Innovativeness of enterprises in the Lodz region against the background of other voivodships

A growth potential of Poland up to now has based on low labour costs and low prices of raw materials, but this advantage seems to be running out due to increasing income per capita. Hence, if the country wants to be competitive in comparison to other economies in Europe and in the world, it is indispensable to pursue a more effective innovation policy. However, the innovativeness level of particular Polish regions is diversified. Despite very high outlays on innovations (both total and per 1 enterprise), the companies from the Lodz Voivodeship reside the less innovative in the country. What is worse, their cooperation with external entities and a generous support of public funds do not result in sufficient increase of their innovativeness level. The firms from the Lodz Province are also characterized by low income arising from the sale of innovative products and a low percentage of them has introduced any innovative solutions encompassed product, process, marketing and organizational innovations