The Polish Digital Economy market, estimated at $44 billion, represents good potential for U.S. suppliers in all market segments. According to McKinsey’s analysis, the value of digital economic activity in Poland will increase to $123 billion in 2030, and at that point be responsible for 9% of Poland’s projected GDP.
Based on a VeloBank report, Poland is well placed, compared to other countries, when it comes to digital readiness, online bank account access, cybersecurity, and the online shopping index. On the other hand, the quality and utility of government websites that provide citizens information, tools, and participation services could be improved.
Investors perceive Poland as a thriving hub for technology and innovation and, according to Emerging Europe Future of IT report, it was one of three most competitive markets for the IT industry in Central and Eastern Europe in 2023.
The Polish ICT sector is constantly growing. In 2023 it was worth $25,53 billion, according to Computerworld Top 200 report, an increase of 5,1% compared to 2022. The biggest increases were noted in the software area (13,6% compared to the previous year) and public cloud (24,5%).
The Polish government recognizes the essential role of the digital sector and supports numerous initiatives supporting digital development. The recovery and resilience plan dedicated $7.4 billion to digital policy, focusing on internet broadband, digital skills improvement, public services access, e-health and cybersecurity.
In early 2024, The European Commission unblocked $149 billion for Poland from National Reconstruction Plan (KPO) and Cohesion Policy funds. 21.3% of that funding will be dedicated to the country’s digital transformation. The new funds will focus on investments that provide wired and wireless internet in underserved areas and strengthen cybersecurity.
Other government plans will include equipping up to 931,000 households with access to broadband internet, providing training in cybersecurity competencies for 380,000 people, creating seven regional cybersecurity centers and seven sectorial incident response teams, and constructing 4,200 stations providing 5G. Other 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 upcoming years.
The Polish government is currently preparing a Digital Strategy for Poland and conducting public consultations on this topic. Crucial goals the Strategy identifies for achievement by 2035 are:
- At least 85% of citizens will have basic digital skills.
- 100% of IT projects for public use will be implemented in accordance with the unified standards and architectural recommendations of the State Information Architecture.
- 100% of entities performing public tasks will use an electronic document management system.
- 100% of cases handled by these entities will be processed electronically.
- 20 million Poles will have a digital identity wallet.
- All key e-services will be available through the mObywatel application.
- 100 medical conditions will be diagnosed with the support of AI.
- There will be at least 1.5 million ICT specialists.
- 100% of public administration units will offer e-payment options.
- 50% of companies will use AI tools.
- 5% of GDP will be allocated to digitization starting from 2035.
Market development is driven by the digitization strategies of the public and business sectors and 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 for automation solutions for digital processes.
Trends such as technological integration, streamlined access to services, cloud computing, IT security reflect major market opportunities for U.S. suppliers. Explosive growth in companies working on emerging and advanced technologies such as AI and cloud computing is expected in the coming years.
The Polish market is highly competitive, with most global and international technology players having a direct presence in the country and many specialized domestic companies. Most large U.S. companies, such as Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, AWS, Palo Alto Networks, and others have offices in Poland, pursuing the business directly, as well as through local partners.
The biggest Polish IT companies are: Asseco, AB SA, Exclusive Networks Poland, Comarch. The vast majority (90 percent) of local IT companies are small and frequently merge or form alliances when working on larger projects. The biggest international companies present in Poland are Samsung Electronics, Dell Technologies, Lenovo Technologies, Microsoft, HP Inc, and 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 in 2023 as 24th among the 27 EU Countries. According to Digital Decade Country European Commission report, Poland made progress in some areas, but should accelerate efforts in digital skills and advanced technologies.
As the report states, the main issue in Poland is related to digital skills – only about 44% of Poles are digitally literate compared to a 56% average across Europe. Digital technologies in Poland need to be developed to reach EU targets – today, only 61% of Polish companies reach at least basic level of digital intensity, while the EU target is at least 90% of SMEs by 2030. 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 largely due to the success of Polish government app mObywatel.
According to the report, the use of advanced technologies is still quite limited among Polish companies (except for cloud), as only 3.7% of Polish companies have fully adopted AI (EU average is 8%), and only 19.3% have adopted data analytics (EU average - 33.2%).
Chinese influence in the e-commerce sector might also be a challenge - Temu had 18,1 million users in Poland in March 2025, surpassing Polish platform Allegro for the first time, which had over 17,8 million users. Aliexpress (an online retail service owned by the Alibaba Group) is the third most popular e-commerce platform in Poland with 9.6 million users, Shein – fourth with 6,72 million users.
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.
