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The Rise of Poland as a GCC Hotspot

September 27, 2023 606 1 GCC Talent & Skills

The Rise of Poland as a GCC Hotspot

Zinnov’s 2023 edition of the annual COE Hotspots of the World report ranks Poland as one of the top 5 talent hotspots in the world. Evaluated across 4 key factors – Software Engineering Maturity, Cost, Tech Talent Pool, and Ease of Doing Business, Poland emerged as a rising GCC hub in Central & Eastern Europe. With strong universities churning out 94,000 STEM graduates annually, a vibrant start-up ecosystem, the presence of major tech firms, and favorable business policies, Poland has become an attractive location for companies seeking skilled technology talent. As more enterprises discover Poland’s rich talent pool and business-friendly climate, the country is poised to become a leading globalization destination in Eastern Europe for setting up Global Capability Centers (GCCs) and tapping into skilled engineering talent.

The current economic climate is posing numerous challenges for companies across industries. A potential recession, slowing economic growth, geopolitical tensions, and post-pandemic rightsizing have all impacted business decisions and budgets. However, one thing remains constant: the demand for skilled engineering and digital talent. In the face of global demand for technology talent far outstripping supply, enterprises must look beyond the established hubs in North America, Western Europe, and Asia, at newer talent hubs such as Poland. And one country that is rapidly gaining esteem as an up-and-coming technology talent hotspot is Poland.

As part of the 2023 edition of Zinnov's COE Hotspots of the World report, we evaluated 17 global talent hotspots, of which Poland emerged as one of the top 5 in the world.

Access to top talent is key for creating a defensible moat against uncertainties, driving innovation and digitalization, as well as ensuring business continuity. To combat such external disruptions, companies are actively evaluating multiple talent hotspots to set up Global Capability Centers (GCCs) or Captive Centers as they were once called. This necessitates access to locations with proven track records for building skilled product, engineering, IT, and operations teams. Strategic global talent hubs mitigate risk, ensuring business continuity and positioning companies to navigate market challenges. Now is the time to tap into these rich talent pools worldwide, creating resilience while accelerating innovation and growth. Such GCCs drive value to global organizations from day one, leading innovation and digital transformation initiatives across the organization.

Why Poland

With multiple favorable factors, Poland has become an alluring option for multinational companies seeking software, mechanical, and electrical engineering talent. However, while many tech giants have already set up major hubs in Warsaw and Krakow, the depth of Poland’s talent pool remains underexposed to much of the world. As more companies discover what Poland has to offer, the country is poised for an influx of tech investments with the potential to position it as a go-to globalization destination in Eastern Europe.

Multiple factors buoy Poland as an up-and-coming talent hotspot – from its rich talent ecosystem, to tier-I academic institutions, a dynamic start-up ecosystem, favorable government policies and regulations, and ease of doing business, that considers geopolitical stability, IP and Data Privacy policies, and English language proficiency. We examine these critical factors in this article.

4 Strategic Factors Positioning Poland as a Rising GCC Hub

1. Strong Tier-I Academic Institutions. Poland boasts over 428 higher education institutions, that churn out 94K STEM graduates a year, including renowned technology schools like the University of Warsaw, Warsaw University of Technology, and Jagiellonian University. With nearly 50% of all STEM graduates in the Central & Eastern European (CEE) region hailing from Poland, the country is a veritable engineering talent hub. This exceptional training capacity ensures a robust pipeline of junior talent.

2. Vibrant Start-up Ecosystem. The 672+ technology start-ups that have been incepted in Poland, work across Enterprise SaaS, HealthTech, Fintech, Transport Tech, and Edtech. Warsaw is the go-to destination for start-ups in Poland, which will be one of Europe’s fastest growing cities with an average GDP increase of 4.2%. The Polish start-up ecosystem is a regional leader in innovation, ranked 33rd globally. With Polish start-ups focusing on technologies including Big Data, Internet of Things, Analytics, and Developer’s tools, the ecosystem offers a steady pipeline of digitally skilled talent.

3. Presence of Global Companies. Poland is an R&D hub for global companies across verticals such as Software & Internet, BFSI, Telecom, Automotive, and Healthcare. IBM, Nokia, Intel, Motorola, Citi, GE, and Samsung are some of the top companies in Poland that together employ upwards of 16,000 engineers. Similarly, plenty of Technology Service Providers such as Sii, Luxoft, Intive, GlobalLogic, and EPAM also call Poland home. Besides Warsaw, medium-sized cities such as Wroclaw, Krakow, and Poznan are attractive locations for IT Services Companies, thanks to the presence of technical universities, a large talent pool, and moderate cost of operations.

4. Favorable Business Climate. Poland scores highly on ease of doing business, offering incentives like tax exemptions for IT projects and R&D centers. Being GDPR-compliant, Poland has one of the toughest privacy laws in the world, making it business-friendly as well as the third-most attractive destination in Europe and the top destination in the CEE region for FDI (foreign direct investments) inflows. Poland’s high English proficiency adds to its attractiveness to global companies looking for talent hotspots to set up GCCs. This winning combination of business-friendly factors makes recruiting and scaling up operations painless.

Turning Poland’s Potential into Tech Leadership

Poland is poised to become Eastern Europe’s next great GCC hub for technology and talent. But the realization of this future rests on smarter collaboration between government, academia, and industry to set the stage for multinational investments to flow in. By learning from established tech and GCC ecosystems from around the world like India, Poland can avoid pitfalls around runaway housing costs, commute times, and uneven growth. With care, foresight, and continued openness to fine-tune existing policies and regulations, there will be no stopping Poland from becoming an emerging GCC hub.


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Founded in 2002, Zinnov is a leading global management consulting and strategy advisory firm, with a presence in 10 global locations. Over the last 22 years, Zinnov has partnered with Global Enterprises and Fortune 2000 companies across their value creation journeys to develop actionable insights – across revenue, talent, innovation, scale, and optimization. Zinnov enables companies to develop and optimize a global engineering footprint through center setups, technology and functional Centers of Excellence (COEs), portfolio optimization, partnerships, and real-time data/ insights – through its unique GCC Accelerator Platform (GAP) offering. This multi-lever approach helps Zinnov’s clients achieve higher R&D efficiencies, innovation, and productivity via an immersive and highly networked model. Zinnov’s expertise also includes advising global PE firms in asset shortlisting, target evaluation, due diligence, and value creation for their portfolio companies through a globalization lens.



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