Lokalizacja firm i zachowania przestrzenne pracowników sektora informatycznego (na przykładzie poznańskiego obszaru metropolitalnego)

In the contemporary world, areas characterised by the development of the information economy and society are of particular importance. This article has two goals: a theoretical and an empirical one. From a theoretical perspective, an attempt is made to answer the question of how the growth of the IT sector changes the traditional concepts of industrial location and regional development. The empirical part presents the preliminary results of a research carried out under the international project “Accommodating Creative Knowledge: Competitiveness of European Metropolitan Regions within the Enlarged Union” (ACRE). They show the state, dynamics and spatial structure of the analysed sector as well as the spatial behaviour of its employees in the Poznań metropolitan area. The article concludes with a distinction of two development pathways of the IT sector: catching up with the more advanced Western economies and societies, and utilising the endogenous human capital.