” in their names.

Universities

Research Institutions

Innovation Centres

Last updated: 2010-01-22