1.1. The premises of corporate social responsibility

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been steadily gaining in importance, with roots traceable back to the 1950s–70s (Bowen, 1953; Davis, 1960; Johnson, 1971). Most often it is understood as denoting a strategic management strategy (Rudnicka, 2012; Gazzola & Colombo, 2014; Dąbrowski, 2016; Pluta-Olearnik & Buda, 2023) or as a legal obligation/ recommendation, stemming, for example, from environmental or human rights legislation (McGuire, 1963; United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2000; Szymonek, 2011; UN Resolution, 2015) or reporting requirements (Śnieżek, 2011). The integration of social responsibility into management science has been closely related to the evolvement of the field, which has involved “setting new standards, including in the methodology of management science” (Lisiński, 2013).

Carroll’s widely referenced model of CSR, which has undergone various modifications over time, lays the foundation for understanding corporate social responsibility as consisting of three partially overlapping domains: economic, legal and ethical responsibilities (Caroll, 1979; Schwartz and Carroll, 2003). The existing research streams on CSR (Dąbrowski, 2016) have focused on the scope of responsibility, the circle of those to whom responsibility applies (stakeholders), and the sources of responsibility (external expectations vs. internal awareness). As a result, CSR research typically addresses three main aspects: 1) the social obligations of organizations (including towards stakeholders) (Carroll, 1999; Clarkson, 1995); 2) the ethical motivations underlying CSR practices; and 3) the management processes involved in implementing CSR. This perspective is echoed by the European Commission, which defines CSR as “the responsibility of companies for their impact on society” (EC, 2011). In this sense, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is understood to apply to all organizations, regardless of their type, nature or kind – in other words, it is also meant to apply, for example, to universities (Chen et al., 2015; Cabedo et al., 2018; Bugaj & Szarucki, 2019) and research institutes (Szulc, 2023).

In reference to scientific institutes, the concept of scientific social responsibility (SSR) operates, particularly in the Polish literature, as “a concept of governance in the sphere of conducting scientific research, the functioning of scientific institutions and managing the social impact of research.” Morawska-Jancelewicz (2019) and Żemigała (2020, 2022) define SSR as “the responsibility of scientific institutions for their impact on society,” effectively adapting the CSR framework outlined by the European Commission to the specific context of scientific institutions. This definition stresses the importance of SSR in ensuring that scientific research and institutions contribute positively to society – largely paralleling the broader CSR mandate across various types of organizations.

CSR is founded on the premise that an organization should consider, in its operations, the interests of various stakeholders from both its immediate and broader environment. This approach is intended to enhance and safeguard stakeholders’ welfare (Jorge and Pena, 2017). In terms of wealth generation, organizational managers are encouraged to focus on the creative role of the organization’s activities. This can also be extended to scientific social responsibility (SSR) (Żemigała, 2020). On the other hand, protecting well-being requires organizations to refrain from any actions that could be detrimental to society at large (European Commission, 2011). As a result, CSR encompasses both external and internal organizational activities.

The ISO 26000 standard distinguishes seven key areas of CSR: 1) organizational governance, 2) human rights, 3) labor pratices, 4) the environment, 5) fair operating practices, 6) consumer issues, 7) community involvement and development. These have been narrowed to three main areas of activity in the context of each organization’s CSR: 1) caring for customers / markets / external stakeholders; 2) caring for society / community and the environment; 3) Aacting on the basis of values, including those set forth in the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations General Assembly, 2015). The universal nature of these areas of activity makes them applicable in analyzing the content of research institutes’ mission and vision statements in order to determine their declarative stance regarding being socially responsible.

This article first reviews the existing literature on the premises of corporate social responsibility as well as how mission and vision statements reflect CSR them. The methods section then presents the criteria of social responsibility used in the subsequent analysis of the mission and vision statements of Polish research institutes. Next, the empirical section describes the findings, including the results of the content analysis of research institutes’ missions and vision statements.

1.2. Polish research institutes

The Polish Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes defines such entities as state organizational units, established to conduct scientific research and implementation-oriented development work. Such institutes engage in business activities, collaborate with entrepreneurs, establish scientific and industrial centers to conduct research and analysis, and disseminate their results. Research institutes may have different profiles of activity, for example, technical, natural and agricultural sciences, medical research, or the humanities.

While research institutes remain outside the public finance sector (as specified by the Polish Act of 27 August 2009 on Public Finance), their commercial activities are limited due to their statutory obligation to conduct scientific research. Sources of revenue for these institutes can include the sale of scientific research, development work, patents, implementation work, the production of apparatus or provision of services, etc. State research institutes, however, form a distinct category; they receive earmarked subsidies from the state budget in amounts determined by the Budget Act. Cilak (2015) posits that the nature of the institutes’ activities is non-commercial, whereas the Marek Dietrich Institute of Contemporary Civilization Problems (2022) stresses that the expenditures for research are insufficient.

The representative body of research institutes in Poland, the Main Council of Research Institutes (RGIB), has defined the overarching mission for such institutions, in RGIB Bulletin No. 01/2023, as “building trust in science and disseminating information about inventions and ongoing projects, especially those that, when implemented, can change the world around us for the better and improve the quality of life.” This entails a certain expectation that research institutes are will adhere to the basic tenets of CSR, that is, to act for the benefit of both the economy and society.

During the Congress “Science for Society” (June 3–5, 2023), the RGIB presented a study entitled “Decalogue – the future of research institutes in Poland,” which includes four guidelines for research institutes in the context of scientific social responsibility. These address the expectations and needs of Polish society as a stakeholder, focusing on breakthrough innovations, the modernization and the rational use of research potential, as well as the dissemination and popularization of ongoing research findings. The principles laid out in the “Decalogue” are intended to be reflected in the missions and vision statements of research institutes.

2. Research methods and tools

Based on the literature review, CSR elements were identified and adopted as criteria for analyzing the content of the mission and vision statements across various organizations, including research institutes, as follows:

1. Demonstration of features indicating:

a.care for customers/markets/external stakeholders,
b.care for society/community and environmental factors,
c.acting on the basis of values, including those set forth in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

2. The occurrence of keywords relevant to CSR.

In order to determine which keywords should be prioritized (and adopt criteria for further analysis of the content of the mission and vision statements), the earlier critical and systematic analysis of the specialized literature was further supplemented with bibliometric techniques. These included keyword co-occurrence (Przytuła, 2023) and a relational technique for examining relationships within the data included in the publications (Lenart-Gansiniec, 2021).

On 5 November 2023, the specialized literature was searched again using the same keywords as above. The results of the search (66 items) were exported to the software package R. The dataset comprised items published between 2006 and 2023, including 44 articles, 10 chapters in monographs, 10 conference publications, and 2 books prepared by a total of 168 authors. These publications were categorized by discipline: 42 under Business, Management and Accounting, 24 under Social Sciences and 20 under Economics, Econometrics and Finance (with the assumption that the authors decided in which category their article would be placed, with option to select multiple categories). This was followed by an analysis of the keywords indicated by the authors and the content of the abstracts. Figure 1 shows the 10 leading words/phrases listed by the authors of the analyzed publications. They highlight the relationship of CSR to such concepts as ethics, community engagement, and competitive advantage.

Content analysis of the abstracts, at the level of single phrases, did not identify new, relevant keywords recommended for analyzing the content of the mission and vision statements, nor did it identify specific components of social responsibility or the context of the research being conducted. In contrast, an analysis at the level of phrases consisting of two (Figure 2) or three words showed that despite narrowing the search, the abstracts studied were mostly about the mission and vision statements and/or social responsibility of financial institutions.

In conclusion, the criteria derived from the literature review were retained for analyzing the content of the mission and vision statements of research institutes. The method applied involved critical analysis of the content of research institutes’ mission and vision statements, guided by the conclusions of the systematic literature review. Using WordArt, the occurrence of relevant words in communication about social responsibility was also verified.

4. Results – analysis of the content of the missions and vision statements of research institutes

An analysis of the websites of 88 research institutes was conducted from July to October 2023. Of these, 86 were presented on the RGIB website (https://www.rgib.org.pl/index.php/baza-ib/baza-instytutow). An additional two (the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Łódz Institute of Technology and the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Polish Center for Technology Development) were listed in the index of institutes forming the Łukasiewicz Research Network (https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/instytuty-lista/). The website of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics was found to be not operational at the time of the study and was therefore not included in the analysis. The institutes’ websites were analyzed for formal mission and vision statements and documents relating to development strategies. In cases where this information was not found, the institutes’ Public Information Bulletin (BIP) pages were additionally reviewed, and then documents relating to development strategies were searched for by typing the institute’s name and the phrase “development strategy” (in Polish) into Google. In the case of the Educational Research Institute, the resources of its intranet were used.

Of 88 research institutes, 44 had mission statements. Only 16 had vision statements (in addition to mission statements). In the absence of a mission and/or vision statement, the content of website tabs presenting the institute or its quality policies were analyzed (23 institutes). In summary: 67 research institutes had statements of some kind (hereinafter referred to as “declarations”) that indicated, either directly or indirectly, they indeed had an adopted mission. A total of 11 research institutes did not indicate that they had either a mission or vision statement. The results of the analysis of the content of research institutes’ “declarations” in the context of the specified criteria are presented in Table 1.

A total of 38 research institutes met the adopted criteria indicating socially responsible activities in their “declarations” (i.e., 58% of the institutes that published either director indirect “declarations” in this regard, and 43% of all those surveyed). However, indirect “declarations” (implicit rather than explicit statements of mission or vision), which the content analysis was extended to include, were found to indicate the social responsibility of research institutes only to a small degree, whereas this aspect was more clearly evident in content explicitly referred to as a mission or a vision statement.

The most frequently occurring Polish words in the content of all the analyzed “declarations” of research institutes are shown in Figure 3. All single words that are not relevant to the analysis (such as nie “not”, też “also”, i “and”, etc.) have been removed.

The word that stands out most in Figure 3 is rozwój “development” (appearing the case-form rozwoju “of development”) which appears in the examined “declarations” in the context of “research development” and “scientific development,” making it a CSR-specific word when referring to scientific social responsibility. In second place is the word ochrona “protection” (appearing the case-form ochrony “of protection”), which closely relates to the name and profile of the activities of many institutes and should not be equated with a declaration of social responsibility (e.g., the Institute for Plant Protection – PIB, the Central Laboratory for Radiation Protection, the Central Institute for Labor Protection – PIB, the Institute for Environmental Protection – PIB, etc.). This also largely applies to the word środowisko “environment.” The word nauka “science” appears in the cloud in a few variants (naukowy “scientific,” nauki “of science,” nauk “of sciences”) and, overall, it is the most common word (79%). This is understandable, given the scientific profile of research institutes (Table 2).

An important take-away for research institutes in the context of social responsibility is the need to emphasize their importance to society and the development of science. A clearly defined mission and vision statement for each institute should reflect this purpose, highlighting their contributions to societal well-being and scientific progress. Due to the specific nature of their activities, institutes specializing in research on the environment should also refer in their mission and vision statements to the goals of sustainable development.

5. Conclusion and discussion of the research results

This study focused on a specific group (88) of research institutions in Poland, whose primary objective is to conduct specialized research and analyses (the Polish Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes), but also to build societal trust in science and to disseminate research results (RGIB). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that these research institutes should apply the principles of scientific social responsibility (SSR) in their activities. The formal expression of the idea of SSR should be reflected in the content of the mission and vision statements depicting their market aspirations, values, and commitments to stakeholders (Obłój, 2007; Witek-Crabb, 2008; Kotler & Keller, 2012; Panasiewicz, 2015). However, the review of such mission and vision statements reported herein (in addition to less direct website “declarations” to the same effect) evidenced a lack of readiness on the part of research institutes to formally declare their commitment to CSR principles. While it cannot be ruled out that CSR/SSR activities are implemented in an informal way, determined to a certain degree by the purpose of establishing a research institute, this study has shed light in how these commitments are expressed in formal mission and vision statements.

Our systematic literature review and critical analysis evidenced a research gap concerning social responsibility in Polish research institutes. This was based on searches in a broader context (using searches for the terms “mission,” “vision,” “corporate social responsibility” in Polish); hence it applied to various companies and organizations, not just research institutes. The analysis did not clearly identify how research institutes express their social responsibility – most likely due to the specific nature of research institutes and the fact that when talking about the social responsibility of such institutes, the emphasis should be on responsibility in the context of the research conducted and the impact of science on society (SSR).

Our critical content analysis of research institutes’ missions and vision statements turned out to be – in a sense – incomplete by design, as only 16 of the institutes examined (18%) had posted both a mission and a vision statement. In this situation, mission statements alone (28 institutes) were also accepted for analysis, as well as statements to a similar effect (“declarations”), presented in such website tabs as: “about us,” “activities,” etc. (23 institutes). The criteria for analyzing the content of the mission and vision statements, adopted based on the critical and analytical analysis of specialized literature, provided an opportunity to look at these institutes’ “declarations” from multiple perspectives. It was identified that 58% of these “declarations” met the criteria relating to the purpose and nature of the “declaration.” Most institutes expressed concern for social and/or environmental factors, but only 8 referred to sustainability goals. Thirteen of the institutes presented target beneficiaries, indicating the following: society, future generations, businesses and patients (by institutes with a medical profile). Criteria based on the occurrence of keywords in the “declarations” confirmed that the research institutes referred to CSR rather casually. The only word actually occurring frequently was nauka “science” (79%, including various grammatical forms). Further research on declarations and activities relating to CSR at research institutes should include an analysis of all strategy documents.

