The article presents the point of view related to the decisive factors and conditions that may determine the success of Poland's modernization. The role of industrial and structural policy is underlined, based on the theory of the New Structural Economics, developed by the Chinese Professor Justin Yifu Lin of Beijing University and his academic environment, including scholars from the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw. Regarding the challenges for a more innovative economy, some conditions and problems occurring on the Polish road to the absorption of innovative activities have been presented. It was found that the building of innovative potential of the Polish economy should not be restricted to only technical and economic processes. Instead, there are social and cultural prerequisites as well. For example, social capital also largely determines the ability of the economy to create and absorb innovation.