Evolution of the regional innovation system in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic, financial and economic crisis: The long term perspective from Central European region

Abstract

Research background: The evolution of the innovation system is not easy to explore due to the small number or selective nature of the international research about it. The natural trajectory is well known in a long time period but differs between regions and countries — more or less developed. If the impact of the external shocks on regional innovation system (RIS) is added here, the situation is even more complicated. The answer for the crises depends on the development level of a country and region, the maturity of the relationships between actors of the Triple Helix (entrepreneurship, science, government) — their strength and stability over time, some endogenous conditions specific to it. The knowledge about the evolution of the innovation system is crucial to understand how the system works, where it was, is and will be at the evolution trajectory. Purpose of the article: Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the evolution of the RIS in the one of Central Europe’s regions (Lower Silesian in Poland) including the impact of the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic on the innovation technology there. Methods: Using microdata collected by the authors and the stepwise logit modelling, industrial enterprises were analysed in three time periods: 2004–2006, 2010–2012 and 2019–2021. Total 1649 questionnaires forms were collected. The research was made in the one of Poland's well advanced regional innovation systems — the Lower Silesian. The matrix of success and fail was used as long as the AUC curve and some statistical indicators to prove the usefulness of models. The dependent variables were the new technology pushed by R&D and the investment in new machinery and equipment. Findings & value added: The nature of RIS evolution in the one of the regions in Central Europe in a catching-up country in the context of financial crises and Covid-19 was examined. The analyses identified two alternative groups of conditions — high or low resilience to various market shocks. To the first group belongs: R&D and equipment interactions (the growing competence effect) and a cooperation along the supply chain in the industry. The low resilience is observed in the other categories, as follows: the cooperation with science institutes and business support organizations (the isolation effect), the lack of external sources of funding (the sinking effect), the short time reaction of entrepreneurs (the adaptation effect). As was pointed above in the catching-up country, some elements of the Triple Helix are more sensitive to external shocks, while others are not. The crisis situation can radically slow down an evolutionary development or change its direction. Knowing them will allow the local authority to react on time or with a low delay to reduce negative consequences of it to the regional economy. Authors have shown a new approach to the evolution process of regional innovation system. It could be useful to learn how, where and when the system is going to.