1. There are 13 universities in the region. The leading university is the University of Warmia and Mazury. The University of Warmia and Mazury employs 2 thousand academic teachers, and 13 of its faculties enjoy full academic rights, i.e. the right to confer PhD degrees). The University of Warmia and Mazury offers 67 study courses, attended by a total of ca. 18 thousand students.
  2. The Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences has highly specialized research laboratories, now being a scientific and research base for creating innovation and development of permanent cooperation between scientists of the Institute and companies from the agri-food industry of the region.
  3. The Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn; as part of its statutory tasks, the Institute implements scientific and research programmes and runs very extensive publishing, dissemination and popularization activities in the field of fisheries and scientific disciplines integral to this field of knowledge – angling, ichthyobiology, limnology, water ecology, hydrobiology, veterinary medicine, and economics. The Institute owns experimental and testing facilities: laboratories, hatcheries, nurseries. In addition, it has two independent fishery experimental plants, which are active in terms of production activity, too.
  4. The Dairy Research and Development Center – the most advanced dairy research center in Poland.
  5. The Center of Natural and Traditional Food Research of the University of Warmia and Mazury – its research activity covers the researched fields of science and includes:
    • research on traditional raw materials of plant and animal origin (breeding, cultivation) used in production of traditional food, including GMO-free food;
    • historical and cultural conditions of traditional food production;
    • economic, organizational and legal conditions of traditional food production;
    • research on traditional methods of processing plant and animal raw materials;
    • methods and ways of preparing traditional and regional dishes.
  6. Renewable Energy Research Center (CBEO) – its mission is to integrate the activities of the scientific, local government and business communities towards creating and deploying new sustainable energy technologies. Its purpose is to undertake scientific research into new renewable energy technologies and to produce functional energy plants as a research workshop, a source of energy generation and distribution as well as a base for educational, dissemination and promotional activities. The Center’s strategy of development calls for the creation of a region of knowledge on innovative, eco-friendly renewable energy technologies, with practical application of scientific research results and resulting commercial success of the participating businesses.
  7. The Center for Aquaculture and Ecological Engineering – modern laboratories for research on aquatic organisms, expansion of the Faculty of Technical Sciences to include a complex of university buildings and the Faculty’s main building with an auditorium and six new laboratories with specialized instruments, and opening of new buildings for the Faculty of Animal Bioengineering.
  8. The Nutri-Bio-Chemical Center is designed to integrate the scientific and research potential of the University in terms of holistic biological, chemical and biotechnological analysis of the environment and food in respect of health-promoting activities.
  9. The Centre of Innovation and Technology Transfer of the University of Warmia and Mazury is responsible for the best possible use of the intellectual and technical potential of the University and transfer (by sale or free of charge) of UWM R&D results to the economy. The Centre offers a broad variety of services to scientists, students and entrepreneurs: information, consulting, training, intermediation in starting cooperation and technology transfer.
  10. The State University of Applied Sciences in Elbląg is focused on ICT and environmental technologies and educates specialists in the IT industry.

Scientific and R&D units of Warmia and Masuria are top ranked and hold high positions in rankings of the highest success rate of grants awarded for advanced innovative projects:

– the National Science Centre ranking – the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences ranks 37th (among 185 scientific units)

– the University of Warmia and Mazury ranked 28th among Polish universities in terms of the number of obtained grants.

No wonder that a growing number of companies wish to draw on the wealth of human and natural resources and academic background, and invest in Warmia and Masuria.