Cooperation of enterprises in innovative activities on the example of Polish regions

Abstract

Research background: Cooperation is an indispensable element of innovation activities of enterprises. Undertakings in innovation, by nature, require not only significant expenditures or creative human capital, but also cooperation with other enterprises, scientific institutions, and the business environment. Cooperating companies have a greater chance to compete in the international arena while building the innovative potential of the regional environment. Stimulating the permanent cooperation of enterprises operating in the region, in its various forms, is a key challenge for central government authorities, local government authorities, and other actors in social and economic life. The existing literature on the cooperation of enterprises focuses on the motives of cooperation and their effects, but to a lesser extent on the spatial similarity of these processes, i.e. in individual regions of the country.

Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to diagnose and evaluate regional differences in the level of cooperation between companies conducting innovation activities in Poland. The study used data on innovation activities published by Statistics Poland and data on enterprises participating in cluster cooperation published by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

Methods: The cluster analysis was used, allowing to identify voivodeships that are similar to each other in terms of the analyzed phenomenon. The spatial classification of voivodeships was performed using the Ward method, which is classified as hierarchical and is often used to group objects. The result is a hierarchical tree that groups the regions in increasingly larger clusters.

Findings & value added: The results indicate a low level of cooperation and the existence of significant differences in the cooperation of enterprises as part of innovation activities in Polish regions. The low level of cooperation between companies in individual regions corresponds to the number of marketed innovations. There are similarities between some regions in terms of cooperation on innovation activities. The results of the analysis may provide an indication for national and European Union economic policy entities in the field of creating instruments to support the cooperation of companies on innovation activities.

Keywords

innovation activities, cluster analysis, cooperation of enterprises, Polish voivodeships, regional differentiation, Ward’s method

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