The engagement of universities in entrepreneurship and innovation infrastructure in Poland

Purpose – The paper is intended to identify the role and activity of universities in building up business environment infrastructure in Poland. It analyses centres that support innovation processes and entrepreneurship co-established by higher education institutions, such as technology and academic incubators, technology transfer centres, and science and technology parks. Research method – The research methods include: a critical analysis of subject-matter literature, the analysis of the existing data (reports and expert opinions), and three casual interviews with leaders of innovation and entrepreneurship centres in Poland. Results – After a period of dynamic development (which ended in 2012), the number of business support institutions is declining. The trend is observed, in particular, amongst technology parks and incubators. On the other hand, the engagement of universities in the development of technology transfer centres is growing while the population of university start-up incubators remains stable. The number and power of entrepreneurship and innovation support centres are strongly correlated with the economic strength of regions and their position as academic centres. University and business collaboration has been expanding together with the density of regional relationships. Originality / value – The article assesses the state and quality of operation of the academic business environment and its transformation in the last decade.