West Pomerania

Number of support organizations: 17
Global creativity index – GCI, country level: 0,516 (2015)
Regional Entrepreneurship Development Index – REDI: PL 4 Północno-Zachodni: 51.5 (2017)

In 2017 there were 223,130 business entities of national economy in the Region (which constituted 5.2% of entities in the entire country; 214,484 entities in the private sector).

Table 1. Selected national and regional data in 2017

According to the Main Statistical Office in 2016, there were 800 entities, mainly in the fields of photography, specialist design and branches, which contain commercial entities relating to design, culture combining arts and entrepreneurship. The main branches are ICT connected, advertising, publishing and TV and film related.

The location of the region at the crossroads of Europe's major transport routes is a big advantage:

• North-South, from Scandinavia to Southern and South-Eastern Europe;
• East-West, from Western Europe to the Baltic States, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and further to Asia.

The Region has a well-developed road network and motorway connection with Western Europe and accessibility for inland waterway transport – towards Lower Silesia and Berlin.
Companies from the CCI branches may take advantage of the proximity of the border with Germany and a large economic centre like Berlin, and many of them cooperate with the Scandinavian countries.

Although there is no public information as to the international trade of the Region in selected CCI branches and with individual countries, it can be assumed that the share in the national exchange does not differ greatly from the Region’s share in GDP (ca. 3.7%). The exchange is determined by the region’s location: direct access to the Baltic Sea and the neighbourhood of Germany and Scandinavian countries, as well as regional specialisations, among which there are services of the future – ICT, IT, KPO, or CCI.

Table 3. Net revenues from sale of export products as the share of net revenues from sale of products in 2017

_{Source: Poland Quarterly Statistics}

The Region cooperates with partner regions of the EU Member States (e.g. experiences exchange in the field of managing European funds in strategic areas). The cooperation is determined by common initiatives relating to economic development, innovation and modern technologies, tourism, science and education, art and culture, agriculture and forestry, healthcare, transport, creating modern administration, etc.

There are several regional entities associated with CCI:

_{Source: https://www.paih.gov.pl/regiony/wojewodztwa/zachodniopomorskie}

There are several CCI development & support strategies:

Regional Strategic Programme: Creative industries and Leisure time industries (2013)
The program was created in connection with the introduction of a new management system for the implementation of development strategies and sectoral policies of the Westpomeranian Region. Programme and other strategic documents does not indicate the particular importance of any of the sub-sectors.

• National Development Strategy 2020
• Poland 2030 - Development challenges

The National Development Strategy 2020 points out that the sales of goods and services with added value, created by intellectual property, keep growing constantly and creative industries will soon have the same significance as traditional industries. Furthermore, the Poland 2030 underlines the importance of development of intellectual capital and knowledge-based economy as crucial challenges that Poland needs to address.

The main tools for creating and disseminating knowledge in the region are: R&D investments, universities, technological cooperation between companies, diffusion of technologies, broadband access. In the region, government support for SMEs is: talent development (making money on talents), education (training), investment (co-financing of training, studies, innovations), tax incentives, a digital one-stop shop, integration policy (one office representing specific interests), development of clusters (building nodes to reduce market access costs), access to finance for SMEs (cheap loans to reduce capital barriers), branding (brand establishment at a city and national level), market access (trade fairs, festivals and international trade), IP development (diplomatic and legal support).

Governmental level support institutions:

• ­The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Department of Foreign Cooperation,  responsible for funding projects whose main objective is to promote internationally the most valuable phenomena in Polish culture.
• ­The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state-owned art institution entrusted with the task of promoting Polish culture.

The above-mentioned institutions focus their activities mostly on the so-called high culture. The remaining part of CCI activities are promoted internationally by other institutions, such as:

• ­The Polish Tourist Organization
• ­The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency
• ­Chambers of Commerce and associations
• ­The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which becomes involved in promotional activities if and when authorized to do so by the Prime Minister

The biggest challenge indicated by business were employment costs (59.4% in February in 2019, 52.7% in 2018). There was a large decrease in the problems associated with unclear, inconsistent and unstable legal regulations (from 41.8% to 28.5%), whereas the problem whose significance increased the most was the competition with other national entities (from 23.5% to 32.5%).

According to experts, there are no priorities for specific CCI industries in the region. The region needs systematic work, education, information and promotion to become a good place to conduct CCI activities, which can be provided by organizations supporting creative industries.
In order to develop the local ecosystem, more practical educational activities are needed in the field of entrepreneurship and stronger support of the university and mentoring in the creation/sale/marketing of technological products.

The region, which up until recently was mostly associated with shipbuilding and agriculture, has been developing various economy sectors, mainly those associated with modern technologies. The Region is also increasingly using well-developed higher education and scientific base, dynamically developing institutions supporting business, fast-growing private sector, including services sector.
The IT industry is key for the development of Szczecin, and many foreign technology corporations have their offices here (over 4,000 IT companies with several thousand specialists). For 10 years the Netcamp foundation has been building in Szczecin the largest tech/start-up community in western Poland, organizing inspirational IT meetings (awarded with the European Enterprise Award). Every year, the Polish-German Startup Weekend Szczecin takes place.

