Innovative activity of enterprises in Poland versus Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Innovative activities are various technological, scientific, financial, organizational and commercial steps which are intended to or lead to implementation of innovations. Innovative activity is perceived to be a source of competitiveness and economic growth. This paper analyses the innovation of Polish enterprises in the context of companies from other countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union through the prism of three elements: percentage of innovative enterprises, R&D expenditure of entrepreneurs and patenting activities at the European Patent Office. Among the Central and Easter Europe countries, entrepreneurs from Slovenia, Estonia and the Czech Republic rank highest in terms of innovation measured with the three afore-mentioned elements whereas entities from Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland rank lowest in innovation. In Poland, as far as the voivodeship structure is concerned, the best results are achieved by entrepreneurs located in Masovian Voivodeship and the poorest by those located in Warmian-Masurian and Lublin voivodeships. Hence supporting innovative activities in Poland by means of an adequate country’s policy in this respect becomes the key issue.