The academic environment of Wrocław emerged and developed in particularly difficult conditions of the post WWII era. Thanks to continuation of the tradition, experience and contributions of leading scientists from the former Jan Kazimier University of Lwów, it quickly achieved an important, internationally recognized position in particular in mathematics and chemistry. Two different sociological concepts of relations within the scientific community have developed simultaneously: (1) partnership between leaders and research team members, (2) hierarchical structure based on authority of a leader. History proved that both may be effective. Wrocław became a modern center of research management comparable to leading western universities. The general approach based on relationship „between master and a follower” has been replaced by the more effective relatioship „between a school and a follower”. Similarly to the Lwów tradition the Wrocław Scientific Society has played an integrative role in relations among scientists of different disciplines.

The paper presents a synthesis of approaches to development and functioning of Functional Urban Areas. The authors present typology of such areas and determine how they facilitate the flow of various types of potentials, paying particular attention to creativity and innovations. The emphasis is put particularly on non-spatial factors of development of such areas. The process of forming the functional area basing on common strategy of development founded on various types of potentials is presented on two examples.

The purpose of the author was to indicate the deficiency of development management instruments currently used to the territorialization of policies in stimulating intra- and intersectoral partnership cooperation. Her reflections were based on the results of research commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Development and Investment by a team in which the author participated. These studies have revealed that the weakest impacts of the so-called territorial instruments include the ability to mobilize various stakeholder groups to take action and to create partnership cooperation. Against this background, the author has undertaken the analysis of the potential impact of territorial tools on the partnerships development and has attempted to present recommendations for practice and further research in this area.

The implementation of public-private partnerships has become one of the effective models of cooperation between the public and private sectors in the development of infrastructure in Vietnam. This model has been adopted in Vietnam for many years and is intended to help governments build infrastructure and provide an opportunity to reduce government debt profiles. This study aims to identify the most critical factors that could determine the success of these projects. A questionnaire was conducted based on the participants’ experience in the implementation of public-private partnerships projects and a total of 216 respondents were received. A regression analysis shows that six critical success factors, including factors relevant to public sector, factors relevant to private sector, factors relevant to selected process partnerships, factors relevant to risk management systems, factors relevant to project information, and factors relevant to natural environment. The findings indicated that the most effective development projects could be carried out via PPPs if the government could focus on these important factors in the implementation process. The results will influence political development towards PPP and guide partners in developing public-private partnerships projects.

This article re-examines the notion of “partnership” and its applicability to the relationship between the Japanese government and domestic NGOs in the context of foreign aid. As such, it provides empirical insights on government-non-profit relationship in understudied policy field of foreign aid in East Asian context. Illuminating how governmental financial support for Japanese NGOs has evolved in recent years, the article concludes that whereas “partnership” may be a preferred term of the Japanese government to describe the relationship with Japanese NGOs, the manner in which it is operationalized through selected financial support schemes raises legitimate questions about the validity and applicability of this particular term to the case under investigation. Hence, the chosen financial assistance schemes serve as the lenses through which the article explores and assesses the official “partnership” assertions. In sum, the relationship suffers from shortcomings in terms of mutuality and organizational identity, qualifying both the extent and quality of government-sponsored opportunities for Japanese international cooperation NGOs.

The global economic crisis of the past decade and the accruing shifts in labour market policy, coupled with the rapid advances in technology have resulted in a far less certain future employment horizon than ever before [1]. In response, Higher education institutions (HEIs) are best positioned to advance knowledge and produce work ready graduates with the requisite skills for the future economy [2]. In this paper, the current understanding regarding the role of HEIs, the academic-student partnership, graduate employability, industry collaboration and research led teaching are merged into a framework entitled P-PAC (Partnership in Pedagogy, Accreditation and Collaboration). This framework encourages and embeds a partnership approach between academia, students and industry with the goal of promoting collaboration, facilitating relevant curriculum and pedagogy practise and accrediting achievement in order to effect deeper and more engaged learning and teaching, so that students are better equipped with the necessary skills for both employability and global citizenship. The P-PAC framework is validated using a 5 ECTS Lean Systems module. The authors also define Threshold Concepts-major as those concepts (identified by the academic) which are inherent in a module and which need to be achieved by the student, in order to attain mastery of the subject matter. Threshold Concepts-minor are defined as those intermediate concepts identified by the student in their mastery of Threshold Concepts-major. Examples of both concept types are presented in this paper.

On May 17, 2018, the National Center for Research and Development announced the initiation of a new procedure within the Hydrogen Storage Program. The objective was to develop a Hydrogen Storage System for use with fuel cells and its demonstration in a Mobile Facility. This is to create an alternative to the use of fossil fuels and create a field for competition in creating solutions in the field of access to “clean” energy. The National Center for Research and Development is responsible for the development of assumptions, regulations and implementation.

The analysis presents the main assumptions of the program is correlated to the current legal situation related to the financing of Research and Development. An in-depth study concerns the ways of using innovative partnership and its placement in the system of European Union legal acts. The idea of the pre-commercial procurement procedure (Pre-Commercial Procurement), which was developed to support the implementation of prototypes of solutions – resulting from research and development – with a high potential for possible commercialization, was described in details. This procedure is characterized by ensuring the financing of a product or service at an early stage of development. Although this creates the risk of failure of the project, it stimulates technological development.