Scholarly record

INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM IN THE SILESIAN REGION - CONFIGURATION OF THE KEY ACTORS

A. Szmal

Abstract

Proper management of the innovative processes in the European regions is considered to be the key necessary to maintain position of the European economy in the world. The innovative processes are directed primarily by regional innovation strategies. Experiences of the first years of functioning of these instruments in Poland show that their implementation encountered among others awareness barriers, manifested in insufficient coordination and complexity of operations with insufficient activity of the innovation system actors. Hence, conscientious and consistent creation of the regional innovation ecosystem is an important area of activities necessary to be taken – so, that the system, first of all, would provide rational flow of knowledge in the region. It should be remembered that there is a need for management on the inter-organizational level. Innovation depends on relationship between entities generating knowledge and innovations and those absorbing it. Hence the need to look at the innovation ecosystem as a system consisting of key actors and the relationship between them. Basically the regional innovation system is composed of two main types of actors and their interactions. The first of these are companies consuming innovations and finally generate generating values. The second type are organizations creating the innovation infrastructure that supports innovation processes in the region because they possess key competences. These actors function within the two subsystems i.e. the subsystem of making use of knowledge and the subsystem of its creation. Current experiences connected with implementation of the regional innovation strategy indicate problems in the flow of knowledge. The above observations have been the basis to undertake studies on configuration of key actors and especially on identification of cooperation barriers in the regional innovation ecosystem in the Silesian region. This article is an attempt to explain these problems.

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