World Bank Technical Paper No. 383. This paper summarizes the findings of a multisector study designed to examine the efficacy and importance of various technology policies, technology-support institutions, incentive measures, and other sources of technological know-how. It examines how various firms in different sectors and countries improve their technology to increase productivity and product quality and develop new products and processes. Economies studied in this report included Canada, China, Hungary, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico and Taiwan (China).

Poland has seen impressive growth in recent years, and yet regional disparities in economic and social outcomes remain large by OECD standards. The overall living conditions in rural communities generally remain below those of urban communities, and rural households face higher poverty rates ...

With the larger role that the agricultural sector plays in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian (ECA) region, emphasis must be placed on the sector's sustained growth and prosperity. The Bank strategy for rural development in the ECA region during the early phase of transition emphasized the reform of agricultural policies and assistance in privatizing, restructuring, and rebuilding agriculture and agro-industrial complexes. In retrospect, it can be seen that the ECA countries concerned made the right choice when they set their objective to transform their socialized agriculture into a private-ownership and market-based system. Given the developments of the past decade, it is clear, however, that the initial expectations for the outcomes of such reforms were overly optimistic. The transition process in agriculture is far more complex than originally envisaged by both the countries themselves and the international community, including the Bank. Increased social problems and alarming growth of poverty have added a new, unexpected, dimension to the transition process. As the analysis indicates, the region's rural economy is still struggling to adjust to new economic realities, and this will require further refinement and adjustment of the Bank's approach as well. This volume, based on an overview of recent regional developments, summarizes the revised World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region.

The transformation of rural areas and the broadly understood problems of their development have been the subject of scientific analyses and lively public debate for many years. The ongoing discussions stem from a reflection on the increased effectiveness of rural development policies and the search for new approaches to their programming at the local level. They are also the result of a growing feeling that it is necessary to achieve sustainable development objectives more effectively and reduce social and economic disparities between rural and urban areas. Among the emerging challenges in the last decade, the transition to an information society has come to the fore, however it should be stressed that the changes taking place are dependent on global technological and digital development. The fact that rural areas are inhabited by about one quarter of the European Union’s population makes us aware of the importance of these changes in rural areas. In Poland, this proportion is much higher and amounts to 40%. Being aware of this fact, it may be assumed that adaptation to transformations cannot be treated as an opportunity, but as a necessity, as more and more activities are carried out in the virtual world. The importance of digital and communication technologies has been reinforced in recent months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has transferred some activities to the virtual sphere. Equipping rural populations with digital and communications skills will make it possible to “reduce” distance, thereby increasing accessibility to goods and services, especially public ones. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICT) are treated as an opportunity to overcome development-related difficulties. However, their use depends on access to the internet in a given area. Its lack or poor coverage in a particular area deprives it of the opportunities for development based on smart technologies or smart initiatives. As regards the local dimension, it is not only digital technologies that are growing in importance, but also activities aimed to improve broadly understood living conditions of rural residents, also on a micro scale. In these transformations, people and their skills are of unique value, and waiting passively for change does not make much sense. In this context technology can only be a tool, as human competences are becoming the major driver for the improvement of the standard of living and quality of life. Well-identified local human resources form the basis for social innovation, and consequently contribute to increased resilience of rural areas, allowing them to solve problems faced by local communities. The transition to an information society understood in this way has a significantly broader context than digital and communication technologies and comprises a range of social and agri-environmental issues.