Poland - Country Commercial Guide
Poland Digital Economy
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Digital Economy Overview

National Focus: Government Digital Economy/Growth/Transformation Plans or Strategies, e.g., see existing Market Intelligence and CCG Leading Sector articles on Trade.gov (search “Digital Economy”)

The Polish digital economy market is estimated at $44 billion and represents substantial potential for U.S. suppliers in all market segments.  According to McKinsey’s analysis, the digital economy should increase up to $123 billion by 2030, and comprise 9% of Poland’s GDP.  Based on a VeloBank report, Poland is well placed in digital readiness, online bank account access, cybersecurity, and online shopping index compared to other countries.  On the other hand, quality and utility of government websites that provide information, tools, and participation services should be improved.  

Poland is often perceived as a thriving hub for technology and innovation and, according to Emerging Europe Future of IT report, Poland was one of the three most competitive markets (after Estonia and Lithuania) for the IT industry in Central and Eastern Europe in 2023.  The Polish ICT sector is constantly growing and in 2023 was worth roughly 26 billion dollars, according to Computerworld Top 200 report, which is an increase of 5.1% compared to 2022. The biggest increases were noted in software (13,6% compared to previous year) and public cloud services (24,5%).  The Polish government recognizes the essential role of the digital sector and has announced numerous initiatives to support digital development. The recovery and resilience plan in 2023 dedicated $7.4 billion to digital policy, focusing on broadband internet, digital skills improvement, public service access, e-health, and cybersecurity.  

In early 2024, The European Commission unblocked $149 billion for Poland within the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO) and Cohesion Policy funds. A significant portion of these funds (21.3%), will be dedicated to the country’s digital transformation. The new funds will focus on investments that provide access to wired and wireless internet in underserved areas, as well as strengthening cybersecurity.  Polish government plans to be partially funded by European funds include equipping up to 931,000 households with access to broadband internet, providing trainings in cybersecurity competences for 380,000 people, creation of seven regional cybersecurity centers and seven sectorial incident response teams, as well as construction of 4,200 stations providing 5G connectivity. Potential additional projects include equipping 50 cities with new installations for controlled emissions of electromagnetic fields and providing access to high-speed internet to 100,000 classrooms in the coming years.  The Polish government is currently preparing its Digital Strategy of Poland and is conducting public consultations on this topic.

 

Projected Digital Economy Growth (identifiable trends, competitive environment, major players)

Market development is driven by the digitization strategies of the public and business sectors, as well as the need to invest in labor-saving or productivity-maximizing solutions. The highest value for software and services solutions is in the ICT industry. The demand is generated by the software development outsourcing industry, R&D activities, data center expansions, cloud service rollouts, and adoption of automation solutions for digital processes.  

Trends such as technological integration, streamlined access to services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and IT security reflect major market opportunities for U.S. suppliers.

The Polish market is highly competitive, with most global and international technology players having a direct presence in the country and partnerships with many specialized domestic companies. Most large U.S. companies, such as Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon Web Services, Palo Alto Networks, and others have offices in Poland, for example.

The biggest Polish IT companies are Asseco, AB SA, Exclusive Networks Poland, and Comarch. The vast majority (90 percent) of local IT companies are small and frequently merge or form alliances when working on larger projects.  The largest digital economy related (U.S. and Foreign) companies in Poland are Samsung Electronics, Dell Technologies, Lenovo Technologies, Microsoft, HP Inc, Xiaomi Poland.  

U.S. suppliers of digital services interested in entering the Polish market should consider working with Polish partners, as Polish project sponsors usually mandate that support be available locally and in the Polish language.   

 

Market Challenges  

Despite development efforts in terms of digitization, Poland ranked 24th among the 27 EU Countries in the 2023 European Commission Report, Digital Decade Country. According to the report, Poland made progress in some digitization areas over the last few years, but should accelerate efforts in digital skills and advanced technologies.  

The report states that one of Poland’s major hurdles is related to digital skills – the average of basic digital skills in Poland is 44.3% as compared to 55.6% in Europe. Digital technologies in Poland need to be developed to reach EU targets – today only 61% of Polish companies achieve at least basic level of digital intensity, while the EU target is at least 90% of SMEs by 2030 (64% today). Digitization of public services could also be improved, with 63% of users relying on e-government solutions, which seems high, but is also below EU average – 74%.  

