Eco-Innovations of Industrial Enterprises in Poland’s Regions – Outcomes and Decision-Making Premises
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15611/br.2026.1.03Keywords:
eco‑innovations, pro‑environmental innovation outcomes, drivers of green innovationsAbstract
Aim: The aim of the article was to identify Poland’s leading voivodeships in terms of innovation activities declared by industrial enterprises that generate benefits for the natural environment (objective 1); and to examine the key premises for undertaking innovation activities with environmental benefits across Poland’s voivodeships from the perspective of industrial enterprises (objective 2).
Methodology: The process of collecting, analyzing, and describing data on enterprises’ innovation activities is based on the Oslo Manual 2018 methodology. In Poland, in accordance with its guidelines, enterprises complete the Statistics Poland innovation reports (PNT-02). These data were used in analyses aimed at achieving the research objectives. The implementation of objective 1 was based on a two-step procedure. In the first step, industrial enterprises from each region that fell within the top 25% of observations above the upper quartile—measured by the share of indications of achieved environmental benefits across a set of 12 pro-environmental outcomes—were identified. In the second step, points were assigned, according to the adopted algorithm, to enterprises in each region for ranking positions from 1 to 4 within the upper quartile across the 12 pro-environmental effects. The implementation of objective 2 was based on respondents’ answers to the question concerning the importance of factors— specified in the PNT-02 report—for making decisions about the implementation of eco-innovations.
Results: In the years 2020-2022, the leading Polish voivodeships in terms of eco‑innovation outcomes achieved by industrial enterprises during the production phase were: Podkarpackie (1st place), Mazowieckie (2nd place), and Wielkopolskie (3rd place). With respect to eco‑innovation outcomes achieved during the use phase of products, the leading entities were industrial enterprises from the Podkarpackie (1st place), Pomorskie (2nd place), and Mazowieckie (3rd place) voivodeships. These regions clearly stood out compared with the remaining voivodeships. Decisions to implement green innovations—considering the overall picture across Polish voivodeships—were primarily a response to high energy, water, or material costs and to binding legal regulations, complemented by efforts to improve the enterprises’ own reputation.
Implications and recommendations: The narrow group of leading voivodeships in terms of eco-innovation outcomes achieved by industrial enterprises—clearly outperforming the remaining administrative units at this level—indicates the need to intensify pro-environmental innovation activity in most Polish regions. It appears justified to strengthen a range of factors influencing decisions to implement sustainable innovations, particularly incentive-based measures.
Originality/value: The proposal introduces two original algorithms: (1) for identifying leading voivodeships in terms of eco-innovation outcomes achieved by industrial enterprises during the production phase and the use phase of products, and (2) for recognizing the main premises underlying the implementation of sustainable innovations. Current and emerging environmental challenges will not be resolved without new ideas, multidimensional cooperation, and green innovations. Observing, analyzing, and recommending eco-innovation activities constitutes one of the foundations for implementing the concept of sustainable development as well as corporate social responsibility.
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Accepted 2026-02-17
Published 2026-08-13
