Innovativeness of Enterprises in Poland in the Regional Context

The article examines the innovativeness of enterprises in 69 Polish NUTS3 sub-regions in 2014. The analysis is based on unpublished regional data from the Polish Central Statistical Office covering the following variables: the share of enterprises which have incurred outlays for innovative activities, the share of enterprises implementing process or product innovations, the share of companies collaborating in the field of innovation, and the share of new or modernized products in total production sold in industrial companies. The analysis focuses on building rankings and cluster analysis of NUTS3 regions. As research methods, the author uses selected methods of multidimensional comparative analysis, principal component analysis and the hierarchical Ward’s method. The results show that there are substantial differences among NUTS3 sub-regions as regards innovativeness of enterprises. The low level of cooperation does not foster innovation. Innovation outputs of enterprises are also unsatisfactory. The highest variation is seen in the share of new or modernized products in total production sold in industrial companies. The final effect of the cluster analysis is the division of regions into 7 groups. In the case of units where innovation inputs are not reflected in innovation outputs, it would be useful to explore regional and local factors influencing those relations. Further research is still needed.