Increase of the region’s competitiveness through the implementation of the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy on the example of Wielkopolska

Abstract

The Europe 2020 strategy has set new goals in terms of increasing the competitiveness and accelerating the development of regions and EU countries. The decade which is just about to end justifies making assessments that must be strictly connected with the analysis of indicators set by the European Commission under the three priorities of the strategy, i.e. intelligent, sustainable and inclusive development. The research presented in the article shows that the area in which Poland definitely ranks above the average position in relation to other EU countries is education, while in the case of Wielkopolska it is the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption and the share of people employed at the age 20–64. Still, the competitiveness of Polish regions, including Wielkopolska, classified under the European Regional Competitiveness Index, is assessed very low.