Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu nr. 431 Local and Regional Economy in Theory and Practice

The Department of Regional Economy at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Tourism of Wrocław University of Economics organized yet another scientific conference entitled: “Local and regional economy in theory and practice”. It was already the 23rd conference held on 23-25th September 2015 in “Chata za wsią” hotel in Mysłakowice near Jelenia Góra.
The conference was attended by the representatives of national and international scientific circles, regional and local government structures, and also other entities repre¬senting business practice and interested in the problems of local and regional economy, as well as PhD students. Over 80 participants of the conference arrived from over 30 national and foreign scientific centres and institutions to present papers and posters.
The subject matter of the conference covered the following areas: local and regional development, local and regional governance, application of quantitative methods in regional studies, partnership in local and regional development, directions of research in local and regional development, cooperation between academic centres and local government units.
The conference contributed to establishing more extensive and stronger relation-ships, created within the framework of the constructed platform for the exchange of scientific and practical experiences (the conference has been held cyclically since 1992) at the local, regional, national and international forum. The discussions were focused on the dissemination of research results, the exchange of experiences and the establishment of a discussion forum covering both theoretical and practical aspects of local and regio¬nal development. They also resulted in more extensive cooperation between academic centres, local government units as well as research and development centres, including the cross-border ones.
The conference is cyclically attended by the representatives of science from Poland and abroad. So far we have hosted e.g. the research workers representing academic cen¬tres from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Slo¬vakia and also the representatives of business practice, e.g. city presidents and mayors, village heads, county governors, presidents of regional development agencies or of local enterprises, etc.
As a result of the organized conference, the hereby publication presents the collec-tion of thematically selected articles in English covering the broadly understood prob-lems of local and regional economy. Its authors represent the following scientific centres: Warsaw School of Economics, University of Łódź, Gdańsk University of Technology, Koszalin University of Technology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and Wrocław University of Economics.
We are most grateful to the conference participants for the joint meeting and we do hope for further cooperation.

Elżbieta Sobczak, Andrzej Raszkowski, Andrzej Sztando