Knowledge based economy? Barriers towards transfer of knowledge in Poland

The most developed and competing world economies are knowledge-based. Poland attempts to introduce such an economy on a national and a local level. Despite rising expenditures on research and development and a growing number of persons employed in research and development sectors of market, transfer of knowledge is still very low. Research results on cooperation between corporations, universities and administration prove high potential for the knowledge transfer on the one hand and on the other hand an existence of obstacles to its development. The obstacles are particularly administrative and organisational. Scientists producing the knowledge and corporations interested in its commercialisation manage with the obstacles through establishing informal cooperation. Therefore in their cooperation they omit institutions which introduce administrative and organisational barriers, i.e. universities. Nevertheless, informal cooperation restricts a scale of knowledge transfer and profits for potential partners. Our presentation aims at discussing barriers in introducing knowledge-based economy in Poland. We will analyse a model of transfer of knowledge implemented in Poland. We will analyse its strengths and weaknesses. Our presentation in based on research results including different partners in networks of knowledge transfer, i.e. universities, corporations and local and national authorities. We have conducted in-depth interviews and quantitative studies in order to define a model of knowledge transfer and obstacles to implementing knowledge-based economy.