The results of the latest study on the innovativeness of the Podkarpackie Province were not promising: the province is in 14th position on a Polish scale regarding its strength for innovation. In comparison to one year ago this is an improvement however – the province has advanced one place. Ratings for most measures of innovation were however poor. Once again this was affected by the co-factor of the number of university students within the population, including doctoral candidates and post graduates and a low popularity of continuing adult non-formal education.
The significant improvement in the measures of the infrastructure and R&D staff was attributed to expenditures made in the higher education sector which is key for continued growth in this region. Despite the need to maintain financial rigor in the public sector, this should be one of the priority expenditures. This is reflected by the relatively high level of innovation among Podkarpackie businesses, mainly among those in industry and rising innovation in services.
On Dec. 15, 2011 at the Hotel Wellness&Spa, 'Nowy Dwór'” in Świlczy near Rzeszów the conference began on the summation of the project Health and Tourism Cluster 'Health spas - the Pearls of Eastern Poland' financed by the European Fund program Development of Eastern Poland, organized by the Institute of Economics at the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów.