Innovation, green innovation and cooperation in publicly funded projects

Abstract Despite the abundance of researches on innovation and green innovation, there remains a necessity to further research in this field. This is particularly crucial in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland. This publication is a part of research on business innovation utilizing public funds. The paper aims to pinpoint directions for further empirical research on innovation within enterprises funded publicly. Empirical research was conducted using a database of 95 projects, all of which were included in the lists of projects selected for funding under the Opolskie Voivodeship Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020 (Enterprise investments in innovation). The vast majority of projects involve products/services/technologies that are innovative not only regionally and nationally, but also globally. The innovation of the solutions applied was assessed as high. On the other hand, the green innovation of applied solutions was assessed as average. This opens up an interesting field of research into the barriers to green innovation. The data shows that none of the projects implemented by SMEs was implemented as a partnership (SME Cooperation). In the case of large enterprises, 76% of projects were implemented in cooperation with SMEs and/or NGOs and/or research institutions. Interesting line of research could be the evaluation of the barriers for cooperation between SMEs when implementing a green innovation project.