Poland Launches National AI Competence Center to Strengthen Tech-Sovereignty
Innovation, Public Policy
💎 A nationwide platform designed to educate, accelerate, and commercialize AI solutions aims to close Poland’s skills gap and position the country as a regional leader.
Poland has taken one of its most ambitious steps yet toward building an AI-driven economy. The Polish Development Fund (PFR) has launched the AI Competence Center, a new national initiative that consolidates education, advisory support, startup acceleration, and real-world deployment capabilities into a single platform. Its goal is twofold: strengthen Poland’s technological autonomy and equip domestic companies with the practical know-how needed to compete in a rapidly changing global market.
The center is grounded in a stark diagnosis. According to the report “Mapa kompetencji AI w Polsce”, prepared by PFR and Google Cloud, Polish institutions and businesses face substantial capability gaps. Over 80% of public-sector employees cite insufficient knowledge as a barrier to adopting AI. Among SMEs, the figure rises even higher, with 84% reporting serious competency shortages. These deficits contrast sharply with the economic potential AI could unlock—analysts estimate that effective adoption may increase Poland’s GDP by up to 8% by 2030, driven by productivity gains, new products, and automation capacity across sectors.
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Against this backdrop, PFR positions the new center as a catalyst for transformation. “Artificial intelligence is becoming the foundation of the modern economy,” noted Piotr Matczuk, president of PFR. “With the AI Competence Center, we are creating a place that enables Polish companies not only to keep pace with global changes, but to actively shape them. Our goal is to strengthen technological autonomy and build competitive advantage for the decade ahead.”
The initiative is structured around four pillars, each addressing a different stage of adoption. The Education and Competence arm provides online courses, expert workshops, hands-on training environments, and curated materials so companies can build AI literacy grounded in practical use cases. The Implementation Platform enables firms to develop prototypes, validate ideas, and run pilots using domestic technological resources—including Polish language models such as Bielik and PLLuM—alongside secure testing environments and early-stage integration opportunities with enterprise partners.
The third pillar, Acceleration, concentrates on helping startups and scale-ups bring solutions to market. It offers sector-specific guidance, model recommendations, expert consultations, and support for commercialization. This blends technological advice with strategic alignment, ensuring that businesses deploying AI can do so responsibly and with measurable outcomes.
Finally, the Innovation Ecosystem pillar creates dedicated matchmaking and demonstration spaces. Through AI Startups Hunt, emerging companies gain exposure to investors, corporates, and pilot programs. Meanwhile, the Technology Partnership track provides a proving ground for Polish AI tools, enabling real-time collaboration with integrators, researchers, and implementation partners.
PFR emphasizes that the center is intended not only as an educational venue but as a strategic infrastructure investment—one that complements national programs like Innovate Poland, which focuses on equity financing for high-potential ventures. Together, these initiatives reflect a coordinated approach to accelerating AI adoption, reducing reliance on foreign technologies, and broadening the talent and innovation base within the country.
Magda Gajownik, director of the Office for Digital Transformation and AI at PFR, underscored the long-term vision. “Through workshops, maturity assessments, and constant dialogue with companies, we understand their needs clearly. Our aim is for PFR to support entrepreneurs at every stage—providing the knowledge and tools they require now, and potentially the capital needed to scale globally in the future.”
With the launch of the AI Competence Center, Poland signals its intention to modernize its digital economy at scale. By connecting education, infrastructure, capital, and commercialization pathways under one framework, the program seeks to transform AI from a strategic challenge into a competitive advantage—and to ensure that homegrown innovations can shape not only local markets, but the future of European technology.
Tags: AI policy, innovation ecosystem
