Industrial property protection as a condition for the innovativeness of the Polish economy

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to show in detail the quantitative dimension of industrial property protection in the form of indexes of the innovative development of the Polish economy in the first two decades of the 21st century. Design/methodology/approach: A review of the literature on the subject as well as other sources in the form of legal acts and statistical data from the Central Statistical Office. Findings: The conducted research allowed for an analysis of changes in the number of notified solutions in the field of industrial property and their interpretation, leading to, regrettably, not very optimistic conclusions as to the limited effectiveness of Poland’s innovation policy. Research limitations/implications: The adopted research method of literature review has many limitations and is not a perfect way to obtain data. Practical implications: The conducted research and analysis make it possible to assess not only the level of innovative activity in terms of the number of applications for the protection of industrial property rights, but also changes in the number of approved solutions. On this basis, the conclusion can be drawn that there has been hardly any improvement in the level of innovativeness of the Polish economy, primarily with regard to the achievement of measurable effects. In possible further research, it seems important to attempt a comparative analysis, based on available data on the amount of expenditures on innovative activities. Originality/value: The value of the paper consists in systematising huge data sets (time series) amassed over a period of more than two decades and using them to perform diachronic analyses.