Since the collapse of communism, Poland has distinguished itself as one of the best performing economies in the European Union. However, the recent deceleration of total factor productivity growth in Poland has raised concerns about a “middle income trap”. Poland ranks among the lowest in the European Union on all measures of innovation, and the Polish innovation system is weak even by the low standards of the CEE region. In this context, the large-scale injection of EU funds focused on novel product R&D by private firms represents a valuable opportunity to transform the Polish innovation system. The main fear arising from the analysis in this paper is that this EU-funded “innovation tsunami” might prove to be more detrimental than positive. Accordingly, we conclude with a few policy recommendations that the Polish government could follow under the constraints imposed by an already agreed upon EU programme.