Creating-entrepreneurial-mindset

Abstractsinclude courses concerning environmental aspects of enterprises’ activity but they are mostlygeneral in character (sometimes only optional) and not all important contents (from managers’or owners’ points of view) are available. Such modules are often accessible at selected specialities.The situation is constantly improving – more and more universities have such lectures ormodules on their offer or sometimes they even prepare the whole specialties related to environmentalaspects of management or economics. However in spite of ameliorating the situation,changes made in study programmes seem to be quite insufficient and some other actions areneeded to widen ecological awareness of future businesspeople and managers.Keywords: enterprises’ management, sustainability, environment, universities, PolandJEL Codes: A23, A12, Q01, Q5Chapter 9. Sylwia BADOWSKA: Science and business cooperation on innovation– evidence from PomeraniaAccording to the European Scoreboard 2013, Poland took the 4th place at the end of innovation.The low score in the ranking dictated by the multiannual low expenditure on R & D, butalso insufficient competence of enterprises in designing and implementing innovation. In theknowledge-based economy, innovation is a new engine of companies’ growth. Creating abroadly defined innovation is highly desirable, although extremely difficult and characterizedby a high risk of a failure. One of innovation pillars is an availability of an acquisition of appropriateresources. In this case, the key to success is a properly prepared own organization ofhuman capital and companies’ ability to absorb specific knowledge needed in innovation processes.If a company is not ready for generating new knowledge itself, it should be open forsearching partners outside who are able to bring new knowledge to the organization. One ofthese partners could be found in the regional or national system of innovation, mainly amonguniversities and R&D institutions. A regional innovation system plays an extremely importantrole in the innovation process, in which universities are acting as the first generators of newknowledge which is necessary for innovation in enterprises. More over they prepare skilledemployees for industry. Universities are a kind of a conveyor belt of new knowledge and skillsto business. The effectiveness of filling these roles by universities is dictated by a level of newknowledge and practical competence of these units’ academic staff. Personal contacts academicswith business, practical experience of researchers in collaboration with industry, as well asopenness to the applicability results of their research in practice are the elements of supportingpro-innovation activities in the regional innovation system. The paper sheds light on the role ofuniversities in Poland in the aspect of the “third mission”, the complex nature of the relationshipbetween the university and industry, firmly established a connection between business andscience and capacity for mutual cooperation from the academia’s perspective.Keywords: innovation, a role of universities, universities’ third mission, science and businesscooperationJEL Codes: O3135