We are pleased to announce that by the decision of the Minister of Science and Higher Education, our University's project The "INTEREKON research and
development excellence program", submitted as part of the Regional Initiative of Excellence program, received a grant of PLN 10,721 040.
On October 29, 2018 Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education presented the results of the pilot competition under the "Regional Initiative of
Excellence" program. 30 academic institutions from various regions of Poland will receive over PLN 326 million to support scientific research important for the region and to develop a long-term
development strategy. Funds, up to PLN 12 million, will be paid out to each of them for four years. Universities will start the implementation of projects in January 2019 - they have 4 years to
complete the assumptions.
Regional Initiative of Excellence
The competition is intended for a specific type of high school - an academic university of significant importance for the development of the region. The pilot
edition was open to universities whose faculties had in certain disciplines the right to award degrees and at least the scientific category B.
One of the assumptions of the program is the even distribution of resources. Therefore, 12 regions have been separated in Poland for the needs of the Regional
Initiative of Excellence. The program is designed in the way that not only all regions receive support, but also individual groups of sciences. Applications could be submitted as part
of:
- humanities and social sciences as well as artistic creation,
- life sciences,
- exact and engineering sciences.
In each region, however, other disciplines have been specified. The choice of these disciplines resulted from two premises. First of all, the scientific
potential in disciplines (research in a given area had to be high enough in the region). Secondly - from regional smart specializations, ie areas of the economy and science identified as priorities
for the development of a given region.
The INTEREKON research and development excellence program
The main objective of the INTEREKON project will be implemented in the areas of research, fitting in specific scientific specialties of WUE research teams and
regional smart specializations: cooperation networks, logistics chains and business ecosystems, FinTech and Big Data, bioeconomy, social (work) economy, development economics, entrepreneurship and
innovations.
Within the frames of the INTEREKON project, research funding paths run by research teams of the UEW will be launched in the form of:
-
Inter TEAM PROGRAM - innovative research projects in interdisciplinary teams in the WUE - Flagship projects - i.e. financial support for research conducted by new WUE research
teams constituted of employees representing various disciplines and scientific specialties with the highest parametric scientific achievements,
-
YOUNG Researcher PROGRAM - grants for young scientists - Young Researcher Grant (YRG) - i.e. financial support for research conducted by young researchers up to the age of
35 and support their functioning in the international scientific environment,
-
MINIGRANTY PROGRAM - grants for researchers in existing research teams for the implementation of individual scientific tasks (MG) - i.e. financial support for research
(preliminary and fundamental) of high importance for the development of disciplines in economic sciences.
In addition, the project assumes the organization of trainings for research and teaching staff and the implementation of other innovative forms of research support to improve the quality of
research.
Prof. dr hab. Ewa Stańczyk-Hugiet, Dean of the Faculty of Management, Computer Science and Finance, was responsible for the work coordination on the application. The project is of university-wide
nature and was created in cooperation with representatives of all departments and key administrative units, i.e. Project Management Center and Scientific Activity Support Office.
The following were involved in the work on the application: dr Marek Wąsowicz, dr hab. inż. Andrzej Okruszek, prof. UE, dr hab. inż. Małgorzata Krzywonos, dr hab. Agnieszka Skowrońska, prof. UE,
dr. Aleksandra Szpulak, Anna Pluta, Justyna Morawska-Płoskonka.
The project will start at the beginning of 2019 and will last until the end of 2022. We will inform you about activities under INTEREKON soon. The INTEREKON administration service will be provided
by the Scientific Activity Support Office.
