Key Trends and Problems of Regional Innovation Systems' Development in Poland and Ukraine

This article is devoted to comparative study of regional innovation development in Poland and Ukraine. Innovation potential and performance of Ukrainian regions assessment is grounded on the regional innovation systems approach, employing selected indicators of the EU regional innovation evaluation criteria. Key trends and problematic issues of regional innovation development are captured through a number of methods: comparative analysis, calculating variation of regional innovation capacity indicators within countries and their correlation versus per capita GDP of regions in Poland and Ukraine. The overall low level of R&D and innovation expenditure, high variation of regional innovation performance, insufficient effects of innovations on the regional GDP dynamics as well as lack of feasible policy instruments to support innovations constitute the main risks for the regional innovation systems considered. Weak and patchy regional innovation performance in both countries fosters import dependent managerial practices driven by foreign technology adoption.