Smart specialisation and the internal potential of regions in Poland

Anotace: The paper aims to verify identified regional smart specialisations in the context of internal potentials of regions in Poland. Regional smart specialisations were examined and compared with development potentials. There are three general topics regarding specialisations: 1) their number, 2) their multidisciplinarity 3) ciriteria for identification. The identification approach of smart specialisations is multidimensional and multisectoral, so the identified specializations are difficult to classify. In Poland’s case there have been 81 regional smart specializations identified. Many of them cover a wide spectrum of sectors. All of them have been classified and examined by statistical methods. Identification of smart specializations should be connected with and dependent on endogenous potentials of regions. The aim was to compare regional strengths and the results of identification proposed in regional innovation strategies (RIS). The role of the new regional policy is to strengthen the competitive industries or branches. However, the identification of smart specializations often aims to strengthen underdeveloped sectors or a new ones, which can be verified in entrepreneurial discovery process in the future.