Ethnic diversity and innovation of Polish regions

Abstract

Due to the fact that various categories of diversity are indicated among the factors facilitating the development of innovation, the purpose of the article is to answer the question whether regions of Poland that are more diverse in terms of ethnic origin of immigrants are at the same time more innovative.
The measure of innovation used in the article is the number of patent applications submitted in the national procedure in the years 2005–2018 by entities located in the territory of Polish provinces. However, the measure of ethnic diversity of the region (more precisely, diversity due to the continent from which the immigrant comes from) is the Herfindahl index. Using the Polish Central Statistical Office (CSO) data on the size and nature of migration in Poland and the patent data of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, it was found that a greater ethnic diversity of the migrant population in the region does not translate into its higher innovation.