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2.1. Leadership and governance

Entrepreneurship is a major part of the HEI’s strategy

It is mandatory for Polish higher education institutions (HEIs) to have written and formally approved strategic plans. This was confirmed by the OECD HEI Leader Survey where 31 out of 33 HEIs reported that their institution had a strategic document that states its vision, mission and values. The two HEIs that reported that they did not have written strategic documents indicated that such documents were under development and in discussion with the institution’s governing body. The survey also indicated that strategies are prepared with inputs from relevant stakeholders, but that stakeholder participation is typically limited to the local area. The participation of international entities in this process is very rare.

Innovation and entrepreneurship have a strong role within the strategic plans of many of the HEIs. Results of the HEI Leader Survey indicate that approximately half of the HEIs viewed strategic objectives related to innovation and entrepreneurship as “important” or “very important” for their institution (Figure 2.1). These objectives include co-operating with local business, contributing to local development and developing entrepreneurial skills and competences in students. However, the HEIs that were visited do not tend to explicitly reflect these strategic objectives in their written strategic documents and mission statements, which are oriented towards the two more traditional missions of HEI (i.e. education and research). It is therefore difficult for external stakeholders to identify these activities as core to the HEIs’ activities.

Another area for improvement for HEIs is to develop targets and metrics in strategic areas related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Only half of the HEIs with strategic objectives related to innovation and entrepreneurship reported that performance indicators had been developed for these objectives and that they are regularly monitored. The lack of clear systemic goals and approaches to achieving them hinders the ability of HEIs to fully achieve their objectives since units and individuals may take different approaches that are not fully aligned with the HEI’s overall entrepreneurial strategy.

There is commitment at a high level to implementing the entrepreneurial agenda

It is a common practice for Polish HEIs to have someone in a senior management position (e.g. Rector or Vice-Rector, Dean or Director) that is responsible for the implementation of entrepreneurship and innovation activities. This was true in all of the HEIs that were visited during the two study visits. More broadly, the HEI Leader Survey reveals that 59% of the surveyed HEIs had a senior manager responsible for entrepreneurship education and 53% for business start-up support.

However, in many HEIs visited, this leadership function was extremely dependent on the individual who had that role. The senior-level commitment and leadership did not seem to be fully institutional and it is not clear if this commitment would remain if there were changes in senior management. Many HEIs raised this concern during the study visits, underlining the need to strengthen the importance and role of entrepreneurship within strategic frameworks and leadership structures for HEIs.

The only exception identified during the visits was at the GUT Gdansk University of Technology, where the position of Vice-Rector for Co-operation and Innovation was explicitly created (it has since been changed to Vice Rector for Internationalisation and Innovation). The role of this Vice Rector was to drive innovation activities and to build strong relationships with the business community and international partners. The creation of such a position ensures that these activities remain central to the HEI’s core activities and also sends a strong signal to stakeholders and potential partners that the HEI is open to collaborations.

There is a model in place for co-ordinating and integrating entrepreneurial activities across the HEI

Within the HEIs visited, many entrepreneurial actions were observed across teaching and research activities, as well as in relationships with external stakeholders and contributing to local economic development initiatives. These activities were typically driven and implemented by various units and centres within the HEIs, including for example, career offices, technology transfer offices, special purpose vehicle companies to support spin-out companies, business incubators and research centres. In most cases, these activities were under the oversight of a senior manager, typically a Vice-Rector. However, the Vice-Rector rarely had a strong leadership role that drove the activity. The exception was the already noted Vice-Rector for Co-operation and Innovation at the GUT Gdansk University of Technology, whose duties included driving the entrepreneurial agenda at the institution.

This decentralised approach currently works reasonably well. Relationships with external stakeholders are frequent, as are collaborations across faculties and units. However, these connections are mostly due to informal channels. The only formal structure that was observed across HEIs was the use of advisory boards that typically included representation from local government and the business community. These boards are used extensively at the seven case study HEIs to collect external views on HEI activities and to strengthen relationships with key stakeholders. Moreover, all respondents to the HEI Leader Survey indicated that similar advisory boards are used.

However, the decentralised approach to co-ordinating and integrating entrepreneurial activities across HEIs will likely be less effective as the number of HEI activities increase in this area. Without strong co-ordination, there is a high risk of duplication of activities by different units within the HEI.

The HEI encourages and supports faculties and units to act entrepreneurially

HEIs are autonomous institutions in Poland and units and centres within HEIs also appear to have a high level of autonomy. The HEIs that were visited had an open attitude towards new ideas or proposals coming from within the academic community and also from external stakeholders, especially when formal communication channels such as advisory boards were used.

This high level of autonomy within HEIs creates an environment where it is relatively easy to implement innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. This autonomy, however, also creates an uneven environment because the degree to which entrepreneurial actions are implemented depends on the ambition of the units.

One of the challenges faced in Poland is that acting entrepreneurially is not well compensated for individuals. The career progression of academic staff largely depends on research outputs, which in many cases discourages them from getting involved in the entrepreneurial agenda since these activities take away time from their research. Similarly, faculty budgets at the case study HEIs appear to be largely determined by research activities and the publication of scientific works, suggesting that it can be difficult to secure financial resources for other activities.

Even focusing solely on research commercialisation, HEIs currently do little to create staff incentives. The HEI Leader Survey indicates that less than 30% of HEIs have a system to support staff in the commercialisation of their research (Figure 2.2). Moreover, 75% of those HEIs that reported having an incentive system indicated that incentives are placed at the level of faculties/departments, and are not aimed at individual professors or researchers.

