Innovation and change: perspectives from the private sector in the Upper-Silesian Region

The paper is a presentation of the overview on the problem of innovation and innovativeness in enterprises located in the Upper-Silesian Region. The author demonstrates that the phenomenon of innovation is inseparably connected with the notion of change, novelty, reform or an idea perceived as new. What differentiates innovation from change is its influence on competitiveness, as well as on accrued benefits and economic and social effects. Each innovation is a change, but not each change is an innovation. The paper presents a part of the results from qualitative research conducted amongst the graduates of the Silesian technical and economic universities who work in the marketing departments, but also directly deal with innovation implementation in various enterprises and science and research institutes. The objective of research is to diagnose the graduates’ level of knowledge, emotional attitudes and behaviors towards the problem of innovation and innovativeness and also to the accompanying notion of change in the enterprise.