Key Performance Indicators in science and cooperation - Polish perspective

When we think about the best Universities and research centers the recipe for the success seems easy. Professors publishing in Science and Nature, best quality infrastructure, best students from all over the world and space to big high-tech companies - is it enough? Is it how the Silicon Valley was born? Or maybe all these are artefacts of the true value that was created thanks to the atmosphere of freedom, creativity, communication and trust?
For last 10 years Universities have been building and buying a lot of infrastructure. Regulations were created to promote Polish scientists who publish in the high impact factor magazines and universities that have a lot of patents. Is it enough to promote the smart growth in Poland.
The thesis I would like to present is based on six years’ work of supporting Polish scientist. What I see is the gap between all we have in terms of infrastructure, money and regulations and the lack of social capital seen as communication, trust based relationships and space for creativity. Poland is not different here from USA where social capital indicators have been decreasing for many years now but taking into consideration Polish history and differences caused by culture and religion it turns out that we have to do a lot in terms of social change to create the environment for innovative science and flourishing R+D companies.
All the factors mentioned above are true not only for the development of Polish science but also for the cooperation between Polish science and the industry which is seen as a way of building the smart growth society. Cooperation is a third step in the way we build relations. Learning about each other and creating space for common experiences comes before established cooperation. With a lot of European money on the market we can miss firs two steps and end up with hundreds of project that will build a wall instead of bridges. What to do to change it is what I try to answer in this article.