Poland: the most attractive European country for future investors

Asseco Poland (ACP) is the largest IT company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In April 2008 the process of merging Asseco Poland and Prokom Software was completed. As a result of the merger, Asseco Poland became one of the ten largest IT companies in Europe in terms of capitalisation.

Asseco Poland specialises in the production and development of software for various sectors of economy. Asseco Poland is one of the few companies in Poland that develops and implements its own centralised, comprehensive IT systems for the banking sector used by more than a half of the banks operating in Poland. The company also provides solutions for the insurance sector, enterprises and public administration.

Asseco Poland leads the development of the international Asseco Capital Group, which embraces European IT companies. The Asseco Group companies are present in ten-odd countries, including Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia and Croatia. The company plans further international expansion in the near future. It analyses the markets of the following countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.

LukaszThreads: 73 Posts: 2,396 Joined: Sep 1, 07	Edited by: Lukasz Jun 9, 08, 05:51 / #
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/Poland_E/Library_-_Raport_EAS_200 8 , “Poland should take advantage of the fact that it is perceived as the most attractive investment location in Europe with regard to advancing the necessary reforms and radically improving the state of our technical infrastructure and the infrastructure of knowledge. This way, within the next few years, we will be able to maintain the leading position and attract more and more technologically advanced investments.” The report “European Attractiveness Survey 2008”, published by Ernst & Young, shows that foreign investors are keen to include Poland in their investment plans. Furthermore, Poland ranks as the second largest country in Europe with regard to creating new workplaces, and takes seventh place in terms of investment projects in Europe. in the ranking of preferred investment locations we came out first in Europe, ahead of Germany, Russia, France and Romania. First in Europe, but we are losting in world. Europe is weak and there is to much bureaucracy.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jun 9, 08, 06:06 / #
Yeah, but isn't it the case that foreigners steal in and milk the profits, leaving the Poles to do all the donkey work? That's what I've heard.

LukaszThreads: 73 Posts: 2,396 Joined: Sep 1, 07	Edited by: Lukasz Jun 9, 08, 06:08 / #
yes seanus I have noticed that you spend all days here proving that Poles buy in Tescos and that brits are winers in globalisation. I don't care for me you can be the winner. ... I have seen Poland 20 years ago ... there is postive change :) so we are winner too :) maybe it is win-win situation.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jun 9, 08, 06:12 / #
What r u talking about? Brits are winners in globalisation? I was merely raising the point made by PolskiŻolnierz when he got angry that foreigners creamed the profits, leaving educated Poles to fight for the scraps. I hardly see that as fair but that's life. U feelin me now?

LukaszThreads: 73 Posts: 2,396 Joined: Sep 1, 07	Edited by: Lukasz Jun 9, 08, 06:36 / #
Maybe we are naive :) In Poland we like foreign investors. It is good business for Poland :)

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jun 9, 08, 07:46 / #
Or have learned to live on less, which is no bad thing. There is still materialism here though, it's the instinct of some to be so. Those who look for fast cash will get their come-uppance tho. Foreign investment is welcome here. U look at cities that have attracted mass investment from outwith and see how beautiful they are. Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai are 2 such examples. Warsaw is a bit late for that but it will benefit in other ways.

LukaszThreads: 73 Posts: 2,396 Joined: Sep 1, 07	Edited by: Lukasz Jun 9, 08, 08:15 / #
http://www.paiz.gov.pl/index/?id=7b7a53e239400a13bd6be6c91c4f6c4e The following foreign companies placed their research and development centres in Poland: ABB Kraków ADB Zielona Góra Alstom Wrocław Apriso Kraków Avio Polska Bielsko - Biała Avon Garwolin Bombardier Katowice Bosh - Siemens Łódź CapGemini Polska Wrocław Cederroth Radzymin CH2M HILL Kraków Compuware Gdańsk Cooper-Standard Automotive Myślenice Delphi Kraków Diehl Wrocław Faurecia Grójec General Electric Aircraft Engines Warszawa GlaxoSmithKline Poznań Grace Chemicals Poznań Hewlett - Packard Wrocław Humax Warszawa, Pruszcz Gdański IBM Kraków Intel Gdańsk LG Electronics Ciechanów Lucent Technologies Bydgoszcz Lurgi Kraków Mentor Graphics Katowice Microsoft Poznań, Łódź Motorola Kraków Ontrack Katowice Oracle Warszawa Philips PIła, Kętrzyn Pliva Kraków Pratt & Whitney Rzeszów Remy Internationale Wrocław RTS Network Szczecin Sabre Kraków Samsung Electronics Warszawa SAS Institute Warszawa Siemens Wrocław TopGaN Warszawa TietoEnator Wrocław TRW Automotive Częstochowa Volvo Wrocław