Our findings could be seen as aligning somewhat with the study by Mansi et al. (2017), who found that companies with low turnover do not focus on CSR in their mission and vision statements – a relationship that may perhaps also apply to research institutes with limited revenue opportunities. On the other hand, the relationship described by Joshi et al. (2023), that is, an increase in the use CSR keywords related to a business profile associated with the mining industry, was not found to be evident in our study. The Polish research institutes examined, including those relating to the mining industry, paid little attention to expressing their social responsibility through the content of their mission and vision statements.

A key recommendation for directors of research institutes is to present stakeholders with a formulated mission and vision statement that demonstrates their institute’s philosophy relating to scientific social responsibility. Taking into account the modern view of corporate reporting (Śnieżek, 2016) and legal recommendations (ISO 26000 Standard; UN Millennium Declaration), it is also necessary to include the sustainable development goals that the institute’s activities aim to achieve in the mission and/or vision statement. A clear statement incorporating CSR would be an unequivocally positive message to the public, attesting to the institute’s commitment. For employees, in turn, it would serve as a clear indication the direction of the organization’s activities.

6. Summary

The concept of SSR and its functioning in research institutes is a topic worthy of further research, especially given the role of research institutes in the context of the development of science and its impact on society. Future research should also explore the informal activities of research institute employees that qualify as socially responsible practices. Additionally, investigating existing international practices in this area could provide insights and lead to the formulation of more recommendations for research institute directors, in Poland and elsewhere.

Our analysis of the content of mission and vision statements, based on the adopted criteria, revealed that only a small percentage (18%) of Polish research institutes have made clear declarations with a strong emphasis on social responsibility. This is evident, among other things, in the absence of the phrase “social responsibility” in mission and vision statements. The occasional use of words suggesting concern for stakeholders (society) or the environment indicates potential for stronger future declarations.

Given that mission and vision statements are fundamental tools of strategic management, the low number of such declarations suggests a lack of awareness among research institutes regarding the importance of these statements. This likely reflects a broader lack of recognition of the need to formally express a commitment to social responsibility.

For research institutes, it is crucial to highlight the societal significance of their activities in the context of SSR. Moreover, there is a need to clearly define the direction of their future development, which should be articulated through well-crafted mission and vision statements for each institute.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is a phenomenon that has caused a lot of uncertainty, leading to changes in everyday life, social behaviour and economies worldwide. Consequently, most countries have introduced restrictions to ensure the health and safety of their citizens. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities of the scientific sector in Poland has also become the subject of analysis and research.

The aim of this article is to discuss the significance and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities of research institutes in Poland. The data obtained on the basis of questionnaire surveys completed by research institutes in Poland and interviews with representatives of research institutes allowed to identify the main problems faced by research institutes in Poland and how their market situation changed during the pandemic. The article comprises four parts. In the first part, a brief introduction on the current situation of research institutes in Poland, their place and role in scientific policy of the state and the principles of their operation are described. The second part presents an analysis of conducted surveys, wherein the third section is a summary of their results. The last part includes conclusions and an attempt to systematise the main problems encountered by research institutes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Outlined Problems

At present, there is a growing need for comprehensive research related to the impact of the pandemic on the functioning of research institutes in Poland. Research regarding the activities of research institutes in the pandemic period and their results may provide guidance for governmental institutions responsible for allocating public funds for scientific activities and may be helpful in developing the principles of the future scientific and innovation policy of the state (Czerniak, 2013).

One of the major challenges in the science policy of the state is the effective allocation of public funds to acquire new knowledge. Research institutes are an essential element of the system of science in Poland. Due to their supervision by competent ministers, research institutes are often referred to as 'departmental institutes’. Not only do they constitute an important source of scientific knowledge, but they are also entities managing research equipment and educating qualified personnel (Daszkiewicz, (2008). This is the only sector of science that was thoroughly restructured in the 1990s. The main direction of restructuring was consolidation. Currently, the framework for the research institutes operation is set out in the Act of law of 30 April 2010 on research institutes.¹

Research institutes, as defined in Art. 1 item 1, are state organisational units, identifiable in legal, organisational, economic and financial terms, which conduct scientific research and development work aimed at their implementation and application in practice. (Dz.U. z 2010 r. Nr 96 poz. 618). In December 2016, an Act was implemented that amended the existing Act of law on research institutes. The amended Act regulates the procedures for the appointment and dismissal of directors of state research institutes and the composition of their scientific councils, including the method of appointing the chairman of the council and the deputies. Subsequently, the new Constitution for Science (https://konstytucjadlanauki.gov.pl) was passed and the Łukasiewicz Research Network was established. (https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl).

A smaller network was also established to strengthen the potential of research institutes to carry out large research projects, both for the development of the economy and the competitiveness of enterprises in the area of land transport.² Currently in Poland there are 99 research institutes, including 32 belonging to the Łukasiewicz Research Network (Kwieciński, 2020) and 3 institutes belonging to the POLTRIN network. The establishment of research networks in Poland was inspired by solutions found in other European countries, such as the Fraunhofer Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in Germany.(https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/aboutfraunhofer. html) (Beise & Stahl, 1999). The research networks that were established in Poland associating research institutes are a necessary and inspiring project for the development of the Knowledge-Based Economy (Barcikowska, 2018).

Public research institutes are diverse and complex scientific units, located throughout the entire country. Each of them has a unique management and organisational culture. They operate in the areas of industry, transport, energy, medicine, agriculture, public services, infrastructure and defence. The main objective of the institutes is to cooperate with the economy and business, and encourage entrepreneurs to implement modern technologies (Matyjas & Bohdanowicz, 2018). At the same time, these units are obliged, like other branches of science, to demonstrate their achievements in research and publication areas. Reconciling these two fundamental objectives of their activities and finding an optimal solution is a difficult and complicated process (Gullbrandsen, 2011).

Due to the ongoing pandemic caused by COVID-19 worldwide, there is a significant danger of reducing the scientific and research capacity of research institutes. Therefore, in 2020, the General Council of Research Institutes — (Rada Główna Instytutów Badawczych — RGIB) conducted a quantitative survey twice using a survey questionnaire among research institutes, the aim of which was to identify the problems the institutes were facing and how much their market situation changed in the initial period of the pandemic, after the first half of 2020 (Christensen & Raynor, 2003).

Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Activities of Research Institutes

Source material and research method

In March 2020, the Office of the General Council of Research Institutes sent out for the first time a survey questionnaire on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of research institutes in Poland. A total of 62 institutes responded to the survey, which is about 62% of all institutes in Poland. The survey consisted of five questions concerning the economic situation of the surveyed unit, the conditions for fulfilling undertaken commitments, the impact of the closure of the economy on the functioning of the unit and reduction in employment (https://www.rgib.org.pl/start/dokumenty/329-ankieta-w-sprawie-wplywu-epidemii-covid-19-nasytuacjefinansowo-ekonomiczna-instytutow).

In July 2020, all research institutes were again asked to fill in an extended survey, the aim of which was to find out the opinion of the institutes on how COVID-19 affected the functioning of the units after the first half of 2020 and 61% of them responded. Each question had three possible answers to choose from. After collecting the answers, the RGIB office prepared synthetic information on the results and sent it to the Ministry of Education and Science (https://www.rgib.org.pl/start/ dokumenty/338-informacja-o-wynikach-ankiety-o-wplywie-epidemii-covid-19nafunkcjonowanieib-po-i-polroczu-2020-r).

Analysis and discussion of research results

On the basis of the data collected and published by the RGIB, the results of the survey of research institutes on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their functioning beyond the first half of 2020 are presented below. In this stage, the institutes answered eight research questions.³

The first question, Have you noticed any deterioration in the economic and financial situation of your Institute?, was responded to by 64% of the surveyed institutes, who noted that their economic and financial situation had deteriorated, 3% noticed a significant deterioration, whereas in one in three institutes the situation had not deteriorated. The results are shown in Figure 1.

The second question, How does the implementation of previously signed contracts as well as national and international commitments look like?, was answered by 26% of the institutes, who stated that during the pandemic period no problems occurred with the implementation of previously signed contracts and national and international commitments, 64% of the institutes faced problems with the implementation of previously signed contracts, while 6% answered that it was not possible to implement contracts (Figure 2).

The third question, Were there any other adverse impacts directly or indirectly related to the pandemic which affected the operation of the Institute?, was answered by 39% of the institutes in the affirmative, 38% reported no adverse action and 23% described the difficulties as minor (Figure 3).

The fourth question, Has the current situation caused, or is it likely to cause, redundancies in the Institute?, was replied by 13% of the institutes surveyed in the affirmative, 80% in the negative and 7% were unable to predict whether redundancies would occur (Figure 4).

The fifth question, Do you think the ongoing situation may negatively affect the institute’s economic performance in the current year?, was answered by as many as 80% of the institutes in the affirmative, 16% in the negative and 4% replied that it was difficult to estimate (Figure 5).

The sixth question, Has the institute benefited from assistance under the Anti-Crisis Support Shield?, was answered in the affirmative by 28% of the surveyed institutes and in the negative by as many as 72% of respondents (Figure 6).

The seventh question, Is the existing support for research institutes within the framework of the Anti-Crisis Support Shield sufficient?, was
answered by 6% of the surveyed institutes in the affirmative, 51% in the negative and 43% were unable to give a definite answer (Figure 7)⁴

The eighth question, Do you see any need to extend the Anti-Crisis Support Shield with additional solutions targeted at research institutes?,
was answered by almost 100% of research institutes in the affirmative.

Interpretation

The answers obtained to the eight questions of the survey questionnaire encourage the following reflections:

• there is clear concern among research institutes about their economic and financial situation in the first half of 2020, but many also express their concern about the future, with more than half of those surveyed reporting a deterioration in their financial and economic situation during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• despite significant problems due to delays in the implementation of signed contracts and commitments, most institutes met their
  obligations;
• delays and changes in contract schedules, delays due to the delivery of equipment from abroad, have become a fairly obvious problem;
• the majority of institutes are unlikely to plan staff reductions (it should be added that some institutes decided to make temporary changes to working conditions, reduce raises, reduce working time or reduce basic salary);
• for more than half of the institutes surveyed, the introduced AntiCrisis Support Shield was not sufficient and not many institutes took advantage of it. Moreover, the information received during the 4th meeting of the RGIB5 shows that the main reasons for the
  deterioration in the economic situation of the institutes resulted from the inability to carry out field research in a timely manner and limitations in obtaining new orders. Lack of trainings, scientific seminars and conferences which impeded professional development opportunities, and increased market prices for certain raw materials necessary for research works were also observed. However, most institutes maintain financial liquidity. The main reasons for the deterioration of the institutes’ economic situation are due to the economic slowdown. Significant costs were generated by expenditure on ensuring safe and hygienic work, as well as purchasing additional equipment necessary for remote work. There were also time delays in cooperation with domestic and foreign contractors.

The recommendations and guidelines made by the General Council of Research Institutes, after consultations with representatives of research institutes, to the Ministry of Education and Science to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic included the following solutions:

• direct reference in the legislation to research institutes as entities covered by the Anti-Crisis Support Shield;
• the creation of a special-purpose financial reserve for research institutes at the disposal of supervising ministers, the purpose of which would be to provide ad hoc support for institutes in the most difficult situation caused by COVID-19;
• regulation of the remote working mode contained in the Labour Code; 􀁺 the possibility for research institutes to obtain additional funding to support the IT infrastructure;
• increase the annual subsidy by a significant percentage;
• the allocation of more funds by the Ministry of Education and Science to research and development work carried out by the institutes;
• introduction of legal solutions allowing for the extension of the implementation period of projects financed by National Centre of Research and Science (NCBR).

It was also proposed by NCBR to launch the IN4IN programme, targeted at real economic and social needs, taking into account the capabilities of entrepreneurs, with higher than so far co-financing from NCBR. The proposed programme would include in particular technical, technological and medical solutions (Biuletyn Rady Głównej Instytutów Badawczych, 2020).

On the positive side, there have been significant advances and developments in the technological processes necessary to carry out online work, and a significant increase in scientific publications. Research institutes have coped reasonably well with the pandemic period and have adapted their activities to the prevailing conditions. In the future, it will be reasonable to continue with this research and to present it after the end of the pandemic time. It is also worth considering undertaking research related to the issue of research institutes and their management, internal regulations and organisational structures, which undoubtedly have a huge impact on their operation in Poland (Biuletyn Rady Głównej Instytutów Badawczych, 2021).

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a disruptor of the existing order of things and a catalyst for change in many areas of life, although often sudden and unexpected. The need to limit contacts with other people forced and accelerated changes in the technological sphere, which not everyone was or is ready to accept. The disruption of supply chains, the inertia of adaptation processes and uncertainty in markets have led to a significant increase in interventionism and levels of inflation not seen for many years. Finally, the imminent threat to human life and health, resulting in overburdened health systems in many countries, was, on the other hand, accompanied by a wave of scepticism. Today’s world is becoming increasingly complex and multidimensional (Smith, 2006). It is difficult to avoid risks, meet challenges and exploit opportunities without coordinated efforts and the use of talents and resources. It also seems impossible to solve any civilisational problem without cooperation between science, administration and business.

In the crisis that COVID-19 caused, the need for research and innovation development is clear. The way work was organised, managed and collaborated revealed the interdependence between research and policy. Compared with universities, the issues related to research institutes are much less addressed and described in the literature. Quite often, they are treated holistically as a scientific and research system without focusing on the specifics of their activities. Their functioning is influenced by the scientific and innovation policy of the state, appropriate legal regulations facilitating their operation and financial resources dedicated to these institutions. In order to function properly, they need stability and predictability of actions of the government administration, the Ministry of Education and Science, state agencies such as the NCBR and the National Centre of Science (NCN). It is necessary to create institutional, organisational and information solutions, support tools in which they could develop and their activity would have an effective impact on the scientific and economic development of the country. The analysis and conclusions in this article in relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be an indication for the development of appropriate legal and economic solutions (Gryzik, 2017).

