The basic problems facing Poland are the same as those facing the whole of Europe. The European Union is unable to find a good remedy for the globalisation processes and to face the challenge of world competition, while on the other hand it has to continue to participate in this without damaging social cohesion, in other words avoid an increase in unemployment and social exclusion.
In this context the rate of employment, that is the employed people as a percentage of the total working-age population, becomes an essential factor. The Polish indicator is at the level of 53%, while in the EU it exceeds 60%, and in the United States it is above 70%. We have to face the fact that if a greater number of people able to work are not employed our chance for faster development diminishes. At the same time we have to develop creative workplaces, which will provide competitive products in the marketplace. Hence, our challenge is to promote social consciousness that will lead to the creation of highly qualified, innovative workplaces. This is the crucial key to our success.
We are not always aware that today the world is competing for the most competent young people. The human potential at this moment is seen as the greatest value. The best universities in the world are fighting to get good students, because that is the key to the future. They are looking for them also in Poland.
If we want to give ourselves a chance, the public debate should start discussing real issues which will be our guarantee for a positive future. I believe that we have the opportunity to ensure that our children, and definitely our grandchildren, live in one of the richest European countries. There are several examples of this. Thirty years ago Ireland and Finland were at the level of development of Spain, Portugal and Greece - that meant at 70% of the European Union average. It took one generation for these two countries, Ireland and Finland, to reach the level of 130%of the EU average. That means that during one generation, with clever policies, a country can make an unbelievable leap forward that was not thought possible before. We used to be taught that the wealth of nations is built on colonisation or slavery. Today, those countries are successful that can devise their own path to development, which is based on creativity and entrepreneurial competitiveness. This is the fundamental challenge, which we face. We must have the courage to choose our own, autonomous modernisation policy and build a knowledge society. A knowledge society is such a society that places knowledge as the principle element in civilisational development and economic growth. What does that really mean? That means that we have to use potentially useful existing knowledge. Sometimes it has to be bought and at other times it can be acquired for free. We have to know how to protect this knowledge and how to share it. But most importantly, we have to know how to take advantage of it.
Innovation is an effect of synergy, and is a function of many factors. That is why there is often the conviction that, for example, it is a naïve belief that increasing resources for education leads to success. I believe that an innovative culture is most important, and when stimulated within a society has to lead to changes in many fields. Only then there is a chance to duplicate the successes of those countries that we want to emulate, which during two or three decades were able to achieve success. The roads to success of Ireland, Finland or Asian countries were very different. We need to have the courage to choose our own road. It has to be an action on a wide scale, embracing many areas of public life, including also that of many government ministries. One government minister could handle this. For a long time now I have held the view that there should be a deputy premier in charge of development, who should stimulate and coordinate priority enterprises, especially taking advantage of European Union resources.
Union funds can be used in many ways. Unlike in previous years, there is much more flexibility and again there is room for clever policies. A large proportion of these funds is used by regional governments to create regional development programmes. The problem is that many regional governments use these funds for immediate needs. However, it is difficult to expect long-term regional development vision from regional governments, or at best, it is not easy because long-term visions have to be coordinated with the environment. Such a situation means that we are in danger of spending huge resources today, rather than on the infrastructure that will carry us forward into the future. The problem is based on the fact that increasingly the EU is distributing funds for innovative enterprises. The days when most of the budget went to agriculture and cohesion programmes are ending. There will be a growth in funds for research and innovation. It is obviously in Poland’s interest to join this trend and receive as much as possible from this. I should point out that in the current financial situation there will be 40% more funds for R&D annually. That is a certain growth. In future this growth will be greater, at the cost of cohesion funds and structural funds. The faster we adapt to this, the more we will gain. We need a research infrastructure to achieve this. I feel we should be actively thinking about building environmental laboratories, which will enable us to compete for ecological funds. That is an area that undoubtedly will be well financed by the EU. We are prepared for this, and it is worth investing funds in such enterprises as the Warsaw University of Life Sciences Water Centre (SGGW Centrum Wody). We have to choose that which has potential. If we do not prepare ourselves today, then we will have no chance to receive these funds in future. It should be added that funds for the two main areas – agriculture and cohesion, are distributed on the basis of parity, which has little to do with competitiveness. While on the other hand, we will have to compete with other Europeans for research funds and Poland will have to have a research infrastructure in order to qualify for them. I feel that we should invest much more in research infrastructure and education today so that we will be able to effectively apply for funds for innovative ventures which will require such an infrastructure.

During the public debate we should be asking politicians how they see Poland in five years time, what our competitive edge will be, what we will live on as a nation, what we should be developing in order of priority. We have to start talking about these issues together. My message is this: let us start a public debate, because that is the start to developing a creative culture in Poland, which is an absolutely essential condition to ensuring that our country will have a modern future.