Supply Chain and Innovation Activity in Transport Related Enterprises in Eastern Poland

Background: One of the development strategies uses R&D activity as the main source of innovation, which is often carried out in cooperation with other units, but in particular in the supply chain, and therefore applies to cooperation between enterprises and their customers and suppliers. The aim of the study was to identify the variable determinants of the impact of the character of relationships among enterprises and their suppliers and customers on their innovative performance, within regional industrial systems and to define the constraints for a model regional structure of innovation network tailored to the needs of Poland and its regions. Methods: 167 enterprises belonging to the transport sector and operating in the area of Eastern Poland took part. In order to determine the impact of relationships with suppliers and customers on innovation activity, models based on probability analysis - probit models - were used. Results: It can be clearly stated that the cooperation of industrial enterprises in the transport sector with customers and suppliers activates innovation activity and its specified attributes. However, the probability varies depending on the test variable adopted. Conclusions: The cooperation with suppliers and customers is the cognitive aspect in the development of innovation activity in industrial enterprises representing the transport-related sector. Such cooperation has a stimulating effect on expenditures on innovation activity and on the implementation of innovative solutions in the field of technological innovation (products and processes).