Entrepreneurs in peripheral areas need to fully utilize a multidimensional regional environment in order to reduce regional innovation gaps. To gain a deeper theoretical and empirical understanding of the determinants of innovation processes in peripheral areas, this article sheds light not only on hard infrastructure and financial factors, but also on institutional, social, and relational factors. Studies of innovation in peripheral areas were conducted with the classic concept of regional innovation systems. Based on the results of a survey among 300 entrepreneurs in Polish peripheral regions, it was found that peripheral regions suffer from a deficit of human and social capital, particularly local leaders and mentoring and networking assistance. In addition, the analysis shows that peripheral regions do not have an effective innovation development strategy, lack institutional capital, and local authorities are not working to remove local barriers.

This article deals with the issue of human capital as a factor responsible for the emergence of development inequalities in rural areas. Its main goal is to analyze and evaluate the existing differences in the distribution of human capital resources in rural areas in Poland in relation to their socio-economic situation. The essence of human capital is expressed through the analogy of energy and capital in relation to the concept of homo energeticus. The essence of human capital is also expressed in terms of two components of its structure, i.e., health and the labor market. The level of human capital was expressed using two synthetic measures, i.e., the human capital ratio in the field of health (HCH) and the labor market (HCLM). The obtained research results indicate the existing differences in the spatial distribution of human capital, resulting in a polarization effect in the center-periphery system, and showing relations with the socio-economic structure of rural areas, their agricultural function, and the ongoing population processes. The assumption about the existing relations between the individual components of the structure of human capital, i.e., health and the labor market, with the socio-economic situation of individual communes should be considered correct. The obtained results of the empirical analysis constitute an important contribution to the description of the mechanism explaining the causes of the existing disproportions in the level of rural development; they allow for a more optimal planning of the instruments supporting their development at the local level. The empirical analysis was carried out in spatial terms with regard to rural areas in Poland defined in accordance with the administrative criterion of the Central Statistical Office at the lowest local (rural) level of data aggregation. The analysis covers rural and urban-rural communes in Poland, i.e., 2172 spatial units. The source of data for the synthetic measures (HCH and HCLM) was Local Data Bank Statistics Poland (LDB SP), and that for the indicator of the level of socio-economic development for rural areas (S-EDI) was the European Fund for Polish Rural Development (EFRWP).

A consequence of similar institutional conditions of domestic labor markets in Europe is the permanent occurrence of the “labor hoarding” phenomenon, which entails non-immediate adaptation of employment to production changes. The article verifies whether the phenomenon of labor hoarding occurs in the European Union countries and what is its level and the direction of changes between 1996 and 2016. The empirical study of employment adjustments to the production volume showed that in the examined period the phenomenon of labor hoarding occurred in all countries of the European Union (excluding Spain). Labor hoarding was accomplished through a slight adjustment of the number of employees to production changes. At the same time, it was noticed that the companies were more flexible with adjusting the number of hours worked. This was particularly evident during global crises and was the consequence of other vital changes in national economies.

The main objective of this article is to prepare a hierarchy and typology of rural areas in Poland showing the level of the human capital indicator and his spatial disparities in the context of educational factors. Selected methods of multivariable objects hierarchy and classification were used in the study. In order to measure the level of human capital in rural areas the linear Indicators ordering has been applied based on the standardized sums method. As a result a relative level indicator of Human Capital has been assigned to each area. As a part of the research analysis will be carried out in spatial dimension. Studies confirm that: generally, the level of human capital on rural areas is low; the diversification of the rural space is relatively strong, the polarization has a dual character (center – periphery), the high quality sphere of education and the availability dominate still in the growth centers, and the radius of diffusion does not go in principle outside the ring suburban zone. The subject of the spatial analysis will be rural areas in Poland, in particular their human capital indicators. GUS BDL, NSP, OKE were the main data source.

Celem artykułu jest pomiar i diagnoza struktury zasobów kapitału ludzkiego definiowanego w obszarze zdrowia. Podjęto próbę oceny jego przestrzennego rozmieszczenia, a także zbadano związek między kapitałem zdrowotnym a poziomem rozwoju społeczno‑gospodarczego. W badaniu wykorzystano wybrane taksonomiczne metody hierarchizacji (bezwzorcowe) oraz klasyfikacji obiektów wielocechowych. W efekcie każdemu obiektowi (jednostce terytorialnej) przypisano miarę syntetyczną – tzw. względny wskaźnik poziomu kapitału ludzkiego definiowanego w obszarze jakości zdrowia (WSKLz). Weryfikacji poddano założenie o występujących dysproporcjach w poziomie kapitału zdrowotnego WSKLz i o jego zróżnicowanej strukturze oraz o istniejącym dodatnim związku między poziomem kapitału zdrowotnego WSKLz a poziomem rozwoju społeczno‑gospodarczego danej jednostki wyrażonego miarą LHDI. Wyniki badań potwierdzają, że przestrzeń społeczno‑ekonomiczna w Polsce wykazuje cechy zróżnicowania zarówno pod względem samego poziomu kapitału zdrowia, jak i jego cech strukturalnych. Zauważalne są pewne prawidłowości w rozkładzie przestrzennym tego zasobu w układzie międzyregionalnym i w układzie centrum–peryferie. Wyniki testów statystycznych pozytywnie weryfikują hipotezę o istniejącym dodatnim związku między poziomem kapitału zdrowia WSKLz a poziomem rozwoju danej jednostki LHDI, przy czym siłę związku ocenia się na poziomie co najwyżej średnim. Analizę empiryczną przeprowadzono na poziomie powiatów w Polsce. Główne źródła danych to: Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Bank Danych Lokalnych, Narodowy Spis Powszechny 2011 (NSP) oraz dane dotyczące poziomu rozwoju lokalnego LHDI pochodzące z Krajowego Raportu o Rozwoju Społecznym. Polska 2012.

This article addresses the role of human capital in socio-economic development processes during Europe’s energy transition. The main empirical objectives are firstly to diagnose the overall level of human capital in the energy transition economy based on the original synthetic measure, HCIe, and secondly to analyse and assess the variation in its spatial distribution across the European socio-economic landscape, which serves as a foundation for developing a targeted policy typology directly linked to the identified cluster profiles and their specific weaknesses. The general research question is: what is the level and degree of variation in the internal structure of human capital across the European socio-economic landscape? What actions should individual European countries take to support the development of human capital in the context of the energy transition? The research concept adopted also raises additional questions. Firstly, how can the importance of human capital be captured in an economy undergoing an energy transition? Secondly, are there appropriate indicators for measuring this based on the adopted research approach? European countries were selected as the subjects of the study. In the empirical section, taxonomic methods were employed to develop a proprietary synthetic measure of human capital in a transforming energy economy (HCIe), which was then used for the hierarchical classification of entities. The internal structure of human capital was explored using multi-criteria cluster analysis with the k-means algorithm. This approach resulted in a non-hierarchical classification of entities (typologisation). The main data sources used to construct the synthetic measures were international databases: IRENA, OECD, EUROSTAT, and the World Bank. Analysis of the HCIe measure and the clustering of European countries revealed that the key risk factor for transformation is the absence of integrated human capital within individual groups of countries. This highlights the urgent need for targeted investment in health and the development of systemic and green competencies.