The presented study raises the issue of contribution payers in the field of social insurance, in particular based on the Covid-19 pandemic. Searching for ways of supporting was determined by the deterioration of the financial condition of entrepreneurs as payers of contributions. In 2020, there were no instruments or mechanisms to support entrepreneurs in a lockdown situation, which implied the need to build such tools and the legal environment for SMEs practically from the beginning. The Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) was (...) entrusted with the role of a stabilizer, consisting in servicing entrepreneurs as part of subsequent editions of the Anti-Crisis Shield. During the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, ZUS used the following forms of support for contribution payers: exemption from the obligation to pay contributions, postponement of the payment of contributions and payment of contributions in installments. The research question concerned the enforcement of the law and respect for the basic rights of entrepreneurs in the scope of the support used. In order to solve the research task legal interpretation were used in the work. The author’s considerations lead to the conclusion that forms of support used in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic turned out to be effective and may be used in the future in emergency situations. An important science contribution of the article results from the combination of the selected legal and economic aspects. (shrink)

The hydrogen market in the world today is capable ovule and empirical evidence on activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production is limited so far. Patent applications in zero-emission mobility in the aspect of fuel cells include: DAFC/dmfc&dmfc, PEMFC, SOFC, AFC, PAFC. As for the patents relating to the hydrogen production, they concern low carbon, electrolysis and inorganic. The purpose of the study was to investigate certain aspects of the activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production (...) in the context of passenger car fleet in the Visegrad group (V4) countries and to explore the relationship between patent registrations and GDP per capita in V4. The research area relates to the answer to the question of whether a country’s involvement in zero-emission patent activity (patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production) could contribute to the renewal of the country’s passenger car fleet. The theses were formulated as follows: 1) activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production in the V4 countries doesn’t depend on the car fleet in these countries, 2) the level of GDP per capita in the V4 countries is not followed by the number of patents registrations in hydrogen technology, 3) the highest patent activity in fuel cells and hydrogen production doesn’t mean that the car fleet in these country will be zero-emission in coming years. The method used in this article is a comparative analysis, but also the relationships between patent registrations, GDP per capita and passenger car fleet in V4 are considered. (shrink)

There is a continuous increase in the number of humanitarian crises around the world. The number of armed conflicts and attacks on civilians is increasing at an alarming rate. Natural disasters compounded by climate change and population growth are also occurring more frequently and with increasing intensity. Given that over 60 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, prolonged forced displacement has become the biggest humanitarian, development, political and economic challenge. The needs are increasingly outweighing resources, and humanitarian aid and (...) civil protection are becoming increasingly complex. Funds for humanitarian aid come from the budgets of individual countries. In situations of severe crisis, other state authorities may also decide to grant humanitarian aid from the funds at their disposal. In addition, there are many options for providing humanitarian aid. The purpose of the article is to present methods as crowdfunding for financing humanitarian crises that do not belong to state funds. Most often they come from community collections or projects where more people are involved. It must be admitted, however, that this assistance still seems disproportionately small in relation to the needs. (shrink)

The purpose of the considerations is to present and systematise barriers to creating innovation in the Polish economy in 2012–2016. The desk research was based on the results of Community Innovation Surveys (CIS 2012 and CIS 2014), thematic studies of the Central Statistical Office and a report from the Infuture hatalska foresight institute. The use of statistical and comparative analysis in conjunction with the review of the literature on innovation barriers leads to the conclusion that Polish enterprises recognise the lack (...) of financial resources as a major barrier to creating innovation, while non-financial barriers are much less important. The marginal treatment of non-financial barriers is a reversal of attitudes and directions of activities that are undertaken in the field of creating innovation in highly developed countries. (shrink)