The first focus group meeting on Mazovian Innovation Ecosystem
On 27th July 2023, the first focus group meeting for the 15 stakeholders of the Mazovian Innovation Ecosystem was held at Warsaw University of Technology.
Over two hours discussion brough extended list of insights on collaboration matters in the Mazovia region. The present institutions actively contribute to performance of Mazovian ecosystem. Their representatives identified bottlenecks and challenges related to collaboration and partnerships creation in the Mazovia region and provided some solutions which can address them. Given their experience, the key issue is to convince SMEs to cooperation in regional initiatives. This kind of companies do not see the clear advantage of their engagement in this kind of activities.
The next issue is the sustainability of partnerships when there is a lack of continuity in funding. Often the information about the collaborative activities which happen in the region is not easy accessible to potential participants. The better understanding of SMEs business process by providing business simulations and awareness raising promotion activities are expected. For each activity, there is a need to have relevant people dealing with the cooperation tasks. In some mature organisations it might not be a case, but still it is important to keep the right people employed.
The discussion on the growth opportunities and job market focus more on the current labour market characteristics of the Mazovia region. On one hand the labour market is pretty attractive and there is a low unemployment rate, but on other hand, aging population and non-inclusive labour market cause issues with the shortage of potential employees. The solution might be an activation of those who still could work, but they do not. Some attention was paid to ‘’Z” generation to make them more familiar with the labour markets.
The main issue in the Mazovia region is to create high quality jobs at peripheries to stop depopulation in its sub-regions. In this context it is worth mentioning the potential for jobs creation in the bottom-up renewable energy local initiatives at the Mazovia municipality level. The discussion on thematic areas of ERA FABRIC project will be continued in the thematic working groups of the project which will be established soon.