The HEI is a driving force for entrepreneurship and innovation in regional, social and community development

The HEI Leader Survey indicates that 51% of responding HEIs have strategic objectives related to local economic development (Figure 2.1). Further, more than half of HEIs have developed relationships with various public and non-public actors for the purposes of contributing to local economic development (Figure 2.3). Public HEIs appear to be more connected with government bodies, while non-public HEIs are more likely to work with chambers of trade, commerce and industry. Surprisingly, public HEIs also appear to be much less likely to work with industry clusters.

The HEIs visited during the two study visits are relatively more active than other HEIs in contributing to local development. According to the survey, these HEIs have very strong links with local and regional government, industry clusters, chambers of commerce and industry associations. This was corroborated during the study visits, where many good examples of integration and interaction with the local community were observed. One particularly good example is that of PWSZ The State University of Applied Sciences in Elblag, where the HEI had strong linkages with industry, local governments and science parks. These partnerships provided opportunities for students to be active in the community and helped connect industry and researchers.

Many HEIs also discussed the potential of regional “Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation” (RIS3) during the study visits. Several HEIs appeared to have played an important role in defining these strategies and look to continue to be active in the management of related activities. Involvement of HEIs in Smart Specialisation Strategies holds promise for strengthening the linkages between industry and higher education through the funding channels and joint projects that the strategies involve.

Another way in which HEIs contribute to local development is through developing and supporting graduates who go on to be successful entrepreneurs or senior managers in local companies. The SGH Warsaw School of Economics is a good example of this.

Key recommendations for leadership and governance

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Use the recently established Innovation Council to define an entrepreneurial agenda for higher education and manage its implementation in co-operation with all actors in the higher education system and other relevant stakeholders.
Create more incentives for private sector companies to work with HEIs.

For HEIs:

Include an entrepreneurial perspective in HEI and faculty advisory boards.
Appoint a senior manager to be responsible for managing the “third mission”.
Increase co-operation with other stakeholders such as national and regional government, chambers of commerce and industry clusters.
Set objectives and targets to guide the implementation of the entrepreneurial vision.

2.2. Organisational capacity

Entrepreneurial objectives are supported by a wide range of sustainable funding and investment sources

A wide variety of activities related to innovation and entrepreneurship is taking place in many Polish HEIs, supported by a number of dedicated units. However, it appears that many of these activities are new and have only limited financial and human resources dedicated to them. Most entrepreneurial activities at the case study HEIs had been launched within the last five to ten years and had little financial resources. They were typically led by only one or two staff members, although more staff were often involved due to their own personal interest and initiative. There is good scope to continue these new developments with more and larger projects and initiatives.

While a small number of the entrepreneurial activities appear to generate their own revenue streams, there is also a need for central investment from the HEIs in these activities so that the units and centres (e.g. knowledge transfer centres, career offices, special purpose vehicles for spin-outs) can fulfil their mandates and meet the needs of researchers and students. Funding to date has been quite reliant on operational programmes supported by European Union Structural and Investment Funds. These funding streams are often short-term, which has led to discontinuity in many of the initiatives to date. For example, the Top 500 Innovators Programme aimed to identify top researchers and facilitate a knowledge exchange between them and other academic staff. This programme supported several activities, including international exchanges of young innovative researchers and knowledge transfer professionals to learn international best practice and disseminate them within Poland. The initiative was popular and widely considered to be a success. However, the exchange activity ended after one programming period (a new iteration of the programme has been launched for employees of enterprises), although an association was set up to act as an inter-disciplinary exchange platform for researchers and technology transfer officers. It remains to be seen how effective the association will be in replacing the former programme activity, but there is a risk that a discontinuation of the exchange activity will reduce the in-take of international experience into the Polish higher education system.

Another challenge is that many entrepreneurial activities could not be funded with European Structural and Investment Funds since they were commercial activities (or had elements of commercial activity). For example, several HEIs, notably in Gdansk, indicated that they could not use EU Structural and Investment Funds to support laboratories or research facilities that were used for research that had commercial purposes. This non‐commercial condition appears to have been set by some regional managing authorities and is a major hindrance to developing entrepreneurial activities within HEIs, both in terms of supporting researchers in working with industry but also for providing students with practical opportunities to experience entrepreneurship.

One option for increasing funding for entrepreneurial HEIs is to adjust the formula used by the Ministry to set HEI annual budgets. This would provide more stable funding but also signal the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship activities to the HEIs.

Alternatively, HEIs could be more entrepreneurial themselves by raising their own funds for these activities. While this has not been a traditional funding route in Poland, the HEI Leader Survey indicates that approximately half of Polish HEIs are undertaking some fund-raising activities. This may be pursued further in the future, but will likely only be a complementary source of resources.

The HEI has the capacity and culture to build new relationships and synergies across the institution

In general, communication and collaboration between faculties, students and academic staff appears to take place through both formal and informal channels. Many examples of inter-faculty and inter-disciplinary collaborations were observed during the study visits, including formal agreements for academic staff in other faculties to teach entrepreneurship to other students.

However, there is often a lack of detailed knowledge across the HEIs about what entrepreneurship support exists in other faculties. Similarly, information flows with the wider HEI community could be improved. Better information flows on entrepreneurial and innovative activities could be built into HEI governance models, with a stronger role for advisory boards and positions in senior management (e.g. Vice-Rectors or Vice Deans) that are dedicated to and responsible for this agenda.

The HEI is open to engaging and recruiting individuals with entrepreneurial attitudes, behaviour and experience

Various approaches are being adopted to bring experiences from the outside world into HEIs, mostly with regards to involving guest speakers or business-oriented people in teaching activities, including those related to entrepreneurship. However, the extent of this practice varies substantially from one HEI to the other and across faculties within the same HEI.

Furthermore, the predominant criteria for hiring academic staff are still almost exclusively focused around scientific publication, something that is also common to many other countries, and may need to be re-addressed, in order for innovation and entrepreneurship activities and results to be also duly taken into account. For example, fewer than 40% of HEIs that responded to the HEInnovate Leader Survey indicated that their HEI considers private sector experience when they are recruiting academic and research staff (Figure 2.4).

