The Role of Human Capital in an Innovative Enterprisein Poland

In a knowledge-based economy, economic development does not depend on severaleconomic sectors but on all sectors that must intensively use knowledge in processes of production andrendering of services. The purpose of this work is to analyze the role of human capital in innovativeenterprises. The research studies conducted in Polish enterprises confirmed that human capital plays avery important role in innovativeness of an enterprise. However, appropriate financial capital is alsonecessary.From the studies it results that innovative companies in Poland employ workers with highereducation (both regular employees and managers) and allocate resources for employees’development.The Eurostat research studies show that enterprises try to stimulate their workers’innovation activities in various ways. For instance, in Luxemburg, where the ratio of innovationenterprises is very high, they most often organize brainstorming sessions and multidisciplinary or cross-functional work teams, while in Poland or Czech financial incentives for employees to develop newideas are as popular as brainstorming sessions.