The startup ecosystem in Poland is developing at a satisfying pace. Innovative hubs and programmes supporting young tech companies are being created. But international conferences also contribute to the success.

Favourable conditions for development

Wolves Summit, an international conference for startups, investors, and corporate representatives is taking place on 9-11th April 2018 in Warsaw, Poland for the seventh time.

– It’s quite a young initiative, actually, as we organised the first edition only 2.5 years ago – says Piotr Piasek, the co-founder of Wolves Summit – further events, however, show that there’s a huge need for innovation. The number of participants is growing rapidly, so in April we’re expecting to see 2500 representatives from around the world.

Among the attendees there will be 400 startups, 300 investors, and 450 corporates from over 60 countries around the world. Previous editions of the event prove that there’s a huge demand for meetings at an international level and talks on innovations in technology. Warsaw is a city, which grows in power compared to other European tech hubs. Coworking spaces, incubation and acceleration programmes, global corporations based in the capital, public and private funds that support financially and by mentoring, high-skilled IT professionals – these are only a few of the facilities waiting for companies who decide to visit the city.

– For the past few years Poland has been on top of rankings, when it comes to best programmers. They make the startup ecosystem development possible, as well as establishing partnerships between young companies and investors or corporations – explains Piotr Piasek.

New technologies in Poland

Development of the startup ecosystem in Poland also influences new trends, that keep showing up in the country. According to the latest report by Startup Poland, Polish hardware and IoT startups are worth the attention. Such companies need more time for development, prototyping, and perfecting the products, but it doesn't mean they won’t create significant revenues. Global brands like GoPro and Fitbit are great examples.

– During the seventh edition of Wolves Summit we’ll focus on a few startup trends, like Hardware, Internet of Things, Fintech, blockchain, and decentralization – says Piotr Piasek – thanks to that experts can personally meet and establish valuable business connections, exchange experiences, and maybe invest their time and money in developing other sectors of new technologies.

What puts in a positive mood, is the fact that Polish startup support programmes recognise the potential of the native projects. Startup Platforms, a programme by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, has supported 103 Polish companies up till December 2017 and contributed about 80 million PLN. The highest subsidy could reach 800 000 PLN. Apart from public support institutions, acceleration and incubation programmes within international corporations also function. These entities chose Poland as their headquarters, among them Startup Collider from PwC or mAccelerator (powered by mBank).

Contacts above all

The Wolves Summit conference gathers the representatives of many environments, including corporations, investors, and promising startups from around the world. 1:1 meetings are one of the most important elements of the event. Participants can schedule 15-minute conversations with relevant people before the conference even begins. It allows them to pack their calendars and match the interlocutors to certain criteria.

– Se far during all editions there were 14303 1:1 meetings scheduled, and the attendees’ comments clearly indicate the importance of such activity. We know of startups who met their future investors at Wolves Summit. It makes us even more content since we put great emphasis on matching participants – says Piotr Piasek. Autenti, a Polish platform for online document signing, partnered with two funds: Innovation Nest and Black Pearls VC. At the fourth edition of Wolves Summit, the Autenti team won the main prize at a tech startup challenge. ING Bank Śląski on the other hand invested in the Czech startup, Twisto Payments, the winner of the third edition.

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