On 1 May 2004, as a result of many years’ preparations, Poland became a member of the family of 25 countries of the United Europę. The Accession Act means that Poland’s space and Poland’s economy became opened on the European scale, including the global one. The open economy and space must become innovation space and economy, otherwise they will forfeit their independence within the competitive and dynamie surrounding, and will be dependent on others on many planes such as: economic, political, cultural and scientific. On the threshold of the new Millennium, it is the abilities of States and nations to create, popularize and make use of achievements of science and knowledge that have become the basie source of their development and rise in affluence. A condition and - at same time - manifestation of acąuisition of the capabilities is a high level of innovation activity undertaken in various domains of the economic and social life.The level of innovation of the Polish economy is generally estimated to be Iow. So is the level of innovation of the Polish industry, especially vital in making processes of development and modernization of the whole economy more dynamie. The present paper aims at verifying such evaluations and essays to explain causes of this state of things, as well as to point to desired directions that induce innovation processes in Poland. It also makes use of ample literature of the subject and results of own research and publications of the Central Statistical Office.