Another important way of engaging with entrepreneurial individuals is through governance models and the ways external stakeholders participate in top level bodies of the HEI and their faculties. In this context, Advisory Boards with representatives from companies and other organisations are becoming common, and may be reinforced, including their possible participation in key strategic decisions related to the HEI and its innovation or entrepreneurship activities and results.

The HEI invests in staff development to support its entrepreneurial agenda

In Poland, academic staff are hired, evaluated and promoted based on their research and scientific performance, rather than contributions to the construction or implementation of an entrepreneurial HEI. Thus, there is much that can be done to support staff development with respect to entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore, key professional staff in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship are still quite recent in Polish HEIs, and many of them are in non-permanent positions and thus dependent upon the duration of certain specific projects, often supported by European Union Structural and Investment Funds.

In order to increase support for the entrepreneurial agenda, innovation and entrepreneurship activities and outcomes should be taken into account when academic staff are recruited or promoted (e.g. considering patents and patent licensing agreements, contract research and development with companies or other organisations, spin-off creation, participations in NGO activities that may contribute to local development or triple helix models of collaboration, teaching and learning activities, or acting as a mentor to student entrepreneurs).

Similarly, highly qualified professionals, fully dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship activities, through specific units aimed at supporting this agenda (e.g. career, technology transfer or industrial property offices, incubators or special purpose vehicles for spin-off creation), should be able to have well-defined and stable careers within the HEI, to further motivate their dedication to these still recent fields of intervention. This can also reduce job turnover and ensure that people with relevant skills remain in such functions and at the HEI, avoiding the loss of cumulative knowledge and relationships that may not be easily replaced.

Since organised and structured entrepreneurship activities in Polish HEIs, considerable additional training, promotion and awareness may still be needed in entrepreneurship, involving local, national and international learning opportunities for the following groups of people: i) senior management (e.g. Rectors, Vice-Rectors, Deans and Directors); ii) academic staff involved in entrepreneurship teaching; iii) academic staff in general; and iv) non-academic staff leading entrepreneurial HEI offices and activities.

Incentives and rewards are given to staff who actively support the entrepreneurial agenda

As already noted, there is a lack of formal recognition for the activities of innovation and entrepreneurship carried out by either academic or non-academic staff from a career development point of view. Only 35% of HEIs indicated in the HEI Leader Survey that they had an incentive system for supporting the entrepreneurial agenda (Figure 2.5).

The same also applies to other kinds of rewards, namely: i) awards and formal recognition; ii) compensation in terms of reductions in teaching or research workloads given the third mission contributions provided; iii) economic rewards related to sharing results and outcomes obtained with the HEI, such as additional revenues generated or spinoff profits; and iv) grants and fellowships for further development of projects, including training possibilities. Such kinds of incentives may be established at the individual level, but can also be applied to motivate and recognise teams, departments, faculties or HEIs, or even cities or regions, in terms of what they have been able to achieve with respect to entrepreneurial HEI activities and results.

Key recommendations for organisational capacity

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Provide a specific budget allocation to HEIs to implement entrepreneurial strategies, either directly or through competitive mechanisms.
Modify the legal framework to allow for the possibility of professional promotion of academic staff based on criteria other than research outcomes.

For HEIs:

Provide incentives for staff to engage in the entrepreneurial agenda, e.g. grants, awards, workload reductions, etc.
Provide training possibilities for staff and reward excellent performance in teaching, research and entrepreneurship.
Strengthen relationships with alumni to engage their support for the entrepreneurial agenda.

2.3. Entrepreneurial teaching and learning

The HEI provides diverse formal learning opportunities to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and skills

Most Polish HEIs are increasingly offering a large range of learning opportunities to facilitate innovative teaching and learning across all faculties. Approaches are becoming more interactive, but often remain quite traditional, typically relying on lecture style teaching. All HEIs that responded to the Leader Survey indicated that lectures are a commonly used teaching method while work-based methods (e.g. problem solving, work-based learning) were used much less frequently (Figure 2.6). This results in teaching that is oriented towards transferring knowledge rather than stimulating and developing mindsets.

There is also room to make courses more interdisciplinary so that students are exposed to different ways of thinking. Few examples of interdisciplinary learning were observed in the case study HEIs, although student research circles are common and can offer students an informal opportunity to work and learn with students from other disciplines.

The HEI provides diverse informal learning opportunities and experiences to stimulate the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and skills

Extracurricular learning opportunities have become an important complement to formal entrepreneurship courses in Polish HEIs. The HEI Leaders Survey shows that there has been a great increase in student demand for informal learning opportunities across nearly all HEIs (Figure 2.7).

The most popular informal learning method with students is the student research circles, which are an important part of student life and education. Students organise these clubs around an objective (e.g. to offer business counselling to other entrepreneurs) and are supported by an academic staff member who provides mentorship and guidance when needed. Many of these clubs have developed entrepreneurial activities or are centred on entrepreneurship. While students do not receive formal course credits for participating in student research circles, HEIs do encourage these types of activities and promote them as experiences that enrich the HEI experience.

Business plan competitions are also an important part of extracurricular opportunities for students. These are offered by many HEIs and also in the off-campus community by local and regional governments.

The HEI validates entrepreneurial learning outcomes which drives the design and execution of the entrepreneurial curriculum

Only approximately half of respondents to the HEI Leader Survey indicated that they undertake formal evaluations of entrepreneurship education activities, although another 30% indicated that there are ongoing discussions about potentially implementing evaluations (Figure 2.8). Furthermore, the case study HEIs generally do not validate entrepreneurial learning outcomes. There was some confusion between entrepreneurship and management at most HEIs, which led to a rather limited codification of expected entrepreneurial learning outcomes in relation to knowledge, skills and competences.