In few last years there were some strategic documents that underlined the importance of CCI, especially the intelligent specialization of regional creative sectors which are shown as the key for the region. Proposed courses of action at the local level are thus: - cluster formation and development of the creative sector - identifying the model of cooperation between culture and business - developing effective creative partnerships.

1. _{https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojew%C3%B3dztwo_zachodniopomorskie#Administracja_pa%C5%84stwowa.}
2. _{Departament for Culture Media and Sport of the UK, Creative Industries Economic Estimates, January 2015, Statistical Release 13/01/2015, p. 4.}
3. _{Ibidem, p. 33}
4. _{Stowarzyszenie Media Dizajn, op. cit.}
5. _{Stowarzyszenie Media Dizajn, op. cit.}
6. _{Statistical Office in Szczecin, Statistical Yearbook of the West Pomeranian Voivodship (Rocznik Statystyczny województwa zachodniopomorskiego).}
7. _{Statistical Office in Szczecin, Structural changes of groups of entities of the national economy in the REGON register in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 2017 (Zmiany strukturalne grup podmiotów gospodarki narodowej w rejestrze REGON w województwie zachodniopomorskim, 2017 r)., p. 10-11, 13-14.}
8. _{http://www.portalspozywczy.pl/technologie/wiadomosci/eksport-z-zachodniopomorskiego-nabierze-wiatru-w-zagle,129612.html}
9. _{https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor/base-profile/west-pomeranian}
10. _{Priorities of foreign cooperation of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Priorytety współpracy zagranicznej województwa zachodniopomorskiego), draft resolution of the 2016 West Pomeranian Regional Assembly (Sejmik Województwa Zachodniopomorskiego). See also: http://www.wwt.wzp.pl/regiony-partnerskie.}
11. _{Stowarzyszenie Media Dizajn, op. cit.}
12. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/regiony/wojewodztwa/zachodniopomorskie}
13. _{www.coi.wzp.pl/region-2/infrastruktura.}
14. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/regiony/wojewodztwa/zachodniopomorskie}
15. _{Stowarzyszenie Media Dizajn, op. cit.}
16. _{http://www.coi.wzp.pl/region-2/regionalne-i-inteligentne-specjalizacje}
17. _{Marshal's Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, List of smart specializations of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Wykaz inteligentnych specjalizacji województwa zachodniopomorskiego), p. 4.}
18. _{Marshal's Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, List of smart specializations of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Wykaz inteligentnych specjalizacji województwa zachodniopomorskiego), p. 5-6.}
19. _{Stowarzyszenie Media Dizajn, op. cit.}
20. _{https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojew%C3%B3dztwo_zachodniopomorskie#cite_note-142}
21. _{Priorities of foreign cooperation of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Priorytety współpracy zagranicznej województwa zachodniopomorskiego), draft resolution of the 2016 West Pomeranian Regional Assembly (Sejmik Województwa Zachodniopomorskiego). See also http://www.wwt.wzp.pl/regiony-partnerskie}
22. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/nasze_uslugi/ekspansja_zagraniczna/branzowe_programy_promocji}
23. _{Central Statistical Office in Szczecin, Economic situation, opinions formulated by entities based in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship - February 2019.}
24. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/strefa_inwestora/grant_rzadowy}
25. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/strefa_inwestora/zachety_inwestycyjne_w_sse}
26. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/strefa_inwestora/parki_przemyslowe_i_technologiczne/szczecin_pp oraz www.szczecinpark.pl}
27. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/strefa_inwestora/zwolnienie_z_podatku_od_nieruchomosci}
28. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/strefa_inwestora/zachety_inwestycyjne/centra_badawczo-rozwojowe}
29. _{https://www.ndpculture.org/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTcvMTEvMTYvOGVhZWpubHd3Nl8xMV9ESU1FTlNJT05TX0NDSS5wZGYiXV0/11_DIMENSIONS_CCI.pdf?sha=e70086627c6b8db3}
30. _{Startup Poland, Polish Startups. 2017 Report, p. 62.}
31. _{https://southbaltic.eu/documents/18165/144824/smart057_Socio%20economic%20analysis%20of%20design%20and%20creative%20industry%20impact%20on%20a%20regional%20level.pdf/7e846a47-c8a0-49e9-8e4c-4ab105eec832}
32. _{Startup Poland, 2017 Report, p. 63.}
33. _{http://www.polskawliczbach.pl/zachodniopomorskie#edukacja-i-szkolnictwo}
34. _{Startup Poland, 2017 Report, p. 63.}
35. _{https://www.paih.gov.pl/regiony/wojewodztwa/zachodniopomorskie}
36. _{Startup Poland, Raport 2017, str. 63.}
37. _{Priorities of foreign cooperation of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Priorytety współpracy zagranicznej województwa zachodniopomorskiego), draft resolution of the 2016 West Pomeranian Regional Assembly (Sejmik Województwa Zachodniopomorskiego). See also http://www.wwt.wzp.pl/organizacje-regionalne/bdf}