Analysis of the current and future UK-Polish Research and Innovation Relationships

International research and innovation collaborations are key in transforming the global landscape of technologies, economy, and accessibility. This report aims at assessing the state of past, present, and future research and innovation relationships between Poland and the United Kingdom. The statistical data, its analysis, and the institutional opinion summaries were achieved through desk-based research, survey participation, and interviewing key Polish and British stakeholders. Here we also discuss the key drivers of collaborations, the existing and potential challenges, and the prospects of future potential. Finally, we provide recommendations on how to boost and support UK-Polish research & innovation (R&I) collaboration on several levels: government, institutional, and individual.

What we did:
Our study survey showed that there is a high appetite from researchers from both countries to collaborate. While the majority of respondents from the UK were of Polish origin, nearly all British respondents indicated that they see Poland as an attractive R&I country. In terms of funding, for both the UK and Poland, the EU Research and Innovation programmes were the main source of bilateral collaboration funding. The key drivers for collaborations included field-specific expertise, followed by established links with research groups. For PL-based respondents, another key driver was access to high-quality infrastructure, while for the UK-based respondents, it was the access to funding. The main obstacles included lack of awareness of available funding, no established connections, and not being aware of how to look for a partner.

The interviews with stakeholders highlighted the importance of international collaboration. One of the key messages was that the drivers for stakeholders are bottom-up activities. With more evidence of successful bilateral research collaborations in place, there are higher chances for the governments to consider and discuss potential future bilateral funding.

Meet our research team: