Why The K&I Institute?

Visegrad Project

Additional Information

Publications

Changes and Challenges - of the Contemporary World

The Knowledge Institute Warsaw-London 2003 (s. 302) contains article by prof. Aldona Kamelia-Sowińska. This publication was co-financed by:- Ministry of National Education and Sport- Polish...

Economic Policy and Growth

Economic Policy and Growth of Central and East European Countries, School of Slavonic and East European Countries University College London London 2003 (p. 294) Book series: SSEES Occasional...

www.counter.gd - Kostenloser Besucherzähler! ;-)

We created The Knowledge & Innovation Institute to support new EU member states' (esp. Poland's) preparations to transforming its economy into knowledge- and innovation-driven via providing experts' assistance. It is necessary to make both politicians and society aware of issues that remain at the back of their minds - the needs of the future generations, the possibility of accelerating the rate of economic development. It ought to become the main focus of economic policies.

The new post-socialist EU member states are usually at the end of the European ranks - considering the level of economic development, competitiveness, knowledge economy and innovation. Competitiveness of their economies is lower, emigration - higher, unemployment rate sometimes among the highest in the UE just as the barriers to running business activity. There are some successful, like e.g. Estonia. Most of them however have problems. Especially difficult seems to be the situation in Poland (where the Institute is based): innovation is one of the lowest in Europe, advances in knowledge economy and the Lisbon agenda - very weak. Structural reforms, incl. privatisation processes, are stuck.

In the meantime, more developed countries began the new transformation - into the knowledge and innovation economy - as they are sometimes the most important factors underlying the success in overcoming civilizational barriers of development. Especially successful are the Nordic countries, e.g. Finland or Sweden.

At the end of 1990s. the EU politicians realised that Europe's competitiveness fades in comparison to the USA. Therefore, they began to look for the reasons of such matter of facts. The outcome of their analysis was the Lisbon agenda in which the EU set an ambitious goal of making the EU's economy the most competitive, knowledge-based economy of the world during the decade (2000-2010). Despite its fiasco, the document became a breakthrough - as the first of this kind in the history of the EU. However, having drawn the conclusions in the Spring 2005, the authors renewed the Lisbon agenda. Growth & jobs stimulated by knowledge and innovations became the focus of the new agenda.

Transition countries - on the current level of their development - face two challenges:

Finish the process of transformation of Polish economy into market economy.
Launch the transformation of economy into knowledge- and innovation-driven economy.

What the transition countries need is common social and political agreement on the paradigms of the country's future. That is what the future generations need .