Along with the process of the EU enlargement came a possibility to use cohesion funds for building knowledge infrastructure in the CEE states and stimulating localized knowledge spillovers, especially on the part of universities. This included establishment of supporting innovation infrastructure (scientific parks, scientific incubators) and intermediaries (mostly TTOs or R&D services), which focused on building ties with industry. The aim of this research is to analyze the existing patterns affecting knowledge spillovers from technical universities in the selected CEE countries. The latter couldn’t be achieved without using qualitative methods of research. Therefore the major method of this research is the qualitative survey research based on interviews with Heads of R&D departments at selected technical universities in the CEE countries. The research findings indicate the importance of interaction and complementarity between local and distant sources of knowledge. Furthermore, the role of local knowledge sourcing (home universities and other R&D institutions within the region) seems to be determined by the type of knowledge itself and may vary from one scientific field to another. For example, the local sourcing of knowledge in the fields such as IT and chemistry is particularly important for space engineering research; electronics, telecommunications, computer hardware and software for communication research or biochemistry, pharmacology, agriculture and IT for biotechnology research.
