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The National Centre for Research and Development

Polish Research & Innovation Policy

Polish Research & Innovation Policy

From 2004, the innovation system as well as R&I policy in Poland has been undergoing significant changes regarding its main components. Over time, Poland’s performance has improved – the strong increase in the years 2018-2020 is mainly due to broadband penetration and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. The strongest dimensions of Polish innovation policy is innovation-friendly environment and employment impacts. Poland scores high on opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, employment in fast growing enterprises of innovative sectors, population with tertiary education and design applications. 

Poland is an Emerging Innovator as it is placed 30th in the EU innovation ranking. Although the total innovation indicator for Poland increased by 7.8%, this is still less than the EU average of 8.8%. In the Global Innovation Index 2021 Poland was ranked 40th. Research and development intensity - expenditure on R&D as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product - in Poland rose from 1.21% in 2018 to 1,32% in 2019, according to the latest data published by OECD. The R&D intensity in the EU27 area experienced a more modest increase to 2.1%. 

Organisations of the innovation system in Poland include:

  • governmental bodies which set policy directions,
  • intermediary bodies of the public sector which act as intermediaries between governments and research organisations,
  • research-performing organisations (universities and higher education institutions), research institutes of the Polish Academy of Science (PAN) which focus on basic research; branch R&D units which concentrate more on applied research,
  • private organisations (enterprises, technology transfer organisations, business associations, foundations, technology parks, etc.).

In 2020, domestic expenditure on research and development (the so-called GERD) in relation to GDP increased to 1.39%, in line with the information provided by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS). This increase is in line with the positive trend of recent years. These expenses amounted to PLN 32.4 billion, of which nearly 63% was attributable to enterprises. In relation to GDP, their outlays (the so-called BERD) amounted to 0.88%. The increase in the number of entities with R&D expenditure is significant: it increased from 1.8 thousand in 2010 to 6.4 thousand in 2020. This is due to the fact that more and more enterprises are joining the group of investors in R&D. In the recent study, Polish entrepreneurs point out that the biggest benefit of conducting innovative activities is, in particular, improving the quality of customer service and increasing the ability to adapt to customer requirements, followed by improving the quality of products and services, increasing work efficiency, acquiring new customers, strengthening the brand and increasing sales and net profit.

According to NCBR’s recent estimations, over 10.000 innovative businesses operate now in Poland. About 60-80% of businesses are planning to secure grants to cofund their research work. The entities applying to NCBR for grants are widely experienced in R&I. National Centre for Research and Development is currently the most effective institution in Poland supporting innovations in business and science. 2020 was a very successful year for NCBR as it announced 73 calls for proposals for the total allocation amount of PLN 6.9 billion. On the basis of the concluded agreements, project contractors received funds amounting to PLN 5 billion.

The objectives of Poland's innovation policy in the coming years include:

  • digitisation and transformation towards industry 4.0 (e.g. implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Policy and creation of AI School); 
  • supporting the competences of citizens (e.g. training for entrepreneurs, acquiring skills in specific technologies);
  • green economy (e.g. building Green Innovation Hub, support for activities aiming at achieving zero-emission economy, environmental clauses in trade agreements and public procurement);
  • innovations, start-ups, new technologies (e.g. industrial property law, help local government units with stimulating the start-up market).

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically and unexpectedly changed the world. The role of innovation in overcoming the crisis plays an indisputable role and new technologies, AI, IoT or technology transfer prove to be extremely important in this context.

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