Thursday, 17 March 2011: 09:20
Accession of Poland to the European Union is associated with several positive implications which may refer to different fields of our economy. It was expected, basing on the experience of other countries which joined this international grouping, that the standard of living in Poland would increase, also due to the inflow of the EU financial resources. Nowadays the structural funds constitute the major source of financing the socio-economic development of Poland and its regions. After accession Poland has received the financial support in order to enhance its level of economic development, to modernize its economy, to improve competitiveness and to diminish existing interregional disparities. The directions of interventions with the use of the UE funds in Poland were elaborated in the National Development Plan (2004-2006) and in the Cohesion Strategy for the years 2007-2013 – in the major documents for strategic planning of utilization of the EU financial resources. These financial resources have been spent on different areas of our economy and also absorption of these funds is diversified in the regions. The implementation of the EU cohesion policy required also some changes in the administrative structure in our country. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the directions of the EU support in Poland, also in its regions, with particular consideration to the area of innovation, and to analyse the dynamic of the development of the Polish regions. This paper in an attempt to answer the following question: if the interregional and intraregional disparities have decreased after enlargement and the convergence has been observed, or the reverse effect has taken place? The method which is used - it is the multi-dimensional modeling and spatial analysis. Each of the Polish region (voivodeship) is characterized by different dynamic of the economic development, also the innovation potential which constitutes the major source of economic growth is also diversified among the regions. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part the major changes that took place in the Polish regional policy connected with the accession to the EU and the direction of the EU support are presented. The areas of intervention supported by the EU funds, including the support given to innovation, are discussed. Then the economic development of the Polish regions and their dynamics are presented using some indicators. Finally, the changes in the innovative capacity of the Polish regions that have taken place are analysed.