The conference was organized under the somewhat provocative title “Low innovation in the Lubuskie economy – Who was to blame.” Why can the title be considered provocative? at the national top.

– Today it is impossible to create innovative solutions without the commonly understood relationship with public administration, without entrepreneurs who create them to build an edge in the fight against competition and, finally, without the intellect, ie the world of science, Prof. Waldemar Slugocki, MP and Head of the Regional Policy Department at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Zielona Góra. – The title of the conference is provocative, but we don’t want to look for the culprit, but look at what the weakness is, where our work so far requires corrections and inspiration, and where we have already tackled the problems. Poland is in a special situation because we started this kind of economic transformation relatively recently…

The conference was divided into three thematic modules in which the participants discussed the potential of innovation in Lubuskie, the role of public administration in creating innovative directions of the economy, the role of science in generating and implementing innovative processes in the economy. The participants discussed topics such as study, the role of public administration and science in creating innovative directions of the economy

– I participated in many such discussions, often listened to entrepreneurs and I know that as local government officials we need such inspiration – he added Member of the Voivodeship Board Marcin Jabłoński. – Of course we are aware that regional authorities should participate in all activities promoting innovation, the regional level is very important, if only because of the way EU funds are distributed. And yet the Union is currently making the economy the priority of our action. However, experience shows that managing this flow of money is not that easy, we often only consumed part of this money and there was no lack of knowledge or inventions, just capital. Fortunately, that is changing now that there are more and more innovative companies.

The debaters talked about the even development of the region, about the ‘fifteen-minute’ cities and educational profiles, where the start of medicine at the University of Zielona Góra was given as an example of a rational launch of a new direction. Marek Cebula, Mayor of Krosno Odrzańskie, from the position of former entrepreneur and parliamentarian, and now a local government official, emphasized that the office should increasingly resemble a service company with extensive customer service, for example a potential investor. The maze of official corridors and the maze of regulations can destroy any idea, even the innovative one.

Who, then, is to blame that Lubuskie’s innovation is not at the level we would like? Probably a little of each of the participants in this struggle for modernity. However, Lubuskie has a good chance of digging out of the innovative hole.