Technological investment and innovation necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the economy

Investments in technological development and innovation are necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the Polish economy, according to an analysis by the Polish Economic Institute (PIE). Since 1989, Poland's share of global merchandise exports has increased from 0.43% to 1.6% in 2023, representing a more than 28-fold increase in Polish exports; this has significantly contributed to the country's economic development.

‘Polish merchandise exports broke through the 20 billion mark in 1995, 50 billion in 2003, $100 billion in 2006, $200 billion in 2013, and $300 billion in 2021. Membership of the European Union has proved to be a particularly strong boost to growth. However, in order to remain competitive in the global market, further investment in technological development and innovation is necessary, according to the PIE analysis ‘35 years of transformation of Central and Eastern Europe'.

Exports of all CEE countries accounted for less than 6% of Western Europe's merchandise exports in 1993, while in 2023 they amounted to more than 25%. The CEE region gradually increased its share of global merchandise trade from less than 1.5% in 1993 to more than 4.8% in 2023.

The Institute pointed out that R&D spending in Poland reached 1.5% of GDP in 2022, almost 2.5 times more than in 1995.

Despite narrowing the gap with other EU countries, no CEE country spends more on R&D than the EU average (2.2% in 2022).

Looking at the world leaders, one can see how much of a challenge Poland and Europe still face in this area - Israel spends 5.4 per cent of GDP on this, Korea 4.8 per cent of GDP and the US 3.5 per cent.

The Institute assessed that the percentage of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates is important for the development of the modern economy - industry, the biotechnology sector or ICT. This percentage was growing in Poland between 2011 and 2017, reaching around 23%, but this value has decreased to 19.4% in 2022.

"The decrease in interest in such fields of study in Poland is worrying, as according to the latest data from the countries of the region, we are only ahead of Bulgaria, and additionally the gap between Poland and the EU average is widening," the Institute concluded.

Source: PIE and ISBnews