On the other hand, 36.5% of Poles use e-ID to access public services in Poland, while the EU average is 36.1%. This successful uptake of e-ID was developed by the Polish government internally through launch of its app mObywatel.  

According to the EU Commission report, advanced technology use is still quite limited in Polish companies (except for cloud), as only 3.7% of Polish companies have fully adopted AI (while the EU average is 8%), and only 19.3% have adopted data analytics (the EU average is 33.2%).  

Regulatory environment

The public sector’s digital technology policy and Poland’s digital development plans are the responsibility of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which is also in charge of cybersecurity and 5G development plans. Poland is a member of the European Union and follows European regulations as well.  

  • Data privacy - Poland, as a member of European Union, will be following the European regulation Data Act starting on September 12, 2025.  The Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs is conducting pre-consultations on the implementation of the Act, mainly in relation to the supervision authority. Please see more on the official EU website.  
  • AI regulation - Poland follows the EU developed AI Act, which is applied directly to member states but still provides some freedom for choosing the authority that will supervise AI. The Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs is conducting pre-consultations on the implementation of the AI Act.  Please see more on the official EU website.
  • Cybersecurity - The implementation of European Directive NIS2 is currently ongoing. Please see the text of the directive on the EU website.
  • Telecommunications - In November 2024, the Electronic Communications Law that implements the EU provisions on the European Communications Code will enter into force.  Please see more at EU website.  
  • Standards development - NASK (the National Research Institute) is developing standards for issuing international cybersecurity certificates for companies. The Institute is being supervised by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and is responsible for cybersecurity and internet users’ protection, as well as for research and innovation. NASK is responsible for network security violations and citizens can report incidents to NASK CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team).  Please visit NASK’s website for further information: NASK - Sense of telecommunications
  • Public sector procurement - Information regarding public procurement regulations and public tenders in Poland is available via the Office of Public Procurement web page. However, it should be noted that only a handful of relevant resources are available in English. 

Tenders Electronic Daily publishes European tenders online.  

Most laws are set at the EU level. The Digital Economy Chapter of our Country Commercial Guide for the European Union provides a more comprehensive overview.

 

Digital Trade Barrier

Data localization

Poland implemented the European General Data Protection Regulation in 2018 that sets standards for data protection.  Currently, there is no legal framework permitting the Polish government to stock private data on public frameworks. As a result, most data used is stocked on physical servers.

The EU is working on a new certification scheme for cloud services, that will also be applied to Poland. A new certification system for cloud services would require critical or high-risk data to be stored in the EU. The scheme may be adapted to each country locally and limited to critical sectors.  

Audiovisual services

Television broadcasters are required to dedicate at least 33% of their broadcasting time to programs in Polish language, and at least 50% to programs of EU origin.  

 

Digital Trade Opportunities

Cross-Sector Enabling Technologies

  • Artificial Intelligence - Main implementations of Artificial Intelligence in Poland include large-language models and generative AI.  Numerous innovative Polish start-ups develop AI solutions, such as Samurai Labs, DeepSense.ai or Infermedica. An Ernst and Young study from 2024 showed that 21% of medium and large manufacturing companies use AI within their organizations. According to EY, AI is expected to generate the production equivalent of work of 4.9 million people in Poland, which would translate into $90 billion in annual value.  
  • 5G - Poland is behind the EU average in terms of 5G coverage (72.9% vs. 89.3%) but is trying to advance the technology.  Poland finalized its first 5G auction on October 18, 2023. The Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), responsible for 5G deployment, previously announced an auction for four blocks of frequencies between 3,400 and 3,800 MHz that would cover the network for large cities. Each of the four major telecom companies on the Polish market (Orange, Play, Plus, T-Mobile) bought one frequency block. The most expensive segment, block D (3,700-3,800 MHz) was sold to T-Mobile who will now need to invest heavily in updating their infrastructure.  As part of the award requirements, companies will have to cover 90% of Poland with internet (speed up to 95 MB/s), ensuring that 99% of households can access it.  Further investments in 5G networks are in the pipeline. Local government and private companies are entitled to apply for 3,800-4,200 MhZ band and create their own private 5G networks.  
  • Cloud services - Cloud services are growing seven times faster than the overall IT market. According to PMR (Polish research and consulting company) report, Cloud Data Processing Market in Poland 2024, the cloud computing market is expected to grow by 24% in 2024 and reach $1.2 billion. In 2021, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and several other international and local market players made major investments in local data centers in Poland.  In 2023, Palo Alto announced the launch of their cloud location in Poland.  In the next few years, Poland has the potential to become one of leading colocation data center hubs in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Specific Industry Sub-sectors