PolanglikThreads: 40 Posts: 848 Joined: May 16, 07	Jun 9, 08, 11:58 / #
Lukasz: I have seen Poland 20 years ago ... there is postive change :) totally agree with you Łukasz ..... Polska is definitely on the way up and i see foreign investment in Polska as a good thing :o)

LukaszThreads: 73 Posts: 2,396 Joined: Sep 1, 07	Edited by: Lukasz Jul 25, 08, 13:51 / #
In my opinion this phenomen is related to old Polish mathematic tradtitions continued after the war. Now there is possibility to use it in comercial purposes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Mathematics Historical Influences Over the centuries, Polish mathematicians have influenced the course of history. Copernicus used mathematics to buttress his revolutionary heliocentric theory. Four hundred years later, Marian Rejewski — subsequently assisted by fellow mathematician-cryptologists Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski — in December 1932 first broke the German Enigma machine cipher, thus laying the foundations for British World War II reading of Enigma ciphers ("Ultra"). After the war, Stanisław Ulam showed Edward Teller how to construct a practicable hydrogen bomb.

skiThreads: 12 Posts: 202 Joined: Jun 28, 08	Edited by: ski Aug 27, 08, 13:05 / #
20th international olympiad in informatics IOI 2008 Results 1st Poland and China the same result 3 gold 1 silver 2nd Russia 2 gold 2 silver 3rd USA 2 gold 1 silver well done

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Dec 13, 08, 23:14 / #
Samsung to open mobile technology center in Warsaw http://www.future-processing.com/outsourcing-follow-the-leaders.php Samsung is opening a mobile technology centre in Poland this autumn. It will be the company's first in Central and Eastern Europe. In the first stage of investment - to the end of 2008 - the centre will employ more than 100 specialists. Located in Warsaw, it will mainly develop software for mobile phones, adapted to market needs. For the past seven years, Warsaw has also been home to a Samsung research and development centre, which develops software for digital satellite television.

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Dec 15, 08, 08:31 / #
In my opinion it has something to do with it: Successes of Polish programmers http://www.security-increase.com/m2net/web_index_smi.nsf/web-news-by-i d-eng/PAGMFP07-12476865 Polish programmers have won the first place in the World Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest which had place in Tokyo, Japan in March 12 – 16, 2007. The most talented students from the world’s finest universities were competing in the annual contest supported by ACM and IBM. In 2003 Warsaw University won the university team title in the ACM-ICPC in Texas and in 2004 the same university won bronze medal. In 2006 in ACM – ICPC Jagiellonian University took second place winning gold medal and on seventh place Warsaw University took silver medal. In the Europe Championship in Team Programming 2005 polish students won first four places leaving behind 52 teams. Teams from Warsaw University took first two places, third took Jagiellonian University team and forth for the team from University of Wroclaw. In the same year 2005 Poland took first place in Top Coder contest. The most prestigious programming company which holds the worldwide online contest for the best programmers and schools announced Poland as an „undeniable leader who left behind USA and other cyber powers”. The first place in Google Code Jam 2005 took polish student at Warsaw University and again polish student won first place in Code Jam Europe 2006. Google Cod Jam is another annual online coding competition consisting of a series of problem-solving challenges that invite participants to select a programming language and use their programming skills to code solutions to the problems.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Dec 15, 08, 08:39 / #
This is what I like, Prince. My fiancee's brother was the Lead Designer for a company in Katowice. He showed me demos of stuff and I was impressed at just how technically advanced Poland is, relative to the perception of others. It's quite fitting that a competition was held in Tokyo, a true centre for excellence. Technology there is mindblowing. Polish programming goes back a long way. Poland should hold its head high here and fingers crossed that investment continues at the same level or higher.

noimmigration	Dec 15, 08, 09:00 / #
Poland is attractive because its cheap, the same reason why india is attractive to western european investors.

skiThreads: 12 Posts: 202 Joined: Jun 28, 08	Edited by: ski Aug 28, 08, 07:15 / #
In my opinion some members are not concious about processes in the world. It just to some members of this forum.

