Innovation of Enterprises in Poland by Voivodeship in the Years 2018-2022

Purpose: The aim of the article is to analyze the innovativeness of service and industrial enterprises in Poland, cross-sectionally by voivodeships, in the years 2018-2022, using the TOPSIS method. Design/Methodology/Approach: The literature review focuses, in particular, on the essence of innovation, factors influencing the level of innovation and the measurement of innovation. The analysis of the innovativeness of industrial and service enterprises in Poland by voivodeships, in the years 2018-2022, was carried out based on data from Statistics Poland. Four indicators were selected for the analysis of innovativeness, including: 2 input indicators and 2 output indicators. Based on the selected indicators, synthetic measures on the input and output side were calculated using the TOPSIS method, and then rankings of the innovativeness of industrial and service enterprises by voivodeships were prepared. Research methods such as literature review, variability analysis, Spearman's rank correlation, and TOPSIS method were used in the study. Findings: The innovativeness of industrial and service enterprises in Poland by voivodeship can be measured using various measures. The measures based on inputs and outputs are worth noting in this respect, with the use of which synthetic measures were calculated using the TOPSIS methodand rankings were created. Based on the analyses conducted, it was found that in the groups of industrial and service enterprises, in the period 2018-2022, the share of innovation-active enterprises was significantly higher than the share of enterprises that incurred expenditures on R&D activities. In the period under review, a slight upward trend was also noticeable in the share of enterprises incurring R&D expenditures in both groups studied. Moreover, in the group of industrial enterprises there was a higher percentage of those that were innovation-active and those that incurred expenditure on R&D activities than in the group of service enterprises. The research indicates that the largest percentage of industrial and service enterprises introduced new or improved business processes in the 2018-2022 period. In turn, a much smaller percentage of enterprises were introducing new or improved products. The share of enterprises that introduced innovative products was higher in the group of inThalassinosdustrial enterprises than in the group of service enterprises. In 2020-2022, the share of service enterprises that introduced innovative business processes was higher than the share of industrial enterprises. It is worth noting that enterprises from a given voivodeship could occupy different places in the rankings in particular years, as well as according to inputs and outputs. The study also shows that there are very large application possibilities of multidimensional comparative analyses using rankings in assessing the innovativeness of enterprises. Thanks to this, it is possible, among other things, to use the results of the analyses in various spheres of management. Practical implications: The Polish government can use the conclusions from the regional analysis of the innovativeness of industrial and service enterprises to allocate funds for programs supporting the innovativeness of enterprises in individual voivodeships. The authorities in these individual voivodeships can determine their position in the area of innovativeness in relation to other regions based on the rankings. On the other hand, enterprise managers can find the regions (voivodeships) most supportive of the innovativeness of enterprises based on the results obtained. Originality: The originality manifests itself primarily in the comprehensiveness and scope of the research undertaken, in particular in the approach to the innovativeness of industrial and service enterprises across voivodeships, from the perspective of inputs and outputs, and the preparation of rankings on this basis using the TOPSIS method.