The HEI co-designs and delivers the curriculum with external stakeholders

External stakeholders are generally an important source of expertise in entrepreneurial teaching and learning in Poland. Nearly 80% of HEIs that responded to the HEI Leader Survey indicated that they co-design entrepreneurship education with external stakeholders (Figure 2.9) and nearly 70% indicate that they deliver it with external stakeholders (Figure 2.10). Furthermore, all of the case study HEIs demonstrated strong partnerships with other community organisations in this area, including the business community, local and regional governments and chambers of commerce. These partners advise the HEIs through advisory boards on the content of the education and it is common for entrepreneurs to participate in the delivery of the education. Nevertheless, one area for improvement for the HEIs is to strengthen linkages with the financial sector, which can strengthen financial literacy education and increase opportunities for student and staff entrepreneurs to build relationships with investors.

Results of entrepreneurship research are integrated into the entrepreneurial education offer

Results of entrepreneurship research are occasionally included in entrepreneurship teaching. The HEI Leader Survey indicates that approximately 60% of respondent HEIs use research results in their entrepreneurship teaching and training (Figure 2.11). A challenge in Poland, however, is that entrepreneurship is not seen as an academic discipline that is on par with traditional subjects, such as mathematics or chemistry, and entrepreneurship professors identify themselves either as economic researchers or researchers in management science. This inhibits the use of entrepreneurship research in teaching since the academic staff do not appear to keep abreast of current entrepreneurship research results and trends. One method to strengthen this element of entrepreneurship education would be to improve support for Polish entrepreneurship professors to participate in international entrepreneurship education networks and attend international entrepreneurship conferences.

Key recommendations for entrepreneurial teaching and learning

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Develop a resource base for entrepreneurship education, including a platform for good practice exchange.

For HEIs:

Adopt a broader perspective of entrepreneurship in teaching and learning activities, including various forms of entrepreneurship (e.g. social entrepreneurship, part-time entrepreneurship).
Build-up entrepreneurship as an academic field by increasing participation in international entrepreneurship networks and by supporting entrepreneurship research.
Promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
Increase the use of action-based education.
Promote the development of entrepreneurial soft skills in diverse learning teams.
Integrate entrepreneurial teaching and learning into professor assessments.
Include more external HEI stakeholders in the design and delivery of entrepreneurship education.

2.4. Preparing and supporting entrepreneurs

The HEI increases awareness of the value of entrepreneurship and stimulates the entrepreneurial intentions of students, graduates and staff to start-up a business or venture

Entrepreneurship is increasingly encouraged and promoted to students by HEIs through various channels. Students are encouraged to be involved in projects leading to entrepreneurial opportunities, for instance through research circles centred on entrepreneurship or the involvement of students in entrepreneurial events like the Global Entrepreneurship Week. Entrepreneurship is also increasingly included in curricula.

Alumni, however, are not very engaged with their HEIs in general, although some personal connections and contacts between faculty and alumni were observed during the study, notably at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. Broadly, the lack of engagement with alumni is a missed opportunity to strengthen ties between HEIs and the business community. This could be leveraged further to increase awareness about entrepreneurship.

Starting one’s own venture and the commercialisation of research are strongly encouraged for academic staff, but these activities are not taken into account in the faculty evaluation/promotion system. Most universities have special purpose vehicles for spin-offs creations by their staff, but the scale of activities is very low.

The HEI supports its students, graduates and staff to move from idea generation to business creation

Most HEIs help students and staff in taking their first steps in preparing for a start-up (Figure 2.12). The most common form of start-up support consists of the suite of services offered by the AIP incubators. These services are quite basic but have a good reach within the HEIs. Career offices also have a strong role in this area by offering some workshops and events, and also directing students to where further support can be obtained. Some HEIs also provide intellectual property assistance for potential start-ups, but principally for academic staff and not enough for students.

Most HEIs also provide support for academic staff interested in business creation, including assistance with intellectual property management. The start-up support for academic staff is generally of higher quality than that for students.

Results from the HEI Leader Survey suggest that mentoring from academic staff is widely available to student entrepreneurs. There is nonetheless room to engage more with entrepreneurs for the purposes of mentoring students.

Training is offered to assist students, graduates and staff in starting, running and growing a business

Entrepreneurship courses provide relevant knowledge to participants about starting, running and growing a business in areas such as financing, legal and regulatory issues, or managing innovation processes. However, the entrepreneurship training and courses are still largely dedicated to hard knowledge rather than developing entrepreneurial skills and competencies. Soft skills are often acquired through out-of-class activities such as entrepreneurial events or student research centres focusing on entrepreneurship, whereas they could effectively be brought into formal classes. Teaching methods are sometimes still too much based on the traditional transmission-reception-exam model. Using more entrepreneurs and key actors from the entrepreneurship ecosystem in classes and training would improve the quality and relevance of training.

Mentoring and other forms of personal development are offered by experienced individuals from academia or industry

Mentoring by entrepreneurs does not appear to be widely used as an educational tool in Polish HEIs (see Figure 2.12). All respondents to the HEI Leader Survey reported that mentoring, along with financial support, is an area where student demand has increased over the last two years (Figure 2.13). On the other hand, examples of peer mentoring for start-up were observed in the case study HEIs in the form of student research circles, where students learn together in groups. Further, each student group has an academic staff member available to them to provide advice and mentorship. Very few examples of mentoring by entrepreneurs were observed during the study visits.

The HEI facilitates access to financing for its entrepreneurs

Most HEIs are not involved in new venture financing. Seed funding is however provided by the AIP seed fund and can be accessed via the AIP incubators on campus. In addition, there are examples of student organisations that are actively building relationships with investors. The student research circles at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics are active in building relationships with the business community in Warsaw and have been successful at involving venture capitalists in their events. Students can also access various funding sources off-campus, including grant schemes operated by city governments as well as national schemes. Although HEIs are not very active in this area, the students interviewed during the study visits indicated that financing is not seen as a major obstacle to business creation.

