Rola regionalnych programów operacyjnych w definiowaniu priorytetów rozwojowych polskich regionów w latach 2007–2013

The article describes the 16 Regional Operational Programmes in Poland 2007–2013. In the elaboration the following issues are considered: the evolution of the regional policy in the European Union, the factors of regional development as a social capital or material capital, the strategy and objectives of regional policy in Poland, the development priorities of the Polish regions. For the 2007–2013 period, 16 operational programmes have been adopted by the European Commission. The regional authorities are responsible for management and implementation of the programmes. The purpose of the article is to describe the process of preparation of the regional priorities according to the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion and the National Strategic Reference Framework. It is also determined by the renewed Lisbon Strategy. Polish Regional Operational Programmes co-financed through the cohesion policy, concentrate on the following objectives: encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship and the growth of the knowledge economy by research and innovation capacities, developing communication technologies, investing in transport and road infrastructure and preserving their environmental potential.