Knowledge Capital Creation: The Case of Polish Economy

Knowledge, and its application, is perceived as one of the key sources of competitiveness and growth in the global economy. In actuality, all kinds of intangible resources available to a country or region can offer a relative advantage and, in combination with others, yield future benefits. The importance of investment in knowledge, innovation, education and ICT was particularly exhibited in the Strategy Europe 2020 in the face of long-term global challenges such as climate change, scarcity of resources or adverse demographics. Without a doubt, these problems also affect the Polish economy which aspires not only to near averages of European competitiveness, but wanting to become one of the most competitive countries in the EU-27. The main purpose of the paper is to show the progress in the knowledge creation in Poland against the background of the EU-27 countries. Looking at the knowledge creation process through the prism of institutional approach, such an approach enables the identification of key barriers that have impeded this process thus far. The analysis confirms that one of the necessary prerequisites of effective knowledge creation is a friendly institutional environment which encourages the development of intellectual capital. The paper also explores the relationship between investment in knowledge capital and national competitiveness. Unfortunately, many empirical findings and statistical data suggest that Polish economy still suffers from permanent underinvestment in intellectual capital. It may thus hamper long-run economic performance and competitiveness. In a broader sense, the causal relationship between intellectual capital commitments and economic competitiveness is a function of governance standards. The aforementioned research is based not only on selected prior literature focused on intangible capital but it is also to be backed by broad empirical findings and statistical data derived from Polish and international think tanks.