Poland has followed the European regulation Data Act since September 12, 2025. Polish Ministry of Digitization is conducting pre-consultations on the implementation of the Act, related mainly to the supervision authority.
Please see more on the official EU website.
AI regulation
The AI Act is applied directly to member states, but affords them some freedom to choose the authority empowered to 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. As part of its NIS2 transposition, Poland is preparing an amendment to the Act on the National Cybersecurity System (KSC) that may introduce strategies to exclude high-risk vendors from telecommunications systems and critical infrastructure.
Telecommunications
In November 2024, the Electronic Communications Law implementing the EU provisions on the European Communications Code will enter into force. Please see more on the official EU website.
Standards development
NASK, Poland’s National Research Institute, develops cybersecurity standards and issues for international cybersecurity certificates for companies in Poland. The Institute is supervised by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and is responsible for cybersecurity and user 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.
Digital Trade Barriers
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 store official data on public frameworks. As a result, most data used is stored on discreet servers owned and operated by the Polish government.
The EU is working on a new certification scheme for cloud services that will also be applied to Poland. While the regime may permit official data to be stored in the cloud, the new certification system for cloud services would likely impose geographic restrictions, requiring critical or high-risk data to be stored in the EU. The scheme might 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 last 50% to programs of EU origin.
Digital Services Tax (DST)
At the beginning of 2025, Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski announced that work had begun on introducing a digital services tax. The tax would target global corporations and would aim to support the development of startups and local digital companies. So far, no formal tax plan has been released.
Digital Trade Opportunities
Cross-Sector Enabling Technologies
Artificial Intelligence
The main applications of Artificial Intelligence in Poland are large language models and generative AI. Although AI has not yet been widely implemented by companies, the use of AI within organizations is already quite high. Numerous innovative Polish start-ups are developing AI solutions, such as Samurai Labs, DeepSense.ai and Infermedica.
An Ernst & Young (EY) study from 2024 showed that 21% of medium and large manufacturing companies use AI within their organization. According to EY, AI is expected to generate productivity equivalent to the work of 4.9 million people in Poland, which would translate into $90 billion in additional 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. On October 18, 2023 the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), responsible for 5G deployment, concluded 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 Polish telecom companies (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 intends to invest heavily in updating their infrastructure.
In March 2025, the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) ended the auction of frequencies in the 700 and 800 MHz. Orange Polska, T-Mobile Polska and P4 (Play) won two blocks each. 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 have access. 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 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 a cloud data center in Poland. Thus, by 2026 Poland stands 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 $1.524 billion in 2024 to $2.02 billion by 2029. Since February 2022, Poland has become one of the most cyber attacked EU countries. Cybercrimes are becoming a threat not only for official government websites that were hacked multiple times this year, but also for private companies. According to Ministry of Digital Affairs, in 2023, Polish crisis response teams handled around 80,000 cybersecurity incidents, a 100% growth compared to the previous year. According to Slovakian software company ESET, Polish companies were the most attacked in the world in the second half of 2023, with 26,000 attacks taking place during this period.
Analytics from Check Point Research revealed that Poland is the leading country in terms of being targeted by cyber-attacks in the world. Most Polish companies are not well prepared for cyber-attacks. According to an AON 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 in recent years and the value of this industry increased by 14% over the last 12 months, according to Polish journal Rzeczpospolita.
Recently, Poland has allocated funds to support initiatives related to cybersecurity measures. New regulations increasing funding for the Cybersecurity Fund recently entered into force.
Poland’s Cybersecurity Fund is a special fund managed by the Ministry of Digital Affairs. It supports activities that ensure the security of IT systems against cybersecurity threats. The Polish government allocated approximately $63 million for the Fund, to be renewed each year, starting in 2024. According to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Fund will finance IT service benefits, money dedicated to cybersecurity specialists in computer security incident response teams, as well as special services that are responsible for national security and public administration offices.
Poland cooperates with the United States in military cybersecurity. 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 the biggest FinTech market 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 home to nearly 45% of the country’s startups.
Poland is the “back-office” of London. 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 5 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 growth 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 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 shares. 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 recorded dynamic growth (respectively +175% and +89%). One of the key shifts on the insurance market is the diminishing popularity of traditional, generic life insurance policies in favor of targeted, purpose-specific solutions. This change in consumer needs 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 propositions 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 – a change of nearly 1400%. These types of early-stage investments offer a potentially high rate of return combined with low entry barriers – they do not 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
- Impact CEE, May 13-14, 2026, Poznan, Central-European event dedicated to innovations and economic development.
- Advanced Threat Summit, November 17-19, 2026, Warsaw.