Abstract:

This study explores the role of technology infrastructures as enablers of absorptive capacity of small and medium sized enterprises within the European Union and Poland. The study investigates the key drivers motivating firms to use technology infrastructures, the barriers they encounter, and the measures that can help overcome these obstacles — considered through the lens of the key components of absorptive capacity: acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation.

The study takes advantage of literature review, results of the survey and interviews conducted with users of technology infrastructures.

Analysis points out that drivers and barriers were very similar for Polish firms and those from other European countries, but several diffrences have also been observed. Polish enterprises identified opportunities to use technology infrastructures mainly in more advanced phases of research and innovation projects. They face barriers in accessing information about technology infrastructures, funding cooperation with its operators, and the confidentiality of research results.

The article seeks to apply the concept of technology infrastructures to the Polish context and to promote its awareness among organizations that operate technology infrastructures, as well as those responsible for innovation policy development at national and regional levels. The study links the main drivers and barriers associated with the use of technology infrastructures to examples of instruments that could address these barriers, aiming to improve their utilization and enhance firms’ absorptive capacity.

Abstract:

Purpose: This paper presents a policy review and implementation roadmap for research organizations (ROs) aiming to operationalize science diplomacy in line with the European Framework for Science Diplomacy (2025). It clarifies what the Framework implies at the organizational level and supports ROs in moving from ad hoc international engagement to a repeatable, governed institutional function.

Approach: Using a structured policy analysis, we synthesize the Framework’s guidance and operationalize it for research organizations by mapping recommendations to capabilities, governance arrangements, and monitoring-evaluation-learning (MEL) routines, and by deriving a staged implementation pathway.

Results: The review indicates that institutionalization in ROs depends on a limited number of requirements: strategic mandate and positioning, coordination and risk governance, incentives and role clarity, stakeholder-facing communication, and MEL routines for learning and accountability. The paper also highlights predictable adoption frictions (capacity constraints, incentive misalignment, terminology gaps, autonomy-security trade-offs) that may limit uptake across European ROs.

Practical implications: The roadmap provides staged actions, roles, and milestones that ROs can adapt to maturity and context, supporting coherent international collaboration, institutional positioning, and science–business partnerships while aligning with European priorities.
Originality/value: The paper contributes an RO-level implementation architecture and staged roadmap that translates EU-level policy guidance into design choices, enabling benchmarking and cross-organizational learning.