Changes in size and ownership of enterprises on innovation activity– evolutionary approach

The transformation process in the countries which is associated with changes in the size structure of enterprises and capital ownership, affects the economic processes, and hence also the innovative activity in the industry. That is why the main objective of the study was to look for evolving in time determinants of size class and ownership structure of industrial enterprises on their innovative activity in within the Lower Silesia industrial system, and ultimately determine the limits of the assumptions of the master structure of regional innovation networks, which take into account the specificity of the particular region. The hypothesis of the research was formulated as an assertion that innovative activity in territorial industrial systems and in their relations with the environment is significantly determined by the influence of the size and structure of companies evolving over time. Empirical and exemplificative sphere of this paper was based on a case study of Lower Silesia Voivodeship. The study was performed twice on the basis of standardized questionnaire on a group of 492 industrial enterprises in 2004−2006, and 761 subjects in the years 2010−2012. The methodological part of the analyzes was based on the theory of probability, where the dependent variable had the binary value. In the paper logistic regression is used, of which the greatest advantage is the ability to analyze and interpret the results from using the methods which are similar to the classic method of regression, on the basis of the selection scheme of the convergent variables and hypothesis testing. The results of research show that the diversity of innovative activity in the Lower Silesia region, taking into account the structure and size of businesses in the industrial system, indicates their temporal evolution and, consequently, different habits in the tested group of enterprises. Conclusions of the research suggest that these interactions are often dependent on the current stage of development of the industrial system. According to the system and evolutionary theory, responsibility for the increase of the potential and improvement of technological competitiveness of the region, will move from large business entities, through the medium towards small enterprises, and from the point of view of the nature of ownership: foreign entities towards mixed, but much slower. Owners of domestic micro-enterprises in the Polish conditions are characterized by extensive reticence in taking risks arising from innovative activities