SMART SPECIALISATIONS OF REGIONS AND CREATIVE BUSINESSES IN THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The aim of this article is to draw attention to a strengthening tendency in the country to introduce targeted and synergistic development of macro-regions through effective use of leading potentials of provinces. Smart specialization and development of the sector of creative businesses are now key and integral pillars of regional development in the EU, which is due to the strategy Europe 2020. The paper contains an overview of selected theories on regional development. It discusses concepts such as smart specialization, regional development, and creative businesses. The development of Macro-region of Central Poland illustrates the national and EU tendency to a deliberate and purposeful selection of those smart specializations and a potential of the creative sector which decide about its competitiveness. It is based on potentials of mainly large cities; the potential of rural areas is omitted. The Municipality of Puszcza Mariańska (Mazovian Voivodeship) is an example of a rural commune where ca. 28% of all entities build a creative sector. As the only municipality in Poland it has its own map of creative businesses. Symbolically, it represents many other rural municipalities, whose own creative potential is not widely known and is not supported by the authorities at various levels through the creation of appropriate infrastructure, as is the case for example in Ireland (the activity of local authorities, national and international programs, proper promotion). The presented material shows that support for the development of regions, forming a given macro-region, with activities related to the innovative and creative development is necessary; however, it requires in-depth perception of its potentials

Keywords

• regional development, smart specializations, creative businesses