5 Most Attractive Polish Cities for Business Investors

3 months ago, in my post “Invest in Poland” I was spreading the word about Poland being the sixth most attractive country in the world to do business in. This time I will get into more detail by taking you for an investment journey to five biggest Polish cities that are considered the promised lands for investors. These places are: Wroclaw, Warsaw, Poznań, Cracow and Gdynia. We will visit them one by one and see what each of them has to offer*.

Wroclaw

With an average growing income of 12.5% a year, for the last few years, Wroclaw has been the fastest developing city in Poland.

The Wroclaw Research Centre ETI+

-          Integrates scientists and researches offering great potential of transforming innovative ideas into businesses

-          Its shareholders are biggest universities and local authorities

-          The company undertook the biggest investment in innovations, i.e. 20,000 m² nanotechnological and biotechnological laboratory centre, the cost of the undertaking was 140 million EUR.

The Wroclaw Academic Centre

-          Carries out its own projects and supports investment processes and harmonisation of the education with the job market needs

-          The Centre coordinates and supports Visiting Professors Programme which enables the Centre to invite scientists, designers and engineers from well-known IT corporations to give lectures and run workshops in Poland

The latest investment under way is the Research-Development Selena Centre. It will be one of the major centres of modern technology development for the construction industry. Thanks to such institutions supporting business and development of infrastructure, Wroclaw provides an excellent potential for businesses investing in technology, research and construction industry.

Warsaw

Record-breaking investments, the largest selling market in Poland and the fastest growing business support system make Warsaw the leader on the Polish business map.

Only 6 years ago, investments constituted merely 13.8%, i.e. 1.02 billion PLN of the total Warsaw’s expenditure. Currently, the Polish capital has doubled its investment budget to 3.6 billion PLN (26% of the total investment expenditure). It is expected that in 2015 it will go up to 15.8 billion. PLN – according to the President of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

What else makes Warsaw an investment paradise? The capital is the safest city in Poland, it has the largest number of citizens with higher education and highly efficient transport system. What distinguishes Warsaw? Among other European capitals, Warsaw has the cheapest labour.

Poznan

Poznan is one of the largest academic centres of Poland. Its 26 universities educate about 140 thousand students. According to the statistics, 25% of the Poznan’s citizens are students.

Nonetheless important is the excellent transport network thanks to the A2 motorway which soon will lead to Berlin.

The capital of Wielkopolska region actively supports investors by launching a program of free workshops addressed to the customer services personnel. Moreover, the “Business Mentor” programme is a series of trainings and advice for SMEs.

Cracow

Cracow has already attracted large international companies such as Motorola, Google, Lufthansa and Shell; altogether they employ about 9000 people.

Currently, the capital of Małopolska region tries to strengthen Cracow’s position as a research centre and attract more investors. Therefore, at the beginning of March 2011, a new National Science Centre was opened. The Centre funds basic research, i.e. original experimental or theoretical research work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any direct practical application or use.

Moreover, a few months ago, the Jagiellonian University signed a contract for designing and construction of the National Electromagnetic Radiation Centre. This project worth 140 million PLN will allow conducting unique advanced research in the structure of matter and material engineering.

The city’s aspirations could be clearly seen at the property exhibition in Cannes, where at the Cracow’s stand, an architect, Arkadiusz Nagięć presented a model of a 311m. office complex which, when built, would be the highest building in Europe. This visibly demonstrates that Cracow’s ambitions go far beyond the Polish border.

Gdynia

13% of all investments of international companies in Poland went to Gdynia. Every 5^th company based in Gdynia has foreign capital. The city currently invests in modernisation of the BCT Baltic Cointainer Terminal which will translate into 30% growth of revenue (last year it was 26 billion. USD).

Wojciech Szczurek, the President of Gdynia wants to make the most of the city’s best asset – location at the crossroads of very important international transport corridors: Gdynia develops not only local transport but also invests in the construction of the Gdynia Kosakowo Airport, which so far has served as a military airport.

But Gdynia is so much more than modernised transport, the city invests intensively in biotechnology – more and more companies open their offices and laboratories in the Pomeranian Scientific-Technological Park in Gdynia. The Park is renowned for its active support of the development and transfer of advanced technologies, as well as the creation and commercialization of innovative projects, therefore it is referred to as the Pomeranian Silicon Valley.

If you consider investing in or expanding you business to Poland, Transliteria will help you with the linguistic aspect of entering into Polish market. From translating the content of your website and marketing materials to translating contracts, when you are closing the deal – Transliteria offers a full package of language services necessary for the success of your company in the Polish market.

Get in touch if you have any questions or would like to receive a free quote.

*Based on the data in Forbes Magazine