Regional Discrepancies in the Level of Knowledge-Based Economy in Poland

Subject and purpose of work This paper analyzes the level of knowledge-based economy (KBE) in terms of sustainable development across the provinces (voivodships) of Poland in 2020. The underlying assumption of this study is that knowledge and skills are one of the fundamental preconditions for successfully implementing the concept of sustainable development. Materials and methods In order to calculate the rankings of Polish voivodships a synthetic indicator developed on the basis of the zeroed unitarization method was used. Results There are vast disproportions in the levels of KBE across the voivodeships of Poland. The most advanced KBE was identified in the Mazowieckie Voivodship, and the least developed KBE was found in the Lubuskie voivodship. Conclusions The capacity to develop a knowledge-based economy is inextricably interrelated with the quality of the social capital, which is directly attributable to the levels of education. In order to offset the interregional disproportions spending on research and development needs to be increased and the investments in human capital (e.g. through career planning, training, improving the professional qualifications of employees, discretionary bonuses) and new technologies should be expanded.