However finance does appear to be more of an obstacle for academic staff, who typically need greater amounts of financing. Many researchers and Technology Transfer Offices in the case study HEIs cited a lack of resources as an obstacle to fully protecting intellectual property developed by researchers.

The HEI offers or facilitates access to business incubation

Most Polish universities host business incubators providing entrepreneurs with an integrated package of coaching, mentoring, training, shared platforms and financing and a visible and accessible business location. However, most of the time, these incubators are not part of the university but belong to a private foundation (i.e. the AIP), and they tend to offer services that would generally be considered to be pre-incubation rather than incubation.

Off-campus business incubators are also available to students and academic staff, but funding for them has declined recently and their capacity has diminished (see Chapter 5 for more information). Nonetheless, there are exciting new initiatives to offset this such as GrowPoint at KU Kozminski University, which is a new business accelerator programme.

Key recommendations for preparing entrepreneurs

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Work with the Ministry of Economic Development and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) to strengthen the start-up support infrastructure making use of European Union Structural and Investment Funds.

For HEIs:

Increase the availability of mentoring by entrepreneurs for student entrepreneurs.
Improve the quality of start-up supports for students, including providing more business development support.
Develop more intensive business supports for students with high potential ideas.

2.5. Knowledge exchange

The HEI is committed to collaboration and knowledge exchange with industry, the public sector and society

Polish HEIs take a committed but decentralised approach to working with the business sector, governments and other community organisations. The HEI Leader Survey shows that the majority of HEIs undertake a range of knowledge exchange activities with other actors and organisations in their local and regional contexts. The most common activities are joint research projects, student internships and continuous learning opportunities for employees in local companies. Most HEIs in Poland report that they operate these activities. Other types of collaboration are undertaken in about half of the Polish HEIs responding to the HEI Leaders Survey, including staff loans to industry and transferring knowledge through technology transfer (e.g. licensing, prototypes, spin-outs).

Furthermore, each of the case study HEIs had implemented some type of structure to support collaborations and knowledge exchanges with industry, the public sector and society, including advisory boards at institution and faculty level, technology transfer offices, career offices and special purpose vehicles to help spin-out companies. However, the majority of these activities are very small scale. For example, none of the case study HEIs had filed more than three patents in a year. Thus, while many of the structures to facilitate these activities are in place, more investment will be needed to kick-start these activities.

The case study HEIs also identified a number of other challenges that inhibit them from further exploiting their knowledge exchange activities. First, there is a disconnect between the higher education sector and the business community. There are many examples of the business community seeking expertise from HEIs but expecting results in unrealistic timeframes (from the HEIs’ perspective). Second, many of the activities are driven by the individuals involved who hold key positions within the HEIs. There is a need to ensure that take-up of these structures is systemic. Third, the HEIs are relatively closed to two important sources of international connections, namely foreign students and foreign or visiting academic staff. This inhibits international knowledge exchanges.

The HEI demonstrates active involvement in partnerships and relationships with a wide range of stakeholders

Each of the case study HEIs has a range of partnerships with private companies, local government, regional development agencies and other HEIs. These partnerships and relationships have an equally broad range of objectives. Collaborations with private companies were often short- and medium-term research projects, often focused on commercialising applied research from the HEI. This was particularly true for universities of applied sciences. Similarly, there were several examples of student projects that provided opportunities to work with companies. There are also examples of where the HEIs contribute to local entrepreneurship events. For example, in Elblag, the University of Applied Sciences works with the city to plan and organise Elblag Days of Entrepreneurship, Open Days (where companies hold open houses) and Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Polish HEIs tend to take a decentralised approach to building partnerships, where academic staff and the various units develop relationships with key partners. Some HEIs also use formalised structures, such as advisory boards that allow the business community and regional government an opportunity to shape HEI activities.

An area where the HEIs are less strong is maintaining relationships with their graduates. Alumni can be an important resource for advancing the entrepreneurial agenda, including providing potential guest trainers who can work with students, providing more experienced coaches and mentors for student entrepreneurs, offering professional network opportunities between the business community and higher education, and acting as a potential source of financing for entrepreneurial activities. Career offices are working to improve these contacts by building up alumni associations and by creating newsletters to maintain contact with graduates.

The HEI has strong links with incubators, science parks and other external initiatives

Polish HEIs generally have strong connections with business incubators and science parks. Approximately half of respondents to the HEI Leader Survey indicated that they work with business incubators both for entrepreneurship education and to support new start-ups by staff and students (Figure 2.14). Only 20% of HEIs reported that they do not work with incubators.

Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they have incubators on-campus. Of those who reported on-campus incubators, all reported that they provided access to the HEI’s laboratories and research facilities; access to the HEI’s IT services (Internet, network services, etc.); coaching and training; and help with internationalisation (Figure 2.15).

Start-up support for students is largely provided through the network of AIP incubators, which are typically managed by the AIP Foundation and not the HEIs. There are 56 AIP incubators in the network.

The HEIs often provide start-up support for academic staff to help them commercialise their research. This support includes assistance with managing intellectual property protection and special purpose vehicles to set up legal entities. Academic staff at the case study HEIs were generally content with this support but it is all very new and the levels of activity are very low. None of the case study HEIs have created more than three spin-outs per year. Funding is a challenge for the HEIs in this area and a lack of funds is often prohibitive in terms of international patent filing.

In addition, there is an extensive start-up support infrastructure that is managed by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP). This includes business incubators, science parks and technology parks. They are not always strongly linked with HEIs, but there are examples of close relationships such as Lublin Science and Technology Park and UMCS Maria Curie-Sklodowska University.

