Magdalena Miedzianowska successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, concerning the relations between projects co-funded from the European Union regional funds and the development of creative class in Poland. The thesis was prepared under the supervision of Prof. Krzysztof Klincewicz at TiMO. Dr. Miedzianowska based her research on Richard Florida’s concept of creative class and “3Ts” model, maintaining that an adequate balance needs to be maintained between three “Ts”: technology, talent and tolerance, in order to promote regional economic growth. The research project started with large-scale mapping of project priorities, as described in Polish operational programmes for 2004-2006 and 2007-2013. Subsequently, Dr. Miedzianowska carried out quantitative analysis of public interventions, co-funded from the EU structural funds, to identify different regional approaches and resulting “creativity gaps”, when the allocations are suboptimal when analysed through the “3Ts” lenses. Finally, she conducted interviews with multiple stakeholders, benefiting from the EU structural funds or deciding not to apply for the funding – this part focused on explaining the reasons for the emergence of a significant gap, identified in previous stages of the project, and related to limited stimulation of initiatives, fostering tolerance in Poland.