All companies consociated in the Polish Cluster Association obtained over 1 billion zlotys within support from the European funds in the previous years. Moreover, they are planning to receive more substantial amount due to the new financial prospect for the years 2014-2020. For instance, they may obtain over 10 billion euro thanks to the operational program Innovativeness Development. I am convinced that we are able to doubly beat the record of over billion zlotys considering the importance of economic sectors and the fact that we represent innovative enterprises staying in close relation to research units – says Krzysztof Krystowski, Chairman of the Polish Cluster Association, which was founded three years ago. This entity represents companies and research units which conduct works in the area of industry as well as on the government, local administration and international forum.
Clusters – that is associations of entrepreneurs and research centers functioning in the same region and on similar or complementing fields – play more and more important role in the native economy by enhancing the condition of companies from the most prospective industries. The most popular Polish cluster is undoubtedly Aviation Valley which has over 10 years. However, we also have air clusters in Silesia, Greater Poland, Masovia and Subcarpathia. The half of Poland is engaged in the aviation – explains Krzysztof Krystowski. We also have a very strong representation of IT clusters as well as biotechnological, biomedical or pharmaceutical clusters – adds Krystowski.
At present, there are also clusters which gather enterprises from the most traditional sectors such as construction, tourism, textiles or chemistry. Their activity contributes to development of a particular region due to knowledge of competitive advantages by entrepreneurs and researchers who are members of clusters functioning on that area.