EN
Innovation activities of firms call for appropriate technical and managerial competences as well as abilities to learn. These requirements can be hardly fulfilled by firms that operate on a lower scale due to limited resources, and in particular financial resources and the potential for management and restricted possibilities to influence the external environmental conditions. All this makes SMEs be proactive in search for necessary resources of knowledge, as well as financial, technical and other resources if they want to stay competitive in the market in an increasingly growing number of fields of activities. An access to external services for innovation development and the development of capacity to absorb and use them within the firm is becoming the key factor of SME innovativeness. In the Polish conditions, of particular importance seem to be an access to specialist training and information, identification of partners in business and technology, „friendly” attitude and support from local administration and government, and a well-developed sphere of intermediaries in the field of innovation (technology transfer, banks, counseling).