Creativity and innovation

My interest in KM started in 1997. Shortly after the publication of the Report “Learning Society in the Knowledge Economy” by OECD in 2000, I became a member of the team of translators who translated the report into Polish. Cooperated with the Ministry of Economy in preparation of the KBA agenda for Poland (2000-2002)

I participated as a member of the steering committee in the creation of the new law on higher education in Poland (Ustawa 2.0). Conducted a research project “Intellectual Capital of Polish Counties” (Commissioned by The National Science Centre (NCN), 2013-2017 (http://www.kapitalpowiatow.ue.poznan.pl/index.php/polish-counties-statistics-and-comments/). I am a professor in management at the Poznan University of Economics in Poznan Poland. I was Deputy Rector for R&D at The Vistula University (2011-2016).

In the EU project DigiPay4Growth – I conducted two workshops on local currencies during thematic meetings in Vienna in 2016 (A) and in Chlewiska (PL). It consisted of a simulation of a circulation of local currency. The participants could then visualize the flow of money in the economy by means of banknotes. The purpose of the game was to illustrate that at the end of the cycle the total amount of money in the economy increases.

Innovation and creativity gradually evolved from my core research area which is KM. Innovation and creativity are related to KM as one of the key processes of knowledge production and may be considered as part of one overarching concept within the general theory of KM. As far as innovation is concerned I am interested both in micro- and macroeconomic perspectives. In the macroeconomic perspective innovation is the key part of a KBA. Within the microeconomic perspective I am interested in the processes of creation of knowledge (creativity), the human and social aspects of creativity, the psychology of the creative process, e.g. the hypotheses explaining the productivity of creative work such as the overjustification hypothesis, the Perkin’s paradox, the Flynn’s Effect etc. In my recent book on IC in Polish counties I also devoted a substantial part of my research to innovation and creativity at local level. In the book “Creatives in Business” (Kreatywni w biznesie, Poltext 2015) I made an attempt to synthetise the theoretical knowledge on creativity and to (re)interpret the concept of creative organization. In my book published in 2012 “Is your Firm Creative? How to search for innovations in the service sector?” (Czy Twoja firma jest innowacyjna? Jak poszukiwać innowacji w sektorze usług? Podpowiedzi, PARP 2012). I made a comprehensive review of the concpet of innovation in the service sector. Another of my achievements in the filed of innovation was my participation in the identification and definition of smart specialisations for the Wielkopolska Region in 2013 (Badanie branż dominujących w gospodarce regionu w ramach identyfikacji specjalizacji gospodarczej Wielkopolski, Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Wielkopolskiego, June 2013).

I conducted a research project supported by the Polish Centre for Science (NCN) (kapitalpowiatow.ue.poznan.pl) and conducted one of the first comprehensive studies on innovation and creative capital at county level. According to Paul Romer, the famous US researcher on innovation: “Villages are to small, countries are too big”. My research was therefore focused on the future of development in 21c., i.e. cities (NTS-4 level). The results will be published in form of a book in October 2017. I organized an international conference Intellectual Capital and Education and edited a book published by Cambridge Scholars Publishers in the UK in 2016. I started my research on KBA as early as in 1997. I translated into Polish the OECD report for the Polish Ministry of Economy the report” Knowledge Management in the Learning Society”.

  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the measurement of industry-university relations, including regional development (2017)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the selected systems of teacher training in EU countries (2017) (Fazlagić, J. (2019). Measurement methodology of science-business relations in the reality of Polish higher education. Education of Economists and Managers. Problems. Innovations. Projects, 54(4), 63-79. Retrieved from https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/EEiM/article/view/1838)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Foundation for the Development of the Education System (frse.org.pl) on the measurement of industry-university relations, including  regional development (2017)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Development on how to make Polish system of primary and secondary education (K12) more efficient in developing innovation skills („School for Innovators”) (2017).
  • Prepared a white paper for the Polish Central Examination Board (https://cke.gov.pl/) (CKE) on how to intoruce creativity testing into vocational schools proessional exams (2019).

In each project in which I participate, I publish the results in the popular press and/or research papers. I meet with policy makers both from the regional and central governments to disseminate the results. All conferences which I organized were supported by public institutions which helped to disseminate the results and achieve wider impact. I frequently use on-line surveys, post-it-notes and Skype to communicate with projects participant on one-to-one and one-to-group bases. I am involved in the MeshGuides project. Here is a with my YT video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjwMypqFXFU&feature=youtu.be

MESHGuides: Supporting teacher professional judgement with evidence from the science of learning is an experiment in ways of supporting lifelong learning for all teachers and evidence-informed practice.  MESHGuides are updatable research summaries developed by teachers and researchers working together to support evidence-informed teaching.  I am actively involved in the development of this international project supported also by UNESCO.

I produced thematic inputs to several projects including:

  • E-green Jobs: current situation and training needs, Final Report, VISTULA UNIVERSITY, March 2015, 67,000 characters (in Polish and in English)
  • Preparation of materials for the DigiPay4Growth project in Polish, English and Russian, including an assessment tool for benchmarking local currencies across Europe.

I am the author of the first Intellectual Capital Report of a University in CCE region (published by OECD: https://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/35322785.pdf )

I am co-author of: A Strategic Approach for Intellectual Capital Management in European Universities. Guidelines for Implementation, Praca zbiorowa pod red. Jan Fazlagić i in., UEFISCDI, Bucarest 2014. ISBN 978-973-711-499-0.

This is the front page of the book which includes the research findings from our project „School for Innovators”. Currently, the Polish Ministry of Education runs the pilot in 20 Polish schools testing the concepts highlighted in the book.