Endnotes

1 The provisions of the Act shall not apply to research institutes of higher education and research centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
2 Polska Sieć Instytutów Badawczych Transportu–POLTRIN.
3 For the analysis, the author chose a questionnaire with the largest number of questions.
4 The question was answered by research institutes that benefited from the Anti-Crisis Support Shield.
5 The meeting was held on-line on 1 July 2021 and the author participated in it. For more information see Bulletin of the General Council of Research Institutes No. 2 July 2021.

References

Literature of the problem

1. Barcikowska, R. (2018). Sieciowanie instytutów badawczych narzędziem rozwoju polityki innowacyjności w wybranych krajach europejskich, Marketing Instytucji Naukowych i Badawczych, 2018, 3(29) 1–14.
2. Beise, M., & Stahl, H. (1999). Public research and industrial innovations in Germany. Policy, 28, 377–422.
3. Biuletyn Rady Głównej Instytutów Badawczych. (2020, December). Instytuty badawcze w rzeczywistości zmienionej przez pandemię COVID-19. Bulletin of the General Council of Research Institutes Research Institutes in a Reality Changed by the COVID-19 Pandemic, 1(107), 1–4
4. Biuletyn Rady Głównej Instytutów Badawczych (2021, July). IV posiedzenie RGIB X kadencji, 2(109), 1–3
5. Christensen, C. M., & Raynor, M. E. (2003). The innovator’s solution. Boston, MA.
6. Czerniak, J. (2013). Polityka innowacyjna w Polsce, analiza i proponowane kierunki zmian. Warszawa, Poland.
8. Daszkiewicz, M. (2008). Jednostki badawczo-rozwojowe jako źródło innowacyjności w gospodarcei pomoc dla małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw. Warszawa, Poland.
9. Gryzik, A. (2017). Instytuty badawcze w nowoczesnej gospodarce, Ośrodek Przetwarzania Informacji. Warszawa, Poland.
10. Gullbrandsen, M. (2011). Research institutes as hybrid organizations: Central challenges to their legitimacy. Policy Sciences, 44, 215–230.
11. Kwieciński, L. (2020, April). Sieci jednostek naukowo-badawczych jako istotny element w polityce innowacyjnej państwa. Przykład polskiej Sieci Badawczej Łukasiewicz, Nierówności społeczne a wzrost gospodarczy, 64.
12. Matyjas, Z., & Bohdanowicz, L. (2018, April 2). Projekt Sieci Badawczej Łukasiewicz — analiza porównawcza na tle rozwiązań międzynarodowych. Zarządzanie i Finanse Journal of Management and Finance, 16, No. 4/2/2018
13. Smith, D. (2006). Exploring Innovation. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Government sources

1. Ustawa z dnia 30 kwietnia 2010 r. o instytutach badawczych, (Dz.U. z 2010 r. Nr 96 poz. 618).
2. Ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce (Dz.U. 2018 poz. 1668).
3. Ustawa z dnia 21lutego 2019r. o Sieci Badawczej Łukasiewicz (Dz.U. 2019 poz. 534).

Internet sources

1. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/scoreboards_en (dostęp 4 March, 2022).
2. Retrieved from: https://konstytucjadlanauki.gov.pl/ (accessed 4 March, 2022) 3. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erik-Arnold/publication/328913507_ Research_Institutes_in_the_ERA_WP2_2007S_106-12999_FORESIGHT-
200702_Lot_2_WP3/links/5beaeb454585150b2bb43e56/Research-Institutes-in-the-ERAWP22007-S-106-12999-FORESIGHT-200702-Lot-2-WP3.pdf (accessed 4 March, 2022) 5. Retrieved from: https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/ (accessed 5 March, 2022).
6. Retrieved from: https://www.rgib.org.pl/start/dokumenty/329-ankieta-w-sprawie-wplywuepidemiiCOVID-19-na-sytuacje-finansowo-ekonomiczna-instytutow (accessed 5 March, 2022).
8. Retrieved from: https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/about-fraunhofer.html (accessed 7 March, 2022)
9. Retrieved from: https://www.gov.pl/web/ncbr (accessed 9 March, 2022)

Network analysis has many applications in various research areas and fields. A broad stream of network research has been developed in the social sciences as social network analysis.¹ Various concepts of networks refer to the connections, relationships that are the basic feature of each network. They focus on the shape of the social structure, the position of individuals in these structures and the resulting benefits. It is worth mentioning that there is no single, universal network model. Each is unique, and its formation depends on many factors, including the external world, i.e. the environment.² Networks can have different organizational forms from the least to the most formalized. A summary of selected organizational forms of networks is presented in Table 1.³

The above comparison allows systemizing and organizing various forms of network cooperation including the models presented in the article below. According to the author, the two presented networks are examples of different degrees of formalization. On the basis of the above Table, the Łukasiewicz Research Network presents the second degree of formalization, while POLTRIN’s network presents the first degree. Moreover, according to the author, the typology can be a starting point for new forms of cooperation between research institutes in Poland. The article is an attempt to answer the question whether the organizational model of institutes’ networking in Poland and Europe is an appropriate organizational form for these institutions influencing the increase of their competitiveness in the economy.

Poland still occupies a low position in studies showing the innovativeness of European Union (EU) countries. The level of the Summary Innovation Index for Poland is lower than the average for all EU countries. In the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS)⁴ published in 2019, Poland was ranked fourth from the end. In comparison with the results of previous years, from weak innovators we advanced to the group of moderate innovators.

Public research institutes are diverse and complex scientific entities. Each has a unique management and organizational culture. They operate in the areas of industry, transportation, energy, medicine, agriculture, public services, infrastructure and defense. Legal framework and organizational framework for research institutes in Poland is set by the Act of 30 April 2010 on research institutes.⁵ In the meaning of Article 1(1) they are state organizational units, legally, organizationally, economically and financially separated, which conduct research and development work aimed at implementation and practical application.⁶ The most important objectives to be achieved by research institutes include:

• conducting scientific research and development work oriented towards implementation.

The research institutes are to perform the following activities:

• conducting scientific research and development work aimed at implementation,
• conducting information activities: dissemination of the results of work, training, scientific, technical and economic information, ?
• teaching activities (specialist training courses), post-graduate and doctoral studies,⁷
• protection of intellectual property,
• standardization, certification and approval activities.

Research institutes are essential in creating and building a Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE) in Poland. They have the intellectual and research potential to support the national economy. It is the only sector of science that has been thoroughly restructured. Consolidation has been the main direction of restructuring . The table below shows the downward trend in the number of research institutes over the last thirty years.

Based on the above summary, it can be concluded that in the years of systemic transformation there has been a clear downward trend in the number of institutes (Figure 1). Their share in the total number of entities conducting research and development activity in Poland has been systematically falling. In 2009–2013, this decline is no longer so rapid, the number of institutes remains at a level of around 120, with minor isolated cases of disbandment, consolidation or privatization of selected entities. It can be assumed that the period of turbulent changes has been survived by the „strongest” units, cooperating with enterprises — units whose research activity is in demand on the market. According to the author, the institutes currently operating owe their survival of the turbulent times largely due to sound policies pursued by the management and changes introduced by individual governments who recognize the necessity of the existence of public research organizations and their important role in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy. A clear shift in the perception of the importance of research and development activities took place when Poland joined the European Union, when it became apparent that one of the Community’s top priorities is the creation of a competitive, modern economy. It is impossible to achieve these assumptions without high expenditures on research and development.⁸

The consolidation of research institutes in Poland has been one of the solutions, aimed both at avoiding the liquidation of weaker units and at increasing the effectiveness of R&D work conducted by these organizations. However, the question remains open as to what form the planned consolidation or cooperation of institutes should take?

Between 2016 and 2020, many changes could be observed in Poland regarding the functioning of these units. In December 2016, the law amending The law on research institutes was enacted. Its amendment regulates the procedures for the appointment and dismissal of directors of state research institutes and the composition of their scientific councils, including the method of appointing the chairman of the council and his deputies.⁹ Subsequently, The act on research institutes¹⁰ was amended, a new Constitution for Science¹¹ was adopted and the Łukasiewicz Research Network was established.¹² The purpose of the network is to carry out research projects including international ones, and to commercialize the results of work. Apart from the basic activity, affiliated institutes may also produce unique research apparatus and materials, conduct metrological, standardization and certification activity, develop prototypes of new technological solutions, conduct courses and staff training, and, if necessary, other activity related to their nature. An important aspect of the functioning of the institutes is their activity for the benefit of society, therefore, among the institutes’ tasks is also the popularization of science and knowledge of new technologies.¹³

A smaller POLTRIN network was also established to strengthen the potential of research institutes to carry out large research projects both for the development of the economy and the competitiveness of enterprises in the area of land transport.¹⁴ Currently, in Poland we have 110 research institutes, including 33 belonging to the Łukasiewicz Research Network and 3 institutes belonging to the POLTRIN network.

Networking of research institutes in selected European countries

Analyzing the idea of networking research institutes in Poland, it is necessary to briefly characterize this trend in the EU. In most EU countries, research institutes are public organizations and their functioning is inscribed in the binding structure of the particular national system of financing science. In Western European countries, institutes are associated within thematic groups which form a network of specialized institutions.

Networking of such institutions will be presented below on the example of research institutes functioning in two selected European countries — Germany and France.

In Germany, the equivalent of Polish research institutes are the institutes associated in the Fraunhofer Society. It is Europe’s largest nonprofit organization involved in applied research and its implementation in industry. The German association disseminates and performs applied research that is useful for private and public enterprises and benefits the whole society. The organization was founded in 1949 and brings together 72 German research institutes (Fraunhofer-Institute) representing more than eighty research sectors. More than 70% of its research income comes from contracts with industry and publicly funded projects.¹⁵ The network’s offerings are aimed at the following target groups:

• companies that want to restructure their market position through a new approach to their competitive environment or their internal processes and resources,
• companies seeking to optimize their information logistics through the implementation of in-company and inter-company information and communication systems,
• companies aiming at optimizing information logistics through the implementation of in-company and inter-company information and communication systems,
• companies involved in the development and distribution of innovative products that want to sustainably increase their technology and innovation capacity intermediary organizations such as: chambers of commerce and industry, trade associations,
• social partners and public sector institutions that want to contribute to the development of innovative ideas for standards and regulations or to participate in training and further education.

The research institutes are located throughout the country. The functioning of the individual units in the association is based on decentralization in management and autonomy of the units. The institutes cooperate closely with industry and universities. The organizational structure enables direct technology transfer. For the institutes within the association is important both the implementation of contract research for companies and the public sphere, as well as consultations, expertise, knowledge exchange and staff mobility. The association has considerable autonomy in management. The state administration does not interfere in the selection of research projects, and the evaluation of results is based on the overall contribution to the German economy. The government has some level of power in the
selection of the president, but less than institutes in other countries, since the board members come from both industry and science. In budgetary terms, the state only provides a core fund of 1/3 of the total R&D project budget. Another 2/3 must come from industry or other sources such as the European Union. This is a stringent criterion for evaluating the performance of R&D institutes. Half of the contract research comes from large companies and the other half from SMEs. The institute manages a database of alumni. Many graduates contact the association and form partnerships with the companies they currently work for. The institute collaborates with local industry and universities.

Furthermore, as the knowledge network becomes more globalized, the association has established branches in the USA, Japan and China, and cooperates with excellent foreign entities (companies, universities, research and technology organizations).¹⁶ The Fraunhofer Institute remains the leader among German research institutions in terms of the annual number of patent applications and industrial property rights. In 2019, 623 patent applications were filed.¹⁷

CARNOT is a national multidisciplinary network, founded in 2006, bringing together 29 French R&D institutes and laboratories and 9 affiliated research units.¹⁸ In 2019, the CARNOT network reported a 3.9% increase in R&D contracts compared to previous years. The units in the network represent about 15% of the national research and laboratory base and employ 26,000 scientists. The French Ministry of Science and Research directs and oversees the CARNOT network system. The National Research Agency (L’Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR) is responsible for managing funding, structure and administration. It is a government entity created in 2007, functioning as a research funding agency with the aim of increasing research projects in all scientific fields. Among ANR’s main tasks, we can include:

• stimulating the development of basic and applied research and innovation,
• supporting partnership between public and private sectors,
• promoting effective technology transfer to the economic sector.

Implemented projects are selected through competitions based on the criteria of scientific quality and potential application in the business sector. Each research institute associated in the network has its own legal separation and competences in specific research areas. The CARNOT brand is awarded by the Minister for Higher Education and Research to those institutes that cooperate effectively with
representatives of the business sector and local communities.¹⁹ The brand is intended to promote partnerships in the research sector and to develop its cooperation with the small and medium-sized enterprises sector. A single entity joins the network by means of an open competition. After a positive evaluation, it undertakes to comply with the conditions and obligations contained in the rights and duties of the network. The Board of Directors consists of 15 representatives elected from among the CARNOT institutes. The network’s activities are financed by contributions paid by individual institutes and grants from the government administrations of the various ministries, local authorities and partners involved in promoting research and innovation.

Public funding is mostly used for specific purposes (e.g. conferences, information meetings, promotion, etc.).²⁰

The research and financial successes of both network organizations prove that creating networks of cooperating research units is one of the factors of increasing the innovativeness of the country. Such solutions allow for greater knowledge flow and technology transfer. Scientific institutions and entrepreneurs have faster access to knowledge and research results as well as to research infrastructure, shorter time of new technologies implementation, wider didactic offer, possibility to conduct multidisciplinary projects.