SeanBMThreads: 41 Posts: 8,647 Joined: Mar 10, 08	Dec 14, 08, 06:33 / #
I know quite a few people who are currently investing a lot of money in Poland. Despite what you may think Poland is still a good place to invest. The trick is you have to know what to invest in. Especially with 2012 just around the corner, Poland will hopefully have the 'Euro currency', the European football championships and the infrastructure to support it's development. It already has highly skilled and educated people with a good work ethic. Seanus: Yeah, but isn't it the case that foreigners steal in and milk the profits, leaving the Poles to do all the donkey work? That's what I've heard. I think that is a very unfair statement, I see that it is only what you heard. Investors want to make profit, they employ Polish people, creating a competitive market and employment. In Ireland we had/have may American multinationals because we made it very attractive for them to come to Ireland. Both the companies and Ireland have benefited hugely from this transaction.

Wroclaw Boy	Dec 15, 08, 09:02 / #
SeanBM: The trick is you have to know what to invest in. Absolutely the Irish are great at that, put there money where the mouth is. I know of a Irish company that bought Cemet Ozarow back around 1996, a major player in national cement distribution. Those guys would have made millions by now.

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Dec 31, 08, 14:47 / #
Or maybe we can see the begining at present time. There is 38 milions people in Poland. 1 bilion in China and 300 milions in USA ... and Poland wins against their represenations in informatics .... We will see what future will show. http://www.ioi2008.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&It emid=54 btw read the names from last olimpics... Miroslaw Michalski was the best programer from United Kingdom on this competition.

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Jan 21, 09, 15:31 / #
Programming Gold in 2008 TopCoder Open foxbusiness.com/story/poland-brail-philippines-win-programming-gold--t opcoder-open/ Tomasz Czajka of Poland took first place in the $25,000 Algorithm competition; Tim Roberts of the United States finished with top honors in the Software Design event, earning $25,000 for his win; the Software Development champion was Romano Silva of Brazil Czajka, known to the TopCoder Community by his handle 'tomek', won the Algorithm event with a score of 746 points. Czajka was the only competitor to successfully attempt the hard level problem. Petr Mitrichev, aka 'Petr' from the Russian Federation, placed second; and third place went to Eryk Kopczynski, aka "Eryx", also of Poland. In the Marathon Match, Przemyslaw Debiak, aka 'Psyho', of Poland bested Tuomas Pelkonen, aka 'tpelkone', of Finland and Bohua Zhan, aka 'bhzhan', of the United States. TopCoder tournaments are known worldwide as the most grueling, comprehensive test of skill in the field of competitive programming. The events allow competitors to solve complex algorithmic problems and design and develop working pieces of reusable software. All current industry standard technologies are incorporated, including Java, C++, C#, VB.NET, UML, J2EE and .NET.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 21, 09, 15:41 / #
Poland is highly impressive in this field. It would be good if my brother could speak Polish and understand the nature of the competition. He is also highly proficient, he works for Conono-Phillips. Flying the flag for Poland, Prince. Nice one!! :)

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Jan 24, 09, 16:46 / #
Telcordia Opens Technology Research Center in Poland http://www.telcordia.com/news_events/pressreleases/2008/06302008.html Telcordia Technologies (www.telcordia.com), a global leader in the development of IP, wireline and mobile telecommunications software and services, today announced that it has just opened a research center in Poznan, Poland. The Poznan Technology Research Center will play a critical role in extending Telcordia's research and collaboration capabilities across a wide range of government and commercial partnerships in Europe. "This is a very important development for the science and technology community in Poland, creating opportunities for the next generations of engineers and innovators in our region," said Professor Wojciech Cellary, Head of the Information Technology Department at the Poznan University of Economics. "Telcordia is a leading American communications software and services company that has literally invented many of the core technologies that enable communications today and continue to create the communications technology of the future." As I know after half of the year both sides are satisfied.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 24, 09, 17:55 / #
Another major development in communications technology. It seems like a mutually beneficial partnership.

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Jan 26, 09, 11:49 / #
Peter and Wolf won OSCAR as the best Animated movie. Animations have been made in Poland. Se-Ma-For Łódz. http://www.se-ma-for.com/ Now this Polish studio is going to make new animations to the next movies ... this time "Chopin project". http://wyborcza.pl/1,75475,6166624,Animowany_Chopin_na_200__urodziny.h tml?skad=rss

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Jan 26, 09, 20:35 / #
Anny way ... we are back :)

David_18Threads: 111 Posts: 1,202 Joined: Jan 4, 07	Jan 26, 09, 23:57 / #
The thing is that the "normal" people in Europe don't like to see Poland rise and benefit to much. The only thing i read about is how irish and british people are so jealous that the polish people stole their favourite jobs like un-pair, toilet /street cleaner etc.. Just get used to it. Poland is pushing forward and will be the new big fish in the lake. And dont worry about to not be able to clean your toilets anymore or clean the streets for a penny or two. Poles are leaving and they hopefully wont come back. I guess they got tired of bacon and egg!! Peace!!!!!

