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In the paper, by way of background, the role of Polish furniture industry in the world and in Europe is discussed and current trends in the fi eld of furniture manufacturing management are presented. Further, an analysis of the technological process in a furniture company is performed and the research questions are identifi ed. Based on this, the main aim of the research is provided-a concept of a new lean production control system based on Glenday sieve, artifi cial neural networks and simulation modeling. The aim of the present approach is to plan and execute the production program effectively and maximize the use of workstations at variable and hardly predictable demand for sets of furniture. The paper presents the methodological approach, results and discussion on the suggested solution.

In light of Poland’s innovation performance level being below 70% of the EU average, open innovation can be a key path for innovation capacity increase. This paper explores the readiness of students in Poland for open innovation (OI). The study is based on a survey of a sample of 500 students using the Computer-Assisted Web Interview research technique. The main aim of this paper is to investigate Polish students’ attitude to open innovation—in particular in terms of social product development, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, and the sharing economy—to assess the state-of-the-art and identify challenges. Students are selected as the target group because they are open-minded, eager to use new solutions, and will soon enter the business sector to either become the staff of companies or set up their own startups or SMEs. However, the study shows that Polish students, if they use the OI-based platforms at all, use them passively. The key barriers identified within this study are a lack of knowledge about the open innovation paradigm, its elements and opportunities, and an issue of trust. Therefore, a change of mindset, the adjustment of universities’ curricula, and the development of open innovation culture are critical.

The city of Wrocław is an important Polish center for creating innovations and modern technological solutions. In general, Polish innovation system is having problems with a lack of cooperation among different actors, a low level of commercialization and a weak uptake of technologies. Based on that, the objectives of this paper were set on the identification of the local innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities, the analysis of the current innovation system and the development of a community’s ecosystem theoretical concept. Currently, in Wrocław, many organizations are dealing with innovation. To assess the regional situation of the innovation system the ethnographic analysis was conducted. Each of the stakeholder segments was analyzed based on the resources, activities, value addition and value capture factors. The research showed a huge potential for creating an innovation ecosystem, however due to the variety of different activities, there is no common Innovation Ecosystem. Based on the analysis results, the Ecosystem Pie Model tool was used to create the ecosystem model concept. Research showed a huge potential for creating an innovation ecosystem. Therefore, Wrocław should aim to create a development policy framework that favors entrepreneurial innovation and will allow sustainable regional development.