Research institutes in social and economic environment in Poland

The contemporary social and economic situation is characterized by complexity and changeability of the processes occurring in it. Research institutes must show particular market activity in order to meet the requirements of the market economy. Commitment to the development of creative and innovative state policy means investments in modern research infrastructure, modern laboratories, direct transfer of knowledge and

technology to the economy. Research institutes operating in a free market economy, should, to an increasing extent, be open for business and adapt their offer to specific market needs. The activity of these entities undoubtedly creates an opportunity to eliminate disproportions in applied research and development works between Poland and Western European
countries. Currently, many of them are an important source of scientific and technological knowledge. However, research institutes are very
heterogeneous. On one hand, the potential of some units, starting from the 1990s, has been gradually shrinking, on the other hand, many institutes have won international prizes and awards, successfully participate in research programs. It is worth noting here that before the state created conditions for cooperation and obtaining subsidies, many institutes had been independently seeking external contacts. The creation of thematic networks and bilateral agreements testify to the resilience of their activities and contradict the thesis that many units should be liquidated or privatized.²¹

Research institutes play an extremely important role in building modern, positive relations between science and business. They are closest to the economy due to the tasks they perform, i.e. conducting development and industrial research focused on implementation. Due to the fact that research institutes are a set of heterogeneous institutions operating in different areas of the economy, it is difficult to unequivocally assess their links and direct effectiveness of their impact on the economy. It is worth noting that despite low and decreasing subsidies from the state budget, institutes are one of the most important sources of obtaining funds from orders from entrepreneurs. However, the scope of this cooperation is still insufficient. The reason for poor cooperation between business and institutes is the lack of incentives for entrepreneurs and huge bureaucratic barriers, which make cooperation difficult.²² With this in mind, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education is trying to create certain facilitations and special programs for research institutions, which are supposed to intensify cooperation with the economy. A good example of these activities are projects announced by the National Centre for Research and Development, where the so-called scientific-industrial consortia are preferred. Another example is the Constitution for Business introduced in 2018. Constitution for Business, i.e. a package of laws aimed at reforming economic law to serve the development of entrepreneurship and
innovation.²³ Additionally, the establishment of scientific networks bringing together research institutes was initiated.

Legal and organizational framework of operation of Łukasiewicz and POLTRIN networks — comparative analysis

Established in our country, in 2019, the Łukasiewicz Research Network is the third largest research network in Europe. It currently gathers 33 Polish institutes²⁴ divided into specific research groups. The Network was created by incorporating a part (mostly subordinated to the Ministry of Entrepreneurship) of currently operating research institutes that have adequate potential to achieve the purpose of the Network’s activities. It is a structure which has considerable autonomy in the performance of tasks set out in the Act.²⁵ The Łukasiewicz Centre is responsible for planning and coordination of research work carried out in the institutes. Additional tasks of the institutes include: production of unique research equipment, metrological, standardization and certification activity, development of new prototypes and technological solutions.

Affiliated institutes may also conduct training, workshops and courses for entrepreneurs. The activity for the benefit of society is important. The institutes operating within the network maintain separate legal personality, act in their own name and on their own account. The activities of the network are evaluated by the minister responsible for higher education and science. Currently, the network operates in the area of four research groups: intelligent mobility, digital transformation, health and sustainable economy. The Łukasiewicz is the first in Poland and the third largest in Europe integrated network of research institutes with technical, substantive and organizational facilities to conduct scientific and implementation activities.

The primary objective of the Łukasiewicz Network is to conduct applied research and development work relevant to the Polish economy and national development strategy. The group of institutes was formed mainly from entities subordinate to the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology. The goal is to provide attractive, complete and competitive business solutions in the areas of automation, chemistry, biomedicine, ICT, materials, and advanced manufacturing.

In 2018, the second network in Poland started its activity which is formed by institutes operating in the field of land transport not affiliated with the Łukasiewicz Research Network. Their main task is the implementation of national as well as international R&D projects and commercialization of research results.²⁶ The mission of the network is to strengthen the potential of research institutes, enabling the
implementation of large research projects for the development of transport, economy and competitiveness of enterprises. A characteristic feature of the network is the operation of this group of institutes within the competencies of the minister responsible for transport and focusing its activities on land transport. This area has been identified as one of the six most important in the SOR including among the thirteen strategic projects of the state.

Decisions in the Network are most often made by agreement. They are made by the directors of the institutes, who meet periodically throughout the year. In addition, persons from the individual institutes are designated for working cooperation. They carry out specific activities independently of their superiors’ meetings. An important advantage of the Network is that its management is practically costless, as the implemented activities are performed within the existing duties of its participants. POLTRIN continues the previous activities of the associated institutes, especially in the field of projects, and has also cooperated/participated in the Transport Day, organized annually in September by the Ministry of Infrastructure.²⁷

Institutes, within the network, operate on the basis of Regulations and Organizational Statutes approved by the supervising minister. They retain a separate legal personality and act in their own name and on their own account. The Network’s mission is broadly understood cooperation with the Polish economy in the field of road and rail transport. All institutes are headquartered in Warsaw, they do not require any restructuring or legal changes. The institutes associated in the network run complementary activities and have been cooperating for many years, both in terms of scientific and research projects, and e.g. in the area of certification. They are linked by many short-term and long-term agreements. Creating a network of scientific units allowed systematizing all the activities and facilitates taking joint initiatives on an ongoing basis. Of particular importance will be undertakings related to large transport projects across the country, such as the construction of new roads and freeways and the modernization of railroad lines. Cooperation between the institutes, in particular, includes:

• performing tasks important for planning and implementation of state policy, necessary to ensure the development of innovative, efficient, safe and low-emission land transport,
• identifying common problems concerning the sector and taking actions aimed at solving them with the use of expertise, scientific potential and research equipment at the disposal of the institutes,
• shaping strategic research programs as well as initiating and implementing a joint research and implementation program in the area of land transport,
• implementation of joint scientific and development work as well as implementation and dissemination of their results,
• cooperation between the laboratories of the institutes and exchange of research experience,²⁸
• representation of the network on the international arena in the area of scientific research and development.²⁹

The scope of the network’s activities is primarily aimed at:

• performing tasks important for the planning and implementation of state policy in the development of innovative, efficient, safe and low-carbon land transport,
• identifying and solving common problems in the transport and infrastructure sector and infrastructure,
• shaping strategic research programs,
• initiating and implementing a joint research and implementation program in the area of land transport.

Conclusions and recommendations

Creating research networks is a modern international trend. In Europe, excellent examples are the CARNOT network in France and the Fraunhofer Society in Germany. The effect of the activity of such structures results in an increase in the level of innovativeness of a given country. In Poland, the process of activity of two scientific networks associating research institutes has begun.

After analyzing the experience of networking of institutes in other European countries, it can be concluded that the model of functioning of scientific institutes associated in networks allows for:

• optimal use of research infrastructure,
• unification of organization within the institutes, which will increase their economic efficiency,
• strengthening the potential of research institutes,
• capacity to implement large R&D projects,
• increased success rate in European programs (Horizon 2020),
• faster transfer of knowledge and new technologies from science to the economy.

After one year of functioning of the Łukasiewicz and POLTRIN networks in Poland, the following benefits of their activities may be noticed: easier and faster access to the staff of specialists, more effective use of research potential and experience of the affiliated institutes, possibility of participation in interdisciplinary projects, innovative and adequate approach to the market demand for R&D services. When setting directions for future activities, research institutes should place even greater emphasis on active cooperation with enterprises, universities and institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences in order to jointly implement national and international research projects.

Research institutes can be treated as „hybrid” organizations. They are located at the interface between science and economy. They operate on the borderline of science with close relations to industry. They represent a kind of dichotomy between science and applied research while bridging the gap between universities and entrepreneurs. Institutes are forced to develop an appropriate model of functioning in order to fit into the expectations of the economy and science. They are research organizations that are much less subject to scientific analysis than their counterparts, such as universities. Research institutes should be perceived in two dimensions — they occupy the position of an intermediary between science and economy, operating under the pressure of global challenges.³⁰

It should be mentioned that the literature on the characteristics and evaluation of the functioning of research institutes in Poland is not very extensive. This article may be a starting point for further research related to the role and place of research institutes in the system of science in our country. The question remains open how to develop an optimal model of networking these institutions in Poland?

The presented activities of both networks indicate that the mission, objectives and tasks facing research institutes are the same. What needs to be solved is the model of their functioning (organizational form), supervision, management and financing within the structures of Polish science and economy.

Endnotes

¹ See: Wicher-Baluta, A., „Znaczenie kapitału społecznego opartego na analizie sieciowej w metodach zatrudniania pracowników.” (In Polish: „Importance of the social capital based on the network analysis in the methods of employing workers.”), in: Praca, społeczeństwo, gospodarka, J. Osiński (ed.), Oficyna Wydawnicza SGH, Warszawa 2011, pp. 222–223.

² See: Wicher-Baluta A., „Polityka oparta na klastrach jako czynnik stymulujący innowacyjność gospodarki Unii Europejskiej”, in: Kwartalnik Kolegium Ekonomiczno-Społecznego, Warszawa 2012, no. 4, pp. 253–268.

³ Knop, L., and Olko, S. „Ewolucja form organizacyjnych sieci współpracy” (In Polish: „Evolution of the organizational forms of cooperation networks.”), in: Organizacja i Zarządzanie, scientific quarterly, 2008/1, pp.101–116.

⁴ https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/innovation/scoreboards_en (accessed March 25, 2020)

⁵ The provisions of the Act shall not apply to research institutes of higher education and establishments of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

⁶ Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes, (Journal of Laws of 2010, No. 96, item 618).

⁷ If it meets certain requirements laid down in the Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes, (Journal of Laws of 2010. No.96 item 618).

⁸ Barcikowska R., Instytuty badawcze w polskiej polityce innowacyjnej w warunkach członkostwa w Unii Europejskiej Instytut Politologii Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie, (In Polish: Research institutes in the Polish innovation politics in the conditions of EU membership, PhD thesis, The Institute of Political Science, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw 2015).

⁹ According to the amendment, the minister supervising state research institutes will appoint the institute’s director from among candidates presented by a competition committee. The minister will also have the right not to appoint the director if, among others, none of the candidates guarantees the proper performance of the institute’s tasks. Furthermore, the amendment provides that the supervising minister will appoint (upon the director’s motion) and dismiss deputy directors of a state research institute. In the case of the scientific council of a state research institute, the amendment provides that it will consist of at least 50% of the institute’s employees as defined in the institute’s statutes and at least 50% of persons appointed by the supervising minister. At the same time, the amendment provides that the chairman of the scientific council of a state research institute will be elected only from among the members of the scientific council appointed by the supervising minister.

¹⁰ Act of 30 April 2010 on Research Institutes, (Journal of Laws of 2010, No. 96, item 618.).

¹¹ https://konstytucjadlanauki.gov.pl/ (accessed March 25, 2020).

¹² https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/ (accessed March 25, 2020).

¹³ https://www.gov.pl/web/nauka/lukasiewicz (accessed July 27, 2020)

¹⁴ Polish Transport Research Institutes Network POLTRIN

¹⁵ https://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html (accessed April 2, 2020 r.)

¹⁶ Intarakumnerd P., Goto A. „Role of public research institutes in national innovation”, Research Policy 47(2018), pp. 1309–1320.

¹⁷ https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/media-center/publications/fraunhofer-annual-report.html (accessed August 3, 2020).

¹⁸ https://www.instituts-carnot.eu/en/mot-cl%C3%A9s/carnot-network (accessed April 15, 2020).

¹⁹ The Carnot label is awarded by the MNiB through a call for competitive proposals announced by the ANR there.
The selection procedure consists of an evaluation by a special Commission, after a positive evaluation, the institute in question receives the so-called CARNOT accreditation for five years.

²⁰ Barcikowska R, Sieciowanie instytutów badawczych narzędziem rozwoju polityki innowacyjności w wybranych krajach europejskich, Marketing Instytucji Naukowych i Badawczych, 2018. (In Polish: Networking of the research institutes as a development tool of the innovation politics in the selected European countries, Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations, 2018).

²¹ Barcikowska R., Instytuty badawcze w polskiej polityce innowacyjnej w warunkach członkostwa w Unii Europejskiej Instytut Politologii Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie, (In Polish: Research Institutes in the Polish innovation politics in the conditions of EU memberships, PhD thesis, The Institute of Political Science, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw 2015)

²² See: Praca zbiorowa pod redakcją Bromski K., Współpraca nauki i biznesu, Doświadczenia i dobre praktyki wybranych projektów w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Innowacyjna Gospodarka na lata 2007–2013, Polska Agencja Przedsiębiorczości, Warsaw 2013 (In Polish: Collective work edited by K. Bromski, Cooperation of science and business: Experiences and good practices of the selected projects in the framework of the Operational Program „Innovative Economy for 2007–2013”, Polish Agency for Entrepreneurship Development).

²³ http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU20180000646/T/D20180646L.pdf (accessed May 11, 2020).

²⁴ https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/o-nas/

²⁵ https://www.senat.gov.pl/gfx/senat/pl/senatekspertyzy/5061/plik/1100o.pdf (accessed April 3, 2020).

²⁶ In July 2018, the Road and Bridge Research Institute, the Railway Institute and the Motor Transport Institute concluded an agreement on the establishment of the Polish Transport Research Institutes Network (POLTRIN).

