Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 4, No. 2, Autumn 2019 | Page 35

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
medium-sized established enterprises. The campus will grow in the coming years, but
the research centre went under the government's financial umbrella and became the
technological hub of the Lukasiewicz Network, hopefully following the best operational
principles of the several top European large RTOs, especially the German Fraunhofer
Institutes. 6
4. The Academia Europaea Wroclaw Knowledge Hub 7
Connectivity is a key element of today’s world. With lightning speed, one gets the desired
information via the Internet from over the world. It is also becoming essential element
of an open market. Today we live in a global world, so without a reference for any
local activity to the world, there is no chance for true market participation world-wide.
But the internet-based exchange carries a danger of indiscriminate proliferation of not
trustworthy opinions and data. This is why we need reference institutions, particularly
in the world of knowledge. In Europe, Academia Europaea 8 is such an institution. Not
by a decree, but because of her membership of already well over 5000 most respected
scientists from all over Europe and the world. They are becoming members of the AE
after a much extended nomination procedure, to assure the highest standards of the AE
constituency.
Initially, AE was a pure gathering of the science elite, but a decade ago decision was taken
to enrich AE activity by the creation of the local knowledge hubs acting as a frame for
international activity in dedicated areas. And the first hub was created in Wroclaw with
the Municipality acting as a key sponsor providing financial and material resources for
the activity of the hub. The proposal to create a hub was presented to the AE Board by
President Dutkiewicz and myself being the AE Board Member, as a part of the city strategy
to open Wroclaw to the world. Today the hub is a very lively centre of academic life
and a reference point for already very large Polish and local academic community.
Conclusions
All these actions and activities are pillars of one large strategy, resembling what we
call now the smart specialization strategy. None would be possible without huge
financial assistance from the EU via structural funds, but first of all the culture of
constant dialogue among all principal actors. The most important common denominator
of these three actions is the integration principle and a business orientation which is
to bridge top technology oriented scientific ideas and business. All these activities have
already been scrutinized externally, e.g. by the OECD group (2013). And the conclusion
and advice have been constantly the same: keep going in this direction. It is always better
to shape the future than just following what future brings.
6 https://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html (Accessed 15 September 2019).
7 https://acadeuro.wroclaw.pl/ (Accessed 15 September 2019).
8 https://www.ae-info.org/ (Accessed 15 September 2019).
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