Public Sector Innovativeness in Poland and in Spain: Comparative Analysis

Background. In many economies, both developed and developing rapidly, we can observe the potential of administration as organizations which under appropriate conditions may show high levels of innovation. The administration on one hand may be an active participant and on the other hand act as a creator of conditions conducive to innovative activities. Both of these roles are important and complementary to each other because the administration can create a legislative base as well as adequate infrastructure and space for innovation, and then actively participate in the process of their diffusion. In recent years, the European Union has shown increasing interest in the actions for measuring innovativeness of the European administration and stimulating its growth.
Research aims. The aim of the study is to compare the degree of innovativeness of Polish and Spanish administration and the activities undertaken to stimulate it. In research on the innovativeness of the EU economies (Innovation Union Scoreboard, 2014) both countries were in the group of «moderate innovators», although there are noticeable differences in the approach to the implementation of innovations and cultural conditions of their diffusion.
Methods. The adopted research method was analysis of the reports on public sector innovativeness in the EU and foreign and national literature studies.
Key findings. The analyzed research results clearly show a higher degree of innovativeness of Spanish administration in comparison to Polish administration. Spanish administration has more experience in implementing innovations in the field of management systems, communication, involvement of entities outside the sector to work on innovation and shaping the organizational culture conducive