Abstract:

The topic analyzed in the present paper is the activity of higher education institutions in the Masovian Voivodeship as far as the process of knowledge transfer is concerned. The capacity to create and share knowledge plays a major role in innovation processes and in the development of economic competitiveness. Therefore, the debate on knowledge economy is increasingly focused on higher education institutions; those are perceived as having substantial potential which transcends the traditional roles of the academic entities in the field of didactics (teaching) or science (conducting research).

This study was performed on a sample composed of 140 departments of higher education institutions from the area of the Masovian Voivodeship. The following fields of activity of those entities were analyzed, grouped into eleven knowledge transfer channels: Consultancy, Collaborative research, Contract research, Teaching, Training, Conferencing, Publications, Networks, HR transfer, Spin-Out formation and Patenting and Licensing.

The author attempted to answer the following questions in particular:
• Which knowledge transfer channels are of utmost importance for the process of knowledge transfer? Are there any observable differences in knowledge transfer among various types of higher education institutions (public vs. non-public), scientific domains (technology vs. social sciences and humanities)?
• Which factors impact the variability of the process of knowledge transfer from the viewpoint of the provider of the knowledge, the former being a higher education institution? The author especially concentrated on the analysis of the following categories: human resources of a higher education institution, financial capacities, material capacities, and soft factors (strategic development, openness of an institution, trust within the institution, presence of a leader).

The results of the conducted research will enable to draw conclusions for improvement of cooperation mechanism of universities with their environment, what in a long-term perspective may result in stronger universities’ influence on their environment and their actual impact on innovativeness and competitiveness of the economy.

Keywords:

Knowledge transfer, channels of knowledge transfer, key factors influencing knowledge transfer.