Poland is a highly competitive investment location in Europe, ranking 1st in the CEE region for investment projects and job creation due to FDI. The country boasts a stable economy, a skilled and young workforce, and is a leading producer of various goods, including household appliances and apples. With an effective incentive system and strategic location within the EU, Poland is considered one of the most attractive investment destinations globally.

1. Embassy of Poland – Trade & Investment Section
Poland
Investment Opportunities

2. Poland – basic facts
Territory: 312 700 km2 – 6th place in the EU
Population: 38.1 m. – 6th place in the EU
Currency: PLN (1 USD ~ 3.13 PLN)
GDP in 2013: $ 814 bn (PPP)
Membership: EU, NATO, OECD, WTO, Schengen Zone

3. Strategic location of Poland
right in the centre of Europe!
620 mi radius
250 m people
1240 mi radius
550 m people

4. Poland – highlights of what we produce
• LCD sets & Household appliances – largest producer in the EU
• Apples – the largest producer in Europe (second in the world)
• Windows and doors – second largest producer in the EU
(largest exporter of PVC and wooden windows in Europe)
• Tobacco – second biggest producer in the EU
• Furniture – Third largest exporter in the EU
• Aviation sector - Virtually every passenger aircraft
in the world carries at least one part made in Poland
• Yachts – European leader in the production of yachts up to 9.5 m

5. Poland
a leader of growth in Europe
• 1st place in the CEE region – the most
competitive country in the region.
• 1st place in terms of number of the
investment projects in the CEE.
• 3rd place in the whole Europe in terms of
created jobs due to FDI (13 111 jobs – only
the UK and Russia were better).
• 3rd place in Europe in Europe in terms of
created jobs per 1 project.
Source: E&Y Attractiveness Survey, June 2013

6. World Investment Report
Main advantages of Poland:
 Stable economic situation
 Market growth
 Size of internal market
 Access to regional markets
 System of investment incentives
Poland is among the 15 most attractive investment locations in the world
Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Prospects Survey 2009-2011, World Investment Report 2013.

7. 45th place
The best result in the history
3rd place in credit availability
Poland among 15 countries catching up the fastest
Source: Doing Business Report 2014
10 place
improvement
Doing Business 2014

8. Corruption Perceptions Index 2013
Transparency International
Source: Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 Transparency International
60
48 47
53
57
54
43
28
Poland
Czech
Republic
Slovakia
Latvia
Lithuania
Hungary
Romania
Russia
Transparency International:
Poland has the lowest corruption among CEE countries
Index value (higher score = less corruption).
Numbers in brackets indicate position in ranking of 176 countries

9. Why Poland?
Highly skilled, young and abundant workforce!

10. Students and graduates – achievements
ACN International Collegiate Programming Contest is an annual multi-tiered
competitive programming competition among the universities of the world. The
contest is sponsored by IBM.
2012 held in Poland, Team from University of Warsaw took 2nd place beating 110
teams.
Imagine Cup is a global competition focused on finding IT solutions to real world
issues.
In 2012 students from Technical University in Gdansk and Adam Mickiewicz
University in Poznan took the 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
2011: Polish team from University of Silesia is a special winner of Samsung
Application Contest.
Every third student doing internship in Microsoft HQs in Redmond (USA) comes
from Poland.
The winners of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) belong to the best
young computer scientists in the world.
In 2008 Polish team took 1st place ex-aequo with Chinese one. The third place
individually was won by Pole, too.
Source: www.microsoft.com, www.us.edu.pl

11. Human resources
Main university centres
Tricity
Szczecin
Źródło: EIU, Eurostat.
Warsaw
Poznan
Wroclaw
Lodz
Cracow
Students in given EU countries
2 500,0
2 000,0
1 500,0
1 000,0
500,0
0,0
Poland
France
Spain
Hungary
Czech
Rep.
Slovakia
thousand.
• 20 million of talented young people, who speak foreign languages
• 1.7 mln students, over 400 000 graduates every year
• 87% of students speak foreign languages
• 50% of population is younger than 35 yrs.
(in the group between 20 and 29 y.o. 1/3 studies)
• there are 460 higher education institutions in Poland

12. Human resources
Foreign language capability by age groups
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54
English German Russian
Source: CBOS Survey
Foreign language capability among students
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
English German Russian French Spanish
Language proficiency is one of
the strongest points for Poland
as a BPO center
English is the most popular
foreign language in Poland
Learning of foreign
languages is obligatory in the
Polish education system
Source: Randstad.
Children learn foreign
languages from the age of 6

13. State aid – we want you to be succesfull
I. Exclusive CIT exemption
in 14 Special Economic Zones
II. Government grants through individual negotiations
individually approved and granted by the
Ministry of the Economy
III. Real estate tax exemption
subject to negotiation with the local authorities
only in case if the investor is the owner of the building
(provided by the Commune Council)
IV. Cash grants available through EU Funds
subject to negotiation with different managing
institutions depending on the investment project key parameters
All above presented instruments can be combined together however the total amount
of state aid cannot exceed the maximum aid intensity – European Union’s law

14. Why Poland?
Strategic location – gateway to the EU
Economic and political stability
Availability of skilled human resources
Effective incentive system including EU-Funding

15. Thank you for your attention
www.washington.trade.gov.pl
1503 21st Street NW, Washington, DC
tel. (202) 467 66 90, fax (202) 833 83 43
e-mail: washington@trade.gov.pl