The HEI provides opportunities for staff and students to take part in innovative activities with business/the external environment

HEIs offer students several opportunities to participate in innovative activities with non-university stakeholders. One of the most common methods is through internships, which are notably common practice in technical universities. The HEI Leader Survey indicates that more than 80% of internship programmes include a mechanism for participants to share their experiences with other students (Figure 2.16).

In addition, student research circles are extremely important in Polish HEIs. These student clubs are organised and operated under the guidance of a professor. Student research circles are not necessarily about academic research; they can have any purpose. Many of them facilitate student engagement with the business community (e.g. student business clubs).

Finally, students are also active in entrepreneurship activities in the community. There are examples such as the PWSZ State University of Applied Science in Elblag, which supports student involvement in the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Elblag.

There are fewer initiatives for staff outside of research projects. However, there are a small number of examples such as the Operational Programme – Knowledge Education Development (PO WER), where HEIs helped develop professionals with specific skills for industry. This initiative is managed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The HEI integrates research, education and industry (wider community) activities to exploit new knowledge

There are a number of examples of projects where HEIs bring together research, education and the business community. One good example is the Ecotech-Complex in Lublin. Under the leadership of UMCS Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, the project involves other HEIs in the region: Lublin Medical University of Lublin, Institute of Agrophysic Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin, Rzeszow University of Technology and University of Rzeszów. This project aims to consolidate the research, educational and industrial potential of Lubelskie and Podkarpackie regions to improve innovation and competitiveness of the regional economy in the areas of sustainable agriculture, environment protection, health and food safety. The complex offers 20 laboratory spaces for academic researchers, PhD students and private sector researchers. It also offers training and internships for students. Another good example is the new Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer Management of WUT Warsaw University of Technology (see Chapter 5 for more information).

On the other hand, linkages between HEIs and the business community are relatively limited. One of the challenges that several HEIs noted was that joint research and projects with the private sector cannot be published in academic publications due to confidentiality concerns and questions of intellectual property. The HEI Leader Survey confirmed that there are few incentives available for staff to engage in these activities (Figure 2.17).

Key recommendations for knowledge exchange

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Work with the Ministry for Economic Development to provide incentives for private sector companies to work with HEIs.
Promote and animate the network that was established for academic staff and technology transfer officers who have participated in the Top 500 Innovators programme.

For HEIs:

Incorporate a strong entrepreneurial element in HEI and faculty advisory boards.
Continue to invest in strengthening relationships with alumni.
Increase incentives for academic staff to work with private sector companies.

2.6. The internationalised institution

Internationalisation is an integral part of the HEI’s entrepreneurial agenda

Nearly all respondents to the HEI Leader Survey reported that their HEI’s strategy has sections dedicated to international activities or that international issues run throughout the strategy (Figure 2.18). Moreover, a small number of HEIs reported that they had a stand-alone internationalisation strategy, the vast majority were non-public HEIs. The strong presence of internationalisation in HEI strategies suggests that internationalisation is an important issue in Polish higher education. This is, however, because the scale of international activities of Polish HEIs is quite limited. These activities are typically limited to modest efforts related to student recruitment, student exchanges (e.g. Erasmus+), academic exchanges (e.g. Top 500 Innovators Programme) or international research projects.

On the other hand, there were few international members of advisory boards or other international contributions to the governance structures of the case study HEIs. The one exception was at KU Kozminski University, which had an international advisory board. Spreading this practice to other HEIs in Poland would help other Polish HEIs in becoming more international.

Another approach to advancing in this area is to increase the participation of academic staff in international entrepreneurial related events or networks (e.g. HEInnovate events, CONEEECT, ASTPPROTON).

The HEI explicitly supports the international mobility of its staff and students

Polish HEIs are making efforts to increase international mobility of staff and even more so for students. There are now ten times more international students than there were 10 years ago. However, international students account for only 3% of the overall student population, and a substantial part of these foreign students come from a rather small number of neighbouring countries (e.g. Ukraine). The limited number of courses and programmes offered in English inhibits the growth of the number of international students in Poland, although Polish HEIs are increasing the number of courses and programmes offered in English.

There have been recent positive experiences with international exchange programmes (e.g. Top 500 Innovators, Young Design Management, Eco-innovations in cities). These exchanges allowed academic staff to learn and share experiences with leading HEIs in other countries in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. One of the strengths of many of these programmes is that they included a mechanism for disseminating this knowledge once the participants returned to Poland. The results of these exchanges were observed in the case study HEIs, notably at the GUT Gdansk University of Technology and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. Many professors expressed disappointment that these programmes have been discontinued since they are seen as having had a positive impact. The discontinuity of these types of programmes will reduce the medium and long-term impact of such exchanges.

The HEI seeks and attracts international and entrepreneurial staff

Very few academic staff are from outside of Poland and visiting professorships do not appear to be widely used (see Figure 1.8 in Chapter 1). The HEI Leader Survey indicates that nearly half of respondents have recruitment policies and practices that seek to attract international staff (Figure 2.21) but the results of such efforts have been extremely limited. One of the challenges is that the vast majority of courses and programmes are offered in Polish, which is clearly a challenge for non-Polish academics. However, another important challenge that was identified during the study visits is that the salaries of academic staff are not competitive internationally. It is important to note that while there are national regulations on salary levels, the HEIs have flexibility in setting salary levels.

A number of approaches can be taken to increase the presence of international and entrepreneurial academic staff. First, fellowships can be used to attract international scholars to share knowledge and participate in teaching or research activities related to innovation and entrepreneurship. A common mechanism for doing this is to create Entrepreneurship Chairs. None of the case study HEIs had experience with this.

