Regional-level authorities are increasingly involved in designing their own strategies to support and enhance innovative local dynamics and improve the performance of their regional innovation systems. The aim of the paper is to assess the role of regional authorities’ policy in building innovation capacity of Pomorskie Voivodeship. As research methods, the author used descriptive analysis, analysis of strategic documents and data analysis. The results show that local government authorities of Pomorskie Voivodeship are active in supporting innovativeness of the region. Cluster policy and bottom- up process of defining smart specialisations may be assessed positively. However, a lack of separate governance structures of the regional innovation system, such as planning, organization, motivation and monitoring should be recognized as unfavourable. Finally, it is still necessary to concentrate measures on meeting needs necessary for an effective commercialization of innovative solutions.

This article reviews the literature on the relationship between the region’s innovation and its development. Various concepts are discussed in the scheme of the four forces of regional and local competitiveness. The main determinants of the region’s innovation and competitiveness can be viewed in a four-force system: domination forces when the region exploits its advantage over others, network power – when the development potential is strengthened by cooperation, external demand and internal resources. In this framework of literature analysis, the article points to both entities and processes that represent the possibilities of the „innovation being” region.