Facilitating an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process for Smart Specialisation. The Case of Poland

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.