The Concept of a Sectoral System of Innovation in the Tourism Sector in Poland

The article presents the model of a sectoral system of innovation that is a multidimensional and dynamic picture of tourism sector innovativeness. This approach extends boundaries of the sector by taking into account firms and nonfirms, links between them and the process of production and accumulation of knowledge. It helps to identify a set of key factors affecting the intensity of innovation, economic potential and international competitiveness of the sector, including companies operating within a given geographical territory. The goal of this paper is to adapt the idea of a sectoral system of innovation to analyze a tourism sector in Poland. The paper is divided into 6 sections. In Section 2, basic concepts of innovation and innovation activity are presented. In Section 3, a sectoral innovation systems framework is proposed. In Section 4, the basic building blocks of the SSI in the tourism sector are examined. Then in section 5, the basics of tourism innovation system in Poland are discussed. Last part includes conclusions and suggestions of future research.