The purpose of the chapter is to identify factors which had an impact on the change of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship development path as well as to indicate barriers limiting further development. The article is based on a desk research, statistical data analysis as well as structured in-depth interviews conducted with representatives of regional and local authorities, scientifi c units and business-related institutions. The conclusions may be of interest to both researchers of the path dependency concept, and representatives of institutions involved in formulation and implementation of regional policy.

Wales is one from five selected European regions, which (looking at statistical analysis), develop in an extraordinary way in comparison to others. The purpose of the article is to identify factors which had an impact on the change of Wales’s development path as well as to indicate problems with which the region has still struggle. The article is based on a desk research, statistical data analysis as well as structured in-depth interviews conducted with representatives of regional authorities, scientifi c units and business-related institutions. Based on this, conclusions and recommendations for the institutions involved in implementation of regional policy in Polish voivodeships have been formulated.

A number of thorough studies characterizing national and regional innovation systems have been published over the last years but what is relatively new is the theme of local innovation systems. In the era of increasing emphasis on urban issues in the development policies of countries and organizations such as the European Union and the location of innovation in the centre of regional development debate, it is justifi ed to ask how the measures are directed to the provincial cities. The article concentrates on 5 voivodeship cities as the main centers of regions with the highest number of institutions that usually build local innovation systems, three of which are located in the less developed regions in Poland.