Further, international linkages can be strengthened through international collaborative research projects, as well as masters and PhD thesis projects. In particular, the community of PhD students (approximately 40 000) can play a role in this regard.

International perspectives are reflected in the HEI’s approach to teaching

A number of actions over the past decade have sought to increase international perspectives in the approaches taken to teaching in Polish HEIs. These include the numerous exchange programmes for academic staff to go abroad to learn from leading foreign HEIs and the use of student exchange programmes to bring international perspectives into classes via students. Despite these efforts, one of the barriers is the low level of English course and programme offerings. This limits the use of international academic staff in teaching as well as non-Polish guest teachers. Moreover, this inhibits knowledge exchanges and teaching collaborations.

A number of actions can be taken to further incorporate international perspectives in teaching, including: i) greater participation of academic staff in international entrepreneurship teaching networks; ii) participation of Polish expatriates in seminars or other teaching activities; iii) participation of alumni leading internationally oriented spinoffs or managing multinational companies in seminars or other teaching activities; iv) participation of academic staff and students in international pitch, business ideas or business plan competitions; v) establishment of temporary chairs for international entrepreneurship professors to work in Poland for a certain period of time and provide teaching in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, both to students and academic staff.

The international dimension is reflected in the HEI’s approach to research

Polish HEIs and their academic staff are generally active in international research projects in some disciplines (e.g. physics, chemistry, engineering). This most often occurs through joint research projects with HEIs from other countries and also with multinational corporations in some cases.

Despite this high level of activity, further collaborations are actively sought. One of the mechanisms used to increase international research is through European Union Structural and Investment Funds and through HORIZON 2020 Funds. In addition, all of the HEIs visited are working to build stronger relationships with internationally oriented companies, notably in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Key recommendations for internationalisation

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Create communities of good practice that include non-Polish academic staff and experts. The focus of these networks could cover: teaching and learning; career offices; technology transfer offices; business accelerators and incubators; and more.

For HEIs:

Invite international experts to give short training sessions to academic staff on issues relevant to innovation and entrepreneurship (e.g. teaching entrepreneurship).
Create Visiting Fellow positions related to innovation and entrepreneurship to allow international academic staff to work in Polish HEIs for a short period of time (one to three months).

2.7. Measuring impact

The HEI regularly assesses the impact of its entrepreneurial agenda

Overall, HEIs do not systematically evaluate their entrepreneurial activities. This, however, is not unique to entrepreneurial activities. Figure 2.20 shows that only half of responding Polish HEIs monitor specific performance indicators defined for their institutional strategies. Thus, monitoring and assessing HEI strategies is a broad challenge.

Polish HEIs operate a wide range of entrepreneurial activities. However, as seen in section 2.1, they are not always explicitly identified in strategic documents. This presents a challenge for measuring the impact because there is rarely a clearly defined set of activities that can be assessed to measure institutional performance.

At the institutional level, senior management are often interested in tracking the number of partnerships with industry and international co-operations. All of the case study HEIs had detailed descriptive information on these activities but none attempted to assess the impact of these activities on the HEI.

There are some efforts to track and measure entrepreneurial activities within various units in HEIs. For example, career offices typically track their entrepreneurship training sessions and the labour market outcomes of graduates. In addition, many entrepreneurship professors in the case study HEIs survey students before and after entrepreneurship education modules and training courses to attempt to measure the impact of their teaching. It is also common for business start-up supports (e.g. AIP incubators) to track the number of participants and the number of start-ups. However, these efforts are not consolidated, nor utilised at the institutional level.

The HEI regularly assesses how its personnel and resources support its entrepreneurial agenda

Polish HEIs do not appear to put much effort into assessing how personnel and financial resources are used to support their entrepreneurial agenda. Most HEIs have an idea about how many people are involved in these activities and are also aware of the financial resources invested, since public funding often has conditions on their use. However, there are few examples of an HEI attempting to assess whether human and financial resources are used in the most effective and efficient manner to support its entrepreneurial agenda.

Within HEIs, some units do undertake informal assessments of the ways in which their resources are used. For example, career offices often had only one to three employees and therefore have to decide how these staff will be employed. This requires an informal assessment of which activities the career offices should do, based on student demand.

The challenge for HEIs in undertaking more rigorous assessments of how their human resources are employed is that entrepreneurial activities are not considered by the processes that determine the career paths of academic staff. Thus little attention is often paid to them.

The HEI regularly assesses entrepreneurial teaching and learning across the institution

The HEI Leader Survey indicates that approximately half of respondents undertake formal evaluations of entrepreneurship education activities (Figure 2.21). Of these, half of these respondents indicated that the formal evaluation is mandatory. These evaluations relied heavily on student surveys but few use follow-up interviews and focus groups to collect more detailed information. Evaluations typically measured: number of participants in training; satisfaction of participants; motivation of participants to start-up a business; and level of competences and skills gained in the education activity.

Many examples of informal assessments of entrepreneurship education were observed in the case study HEIs. A typical approach involves professors teaching entrepreneurship making a survey of their students at the beginning of the course to assess their attitudes, knowledge and motivations in entrepreneurship, and then running the same survey again at the end of the course to identify the changes in students’ attitudes and views, which are likely attributed to the course. Such evaluations are often used for the research activities of the professor and are also used to adjust the course content. These activities rely, however, on the initiative of the individual teachers and are not systematically undertaken across all entrepreneurship courses.

More generally, the Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) assesses learning outcomes in the higher education system in a collaborative process with HEIs. Several entrepreneurship learning outcomes are included in the National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education and are therefore covered by these assessments. PKA undertakes approximately 400 ex-post assessments per year.