²⁷ Rafalski L, Duże projekty transportowe (In Polish: Big Transportation Projects.), Przegląd Techniczny no.5/2020, p. 12.

²⁸ POLTRIN activity report for 2019, submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

²⁹ https://www.gov.pl/web/infrastruktura/powolanie-polskiej-sieci-instytutow-badawczych-transportu-poltrin (accessed March 20, 2020).

³⁰ Gullbrandsen, M., Research institutes as hybrid organizations: Central challenges to their legitimacy, Policy Sciences 44(2011), pp. 215–230

References

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The situation on the academic education market in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is quite similar (Wasielewski, 2017, pp. 63-65). After the period of mass education, which resulted in its universality and relatively low quality, universities are slowly departing from this model, paying more and more attention to the quality and specificity of academic education and to improving the effectiveness of the teaching process.

Relatively low scores achieved by universities from Poland and Slovakia in international rankings, current demographic evolution observed at schools (starting from the 2006/07 academic year in Poland and from 2009/2010 in Slovakia, a decline in the number of students has been recorded) and influenced by broader demographic changes in Central and Eastern Europe — a decrease in the population aged 19-24. These factors together with a rather low interest in the didactic offer of foreign students, and a change in young people’s attitudes towards learning are just some of the factors that induce university authorities and bodies responsible for higher education to take active steps to reform and search for innovative solutions, e.g. in the field of didactics. An example of such regulations in Poland is the so-called „Constitution for Science”, i.e. The Act of 20 July 2018, The Law on Higher Education and Science.

In Poland, the indicators concerning the method of distributing subsidies from the state budget for public and private universities are changing, according to which in a public university there may not be more than 13 students per academic teacher (SSR — student staff ratio)
(Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education from December 7, 2016).

As of October 31, 2019, there were 1,230.3 thousand students in higher education institutions in the 2018/19 academic year in Poland, i.e. 4.8% fewer than a year earlier. As many as 73.3% of all students were enrolled in public schools. A total of 93.2 thousand academic teachers were employed in higher education institutions, including 2.1 thousand foreigners.

The revenues of higher education institutions totalled PLN 24,591.9 million (of which PLN 22,057.7 million were generated by public higher education institutions) that is 5.3% more than in the previous year. Total costs reached PLN 23,885.8 million, 5.4% more than in the previous year. The average educational costs per student in Poland amounted to PLN 20,446.0, which is 7.8% more than in the previous year (Szkolnictwo wyższe, 2020)

In Slovakia, in the same time there were 136,874 students in higher education institutions i.e. 2.27% fewer than in the previous academic year. The vast majority of them (85.04%) studied in public higher education institutions. 95,830 of all students were full-time students in higher education institutions in Slovakia, i.e. 3.38% fewer than in the previous academic year. The vast majority of them (92.64%) studied in public higher education institutions.

The number of students has been decreasing since the academic year 2009/2010 in Slovakia. This trend cannot be connected only to demographic changes. Although the number of 19-year-olds has decreased over the last 10 years (by almost 30%), this decrease does not directly translate into the decrease in applicants to university. It is also not possible to claim that the number of graduates of Slovak universities has decreased in proportion to the decrease in the number of young people aged 21–25. The decline in student enrolment numbers at Slovak universities is likely influenced by the increasing number of young people that prefer to study abroad
(Vanèíková, 2019). At the same time, it should be noted that the number of foreign students has been increasing every year since the academic year 2003/2004.

A total of 10,036 full-time university teachers were employed in higher education institutions in 2018/2019 academic year (excluding 1,703 of parttime teachers), i.e. ratio of students to teaching staff was 13.64 (11.65 if part-time teachers are included) (CVTI, 2020).

In 2018, public higher education institutions in Slovakia reached revenues of 770,339.292 million , i.e. 2.22% more than in the previous year. Public higher education institution costs accounted for 758,007.472 , which was 2.58% more than in the previous year (MŠVVaŠ SR, 2018a;
MŠVVaŠ SR, 2019).

This article is a part of the considerations on the necessity and ways of improving the quality of education at universities in Central and Eastern Europe. It points academic tutoring as an effective tool to meet the expectations of modern youth, and at the same time a way to raise the professional competences of teaching staff and build the relational capital of a university. The aim of the paper is to pose a number of questions to determine the direction of changes that should be considered in order to incorporate academic tutoring into the teaching activities of the modern university.

Aim, scope and methodology of research

The aim of the article is to present the changes taking place in the expectations of contemporary students and to analyse the essence and assumptions of academic tutoring as one of the forms of personalized education, the goal of which is to empower the students and place their development at the centre of the university’s interest.

The research problem is to show tutoring as a method of building a relationship with a student, and also a method of improving the quality of teaching services offered at the higher education level. An analysis of academic tutoring (both developmental and scientific, as both types often interpenetrate in practice) was performed, taking into account the positions of both sides of the process, i.e. the tutor — university researcher and the tutee, i.e. a student, a participant of tutorials. It constitutes the basis for the formulation of a number of questions concerning the role and direction of changes in contemporary academic education. Questions remain open and it is at the level of a given university that an effort should be made to answer them. Yet, they may prove helpful in taking effective actions introducing changes in academic teaching.

The study, based on a critical review and analysis of the literature and the identification of examples of good practice in the field of academic tutoring in Poland and Slovakia, is of an exploratory and analytical nature.

Students’ expectations towards academic education and teaching staff

Socio-economic changes, globalization, internationalization, progressive demographic decline, evolution of the labour market and thus of employers’ expectations are just some of the factors that contribute to changes in the attitudes of young people, including their requirements regarding universities and academic education (SarnatCiastko, 2017, pp. 79–80). At the same time, they influence the demand for educational services, understood as a deliberate and orderly sequence of relations between academic teachers who offer their knowledge and skills, and students who acquire them (Pluta-Olearnik, 2009, pp. 12-13).

In the current reality (the COVID-19 pandemic), there is also the necessity of at least temporary isolation, and thus the importance of virtualisation of teaching and remote education (e-learning, hybrid education model, etc.) is growing. Information technologies and remote forms of interpersonal communication are rapidly developing — synchronous/asynchronous remote learning in given periods becomes a necessity.

The current forms of learning — through lectures, labs and practical classes often conducted in large groups, do not fully meet the expectations of contemporary students. Young people expect subjectivity, individual approach, and building partnerships with lecturers. It is desirable to use modern, activating tools and didactic techniques that enable real contact and effective discovery of the students’ talents, abilities and predispositions, and thus their development. Students expect taking into account the individual situation of a given person, which, with a limited number of hours of in-group classes under standard conditions, was rarely possible, let alone in the case of remote, on-line teaching.

When choosing a university where they intend to study, students expect high-quality education. In the perception of young people, it consists of, among others: plans, programs and methods of education used at the university, available research, teaching and administrative staff, education conditions and available infrastructure. What matters is the cooperation of universities with external entities, including business practice, particular care taken for the relations in the external and internal socio-economic environments, and corporate social responsibility (Adamska, 2018, p. 41).

The academic tradition and the place of the university in the rankings are also important.

In practice, human capital turns out to be the most important aspect, determining the intellectual capital of the university. It is people, their competences, commitment, creativity, personal motivation, intellect, willingness to develop, and the ability to cooperate with another human beings that primarily affect, with appropriate support from the university infrastructure, the level of teaching services provided (Adamska, 2018, p. 44; Kwaśny and Żur, 2018, p. 88). The effectiveness of any improvement and development activities is determined by the degree of identification and understanding of the expectations and needs of potential and current students. As Adamska (2018, pp. 48–50) claims, teaching staff and interpersonal relations are, in the opinion of students, the most important factors shaping the image of a university. The university’s infrastructure and the place of universities in the rankings are on the next positions. It turns out that students expect lecturers not only to provide knowledge and help in scientific issues, but also, to an increasing extent, to participate in various forms of cooperation, including support in professional/life issues.

The teaching staff should, therefore, improve the skills of professional support and counselling in order to meet, also in this respect, the expectations of students.

For most students, the university is the last stage on the educational path, which encourages reflection regarding their further life and professional career. It also presents the young individual with the need to make specific choices that should lead to success. In this situation, a contact with a person who could assist them and provide support cannot be
overestimated (Adamska, 2018, p. 50). These expectations can be met by a committed tutor who, acting as a facilitator, not only helps the students to cope with the „difficulty of studying”, but by activating them, asking the right questions at the right time, encourages reflection, and by formulating constructive feedback helps to make informed decisions. Students are definitely looking for not only mentors — specialists in a specific field, but tutors — people supporting the education process and assisting them in choosing a career path based on their predispositions and social competences. Such a teacher could also be helpful in acquainting a given student with a specific company, which, for example, is looking for an employee through the university. This could help create the image of the university as a socially responsible institution (Master, 2019, Adamska, 2018, p. 50). According to the available research results, among various forms of non-didactic activity of lecturers, students most appreciate cooperation, and conducting research projects in which students would like to participate. The social activity of lecturers is also important (Adamska, 2018, p. 52). Today’s students expect education based on dialogue and cooperation, in which mutual respect, partnership and trust are important.

These are perfect conditions for exploring inspiring scientific problems, acquiring new skills and developing competences; yet, they require strengthening the role and function of an academic teacher (Todorescua, Popescu-Mitroia, Greculescub, 2015, p. 191). The teaching staff of universities should be encouraged to develop innovative teaching methods that activate students, taking the role of not only a mentor but also a tutor.

Based on the research results (Centrum edukaèného manažmentu, 2018), Slovak students expect that their studies bring them excellent references for the labour market and a wide range of employment opportunities. Although students generally have lower expectations regarding international cooperation before starting their studies, the offer of exchange opportunities abroad obtained the best scores in the rating of students’ practical experience gained at university. Respondents indicated that the university provides them with the best basis in terms of their own personal development, further learning ability and future working career. While the future working career was described relatively positively, the respondents rated the development of business activities worse. According to students, more effort and emphasis should be placed on practical elements of their studies, on hard skills, and there should be more options for combining courses.

In general, students, regardless of the country, in the light of similar experiences and realities in Poland and Slovakia, as representatives of the same, Z generation have very similar expectations towards universities and academic teachers.

Academic tutoring — opportunities and challenges

Tutoring is a didactic method based on the „master-apprentice” relationship, known and successfully used since the times of ancient Greece (Czekierda, 2015, p. 20, Fingas, 2015, p. 38). Aristotle is considered the „father” of this method, who, while walking with his students, had the habit of having long discussions with them and teaching them in this way. Over time, with some modifications, tutoring began to be successfully used in secondary schools and universities in Great Britain and the USA, and introduced, with some caution, through experiments, into the education system in other countries, including Poland. To this day, however, it has not been properly appreciated or even permanently included in the curricula of universities in Central and Eastern Europe as a form of classes.

Tutoring is based on a kind of inversion of the education process — the purpose of tutoring is not to transfer knowledge in a traditional way, but to identify talents and strengthen the strengths of the student (tutee), and thus stimulate him to personal and scientific development (Cichorzewska, 2014, p. 223; Włodarczyk, 2018, pp. 75–76). Individual work of the tutor with the student in a 1:1 relationship is meant to encourage a young person to identify what is his or her true passion and explore it on his/her own (Master, 2019, pp. 36–37). In tutoring, external motivation moves towards the work based on internal motivation, which the student awakens and nurtures during the tutorials. Students usually have a tutorial per one or two weeks, taking place in their college. Tutorials normally last about an hour, during which the tutor gives the student a one to one feedback based on the prepared work on a particular topic. At the end of the tutorial, the tutor will set a new piece of work for a student to be ready for the next meeting. During the following week the student is expected to work independently to complete the task.

A tutorial relies on the exchange of ideas, so the student needs to be ready to present and defend his/her opinions, accept constructive criticism and practice active listening. Such a regular and rigorous academic discussion develops and facilitates learning in a way that is not possible through lectures alone. Tutorials are a great way to explore ideas and get new perspectives. They develop the ability to think for oneself — an essential skill for academic success and something that the best employers look for in graduates. Regular tutorials also allow for close progress monitoring, so tutors can quickly provide additional support if necessary (Ragonis and Hazzan, 2009, pp. 69–71).

University graduates who have had a chance to study with the use of tutoring gain skills that increase their chances of finding a job and launching a successful professional career (Poon, Hoxley and Fuchs, 2011).

The uniqueness of each student and their specific scientific interests make tutoring a process that is characterized by high dynamics and variability. No two tutorials are the same. It all depends on the student’s needs and capabilities, the tutor’s personality and work style, and the commitment of both parties, including the uniqueness of the relationship that is formed between the student and the tutor. All this means that when working with the tutoring method there is no room for boredom and routine, but there is a need to systematically update one’s knowledge, search for new information, follow the latest scientific reports that may prove inspiring for the student/ward. By discussing with the student/ward, the tutor also develops (Master, 2019, pp. 46–47).

Among the benefits of implementing tutoring into academic practice, there are benefits at the university, student and academic lecturer level (Włodarczyk, 2018, pp. 78–81).

