The growing number of digital hubs and global IT centers of excellence being opened in Poland begs the question: what’s so attractive about this operating model, and what actually makes Poland one of the rising stars in this field? According to Polish government data, there were over 100,000 IT companies in Poland in 2023. We can only expect this number to continue to grow.
Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen dozens of major global brands like Samsung, Procter & Gamble, Bayer, ING, and Reckitt open their digital excellence centers in Poland.
Most of these centers not only provide global support and development of existing systems but also take on R&D initiatives, with numerous ones focused on AI.
The most commonly mentioned benefits of localizing such centers in Poland are the availability of highly skilled experts, lower operational costs, and Poland’s proximity to customers and markets across Europe.
Why to set up nearshore development center?
After a few years of an extreme boom within the IT industry, leading to a chronic shortage of software engineers, 2023-2024 started showing signs of a slowdown. Statistically speaking, there are many more developers available on the market. So why would you resort to setting up nearshore development centers?
Support for extraordinary tasks
The thing is, it’s irrelevant whether there are 10, 100, or 1,000 average engineers available if you’re a leading global brand trying to build truly innovative solutions. For extraordinary tasks, you need extraordinary people. These experts are very limited (and usually very, very pricey too).
Well-educated specialists
With high-quality education (especially in science and technology), lots of young, talented people hungry for success, common fluency in English, and a shared Western culture (i.e., minimal cultural differences and communication problems), along with significantly lower rates for top experts compared to Western Europe, Poland is a sweet spot for global development centers.
Talents in Engineering
And this isn’t only about the resources currently available, such as Python Developers, AI Engineers, or Data Scientists. When taking on such a grand initiative as opening a global IT hub, you need to think with a perspective of decades, not just the next 3–5 years.
Where to set up your digital hub?
You can’t accurately predict what programming languages or technologies experts will turn out to be the most needed in your business in 10 years… but you can already secure access to them.
How?
By setting up your IT hub in a place that:
- Has access to young, tech-oriented talents
- Offers academic cooperation with reputable tech universities
- Is conveniently located, with good connectivity to major business hubs
- Is pleasant to live in (ever wondered why Silicon Valley exists on a picturesque coast of the Pacific Ocean and not in Nevada or Alaska?)
- Is considered safe and stable
Poland as your go-to place for a Digital Hub
Warsaw is no San Francisco, which may not be a bad thing, actually, as it’s much more “liveable” thanks to its good vibe and affordable cost of living. It attracts a lot of talent not only from Poland but from the entire CEE region, which in total consists of a population of well over 100 million people.
Quality of life in Poland according to the OECD Report
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report covers the period 2010–2023. During this time, only two European countries, Poland and Estonia, have improved statistics on the quality of life of their inhabitants.
Share of IT Employees in Poland
The share of IT employees in total employment in Poland rose to 7%, according to the Business Services Sector in the 2024 ABSL report.
In the cities of Warsaw and Kraków, the number of IT services employees exceeded 100,000. ABSL analysts forecast that employment in the IT industry in Poland will exceed 470,000 by Q1 2025.
EF Report on English Proficiency
Poland is ranked 15th out of 115 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index. This places Polish citizens among countries with high proficiency in English.
 Krzysztof Bratnicki Do you want to learn more about the process of building digital hubs? Let’s talk! Book a call |
Summary
Choosing the right location is one of the most vital steps toward securing long-lasting access to a large pool of affordable and talented resources for your organization, but it’s only the beginning.
Getting from the strategic plan down to its realization takes a lot of hands-on work, typically divided into a couple of phases, but that’s a topic for another article. Stay tuned!
