International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

Many theoretical concepts of studying innovation strategies concentrate on selected aspects and determinants of this phenomenon and dissemble cohesive and wider perspective. In result there is lack of comprehensive researches concerning innovation policies, especially covering long term, repetitive studies based on the same methodology. The main purpose of this article is to assess innovation strategies applied in Polish medium and large industrial enterprises based on three dimensional innovation activity model – innovation cube. Those dimensions are: place of creating, continuity of activity and way of innovation utilization. In result of imposition above criteria these model presents eight different variations of innovation policies. The most common innovation policy utilized in Polish industrial enterprises is individual innovator. This means that innovations were created in continuous manner, based on own resources and for own use.

The test sample covered years 2007-2009 and 2012-2014. Surveys were conducted on group of medium and large Polish enterprises belonging to low-, medium- and high-tech industries. Each phase of research was based on the same methodology. From first stage 80 responses were obtained and from the second one 92.

The rapid development of innovative industry started to impose so-called service-oriented platform of product development, which means intelligent monitoring, or that the product will be monitored throughout its life cycle – from concept to recycling it. These intelligent products (Smart Products) have informational knowledge of their production processes, logistics and future applications. They actively support the production processes (when they will be produced, with what parameters, what materials should be produced, where it should be delivered, when, what modifications, etc.). In this environment and these conditions the logistical component has a qualitatively new dimension adapted to meet these new requirements imposed by the innovative development – namely, to be in constant optimal contact with the production cyber system.

The aim of this work is a reflection of the impact of innovation activites in the development of small and medium enterprises, especially in the long run. Innovation activites the trend of modern business, but at the same time is a prerequisite for sustainable long-term development.

On the basis of small and medium enterprises is instability, which is the result of inadequate business. Under inadequate shall be deemed to be a business that is unable to meet the demands of the business environment. Given these shortcomings, this paper will demonstrate the impact of innovation activites to increase the profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises in the long term.

The application of innovation activites in small and medium-sized enterprises includes organizational changes, starting with the method of management that will promote culture and climate that will encourage the adoption of new knowledge, skills, tools and all druh’s requesting to be placed in front of the business.

The national economy restructuring ,the European Union membership and globalization clearly outline the necessity of implementation of various activities, including innovation by which companies to form long-term competitive advantages. This creates the need for implementation of systematic and reliable research of the effectiveness of the implemented innovation as a component of overall efficiency. This requires improvement and grounded updating of traditional approaches to financial and economic evaluation of the planned innovation and related activities. In the proposed work are presented the opportunities for planned innovations economic assessment with the help of financial and economic instruments through the use of information technology.

Industry 4.0 programs and other initiatives like the industrial internet are changing the way the industry works today. Cities with existing significant industrial capacities or the ones who want to attract such investments need to prepare for the changing needs of the industry. We expect the the trends of automation and efficiency improvement to continue. The production section of the value chain is becoming more and more competitive and therefore less profitable relative to Research and Development or Product design. We also expect product quality and meeting personal customer needs to become key differentiators in the new area of personalized mass production. Nowadays innovation is happening in ecosystems. We are proposing a measurement system called Smart Collaboration Index to assess innovation capabilities of cities in the new area.