• Benefits for the university:
  – improving the image of the university and increasing its competitiveness
  – strengthening the recognition of the university as a forge of soft skills of students
  – strengthening the subjectivity of students in the didactic process – continuous improvement of the quality of education
  – effective shaping of young people, who consciously take matters into their own hands, and by adopting entrepreneurial and proactive attitudes, have a chance to become future elites in a given environment – an opportunity, thanks to the use of modern forms of education, for a greater degree of internationalization of the university – development of culture and relationships
  – creating a group of graduates closely related to the university and identifying with its values, thus maintaining the relationship with the university even after graduation.
• Benefits for the student:
  – a chance for integrated development and the possibility of achieving above-average educational effects — studying, i.e. independent acquisition of knowledge under the supervision of a tutor, becomes an intellectual adventure that stimulates and develops, among others thanks to individual selection of educational content
  – development of self-management skills in time, improvement of work self-organization,
  – developing self-motivation for further development and lifelong learning
  – developing the ability to think analytically, clearly define thoughts and express one’s own opinions on a given topic, as well as substantive discussion and defence of one’s position on a given issue – learning becomes something natural, not a forced necessity – polishing the writing workshop (tutoring sessions, scientific articles) – developing the art of argumentation, presentation and defence of one’s position on a given issue.
• Benefits for the tutor:
  – tutoring creates the space and opportunity to exchange views on an intellectual and scientific plane with the student/ward, and to inspire each other
  – tutoring creates new opportunities for the didactic development of the tutor, provides modern, inspiring tools for working with the student – successful cooperation with the student/ward who discovers
  a scientific passion, achieves success in academic life, and then in professional life, may become a reason for obtaining professional satisfaction for the lecturer
  – an academic teacher has a chance to move from a role of a lecturermentor, simply implementing the curriculum to a tutor-guide,
  a specialist with high authority and a credit of trust, a partner in the process of acquiring knowledge and broadening the student’s horizons.

With its many benefits, academic tutoring has several limitations as well. First of all, in the academic environment, the knowledge about the nature and role of tutoring is generally limited. The implementation of this form of development into didactic practice requires certain administrative and organizational changes at the university level, including the
modification of educational curricula (the possibility of tutoring is partially available during diploma seminars, but it would definitely require an increase in the number of hours if this form of cooperation with the student was to be applied). It is necessary to ensure adequate financial resources for financing classes carried out in the form of tutorials (within the pool of expenses for teaching). The condition for success is to provide a sufficiently large group of properly prepared (the cost of refresher training), motivated and committed tutors who will confidently approach the implementation of this form of classes with the student (Godlewski, 2015, p. 92; Włodarczyk, 2018, p. 81).

Due to their nature, as a personalized form of education, tutorials can be addressed in the current reality to only a small, selected group of students, which can be perceived as excluding or even discriminating against the rest of the students. There is an impression of creating an exclusive group of „chosen ones”, who have special access to the lecturer thanks to regular individual meetings (tutorials) (Cichorzewska, 2014, p. 225).

Conducting classes in the form of tutorials requires, from the point of view of the lecturer, to devote a lot of time to teaching (contact hours are one thing, but the need to plan and prepare for individual meetings with each student cannot be ignored). This may contribute to limiting the scientific development, including research and preparation of new scientific publications. For students, such a situation would also be highly undesirable, because inhibiting the scientific development of a lecturer would limit their access to the latest scientific research and the latest achievements in a given field. Working with the tutoring method requires of the lecturers to manage themselves properly in terms of time, and a lot of discipline to maintain a balance in their lives and teaching duties. The so-called didactic academic career path creates an opportunity in this respect in Poland, but definitely tutorials as an inspiring and satisfying form of didactic classes should not be reserved only for the teaching staff.

When deciding to implement academic tutoring, a university should seek answers to a number of questions that will allow this process to be undertaken in a thoughtful manner. Some of them are:

• is there a chance to obtain additional funds for conducting classes using the scientific tutoring method, at least in the first phase, thanks to which this teaching method will be popularized?
• in a specific situation, will the strengths of academic tutoring lead to taking the full advantage of the opportunities offered by the
  implementation of this form of education?
• can the university allow the weaknesses of tutoring to prevent the use of potential opportunities?
• are the strengths of tutoring significant and easy enough to identify in order to overcome the threats and bring the university tangible profits?
• can the weaknesses of tutoring aggravate the threats resulting from its use and, as a result, bring more negative than positive effects?

In this way, the full picture of the factors that influence the effective implementation of tutoring into academic practice may be obtained. Their analysis and ordering allows to define possible scenarios for the implementation of academic tutoring (Dziemianowicz, Szmigiel-Rawska, Nowicka and Dąbrowska, 2012, pp. 104–120):

• a pessimistic scenario — weaknesses deepen the threats of the implementation of academic tutoring, the university does not generate benefits from the application of this innovative form of education,
• a realistic scenario — strengths override the threats, but some weaknesses prevent the use of all potential opportunities,
• an optimistic scenario — strengths fully allow to take advantage of the opportunities created by this method and the university benefits from the potential of academic tutoring, constituting a kind of benchmark for other entities.

The examples of good practice in the field of tutoring-based didactic projects presented below show that an optimistic scenario is possible.

Academic tutoring — examples of good practice and implementation of the method at Polish universities

There are more and more examples and possibilities of long-term implementation of academic tutoring in academic practice in Poland. The criterion for selecting the presented examples of tutoring in Poland was the time perspective of implementing tutoring into higher education in a conscious, structured way — from the first formalized projects in this area implemented since 2009, to projects currently in progress, e.g. Masters of Didactics.

• The „Modern Lecturer — tutor, coach” project implemented since 2009 at the Pedagogical University of Towarzystwo Wiedzy Powszechnej in Warsaw (Marzec, 2014, p. 92),
•  The „TUTOR — WOiG” project — tutoring at the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography of the University of Gdańsk, under which in the academic year 2012/13 and 2013/14 34 lecturers completed the 64-hour School of Academic Tutors course dedicated to the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography. Trained tutors work with students who are not necessarily the best, but seek knowledge, are active, and their interests extend beyond the curriculum of the specialty they are studying. This is done to promote self-education and foster independence in developing students’ scientific interests, as well as consciously use their potential. In a series of 8 meetings per semester, the tutor implements an individual academic course tailored to the student’s needs. Therefore, students can use modern scientific methods that are available to students of the best universities in the world.
• WISE — Faculty Individual Educational Path — a program implemented since 2013 at the University of Economics in Krakow, that can be undertaken during the last three semesters of the first-cycle studies and the last two semesters of the second-cycle studies. Each of the students qualified for the program resigns from a specific specialization and follows an individual study plan previously agreed with the tutor in accordance with the scientific interests of a given student. While working with the tutor on a 1:1 basis, students explore scientific topics selected together with the tutor, write essays, and engage in discussions (Kwaśny i Żur, 2018, pp. 89–90).
• IQ — Ideal Quality in Good Quantity project, implemented in 2014–2016 at the University of Gdańsk. The project was aimed at improving the quality of education and extracting the intellectual potential of students who expect even more ambitious challenges than those offered by the study program of the chosen field. During the project, 1,576 hours of individual tutorials were carried out by 29 trained academic tutors of various specialties, who took care of 222 students (Karpińska-Musiał, 2016, p. 95).
• An ongoing implementation, starting from 2016, of academic and development tutoring within the scope of elective courses at the Jan Długosz in Częstochowa.
• The „Masters of Didactics” project — implemented in the years 2019–2022 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and cofinanced from the Knowledge Education Development Operational Program, the aim of which is to „raise the competences of academic staff in the use of modern, innovative teaching methods, especially tutoring, in education”. As part of the project, it is planned to develop a concept and implement new solutions in the field of tutoring aimed at supporting outstandingly talented students. Academic teachers from universities participating in the project take part in study visits to selected, renowned European universities, and then each of the trained teachers conducts, using the potential and experience of a partner from abroad, tutoring classes with selected students of their home university. The project involves the participation of approx. 600 academic teachers, conducting classes for approx. 1,800 exceptionally talented students from approx. 35 universities. Each tutor can take care of up to 10 students. Classes are to be conducted during the full cycle of education as part of the first-cycle studies or the first 7 semesters of the uniform graduate level studies (first 3–3.5 years); Funds under the project may be used to subsidize salaries for academic teachers, conducting classes within the normal course of studies with students using the tutoring method and for the preparation of teaching materials for these classes.
  In 2019, the ministry launched the „tutoring model”. The value of the funds allocated for co-financing classes in the form of tutoring for a period of up to 35 months is: PLN 42,910,000.00 and constitutes a significant support in the popularization of tutoring and the lifting of financial restrictions related to its use at Polish universities (Zaproszenie… 2020).

In the case of Masters of Didactics, the next recruitment for the project was announced on October 2, 2020 and assumes an allocation of
PLN 11,000,000 for this purpose by December 31, 2022. Recruitment of more universities interested in supporting the implementation of tutoring is on going.

The above-mentioned projects are examples of good practice in implementing academic tutoring in the realities of universities in Poland.
If properly adapted, they can constitute a specific benchmark for universities from other Central and Eastern European countries.

At Slovak higher education institutions (University of Economics in Bratislava, Technical University in Košice), there are some unique educational projects that are focused on the implementation of innovative teaching methods (project-based learning, problem-based learning, design thinking) that enable personalized teaching and connect students with business practice. Academic tutoring is implemented during conducting of final thesis at all studies levels. Final thesis seminars are included in the study plans as compulsory courses that are led by the advisor — tutor. On the other hand, we think that currently higher education institutions are not familiar with the concept of personalized teaching and/or academic tutoring and that they are not even included in the program and conceptual development documents in the field of education at the national level. In 2017, the document — Learning Slovakia (Učiace sa Slovensko) — was published, in which the emphasis was placed on personalized education at the level of primary and secondary schools (MŠVVaŠ SR, 2017).

Subsequently, based on the previous comprehensive strategy document the National Program of Education 2018–2027 was adopted in 2018, but the sections on personalized education were excluded (MŠVVaŠ SR, 2018b).

Let us hope that the examples of good practice in implementing academic tutoring in higher education in Poland will encourage the Slovak authorities to consider possible changes in this area and to assert that the advantages of tutoring definitely exceed its limitations.

Summary

New technologies, generational differences, capturing the current and anticipating future needs of the labour market pose many challenges for academic teachers in terms of methods and forms of education, rules for improving knowledge and their own didactic workshop. At the same time, students’ expectations are changing, evolving towards personalizing education, tightening the relationship with the lecturer, who should not only be a mentor and authority on scientific issues, but also a guide to help students choose their career path and find themselves in adult life after graduation. In this situation, academic tutoring seems to be a good solution, as it limits the negative effects of mass education, and supports not only the talented individuals that are particularly motivated and development-oriented.

Tutoring has both strengths and weaknesses. Appropriate recognition of students’ individual, improvement of skills and social competences that will allow them to meet the expectations of the labour market, increasing the attractiveness of studying, personal development, both of the student and the tutor, development of individual entrepreneurship of a tutee are just a few of the advantages of this form of academic education. Of course, introducing tutoring into academic practice entails the need for organizational changes at the university level. It also involves the necessity to spend certain funds; however, they should be treated as an investment, not only costs. It is worth emphasizing that academic education with the use of tutoring requires, with full flexibility and discretion in the topics undertaken, a certain care for the quality of this form of work with the student. Specific standards and control mechanisms should be developed in this field.

A lot needs to be done to make the optimistic scenario of the implementation of academic tutoring into the teaching practice of universities possible on a larger scale. The strengths of tutoring should be communicated clearly enough to make it possible to use the opportunities offered by the potential of this teaching method. Tutoring should become a complementary, and in some cases, alternative didactic method. The changes should be of an evolutionary nature. Examples of educational projects in this area show that it is possible.

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Instytuty badawcze we współczesnej gospodarce globalnej w coraz szerszym zakresie powinny reagować na zmiany i podejmować działania zmierzające do wzmocnienia i poprawy ich wizerunku poprzez zintensyfikowanie działań marketingowych z wykorzystaniem nowych kierunków w tym obszarze. W sytuacji polskich instytutów badawczych działania w zakresie marketingu długo nie były podejmowane, a realizacja tych procesów została przesunięta w czasie. Sektor badawczo — rozwojowy w Polsce ma za sobą długą drogę w historii funkcjonowania, a długo finansowany przez państwo nie był zainteresowany prowadzeniem działalności marketingowej.

Dopiero procesy transformacji, a następnie globalizacji w istotny sposób wymusiły na tych jednostkach konieczność reagowania i podejmowania działań marketingowych. Obecnie w dobie coraz większej konkurencyjności, jak i pojawiających się nowych kierunków w marketingu instytuty badawcze powinny reagować i zintensyfikować działania w zakresie marketingu tak, aby wzmocnić wizerunek i utrzymać obecne, jak i pozyskiwać nowe rynki zbytu na oferowane produkty w tym prace B+R. W obliczu współczesnej, dynamicznie rozwijającej się gospodarki, bez właściwych działań w tym zakresie instytuty badawcze mogą przestać liczyć się na globalnym rynku, jak i w ogóle przestać na nim funkcjonować.

Do narzucenia jeszcze szybszego tempa działań w rozwoju instytutów badawczych obliguje także Strategia Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju do roku 2020 wskazując na potrzebę zwiększenia innowacyjności kraju oraz dokonania gruntownej reformy sfery B+R. Polska pod względem innowacyjności zajmuje odległe miejsce wśród krajów europejskich i dlatego też musi dokonać ogromnego wysiłku aby ten dystans nadrobić. Drogą prowadzącą do jego realizacji jest zwiększenie wydatków na sferę B+R, oraz dokonanie gruntownego zreformowania w tym także w obszarze działalności marketingowej w tym głównie, aby zapewnić inteligentny i zrównoważony rozwój, pozwalający na pomnażanie kapitału finansowego i rozwój technologiczny i edukacyjny.

Wpływ postępującej globalizacji na podjęcie działań w obszarze marketingu, stanowi istotny problem badawczy, wymagający pogłębionej szczegółowej analizy, oraz przeprowadzenia badań w tym zakresie. Celem artykułu będzie określenie w jakim zakresie nowa rzeczywistość gospodarcza wymusza podjęcie działań marketingowych i w jakim kierunku instytuty badawcze w zakresie tej działalności powinny zmierzać.

