Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study stakeholder involvement in research and innovation policy in Poland in the context of smart specialisation exercise. The article addresses the questions to what extent initiatives such as the foresight programmes, strategic research and development programmes, and sectoral research programmes facilitate the entrepreneurial discovery process for smart specialisation. The role of different groups of actors varies substantially in terms of their involvement and impact on such initiatives. The foresight and strategic research and development programmes were dominated by representatives of the research community and embody a research-oriented top-down approach. The sectoral research programmes are most closely related to the bottom-up and demand-driven approach in which the leading role is played by entrepreneurs. For this reason, they are more familiar with the conditions of the entrepreneurial discovery process. In this case, the important role is also played by the governmental agency which facilitates those processes.
Highlights
Interactions and collaboration between different groups of actors, especially entrepreneurs, researchers and users, are one of the key characteristics of entrepreneurship and innovation activities
The requirement to involve a great range of stakeholders in major policy decisions is one of the important implications for innovation policy
According to the OECD, diverse stakeholder involvement in priority setting is a salient trend in most countries and is undertaken in the interests of increasing transparency and to better respond to societal needs
Summary
Interactions and collaboration between different groups of actors, especially entrepreneurs, researchers and users, are one of the key characteristics of entrepreneurship and innovation activities. The requirement to involve a great range of stakeholders in major policy decisions is one of the important implications for innovation policy The role of different actors (agents from research, environmental and health policy) is of particular importance in the process of identifying and selecting research priorities. In recent years, these processes have become much more decentralised than the centralised decision-making processes of the older paradigms (Gassler et al 2008). According to the OECD, diverse stakeholder involvement in priority setting is a salient trend in most countries and is undertaken in the interests of increasing transparency and to better respond to societal needs. The new approaches to decision-making processes include broad consultation with scientific experts with policy, business and community representatives (OECD 2003)
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