The article examines the evolution of business support systems in Britain in 1973-2006, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of individual measures and suggesting how the British experience could be used in Poland. The analysis covers a period from the launch of Britain’s first government agency tasked with coordinating assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to a time when the government delegated responsibility for helping businesses to regional authorities. Gancarczyk quotes interviews with British civil servants and employees at the University of Cambridge Centre for Business Research (CBR), an independent private research center specialized in evaluating business support policies. Gancarczyk also uses CBR research reports, scientific papers and reports issued by public institutions. The British system for providing support to businesses is based on regional assistance, Gancarczyk says. Efforts to modify the system have included the launch of moderately decentralized structures coordinated by regional authorities and focused on financing specific services rather than institutions. This has been accompanied by a tendency to rely on well-reputed organizations and efforts to avoid an excessive number of service providers and keep red tape to a minimum. According to the author, a similar policy should be followed by those responsible for developing Poland’s business support system. In particular, regional authorities should be encouraged to combine support for existing SMEs with assistance to business startups, Gancarczyk says. This would ensure the complementariness of central and regional measures, in addition to an effective monitoring and evaluation of these projects, Gancarczyk concludes.