Regional Innovation and Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3) are treated as one of the key tools in implementing the concept of smart and sustainable growth. The strategies make it possible to focus investments on research, development and innovation (RD & I) in the areas showing the greatest economic and competitive potential of the regions. The article is based on the assumption that innovativeness on the one hand determines and on the other hand is determined by smart and sustainable growth. The aim of the analysis is to present new research assumptions and the results of the regional benchmarking based on a synthetic measure of development, and verification of the relationships between the level of innovative development and the economic development in the regions. This article presents the results of a research study covering all the sixteen regions of Poland, the outcome of which is an indicator of regional innovativeness based on 17 features, which means that the study considered a total of 2992 features. The methods applied in the study included the zero unitarisation method, the linear ordering method, and the Pearson correlation coefficient. The completed research study has shown the stability of positions held by the individual regions and the considerable, persisting disproportions in the innovation development between the regions taking the positions at both ends of the ranking. Moreover, a moderate positive correlation was identified between the GDP per capita level and the value of the synthetic measure of regional innovation development in 2009. The completed analyses made it possible to formulate the conclusions that show the benefits, weaknesses and dilemmas related to the introduction of smart specialisations for sustainable and innovative regional development in Poland over the past decade.

The article concerns the verification of links between the energy intensity of public urban transport, regional economic development and urbanisation in the light of sustainable development challenges and club convergence processes. Three research questions were formulated in the article: (1) Does the regional economic development of voivodeships affect the energy intensity of public urban transport? (2) Does urbanisation shape energy consumption patterns in public urban transport (and are there agglomeration effects)? (3) Does the level of urbanisation of voivodeships depend on their regional level? The study covered 16 subregions of Poland from 2010 to 2020. A spatial dynamic exploration of the relationships between energy intensity patterns of public urban transport and the phenomenon of urbanisation and regional economic development was carried out. Panel models of vector autoregression and panel causality testing were used. The influence of the economic development of regions and the level of urbanisation on energy intensity patterns of public urban transport was confirmed. The link between economic development and the process of urbanisation was identified. An additional effect was noticed (novelty knowledge), i.e., there is a delayed club convergence between voivodeships in the area of energy intensity of public urban transport, regional economic development and urbanisation (polyconvergence).

The smart specialisation is a new EU’s concept towards the regions. It assumes upgrading of innovation and competitiveness basing  on endogenic potential, in particular, in already existing branches of economy. Smart specialisations should, by definition concentrate economic resources on chosen priorities. Having a smart specialisation will be a pre-condition for access to the UE’s funds in the new financial perspective 2014-2020. Smart specialisation need to be clearly defined and only then can they contribute into economic growth combined with proper management over public financial means. The necessary pre-condition is to understand the very concept and to recognize the mechanism of identification and implementation. The expected pre-conditions also include a proper legal framework and its smart implementation through able application of administrative tools. The objective of the paper is to introduce and characterise assumptions for smart specialisations and to indicate at the progress of implementation and the necessary conditions required in Polish regions. Moreover, the paper reviews and analyses major European and national documents exposing the question of smart specialisations. The empiric part deals with identification and assessment of progress in the implementation of the concept into Polish regions.

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WstępSamodzielność finansowa jednostek samorządu terytorialnego została w Polsce zagwarantowana ustawowo na poziomie Konstytucji RP. W praktyce jednak, na skutek oddziaływania wielu czynników, jednostkom samorządu terytorialnego nie udaje się w pełni utrzymać swojej samodzielności finansowej. Największe szanse na zapewnienie względnie wysokiego poziomu samodzielności finansowej mają gminy z tytułu osiągania własnych dochodów, głównie podatkowych. Dochody własne decydują o stopniu samodzielności finansowej gmin, a ich wzrost lub spadek ma bezpośredni wpływ na planowanie i realizację działalności inwestycyjnej.Strona dochodowa samodzielności finansowej gmin jest przedmiotem badań podjętych w opracowaniu. Celem artykułu jest weryfikacja postawionej hipotezy, że wraz ze stabilizowaniem się sytuacji gospodarczej w kraju samodzielność dochoPobrane z czasopisma Annales H -Oeconomia http://oeconomia.annales.umcs.pl