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tions may be of technological, organisations or marketing nature 17 (see Table 1).
In professional publications the most often discussed, due to their tangible character,
are technical and technological innovations. They are identified with scientific
and technological progress, i.e. a stream of innovation processes taking
place at a given time and place, which in the long-term perspective is of key significance
for economic development.
Taking into account the definition by Ch. Freeman 18 , who states that innovation
is the first introduction to the market, use of a new product, process, system
or device we should also note the innovations that do not satisfy the criterion of
economic profitability. Rules of economy should also apply to expenditure made
to reach the set objectives. This applies to innovations related to the protection
of the environment, occupational safety enhancement and the reduction of
work-related nuisance 19 .
According to the OECD, innovation means the first application of a technology
or knowledge resulting in market success. A problem remains what scale of
first application should be chosen – an enterprise, a country or global economy?
Furthermore, primary innovation due to feedback of various stages of the innovation
process may undergo transformations that may be of greater significance
than the initial innovation.
If innovation is defined as the introduction of new solutions in technology,
organisation and marketing, innovative potential will be determined by internal
factors resulting from the capacity to activate existing resources in the economy
and external factors connected with imitation and adaptation of solutions from
abroad. Innovations are developed in own R&D projects and come from transfer
of technologies and innovations as direct foreign investment, import of advanced
goods, license agreements, franchising, acquisitions and strategic alliances.
Innovations cover products and processes (see Fig. 1). Product innovations
play a special role in market economy as the competitiveness of a new product
is an important tool in the rivalry between producers.
Generally, innovation is perceived as a change linked with progress. However,
this is not always the case in practice. In the 1970s, Z. Madej 20 stated that
innovations mean changes in any direction, therefore they do not necessarily
mean progress as they may mean neutral changes or regress. According to the
classification proposed by S. Sudo³ 21 , product innovations are a kind of produc-
17 M. A. Weresa, Dynamizm innowacyjny Polski i Niemiec. Implikacje dla bilateralnej wspó³pracy gospodarczej,
[in:] Polska-Niemcy wobec wyzwañ ekonomiczno-politycznych, ed. W. Ma³achowski, Zak³ad
Polsko-Niemieckich Stosunków Gospodarczych, Instytut Gospodarki Œwiatowej SGH, Warsaw 1998,
p. 47.
18 Ch. Freeman, The Economics of Industrial Innovation, Pinter, London 1982, p. 7.
19 E. Stawasz, op. cit., p. 14.
20 Z. Madej, Nauka i rozwój gospodarczy, PWN, Warsaw 1970, p. 13.
21 S. Sudo³, Przedsiêbiorstwo przemys³owe, PWE, Warsaw 1988, p. 61.
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