ACTIVITIES OF KNOWLEDGE INTERMEDIARIES IN REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM - EXPERIENCES, PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES.

The knowledge economy requires that the process of building of competitive economy involves scientific achievements as a source of new knowledge. At the same time effective management of the innovation processes taking place within European regions is fundamental for European economy to establish its good position in the world. Regional innovation strategies are actually responsible for directing innovation processes. As some time has gone by and first experiences with regard to the functioning of those tools becomes visible, one can say that when implementing the tools one has had to dealt with some problems. It can be emphasized that activities undertaken by actors of innovation system are too limited. That is why building regional innovation system that is expected to ensure that knowledge flows within region in a rational way is the most important challenge. Now it is quite clear that innovativeness depends on linkages among entities that generate and/or absorb knowledge. Due to the fact that this process can be still perceived as far from being optimal the need to carry research on the topic appears to be unquestionable. Regional innovation system actually consists of two main types of actors and interactions among them. First type refers to companies that utilize innovations and finally create value. Second type refers to organizations that build infrastructure necessary for innovations. They support innovation processes in region because of possessed key competences. Although knowledge brokers have appeared one can say that hitherto gained experiences indicate on some problems concerning knowledge flows. As a consequence, those facts form the point of departure to the conducting research on type of knowledge intermediaries as well as types of their activities undertaken within innovation ecosystem of Silesian Voivodeship. The paper aims to investigate types of activities of knowledge intermediaries in the light of efforts put in an intensification of the cooperation between science and business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]