According to the European Innovation Ranking 2022, Poland remains among the ’emerging innovators’, reaching 60.5 % of the European Union average. In the latest Global Innovation Index, Poland was ranked 38th out of 132 economies worldwide. Intensive actions creating the development of innovativeness are necessary, as it is one of the main factors determining the level of socio-economic development of countries, according to a report prepared by the Information Processing Centre – National Research Institute (OPI – PIB)), which concerns the development of innovativeness in Poland.
The publication ‘National Innovation System: Opportunities and Challenges’ identifies the main barriers and recommends tools to support the development of innovation in Poland. It constitutes the first, preliminary stage of work aimed at detailing specific measures developing innovativeness.
“Undoubtedly, financial barriers are one of the main factors limiting the development of innovation. They consist in the lack of funds to cover costly innovation activities, which is a challenge especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Innovation is also hampered by factors related to excessive bureaucracy and the failure to adapt legal solutions to the specifics of doing business”, says Dr Jarosław Protasiewicz, Director of the Information Processing Centre (OPI).
Further barriers relate to the challenges of cooperation between institutions, especially between companies and scientific institutions. “According to stakeholders, these included ineffective exchange of information due to differences in institutional structures and a lack of incentives for scientists to conduct implementation projects”, adds the director of the OPI.
The fourth barrier was the availability of data and IT tools. The remaining three barriers are related to the dispersion of knowledge and information on possible forms of support, education to support innovation, and socio-cultural attitudes such as lack of trust and fear of taking risks.
Adrian Andrzejewski