Research Background: The development of fledgling enterprises, especially those associated with medium-high and high technology is not easy. They often need to develop from inception a born global strategy, which is a great challenge at the beginning of a new business. Therefore, there is a global phenomenon of incubation, which supports young enterprises in the early stages of development. In Poland, the institutional dimension of incubation (especially for enterprises associated with modern technologies) consists of technology incubators and university business incubators. Yet, scientific research con-ducted in the area of entrepreneurship incubation gives contradictory results - some assess their activity positively, others negatively. Purpose of the article: Enterprises located in an incubator should allocate funds for R&D activities and create innovations to develop and gain market advantage. With this in mind, the purpose of the article is to check whether technology incubators and university business incubators contribute to an increase in the likelihood of conducting R&D activities and introducing product and process innovations. Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 1058 industrial enterprises distributed across 2 Polish NUTS level 2 regions: Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodships. It concerned innovative activity that enterprises conducted in 2014?2016. Thanks to the use of probit modeling determination was made for the probability of introducing new products and conducting R&D works in entities that used the services of incubators in relation to those that did not belong to them. Findings & Value added: Econometric modeling revealed that in the studied regions incubators contribute to an increase in the introduction of product innovations by enterprises and in conducting R&D activities. Support for the process of implementing innovation occurred significantly more often only in the case where technology incubators were involved. At the same time, it was noticed that only academic incubators increased the chances of introducing product innovations on a global scale. This means that tenants of technology incubators are more innovative than entities outside them, but their innovations in terms of the level of novelty do not differ from innovations implemented in entities outside incubators. The conducted study indicated that the transfer of systemic solutions related to stimulating innovation from developed countries to catching-up countries may be successful. This is a guideline for local authorities to create incubators that allow for an increase in the level of innovation of the incubated enterprises.

Research background: Contemporary research on industry concentrates on the relations between enterprises and their environment. Research on industrial structures conducted throughout the world, including Poland, are not extensive and limited due to the confidentiality of statistics. K. Pavitt (1984) was the first researcher who evaluated the relationship between industry structure and innovation activity. According to Pavitt, innovation dynamics and trajectory depend on the structure of domestic industry and is unique. In Poland T. Rachwal (2010) determined that over the studied years, changes in the indicator defining diversification in industrial divisions were minimal, but at the same time there was an observable fall in the importance of traditional divisions, such as the production of clothing, textiles, and the leather. In contrast, divisions as the production of metal, rubber, and plastic goods increased their share in terms of employees, as did furniture and vehicle manufacturing. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to identify sectoral patterns of innovation cooperation as revealed by data on about 5209 Polish enterprises. The authors attempt to find the answer to the following three questions: (1) Is the domestic aggregation sufficient for stimulating innovation cooperation in the Polish industry? (2) Is there any sectoral heterogeneity in innovation cooperation? (3) Are enterprises representing high technology industries the most involved in innovation cooperation? The main goal of the study was an attempt to seek out the directions and influence of various industries on the innovation cooperation of enterprises in Poland. Methods: Empirical data that served as the basis for conducting calculations were collected with the help of a questionnaire survey sent to industrial companies throughout Poland. A total of 5,209 properly completed forms were collected. The average rate of return was 11,6%. The collection was held over the years 2008–2013. The methodological part of the study was developed using the logistic regression method based on probability theory of the study. Findings & Value added: The study has shown that the higher the technology, the more often enterprises cooperate in the area of innovation. The research has not only shown the specifics of the domestic industrial system as well its level of technological advancement, but it has also taken into account the significance and input into the analyzed system.

Research background: The first business support organizations (BSO) appeared in Poland in the 90s of the last century. They were transferred from Western Europe and the United States, where they provided system solutions and played an important role in stimulating innovation activity. However, the latter regions are economically developed, while Poland is playing catch-up. The important question is whether business support organizations will significantly increase the innovative potential of  Polish enterprises. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to probe the impact of business support organizations on innovation activity in Polish industrial companies. It remains to be determined whether enterprises which use BSO services are more likely to engage in innovation activities than enterprises which do not use such services. Methods: To carry out the study, a multi-factor logit regression method was used. In this study, the method allows the determination of the odds ratio for the likely occurrence of innovation activity in companies that used the services of BSOs compared to enterprises that did not do so. The attributes of innovation activity have been singled out in accordance with the international standards of the Oslo methodology. The study was conducted in 2015 for the years 2012–2014 based on a sample of 951 manufacturing companies in the Masovian Voivodeship. Findings & Value added: In the Masovian Voivodeship it is the technological parks and training and consulting centres which have the most advanced degree of influence on the innovation activity of enterprises. The roles of technology incubators, and loan and guarantee funds are also significant. With regard to cooperation on innovation, there is a much better arrangement in sectoral systems, i.e., with suppliers, customers and competitors, than with scientific institutions.

Research background: Innovative economy and the business environment are important factors in the socio-economic development of a country. In a knowledge-based society, economic processes (especially innovation activity) require a specific stimulus. This stimulus can be provided by business support organization, which have been present in the Polish economy since the 1990s. Purpose of the article: The main goal of the article is to assess the system impact of business support organizations on cooperation in the area of new solutions (product and process innovations) in industry in Poland. Methods: The research method which was used in the analysis was logit modelling. Cooperation in the area of new solutions with the supplier, recipient and competitor was established as a dependent variable and business support organizations as independent variable. The analysis using logistic regression was based on comparison two groups of enterprises: those that were service recipients of support organizations and those that did not belong to this group. In this way, it was possible to determine if the use of BSO services increased the chances for innovative cooperation in industry. The survey was conducted in 2013?2017 among 6284 industrial enterprises. Findings & Value added: The survey showed that business support organizations significantly and systematically influence the establishment of innovative cooperation. Recipients of support organizations twice more often cooperated with suppliers and recipients than entities that did not. Stimulation of cooperation with competitors by BSO was weaker than it was in the case of suppliers and recipients. The conducted study provided information on the level of development of the national innovation system in catching-up countries on the example of Poland. It was pointed out that in economically weak territories, one should focus on stimulating innovative activity as such, while in the developed ones should be transferred to more advanced forms, i.e. innovative cooperation.

Currently, technological parks constitute the most organisational and conceptually developed type of innovation centres and entrepreneurship. This results in the fact that they can be encountered in all highly developed countries in the world. They are also formed in the catching-up countries. However, one should consider whether the stimulation of innovation in the countries, which are not based on knowledge through institutional solutions used in the developed countries will turn out to be effective. Because between these countries there is a technological gap. The aim of the article was therefore to determine, using the probit modelling, the direction and strength of technological parks on the innovation activity. The study covered two provinces: Silesian, which is one of the most developed regions in Poland and Pomeranian with the intermediate industrial system. The influence of technological parks on innovation was determined based on the survey conducted in 1453 industrial enterprises. The main conclusions are brought down to the following theses: (1) using the technological parks increases the chance for the implementation of new solutions by enterprises, (2) parks to a greater extent stimulate the innovation activity in the developed province, (3) enterprises entering in the cross-regional network relations favours the selection of the technological park as the catalyst for innovation processes.