Poland’s innovation
Polish Development Fund in the report on Poland’s innovationpointed out that, according to data from the Central Statistical Office, 2023 was the twelfth year in a row in which the value of our exports of high technologies increased and another year in which the value of these exports reached a record level. The fund’s analysts assessed that such a good result was possible thanks to increased foreign sales “in almost all commodity groups classified as high-tech.”
“The share of high technologies in Poland’s total merchandise exports increased to 9.6%. with 9.2 percent in 2022 and was at the highest level in the history of comparable data (since 2007)” – they calculated.
The fund’s analysts recalled that in the periodically prepared by European Commission European Innovation Ranking (2024 edition) Poland scored 72.5 points. This was the fifth lowest result among European Union countries and thirteenth among all countries surveyed. The biggest innovator in the report was Switzerland, scoring 152.2 points. Among the European Union countries, Denmark achieved the best result (149.3 points), followed by Sweden (146.2) and Finland (140.6).
“Despite Poland’s average position in the ranking, it is worth noting that our result has been systematically improving since 2017,” emphasized PFR analysts.
Research and development expenses
They reported that at the end of 2022, over EUR 9.5 billion had been allocated for research and development in Poland. This was a result of 15.6 percent. greater than a year earlier and by over 737 percent. greater than in the year of joining the EU.
“However, providing nominal values alone is insufficient – they further illustrate the size of the economy. A better comparative approach is to compare R&D expenditures to the GDP of a given country. Just like in nominal terms, we also achieved significant growth here. In 2004, we spent approximately 0.55 percent on expenditure. GDP, in 2022 it was already 1.46%. Yet we still remain well below the level of the EU overall. However, it is worth noting that in recent years the difference between Poland and the EU average has been decreasing,” said economists from the Polish Development Fund.
According to the data contained in the report, average expenditure in the EU on research and development amounts to 2.24 GDP, and the record holder in terms of expenditure on R&D – Belgium – spends 3.43%. GDP.
The data presented in the PFR report show that the enterprise sector spent the most money on research and development in Poland. In 2022, it was almost EUR 6.3 billion, or 66%. total value of expenditure. The EU average is the same. The second largest expenditure was the Polish higher education sector (EUR 3.1 billion, 35% of the total expenditure on research and development), and the third largest was the government sector (EUR 0.2 billion, 2% of the total). In the EU, the higher education sector generates on average 22%. total expenditure on research and development, and the government sector – 11 percent. In the EU, 1 percent expenditure comes from the private non-commercial sector. (PAP)
author: Marek Siudaj
