A new programme, called Soft Landing, has been launched. It is addressed to foreign entrepreneurs willing to build and develop their businesses in Poland. The programme is available to be used by Belarussian entrepreneurs, as part of the Poland. Business Harbour project, initiated in September and created to aid Belarussian companies. The project is organized by Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), Venture Cafe Warsaw and EY, in liaison with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH).

Taking specific actions for the standardisation of the EU market and lifting barriers for entrepreneurs – these are one of the main topics brought up by Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Development, Labour and Technology Jarosław Gowin during Thursday meetings with 6 European commissioners. ‘I have arrived in Brussels to support Polish entrepreneurs on the European market,’ said the Head of the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology. He announced that Poland wants to reinforce the competitiveness and economic autonomy of the EU, including the sovereignty of European industry by relocating production to the EU and reducing the dependence of deliveries on third countries.

Direct support – for companies and employees affected by COVID-19; new direction – a comprehensive support in adapting to market requirements for entrepreneurs and employees in a difficult situation; development impulse – elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy, digitisation of the business environment, pro-entrepreneurial legal regulations – these are the main assumptions of the Plan for Labour and Economic Development prepared by the ministry of economic development, labour and technology. “Our goal is to protect Polish entrepreneurs and employees in the time of the pandemic and to prepare our economy to return to growth trajectory when it is over,” emphasises Jarosław Gowin, deputy prime minister and head of the ministry.

Only from the beginning of 2020 to the end of October this year, 224 investment decisions were issued within the Polish Investment Zone representing a total value of over 7.9 billion Polish zlotys, accompanied with a declaration of creating 3,559 new jobs, informs the ministry of economic development, labour and technology. Moreover, we are heading the inter-ministerial consultations on the draft amendment to the act on supporting new investments, which shall begin soon.

Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin would like to thank the Entrepreneurship Council for the appeal calling for “strict observance of sanitary rules in the workplace, which will protect us from closing the economy down.” He also calls on the society to mobilise in the name of nationwide solidarity. As he emphasises, today we need to combine all individual responsibilities. “I believe that we, as a society, will meet this challenge”, he says.

Suspension of catering activities with the option of selling food to take away only, limiting the functioning of malls and shopping centres, closing cultural institutions, as well as sports and recreation centres – these are the most important restrictions that will apply throughout the country from November 7 to 29. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the regulation in this matter.

The EC estimates that the decline in GDP in Poland in 2020 will amount to 3.6%. This result is better than the estimates of the summer forecast (-4.6%) and the spring forecast (-4.3%). In comparison to the EU countries, the weakening of activity in 2020 will be lower than the EU average (-7.4%), and also lower than the indicator for the eurozone (-7.8%). Among the EU countries, only Lithuania, Ireland and Sweden will be less economically affected by the pandemic this year.

The final version of first Polish genetic test, MediPAN-2G + FAST COVID, has already been launched on the market – it is the fastest among all currently used, very sensitive and created in Poland. The test was developed by a group of volunteer scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań with a governmental support. By the decision of Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, the ministry of science and higher education allocated 15 million Polish zlotys for this purpose.

The PMI index for industry in October remained above the threshold of 50 points, staying unchanged since September at 50.8 points, which means that positive sentiment prevails on the market. Among the most positive phenomena observed are the highest rate of employment growth in 2 years, as well as exports being on the sharpest rise since January 2018.

According to data published today by Statistics Poland, in 2019, gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) increased by 18.1% compared to the previous year and exceeded 30 billion PLN. The R&D intensity indicator, which describes the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D in GDP, increased to 1.32% (compared to 1.21% in 2018).