The aim of this study is to indicate the growing importance of the active innovation policy in the contemporary economic conditions. A dominant attitude in the studies dedicated to the analysis of national innovation policies is that the national innovative capacity denotes a key determinant of the international competitiveness of the countries. The improvement of the national innovative capacity and building an adequate national innovation system are in the very epicenter of the activities of the country, and that is known as the innovation policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, the conduct of the national innovation policy was present only in the most economically developed countries, whereas during the 1980s and 1990s, it was also established in many developing countries along with the process of economic globalization. In its initial phase, the innovation policy dominantly had the elements of protection policy (primarily, patent policy). In the latter phases, its basic characteristic is merging of the science, technology, and industrial policies. Within that period, the innovation policy has acquired various expressive forms, from research and development organizing in the national laboratories and other research institutions, to the selection, winning, and applying new technologies in industry. Contemporary trends in the conduct of innovation policy refer to abandoning the top-down approach to its implementation. They underline the importance of inclusion of all interested parties in creating and implementing processes of the innovation policy.