Innovation drivers in regions. Does urbanization matter?

Most research aimed at identifying factors stimulating innovation activity at the regional level poorly takes into account the fact that the importance of various factors may differ in regions with different degrees of urbanization. Moreover, there is still few comprehensive empirical studies identifying innovation systems as regional 'ecosystems', which significantly expands the set of potential factors influencing innovation activity. In the present study, we address this research gap on the example of Polish NUTS 3 regions. Using econometric models of panel data we analyse regional innovation ecosystems from the perspective of quintuple helix components. It was proven that the impact of the various elements depends on the urbanization degree. One of the findings is that, while the science sector turned out to be one of the most important for urban regions and social capital is key for rural areas, the road infrastructure appears to be important for intermediate regions. The results obtained may constitute the basis for differentiation of policies addressed to selected, more or less urbanised areas, not only in terms of factors reflecting the enterprises directly but also in such aspects as science, administration, territorial conditions, natural environment and other elements of the enterprise environment.