Scientific Cooperation in a German-Polish Border Region in the Light of EU Enlargement

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic advantages and disadvantages of the Eastern expansion of the European Union for the old and the new EU member states, and introduces support programmes which aim to integrate regions on both sides of the border. It focuses especially on the development of cross-border scientific cooperation between Germany and Poland. An empirical study on the example of the Europa University Viadrina (EUV), a newly founded university in the German-Polish border region, shows the extent of German-Polish cooperation based on co-publication activity. In our small-scale empirical investigation for the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics of the EUV, we identified quite a number of co-publications between EUV staff and Polish colleagues. Most of them take place within the EUV, and many relate to cooperative work with scientific entities in both Poland and Germany. The entire intensity and frequency of cooperative scientific activities is, however, much broader than the publication analysis shows and offers scope for further integration with possible positive spillovers for the economic development as well.