Title: Innovation and sustainable competitiveness: evidence from Poland

Authors: Marzenna Anna Weresa

Addresses: World Economy Research Institute, Warsaw School of Economics, Al. Niepodległości 162, 02-554 Warsaw, Poland

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to find out whether innovation shaped the competitive advantages of Poland in the first decade of the 21st century. In particular, the research covers innovations embedded in the social and environmental pillars of sustainable competitiveness. Poland's competitive performance and innovativeness are compared with those of selected other European Union member states from Central and Eastern Europe, specifically the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. These three countries are Poland's partners in a regional alliance known as the Visegrad Group. This comparative analysis shows that the competitive position of the Polish economy improved from 2000 to 2014, and that it looked even better in absolute terms after taking into account some non-technological factors, such as the social and environmental pillars of sustainable competitiveness. This paper also shows that Poland's innovation performance and sustainable competiveness are interrelated, with a growing role of the social aspects of sustainability.

Keywords: sustainable competitiveness; Poland; European Union; competitive performance; innovativeness; Czech Republic; Hungary; Slovakia; Visegrad Group; innovation performance; social aspects; sustainability; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIS.2015.077197

International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2015 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.150 - 163

Received: 28 Nov 2015
Accepted: 22 Mar 2016
Published online: 22 Jun 2016 *

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