Bratwurst BoyThreads: 11 Posts: 14,563 Joined: Apr 2, 07	Jan 27, 09, 05:33 / #
David_18: The thing is that the "normal" people in Europe don't like to see Poland rise and benefit to much. Any links for that?

PuzzlerThreads: 11 Posts: 1,613 Joined: Mar 21, 07	Edited by: Puzzler Jan 27, 09, 05:49 / #
Bratwurst Boy: Any links for that? - Here comes another Polonophobic racist - this time from germany, the seat of nazism. Is this board a dumping ground for crap like that? If they were on a website of any other nationality, abusing the nationality, the folks running the website would kick them out and ban for life right on the spot. But they are allowed to stick around on this 'Polish' forum and puke their racist venom at us, Poles, at will. Why folks running this forum allow them to be here? Because they themselves are Polonophobes, right?

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 27, 09, 07:11 / #
Yeah, some businesses just need the confidence to take the plunge and invest. It takes a long time to establish a reputation as a safe bet. There was talk of Tusk altering the tax levels to entice more prospective companies. Again, we hear nothing of this man. This is in stark contrast to British politics where the PM is almost always in the spotlight for one thing or another.

PrinceThreads: 26 Posts: 826 Joined: Nov 4, 08	Edited by: Prince Jan 27, 09, 07:18 / #
asseco.pl/go.php/en/company/general_information/ Asseco Poland (ACP) is the largest IT company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In April 2008 the process of merging Asseco Poland and Prokom Software was completed. As a result of the merger, Asseco Poland became one of the ten largest IT companies in Europe in terms of capitalisation. Asseco Poland specialises in the production and development of software for various sectors of economy. Asseco Poland is one of the few companies in Poland that develops and implements its own centralised, comprehensive IT systems for the banking sector used by more than a half of the banks operating in Poland. The company also provides solutions for the insurance sector, enterprises and public administration. Asseco Poland leads the development of the international Asseco Capital Group, which embraces European IT companies. The Asseco Group companies are present in ten-odd countries, including Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia and Croatia. The company plans further international expansion in the near future. It analyses the markets of the following countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. asseco.pl/go.php/en/company/capital_group/ Software Centre in CEE-C – a federation of IT companies from the region, specializing in developing proprietary software. Major companies of Asseco Capital Group Asseco Poland Asseco Systems (100%) Asseco Business Solutions (46,47%) Anica System (100%) NOVUM (51,00%) Sintagma (61,64%) ABG (32,99%) DRQ (100%) Kom-Pakt (100%) INSI (100%) OptiX Polska (100%) PIW Postinfo (60%) Serum Software (64%) KKI-BCI (98,02%) Combidata (83,80%) Postdata (49,00%) Asseco Slovakia (40,09%) Slovanet (51,00%) DATALOCK (51,04%) MPI Slovakia (51,00%) Disig (51,00%) UniQuare (60,00%) TEDIS (34,00%) Axera (40,00%) Crystal Consulting (30,22%) Asseco Czech Republic (100%) Prvni Certifikacni Autorita (23,25%) LCS (95,78%) BERIT (55,43%) Asseco Germany (93,00%) AP Automation+Productivity AG (80,00%) matrix42 AG (97,53%) Asseco South Eastern Europe (93,00%) FIBa Software (70,00%) Net Consulting (70,00%) Pexim (60,00%) Pexim Cardinfo (60,00%) Arbor Informatika (70,00%) Logos (60,00%) Antegra (70,00%)

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,160 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 27, 09, 07:34 / #
Nice link, Prince. Poland is also active in the field of ID cards. OP.Team, a subsidiary of Geralto, is looking to maximise the benefits of these cards through the incorporation of state-of-the-art electronic options. E-Purse and E-Ticketing are 2 key initiatives. Such practical options are user friendly. There were concerns about data protection but fears have been allayed due to the close collaboration of relevant personnel. This is a positive step for Poland as it is a country burdened by excessive bureaucracy. The removal of the need for screeds of paperwork is a healthy development. So, another success story.