Income Inequality and Innovations in the Processes of Economic Growth and Real Convergence

The paper deals with the relation between income inequality, innovation processes, economic development and income convergence within the European Union. The presented results suggest a non-linear relation between the economic development and the income inequality. There is also visible the significant influence of innovation activity and technology diffusion on the economic growth. We could observe strong and stable innovation-related polarisation into two different groups of countries in the European Union, as well as a phenomena that countries considered as technological followers imitate the innovation leaders very quickly. The real convergence occurs on the international scale, but not at the regional level. It seems that the latest tendency will remain in the future.