Firmness of your business in Poland

Owing to the changes that have taken place in the country in the last few decades, Poland has become, according to a statement by McKinsey & Company, “Europe’s new growth engine”. This has happened not only because of Poland’s impressive economic performance but also because of the geopolitical, social, and infrastructural transformations that have positively translated into the country’s development.

Poland is a member of the WTO (since 1995), NATO (since 1999), and the European Union (since 2004). This supports the country’s security, translates into access to the common EU market and the application of common EU legal and regulatory frameworks, which makes it easier for international companies to operate. As Forbes points out, among others, these memberships are important for IT companies, that can benefit from any favorable regional policies that emerge, including those on data and information sharing. For international companies that contemplate setting up their IT team in Poland, it is also important to note that Poland has been a member of the Schengen Agreement since 2007. The latter gives Polish citizens much greater freedom of movement around the world, as well as fewer restrictions when it comes to taking up employment in many countries (either temporarily or permanently). This is highly instrumental in organizing, if necessary, delegations of Polish IT specialists to other countries or in their longer relocation for employment at the employer’s headquarters or an international branch.

Importantly, in the XXI century, Poland avoided major socio-political crises that unfortunately affected many countries across its eastern border. This helped to ensure the consistency of the country’s macro and structural policies that have been the key driver behind the economy’s growth and helped its transition to the World Bank’s High-Income Country (HIC) status in less than 15 years. At the same time, Poland has gained the confidence of creditors: for many years, the country has enjoyed good ratings from various agencies (Fitch: A-, Standard & Poor’s: A-, Moody’s: A2 in early 2023). What is also important, Poland has become one of the safest countries in Europe (see detailed data from Overseas Security Advisory Council here). Poland has also taken significant steps in resolving gender inequality, making it 2^nd safest country in the world for women (see more here) and a country with one of the highest shares of women employed in science and technology, according to a Eurostat 2021 report with an average participation rate of more than 60%. All of the previously-mentioned factors, combined with the stable political situation, enable its citizens to enjoy growing prosperity and focus on things such as professional development and business success.

The above changes, notably the EU membership, also help Poland to modernize more quickly. As reported by Euronews, in terms of infrastructure investments, Poland has been the biggest beneficiary of EU funds from 2007 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2020, with €102 billion and €106 billion of funds received for each period. As a result, Poland has a constantly improving internal transportation system and connections to other countries, historical monuments in Polish cities stand alongside modern office buildings, where we will find subsidiaries of well-known companies from around the world. A stable and modern financial system, including numerous banks with international capital, is also important for international companies that operate in Poland. According to Aman Ghei, principal at Finch Capital, in terms of Fintech, Poland has one of the most sophisticated banking infrastructures in Europe, with 20+ banks having large portfolios and market values of $1b+.

One of the most important factors for IT companies is the quality of Internet connections, and its importance became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 lockdown. Poland ranks very well in this respect, as indicated in the McKinsey & Company and Forbes report (download it here), and 99.9% of households are covered by broadband Internet whereas Poland ranks second in Europe for mobile access, with an average of 144 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. According to the 2022 data provided by the Polish Office of Electronic Communications, the average download speed has risen from 50.6 Mbps in 2020 to as much as 92.6 Mb/s in 2022, an increase of 83%. Importantly, Internet access in Poland stands out for its high quality not only in cities – numerous projects are being implemented for this purpose, and one of them, which covered the whole of Poland, especially remote areas, received the European Broadband Award 2018.

Good internet access was one of the factors that helped Polish IT specialists, in contrast with their counterparts in many other countries, to make a smooth transition to fully remote work during COVID-19. As reported by Reuters, given the digital nature of their work, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, two-thirds of the sector’s employees in Poland were able to work from home. In this case, it was also important that many Polish IT specialists had been used to working in dispersed international teams for many years – Poland’s proximity to Western markets means that Poles often carry out global projects working entirely or mostly (with delegations) in their own country. It is also worth mentioning, that in early 2023 remote work, as a form of employment, was officially recognized by the Polish Labour Code.

In general, as noted in Deloitte’s report Investment in Poland: Unused Potential, Poles embrace new inventions and actively seek them out. The authors of the report added also that the spirit of innovation is evident in the growing number of Polish tech startups, which have the potential to significantly boost the country’s economy in the coming years. This impact can be very significant, given the changes in recent years and statistics about the Polish startup ecosystem. The Polish and CEE Tech Ecosystem Outlook report states that Poland recently became a vibrant startup scene, having access to domestic seed capital, experienced founders, and top-notch developers. Startup Universal, in its turn, shows that, in recent years, there were 3,000+ new startups, 300+ coworking spaces, 130+ VCs, and plenty of acceleration programs and events (notably Infoshare, the biggest Tech Conference in CEE that gathers 6,000+ attendees, 200+ speakers, and 500+ startups). While a report by Dealroom.co and Atomico (download the full report here) indicates that the number of startups in Poland has grown 3.2 times between 2017 and 2022.

Hence, there is no surprise that many international media today acknowledges a high level of Polish startup ecosystem development and predicts its further growth. For example, CEO World Magazine has recently marked Poland as the 7^th most startup-friendly country in the world while CoFounder stated that “Poland remains a hotspot for startups in Europe and that won’t stop anytime soon.”

Worth noting is the startup distribution, which also reflects Poles’ passion for technology: compared with the EU, Poland has a much higher concentration of startups, among others in Enterprise Software, Fintech, Healthtech, and Gaming areas:

Source: Invest in Digital Poland report 2021

To sum up, as a result of all the changes that have taken place in the last few decades, Poland today is a very friendly country for international companies, especially those planning to establish their own Engineering or R&D teams here. Access to the EU market helps to boost revenues, and the country’s stability and modern standards, together with the passion for innovation among its people, make Poland one of the best places on Earth to do IT.