Sources of Innovation of Small Businesses: Polish Perspective

The contemporary economies focus on increasing the potential of innovation of the companies functioning in the above economies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which constitute 99% of companies operating in the European Union. Particular attention should be paid to small companies being the dominant ones in this sector. Recognition of sources of the undertaken innovative activities by small companies will enable to provide a more direction-oriented support and offer for this scale of companies. The key objective of the article is identification of the sources of innovation of small enterprises and indicating the directions of changes in this area in the researched period. The conclusions were drawn based on the results of two own researches relating to innovativeness and competitiveness of small enterprises conducted in 2006/2007 and in 2013.