The HEI regularly assesses the impact of start-up support

The HEI Leader Survey indicates that HEIs put less attention on assessing business start-up support than they do for entrepreneurship education activities (Figure 2.22). Only one-third of HEIs indicated that they undertake formal evaluations of start-up support measures. This is largely explained by the role of the AIP Foundation in operating its network of AIP incubators inside HEIs. The AIP Foundation is a separate organisation that has agreements with HEIs to operate its incubators inside HEIs. Therefore, it is the AIP Foundation that assesses their centres rather than the HEIs. Visits to the AIP incubators in the study visits confirmed the collection of basic metrics on their activities.

In all the case study HEIs a basic but rather comprehensive set of metrics is collected on start-up support services (e.g. special purpose vehicles for spin-outs, technology transfer centres) for researchers and academic staff. This includes, for example, the number of patents filed in Poland and internationally and the value of spin-outs. However, this information does not appear to be used to assess the impact of the investments in these support services.

The HEI regularly assesses knowledge exchange and collaboration

HEIs are very aware of the ways in which they interact with other private and public sector organisations. Results from the HEI Leader Survey indicate that the vast majority of HEIs undertake formal evaluations on their range of knowledge exchange activities, including various forms of technology transfer, research collaborations, teaching activities of non-university actors, etc.

All of the case study HEIs had detailed metrics on the number of collaborative research projects, the number of patents, the value of spin-outs, the number of staff and students involved in exchanges and more.

There is room, however, for the HEIs to go beyond collecting data on key indicators by undertaking more sophisticated impact evaluations to understand the value of these activities to the HEI, including an identification of which activities are the most valuable.

The HEI regularly assesses the institution’s international activities in relation to its entrepreneurial agenda

The case study HEIs all track their international activities with considerable detail. Each of the HEIs could report the number of collaborative research projects with private sector businesses and with other HEIs, both in Poland and abroad. Further, they also track the number of staff and student exchanges (Erasmus+), including both in- and out-flows.

However, there is room to undertake more sophisticated impact assessments to understand where further investments would have the greatest effect.

Key recommendations for measuring impact

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

Encourage HEIs to measure the impact of their innovation and entrepreneurship activities and offer technical support (e.g. training) to the HEIs, including through opportunities available through the European Social Fund.
Provide a prize with funding for HEIs that can demonstrate a strong impact of their innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

For HEIs:

Undertake more sophisticated evaluations and impact assessments on all elements of the entrepreneurial agenda.
Develop baseline measures relating to key performance indicators so that the impact of the entrepreneurial agenda can be measured. Key indicators should include (but not be limited to): number of student participating in entrepreneurship activities (e.g. formal courses, workshops, AIP incubators); number of spin-offs and start-ups by academic staff and students; number of collaborations with industry for infrastructure development; and percentage of third-party funding from industry.

Chapter 2. Applying HEInnovate to higher education in Poland

2.1. Leadership and governance

Entrepreneurship is a major part of the HEI’s strategy

There is commitment at a high level to implementing the entrepreneurial agenda

There is a model in place for co-ordinating and integrating entrepreneurial activities across the HEI

The HEI encourages and supports faculties and units to act entrepreneurially

The HEI is a driving force for entrepreneurship and innovation in regional, social and community development

Key recommendations for leadership and governance

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.2. Organisational capacity

Entrepreneurial objectives are supported by a wide range of sustainable funding and investment sources

The HEI has the capacity and culture to build new relationships and synergies across the institution

The HEI is open to engaging and recruiting individuals with entrepreneurial attitudes, behaviour and experience

The HEI invests in staff development to support its entrepreneurial agenda

Incentives and rewards are given to staff who actively support the entrepreneurial agenda

Key recommendations for organisational capacity

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.3. Entrepreneurial teaching and learning

The HEI provides diverse formal learning opportunities to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and skills

The HEI provides diverse informal learning opportunities and experiences to stimulate the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and skills

The HEI validates entrepreneurial learning outcomes which drives the design and execution of the entrepreneurial curriculum

The HEI co-designs and delivers the curriculum with external stakeholders

Results of entrepreneurship research are integrated into the entrepreneurial education offer

Key recommendations for entrepreneurial teaching and learning

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.4. Preparing and supporting entrepreneurs

The HEI increases awareness of the value of entrepreneurship and stimulates the entrepreneurial intentions of students, graduates and staff to start-up a business or venture

The HEI supports its students, graduates and staff to move from idea generation to business creation

Training is offered to assist students, graduates and staff in starting, running and growing a business

Mentoring and other forms of personal development are offered by experienced individuals from academia or industry

The HEI facilitates access to financing for its entrepreneurs

The HEI offers or facilitates access to business incubation

Key recommendations for preparing entrepreneurs

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.5. Knowledge exchange

The HEI is committed to collaboration and knowledge exchange with industry, the public sector and society

The HEI demonstrates active involvement in partnerships and relationships with a wide range of stakeholders

The HEI has strong links with incubators, science parks and other external initiatives

The HEI provides opportunities for staff and students to take part in innovative activities with business/the external environment

The HEI integrates research, education and industry (wider community) activities to exploit new knowledge

Key recommendations for knowledge exchange

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.6. The internationalised institution

Internationalisation is an integral part of the HEI’s entrepreneurial agenda

The HEI explicitly supports the international mobility of its staff and students

The HEI seeks and attracts international and entrepreneurial staff

International perspectives are reflected in the HEI’s approach to teaching

The international dimension is reflected in the HEI’s approach to research

Key recommendations for internationalisation

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

2.7. Measuring impact

The HEI regularly assesses the impact of its entrepreneurial agenda

The HEI regularly assesses how its personnel and resources support its entrepreneurial agenda

The HEI regularly assesses entrepreneurial teaching and learning across the institution

The HEI regularly assesses the impact of start-up support

The HEI regularly assesses knowledge exchange and collaboration

The HEI regularly assesses the institution’s international activities in relation to its entrepreneurial agenda

Key recommendations for measuring impact

For the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:

For HEIs:

References