Problematyka transformacji, globalizacji i wpływ tych procesów na kierunki rozwoju instytutów badawczych stanowi istotny problem badawczy, wymagający pogłębionej i szczegółowej analizy oraz przeprowadzenia badań w tym zakresie i właśnie tym zagadnieniom zostanie poświęcony niniejszy artykuł.

Globalizacja i kierunki restrukturyzacji marketingowej

Globalizacja w ujęciu słownika wyrazów obcych, utożsamia się z procesem rozpoczętym pod koniec XX wieku, w związku z rozpowszechnieniem się mediów elektronicznych, rozwojem międzynarodowym korporacji i końcem zimnej wojny, wszystko to przyczyniło się do zwiększenia obrotów handlu międzynarodowego, nasilenia przepływu kapitału, ludzi i technologii, zwiększenia zależności między krajami oraz zacierania różnic kulturowych 1 .

Definicja pojęcia globalizacja według Słownika Zarządzania i Finansów — oznacza: „proces upodabniania się gustów i oferty produktu na całym świecie, wskutek czego popyt jest zaspokajany produktem globalnym, a nie lokalnymi” 2 . Traktując definicję globalizacji bardziej dalekosiężnie, należałoby zjawisko to określić jako proces powiązań pomiędzy poszczególnymi regionami, krajami, kontynentami przejawiający się międzynarodowymi przepływami kapitałów, technologii, finansów, towarów, informacji między uczestnikami tego procesu. Jest to proces, który zachodzi w większości firm świata. Rynek zbytu dla wyrobów tych firm znajduje się wszędzie tam gdzie są odbiorcy przemysłowi bez względu na dzielące je granice państwowe.

Termin globalizacja jest pojęciem używanym bardzo chętnie i często w literaturze naukowej, jak i w języku potocznym. Rzadko jednak zastanawiamy się, co w rzeczywistości oznacza słowo globalizacja i czy istnieje jedna spójna definicja tego zjawiska. William Scheuerman, autor hasła „Globalizacja” zamieszczonego w Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy twierdzi, że termin ten obejmuje szeroką gamę zróżnicowanych zjawisk i procesów politycznych, gospodarczych i kulturalnych występujących we współczesnym świecie. Termin globalizacja zastąpił też inne, wcześniej używane słowa, które określały zjawiska i procesy obejmujące swoim zasięgiem więcej niż jeden kraj 3 . Według Scheuermana obiegowe znaczenia terminu globalizacja obejmują różne zjawiska i najczęściej są to:

• coraz większa dominacja zachodnich form i wzorców życia politycznego, gospodarczego, inaczej mówiąc westernalizacja lub amerykanizacja życia w różnych częściach świata, poza krajami rozwiniętymi gospodarczo; z
• coraz większa liczba i skuteczność nowych wynalazków i środków komunikacji dzięki coraz bardziej zaawansowanym technologiom informacyjnym; to zjawisko Scheuerman nazywa rewolucją internetową (Internet Revolution);
• wreszcie termin globalizacja stosowany jest często do określenia sytuacji społecznej, głównie w krajach rozwiniętych, gdzie zaawansowane procesy integracyjne prowadzą do powstania jednorodnego społeczeństwa, w którym zanikają konflikty i bariery wewnętrzne; jest to przejaw „globalnej integracji”.

Pojęcie „globalizacja” ściśle związane jest z gospodarką globalną, czyli taką, w której czynniki produkcji — bogactwa naturalne, kapitał, technologia i siła robocza — a także produkty i usługi krążą po całym świecie. Po raz pierwszy bowiem wszystko może być wyprodukowane i sprzedane wszędzie na świecie. W gospodarce oznacza to wykonywanie każdego komponentu oraz każdej czynności w takim miejscu na kuli ziemskiej, gdzie można to zrobić najtaniej oraz sprzedawanie produktów i usług tam, gdzie ceny i zyski są najwyższe 4 .

Z oznaczeniem pojęcia globalizacja związane jest — zdaniem Richarda Kocha — określenie glokalizacja organizacji (glocalisation of organisations), stanowiące zbitkę słów globalna lokalizacja 5 . Celem glokalizacji jest takie przekształcenie firmy, aby była w stanie elastycznie reagować na potrzeby klientów na całym świecie i aby jej struktura maksymalnie ułatwiała globalnemu klientowi kontakty handlowe z firmą 6 .

Natomiast marketing w erze globalizacji i gospodarki opartej na wiedzy ma wiele do zaoferowania w warstwie koncepcyjnej i jest to rezultatem rozwoju różnych nurtów koncepcji marketingu na przełomie XX i XXI wieku.

Warto w tym miejscu przypomnieć, że marketing w swojej pierwotnej postaci to projekcja działalności marketingowej danego przedsiębiorstwa lub jego wyspecjalizowanej części, oparta na założeniach ideowych marketingu, która obejmuje cele działalności, ogólne wytyczne dotyczące sposobu ich osiągania oraz kompozycję instrumentów oddziaływania.

W dobie globalizacji konieczna jest wzajemna współpraca sektora przedsiębiorstw z sektorem nauki. We współczesnej gospodarce konieczny jest model wyboru strategii i polityki innowacyjnej. Model powinien być oparty na dorobku publicznego sektora B+R i silnym potencjale innowacyjnych przedsiębiorstw jest on charakterystyczny dla niewielkiej grupy nowoczesnych gospodarek świata, takich jak Stany Zjednoczone, Japonia, Niemcy, Finlandia czy Szwecja. Istotą tego modelu jest orientacja na rozwój krajowych zdolności technologicznych i tworzenia instytucji stymulujących współpracę w układzie państwo–przemysł–sfera B+R. Realizacja tej strategii wymaga wysokich nakładów na działalność B+R, ponoszonych zarówno przez sektor publiczny jak i sektor prywatny.

Zaprezentowane w podpunkcie propozycje strategii innowacyjnej i prowadzonej przez przemysł współpracy w ramach działalności badawczo-rozwojowej są przykładem do adaptacji na gruncie polskiego przemysłu.

Jest to konieczne jeżeli sektor nauki ma prowadzić działalności innowacyjną. Należałoby sięgnąć do już sprawdzonych wzorców budowania centrów opartych na współpracy w prowadzonej działalności badawczo — rozwojowej między przemysłem, a sferą B+R.

Analizując ten problem należy zwrócić uwagę, że w dobie globalizacji współpraca z przemysłem, jak i wprowadzanie innowacji jest wręcz koniecznością do dalszego sprawnego funkcjonowania sfery badawczo — rozwojowej. Konieczne jest więc podjęcie odpowiednich decyzji zmierzających do zwiększenia środków na te cele, jak i w pierwszej kolejności przeprowadzenia zmian sektora badawczo — rozwojowego, w tym w obszarze marketingu.

Niewątpliwie globalizacja otwiera nowe możliwości sukcesu gospodarczego krajów transformujących się, wyrównania swego poziomu rozwoju do poziomu najbogatszych obecnie krajów świata, aby to mogło zostać zrealizowane niezbędna jest mądra, narodowa strategia rozwoju, oparta na rozwoju innowacyjności i gospodarki opartej na wiedzy.

Globalizacja stwarza dodatkowe możliwości w rozwiązaniu tego problemu poprzez dostęp do centrów finansowych, absorpcji bezpośrednich inwestycji zagranicznych, transfer innowacji i wiedzy. Bezpośrednie inwestycje zagraniczne, transfer innowacji to najpewniejsza droga do podnoszenia zdolności konkurencyjnych i rozwoju sektora badawczo-rozwojowego.

Nowa gospodarka wywołała powstanie nowej koncepcji marketingu opartego na wiedzy, realizowanego głównie w ramach organizacji sieciowych. Marketing ten wymaga wielu odpowiednich zasobów i kompetencji świadomie budowanych. Nowa gospodarka ma trzy cechy: jest globalna, faworyzuje byty niematerialne i jest silnie wewnętrznie połączona.

Dla zastosowania w instytutach badawczych koncepcji marketingu konieczne jest przeprowadzenie procesów ich restrukturyzacji w trzech zasadniczych obszarach jako:

1. Reorientacja rynkowa Instytutu Badawczego.
2. Restrukturyzacja produktowa w zakresie realizowanych prac badawczo-rozwojowych.
3. Zmiana w sprzedaży produktów i usług B+R przy wykorzystaniu narzędzi marketingu — mix.

Celem restrukturyzacji marketingowej jest rozszerzenie i zaktywizowanie funkcji rynkowych instytutów badawczych, prowadzące zwłaszcza do zwiększenia sprzedaży i wzmocnienia ich rynkowej pozycji, rozumianych jako kluczowe warunki niezbędne do ich rozwoju.

Warto podkreślić, że w realizowanych przedsięwzięciach restrukturyzacyjnych wykształcenie odpowiedniej orientacji instytutu ma znaczenie szczególne. Rynkowa reorientacja instytutu oznacza w dłuższym czasie zmianę jego filozofii działania polegającej na przeniesieniu ciężkości jego funkcjonowania z wytwarzania usług i produktów na ich efektywną sprzedaż. Taka postawa reprezentowana przez Instytut ma swój konkretny wymiar praktyczny — wpływa na strategię i taktykę działania jednostki naukowej, określanie jej celów, narzędzi i warunków realizacji. Restrukturyzacja produktowa obejmuje z kolei przekształcenia, wśród których można wyróżnić względnie proste zmiany w dotychczasowej ofercie asortymentowej jednostki, restrukturyzację w układzie produkt — rynek oraz zmiany dotyczące szerokości oferty, czy nawet całkowitą zmianę domeny dotychczasowego działania. Pierwszy, stosunkowo prosty etap restrukturyzacji produktowej dotyczy zmian w ofercie Instytutów w tym w zakresie i sposobie realizowania prac badawczo — rozwojowych, których celem jest:

• zwiększenie produkcji i sprzedaży dóbr generujących większość dotychczasowych przychodów Instytutów,
• odchodzenie od produktów i usług badawczych nierentownych i przestarzałych, pozbawionych perspektyw rynkowych.

Restrukturyzacja w układzie produkt — rynek (zmiany w sprzedaży) oraz nowe wykorzystanie narzędzi marketingu — mix stanowi pogłębienie prostych zmian w ofercie Instytutów. Działania w tym obszarze związane są ze strategią marketingową oraz wywierają wpływ na założenia strategii rozwoju całej jednostki. Głównym celem restrukturyzacji w tym etapie jest zwiększenie sprzedaży prac badawczych i usług jednostki poprzez jej ściślejsze powiązanie z charakterem, wielkością oraz rozłożeniem w czasie i przestrzeni zaspokajanych przez nią potrzeb.

Podstawę takich działań stanowi szczegółowe rozpoznanie potrzeb nabywców w kategoriach popytu faktycznego i potencjalnego oraz dokonanie segmentacji rynku. Końcowym zadaniem wykonywanym w tym układzie jest określenie rynków (segmentów) docelowych, a więc ostatecznych odbiorców oferty jednostki, a tym samym przyjęcie programu działań marketingowych uwzględniających optymalne kombinacje produktowo — rynkowe 7 . Obszar działań restrukturyzacyjnych w układzie produkt — rynek najlepiej przedstawić za pomocą zmodyfikowanej macierzy Ansoffa, którą zobrazowano w tabeli 1.1.

W celu dokładniejszego przeanalizowania i właściwej interpretacji tabeli nr 1.1 wyjaśnienie poszczególnych elementów zawartych w tabeli 1.1 w układzie produkt — rynek zestawiono w tabeli 1.2.

Przedstawione w tabeli 1.1 i 1.2 informacje stanowią próbę stworzenia optymalnego modelu restrukturyzacji instytutu badawczego w zależności od kombinacji układu rynek — produkt. Można zatem wnioskować, że restrukturyzacja marketingowa stanowi jedną z ważniejszych zmian w instytutach badawczych, która jest najbardziej związana z wciąż postępującą globalizacją rynków i obecnym światowym kryzysem gospodarczym.

Główną przyczyną tak silnej pozycji restrukturyzacji marketingowej wśród ogólnego procesu restrukturyzacji jest współczesna orientacja instytutów badawczych skierowana na to, co właśnie w nowoczesnym marketingu podkreślane jest najbardziej: na zidentyfikowanie oraz zaspokojenie potrzeb klienta.

3. Założenia badawcze

Celem badań i analizy będzie określenie w jakim zakresie nowa rzeczywistość gospodarcza stymuluje zmiany w zakresie marketingu instytutów badawczych i wskazanie kierunków podejmowanych działań w powyższym zakresie.

W nawiązaniu do celu, który w sposób ogólny wyznacza kierunki podjętych rozważań, sformułowany został następujący problem badawczy: w warunkach nasilającej się tendencji do globalizacji kierunki zmian marketingowych zmierzają do zwiększenia konkurencyjności Instytutów Badawczych, zwiększenia użyteczności działalności B+R i transferu wiedzy.

4. Metodyka badań i charakterystyka próby badawczej

Badania empiryczne wchodzące w zakres postawionego założenia badawczego przeprowadzone zostały na grupie 34 instytutów badawczych, które odpowiedziały na przesłaną ankietę. Badania ankietowe zostały przeprowadzone w okresie od sierpnia do października 2016 roku i polegały na przesłaniu ankiety do 55 instytutów badawczych nadzorowanych przez Ministerstwo Rozwoju. Celem badań było pozyskanie informacji koniecznych do weryfikacji przyjętego problemu badawczego oraz umożliwiających poszerzenie dotychczasowego stanu wiedzy na temat kierunków działań marketingowych, a także na temat koniecznych procesów restrukturyzacji właśnie w obszarze marketingu.

