How Can Evolve Support System of Innovation? Changes in the Influence of Business Support Organizations on Innovation Cooperation Based on the Example of Polish Region

Innovation cooperation allows the spreading of risks, especially financial risks, associated with innovative projects. This is more important for small and medium-sized enterprises that have less financial resources than large entities. At the same time, it is necessary to encourage entrepreneurs to cooperate in countries with a low level of trust. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to determine the impact of business support organizations on establishing innovative cooperation and to compare their impact in a dynamic approach. The study was conducted in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Łódź Voivodeship in Poland in two periods: 2010–2012 and 2014–2016. Two hundred and eighty-six entities participated in the study in the first period and 453 in the second. The research method used was logit modeling. The study showed that in the second research period support organizations more often contributed to establishing innovative cooperation. What was noted in particular was the activity of technology incubators and academic entrepreneurship incubators. This shows that young innovative enterprises in the early stages of development need support in building networks, and moreover that networks are important for their development. In addition, in both periods, support organizations more often initiated cooperation with other enterprises than with entities from the sphere of science. This shows that there is a huge gap between the areas of science and business in the surveyed entities.