  • Cybersecurity - The Polish cybersecurity market presents significant opportunities and is expected to grow from $1.52 billion in 2024 to $2.02 billion by 2029. Since February 2022, Poland has become one of the most cyberattacked countries in the EU. Cybercrimes are becoming a threat not only for official government websites (many of which were hacked in recent years), but also for private companies. According to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, in 2023 Polish crisis response teams handled around 80,000 cybersecurity incidents, which was a 100% increase compared to the previous year. According to Slovakian software company ESET, Polish companies were the most attacked in the world during the second half of 2023, with 26,000 attacks taking place during this period.  
    • A separate analysis by Check Point Research also purported to show that Poland is the most cyber-attacked country in the world.  
    • Most Polish companies are not well prepared for cyberattacks. According to AON (global risk-mitigation company) study, less than 43% of enterprises in Poland have implemented a post-incident plan or a formal risk review.  
    • Expenditures on cyber defense have been growing over the last few years and the value of this industry increased by 14% during 2023, according to Polish journal Rzeczpospolita.   Recently, Poland allocated funds to support initiatives related to cybersecurity measures. New regulations increasing funding for Poland’s Cybersecurity Fund, recently entered into force.  
    • The fund is managed by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and supports activities that will ensure the security of IT systems against cybersecurity threats. The Polish government has allocated approximately $63 million towards these efforts; funding that will be renewed each year.  
    • Poland also closely partners with the United States on cybersecurity efforts in the defense sector. In 2019, Poland and the U.S. signed a cyberspace defense cooperation agreement, focusing on information exchange in cybersecurity, training, and education.  
  • Financial Technologies - Poland is one of the biggest FinTech markets in Central and Eastern Europe, with an estimated value of $952 million. The capital of Poland, Warsaw, is also a financial technology hub in the region and is home to nearly 45% of startups in the country.  Global banks such as Credit Suisse, UBS, Citi, BNY Mellon or Goldman Sachs have located their support and outsourcing centers here.  
    • The FinTech market in Poland is rapidly expanding. Over the past five years, the number of FinTechs in Poland has more than doubled - rising from 167 in 2018 to 417 in 2023. The key factors driving this development are overall macroeconomic growth, increasing demand for technology-enabled financial services, the large number of highly skilled experts and technical university graduates, changing customer behavior (accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic), and an increasing pressure to meet ESG standards.  
    • The largest group of FinTech companies are suppliers of payment solutions, financial management, and software. Together, these three segments account for almost 50% of all FinTech providers. These are “mature” industry segments in which some companies have already managed to work out a strong position and gain significant market share.  As of 2022 there were 74 FinTechs in the payment category - including some of the industry’s most successful companies, such as BLIK and PayU. The second largest segment in the Polish FinTech industry is financial management. Financial management providers will likely benefit from the evolution currently happening in the banking industry. Polish lenders are looking to respond to changing customer needs and transition from a service provider to a financial advisor model.  
    • There are also “high growth” segments such as insurtech and crowdfunding, which in 2022 saw growth in total active companies in those segments of 175% and 89% respectively.  One of the key shifts in the insurance market is the diminishing popularity of traditional, generic life insurance policies in favor of targeted, purpose-specific solutions. This change in consumer demand will continue to be a source of new opportunities for FinTechs. Companies from the insurance industry are more often turning to financial technology providers to help develop new customer products and make the most of the increasing amount of customer data at their disposal. Equity crowdfunding in Poland has grown from $5 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2021 – an increase of nearly 1400%. These types of early-stage investments offer a potentially high rate of return combined with low entry barriers.  They do not, for example, require large amounts of capital and can be made using easily accessible and well-developed online platforms. Crowdfunding also offers advantages to businesses. These include: the overall speed of the fund-raising processes, the ability to receive real-time feedback from investors, and the ability to conduct online marketing on crowdfunding platforms.  

Digital Economy - related trade events