Innovation nation

The Economy Ministry has presented a plan to maintain economic growth and fight unemployment by increasing innovation and creating a knowledge-based economy in Poland. The document - worked out in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and a group of experts - covers the period of 2007 through 2013. The Cabinet is set to accept the program in June. As a result, in 2008 total spending on R&D should reach 1.65 percent of GDP in 2008 and 1.8 percent in 2010 and attain the EU average in 2013.

Only one percent of companies see innovation as a source of a future advantage over their competitors in the market. "Poland's situation does not look good here. We have over 900 research units, many of which carry out world-class research. However, the level of implementation in business is very low," says Andrzej Kaczmarek, Undersecretary of State at the Economy Ministry.

The Ministry wants to increase the cohesion of all activities supporting innovation and introduce new financial instruments in order to change the attitude of entrepreneurs. The document lays out specific regulations for intellectual property management and establishes the National System of Innovation and the Council of Innovation, to be headed by the Prime Minister.

Kaczmarek says that the financial market is a real headache. "Only two or three investment funds are interested in financing venture capital projects," he says. The total spending on R&D programs amount to 0.58 percent of Poland's GDP and only 38.3 percent of that comes from private sources. The government wants to increase private investment in innovation through technological loans and tax rebates for patent licenses.