Sierakowo: From Desperation to Inspiration – A Creative Idea That Worked

This case study details how Sierakowo, a small village located in north-western Poland, broke out of marginalisation and poverty to create a local knowledge-based economy.

If you were looking for a marginalized village in Europe just a few years ago it would be difficult to find a better text-book example than Sierakowo. Sierakowo is small village located in the north-western Poland, in the Western Pomerania (formerly Prussia).      

A project in Sierakowo, led by Dr. Wacek Idziak from the Koszalin University of Technology, was designed as an attempt to:

• Test a possibility of taking to marginalised villages the knowledge-based economy by creation of a ‘theme village’.
• Help Sierakowo to break-out of the poverty cycle

The key questions formulated at the start of the project were:

• Is it possible, in the current socio-economic conditions, for a Polish marginalised village to get to the knowledge-based economy?
• Which factors are facilitating, which factors are hindering such a process?

The chosen strategy was a pursuit of village specialization in the area of experience industry.  A concept of a theme village (loosely based on the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy) was developed.   

The fundamental conclusion that can be drawn from the experiment is that it is possible to make the transition of marginalised villages to the knowledge-based economy, although the process is difficult and uncertain.