EN
The paper presents the results of empirical studies on cooperation of enterprises with other entities in the area of innovation activity that involved 156 enterprises from the region of northeastern Poland. It was studied whether enterprises cooperate in the area of innovation with three groups of partners, i.e. their suppliers and buyers, with other enterprises and with scientific institutions (institution carrying scientific research) as well as organizations dealing with transfer of innovations. Attempts were made to obtain an answer concerning the objective of cooperation and its subject. The cooperation was much more frequently undertaken by larger entities and it involved a wide range of partner institutions. Quite frequently other enterprises with the same or similar type of activity were partners. The cooperation occurred most frequently within the chain of supplier-processor-buyer, which is consistent with the global trends. The cooperation with suppliers most frequently focused on searching for new raw materials of better quality than those used so far while that with the buyers focused mainly on obtaining knowledge on expectations and preferences of clients. Unfortunately small and medium enterprises represent a low level of cooperation with innovation transfer institutions. As a consequence, activities supporting that transfer are necessary.