Na rys. 1.1 przedstawiono strukturę próby badawczej ze względu kategorię naukową 8 .

Większość badanych Instytutów deklaruje kategorię B, co może wskazywać na coraz lepsze zrozumienie konieczności zintensyfikowania prowadzonej działalności na świadczenie usług badawczo-rozwojowych.

Na kolejnym rys. 1.2 zaprezentowano strukturę próby badawczej ze względu na obszar jej aktywności badawczej.

Większość instytutów deklaruje prowadzenie badań w zakresie nauk chemicznych, nauk technicznych, medycznych, nauk w zakresie inżynierii i ochrony środowiska, co wskazuje na zaprezentowanie większości istotnych obszarów działalności naukowej Instytutów w badanej grupie.

Istotne z punktu widzenia prowadzonej przez Instytuty działalności jest zadeklarowanie przez 100% z nich działalności wg numeru PKD 7219Z, co oznacza, że działalnością podstawową badanych jednostek jest działalność badawczo-rozwojowa (B+R).

5. Podsumowanie i konkluzje

Przedstawione rozważania pozwoliły określić najistotniejsze kierunki działań marketingowych w instytutach badawczych i doprowadziły do następujących wniosków:

Dla potrzeb związanych z weryfikacją tej hipotezy należy dokonać analizy stopnia zaawansowania działań marketingowych z podziałem na poszczególne wskazane kierunki tych działań w obszarze marketingu. Zauważalne jest różne nasilenie poszczególnych działań w każdym z wyodrębnionych kierunków działań marketingowych. Wyniki badań dotyczących tego problemu przedstawiono w tabeli 1.3.

Na podstawie danych zaprezentowanych w tabeli 1.2 można stwierdzić, że w procesach zmian w polskich instytutach badawczych w ramach poszczególnych kierunków marketingowych, występowało różne nasilenie podejmowanych działań w czasie. Wprowadzanie zmian rozpoczynano od realizacji przedsięwzięć polegających na zmianie strategii marketingowej, a przede wszystkim uświadomienie społeczności Instytutów konieczności zintensyfikowania działań w obszarze marketingu. Po czym — jak wynika z badań — realizowano kolejne, wyszczególnione kierunki działań marketingowych. Procesy działań można uznać za prawie zakończone w zakresie strategii marketingowych (86% wskazań) i uświadomienia pracowników w tym zakresie (57% wskazań), działań polegających na stosowaniu marketingu opartego na wiedzy (30% wskazań), promocji w mediach (91%) i dywersyfikację działalności (25% wskazań). Wyniki badań dowodzą, że instytuty badawcze są w trakcie intensywnych przemian w obszarze marketingu, a nowe kierunki w obszarze marketingu dla większości z Instytutów nie są procesem obcym, który dopiero się rozpoczyna.

Oprócz zaprezentowanych wyników badań należy przedstawić kolejne, wynikające ze struktury odpowiedzi na pytanie dotyczące wskazania najważniejszych przedsięwzięć marketingowych realizowanych w poszczególnych latach. Dane te przedstawiono w tabeli 1.4.

Dane przedstawione w tabeli 1.4 pokazują, że w poszczególnych okresach można zauważyć zjawisko zróżnicowania intensywności wprowadzania zmian w zakresie marketingu. Jak wynika z powyższego zestawienia za najistotniejszy i najwcześniej rozpoczęty kierunek zmian uznano tradycyjną formę marketingu m. in. reklamę w mediach, informatory, broszury, gadżety. Tym samym wprowadzenie zmian w zakresie tej tradycyjnej praktyki potwierdza ważność działań marketingowych w polskich instytutach badawczych.

Przedstawione wyniki badań empirycznych dowodzą ponadto, że wprowadzanie zmian w obszarze marketingu jest procesem ciągłym, którego realizacja wymagała dokonania podziału na poszczególne kierunki pod względem „ważności” ich wprowadzania — w polskich instytutach badawczych.

W tym celu dokonano istotnej gradacji poszczególnych kierunków działań marketingowych. Procesy zmian w zakresie poszczególnych kierunków działań były szczególnie intensywnie w 2016 roku.

Rozpoczęcie zmian w zakresie marketingu w instytutach badawczych wywołane było określonymi czynnikami, których zarówno siła, jak i intensywność oddziaływania zależały od zjawisk zachodzących w polskiej gospodarce tj. od globalizacji. Czynniki te wpłynęły (lub wymusiły) podjęcie decyzji o rozpoczęciu określonych działań marketingowych, rozpoczynających się od analizy, diagnozy sytuacji, jak i szczegółowego zaplanowania kierunków działań marketingowych. Wyniki jednocześnie pokazują, że instytuty badawcze stosują zarówno koncepcję marketingu klasycznego, strategicznego, relacyjnego, jak i marketingu opartego na wartości generowane są dwa rodzaje efektów: te kojarzone bezpośrednio z działalnością instytutów badawczych (zysk, wartość jednostki, wartość marki, przychody) i te kojarzone z klientem (satysfakcja klienta, wartość dla klienta).

Działania w zakresie marketingu polegać powinny głównie na promocji Instytutu w zakresie wdrożonych lub wdrażanych prac badawczych (m.in. bazy danych). To właśnie prace badawczo-rozwojowe jako rzeczywisty „produkt” działalności Instytutu stanowią o jego wartości, która powinna być promowana „sprzedawana”, udostępniana jak najszerszemu gronu odbiorców. To właśnie komercjalizacja nauki spowodowała, że wszystkie Instytuty zaczęły być rozpatrywane w kategoriach marketingowych. Aby funkcjonować i rozwijać się konieczne jest zdobycie klienta poprzez informowanie i promowanie swoich produktów. Zmiany zachodzące we współczesnych mediach wymuszają wprowadzenie znaczących modyfikacji w m.in. komunikacji z odbiorcami. Zmiany te będą dotyczyły zarówno wykorzystania form informowania i reklamowania działań i osiągnięć, jak i sposobu oraz języka komunikatów kierowanych do różnych grup adresatów. Nowe media wniosły szeroki wachlarz możliwości dotarcia do zainteresowanych określoną tematyką odbiorców i usprawniania systemu porozumiewania się z nimi. Niezwykle popularną formą działalności marketingowej stały się strony internetowe, dlatego istotnym jest, aby Instytuty zadbały o swoje strony internetowe, by były na bieżąco uzupełniane o nowe istotne informacje o dostępnych usługach, realizowanych pracach badawczo-rozwojowych jak i aby dostarczały niezbędnych informacji o bieżących wydarzeniach dotyczących instytutów.

W związku z powyższym do skutecznych środków promocji nauki i badań instytutów powinny być wykorzystane przede wszystkim:

• Internet jako jeden z najważniejszych mediów promocji nauki w świecie, w tym głównie: witryny internetowe prezentujące instytuty ich ofertę badań, poczta elektroniczna, sieć teleinformatyczna do komunikacji zewnętrznej i wewnętrznej Instytutu, monitorowanie internetu i aktualizowanie wiedzy, narzędzie informacyjno-promocyjne umożliwiające dotarcie do grup docelowych, współpraca z portalami tematycznymi, linki i informacje do realizowanych projektów i partnerów projektowych, instytucji o dostępności wszystkich publikacji.
• Materiały własne instytutów obejmujące: raporty na temat osiągnięć, zawierające uzasadnienie planów badań i nakładów na ich realizację, publikacje prezentujące instytuty (foldery), plakaty promujące daną dziedzinę naukową, biuletyny (newslettery) drukowane lub rozsyłane przez internet.
• Rozszerzenie działalności komórek Informacji Naukowej działających w instytutach, które byłyby odpowiedzialne za organizację systemu udzielania informacji, wizualną identyfikację poszczególnych instytutów, kontakty z mediami, kontakty z otoczeniem w tym społeczno — biznesowym, informowałyby również o ogłaszanych konkursach na realizację prac badawczo — rozwojowych 9 .

W świetle tego ważnymi zadaniami z jakimi powinny zmierzyć się instytuty badawcze powinno być opracowanie systemu komunikacji z otoczeniem, który będzie „pasem transmisyjnym” dla informowania oraz upowszechniania osiągnięć naukowych i prowadzonych badań, a także nawiązanie współpracy z biznesem. W rezultacie działania takie powinny skutecznie wspierać transfer wiedzy i komercjalizację wyników badań prowadzonych w Instytutach.

Głównym zadaniem marketingowym kierowników poszczególnych jednostek powinno być utrzymanie więzi z już istniejącymi klientami oraz penetracja rynku dla zidentyfikowania klientów potencjalnych, dla których należy przygotować odpowiednie oferty. Tylko prowadzenie bardzo aktywnego marketingu z wykorzystaniem wszystkich dostępnych kanałów komunikacji marketingowej jest w stanie wspomóc realizację statutowych zadań instytutów badawczych. W przeciwnym wypadku klienci nie będą mieli wiedzy na temat prowadzonych przez instytuty badań i utrudniony dostęp do ich wyników, niedostateczne ich upowszechnienie, małą zdolność do budowy nowych zespołów badawczych (szczególnie w badaniach interdyscypilinarnych).

Można powiedzieć, że marketing w instytucie uprawiają wszyscy którzy publikują na papierze czy przez strony www, czy występują na konferencjach, seminariach etc. Taki aktywny marketing pozwoli również promować instytuty, konieczne jest zatem aby te działania efektywnie aktywizować i zachęcać pracowników naukowych do takiej właśnie promocji.

Instytuty badawcze mają duży potencjał, dysponują dużym zasobem wiedzy. Niestety często nie wiąże się to ze „sprzedażą” produktów czy usług z prowadzonej działalności badawczo-rozwojowej i często działalność ta jest marginalizowana to w konsekwencji może doprowadzić do tego, że z tej działalności będą „wyłączone” i nie będą mogły działać na rynku gospodarczym jako jednostki naukowe, szczególnie jeżeli potencjalni odbiorcy wiedzy (np. przedsiębiorstwa) będą odczuwali brak ich oferty, a raczej będą odczuwali niemożliwość dotarcia do takiej właśnie oferty 10 .

Nowa rzeczywistość w której instytuty badawcze są istotnymi uczestnikami, obliguje do nieustannych procesów dostosowawczych i jest konieczna ich restrukturyzacja ze wskazaniem kierunków tych działań. Instytuty badawcze aktywnie poszukują swojego miejsca pomiędzy innymi jednostkami naukowymi mającymi misję edukacyjną, zaś najbliższe misji instytutów jest poszukiwanie i tworzenie nowych technologii i nowej wiedzy.

Podsumowując wyniki zrealizowanych badań można wnioskować, że problematyka uwarunkowań i kierunków działań marketingowych instytutów badawczych w tym w obszarze marketingu w latach 2014–2016 jest zagadnieniem niezwykle złożonym. Kierunki działań w obszarze marketingu bardzo dynamicznie się zmieniają. Nowe narzędzia, nowe potrzeby, konieczności dialogu z odbiorcami, wymagają analizy i ewolucji, strategii oraz programów marketingowych, które będą pomagały instytutom w procesie adaptacji do systemu rynkowego 11 .

W świetle dotychczasowych rozważań globalizacja stymuluje do podejmowania radykalnych działań w zakresie działań marketingowych przede wszystkim w kierunku tworzeniu sieci marketingowych, reorientacji na rynek i zmianę dotychczasowej filozofii działania w obszarze marketingu.

Przypisy

1 Por. Słownik wyrazów obcych, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2006, s. 332.

2 R. Koch, Słownik Zarządzania i Finansów. Narzędzia, terminy, techniki od A do Z, Wyd. Profesjonalnej Szkoły Biznesu, Kraków 1997, s. 76.

3 Por. M. Czerny, R. Łuczak, J. Makowski, Globalistyka. Procesy globalne i ich lokalne konsekwencje, Wyd. Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2007, s. 23.

4 Por. L. C. Thurow, Przyszłość kapitalizmu, Wyd. Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 1999, s. 157–220.

5 Por. R. Koch, op. cit., s. 77.

6 Por. Tamże, s. 77.

7 L. Garbarski, I. Rutkowski, W. Wrzosek, Marketing. Punkt zwrotny nowoczesnej firmy, PWE, Warszawa 1998, s 155.

8 Art. 42 ust. 3 Ustawa z dnia 30 kwietnia 2010 r. o zasadach finansowania nauki. Dz.U. 2010, Nr 96, poz. 615.

W wyniku kompleksowej oceny jakości działalności naukowej lub badawczo-rozwojowej jednostkom naukowym jest przyznawana kategoria: A+ (poziom wiodący), A (poziom bardzo dobry), B (poziom zadawalający z rekomendacją wzmocnienia działalności naukowej, badawczo — rozwojowej lub stymulującej innowacyjność gospodarki), C (poziom niezadawalający). Ocena parametryczna oznacza ocenę działalności jednostki naukowej, uwzględniającą wyniki działalności naukowej, zastosowania praktyczne wyników badań naukowych i prac rozwojowych oraz inne rodzaje aktywności jednostki naukowej.

9 W. Wiśniowski, Marketing Instytucji Naukowych i Badawczych. Prace Instytutu Lotnictwa nr 208, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Lotnictwa, Warszawa 2012, s. 13–19.

10 Ibidem, s. 51–57.

11 W. Wiśniowski, Marketing Instytucji Naukowych i Badawczych, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Lotnictwa, Warszawa, 2012, s. 10.

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