Welcome to Kraków – the capital of Małopolska

In recent years, Kraków has become a city with more and more innovative and creative initiatives in a number of fields. Until recently it attracted people with the legend: treasury of Polish heritage, European Capital of Culture, a city bustling with events and rich in unique collections, which organises fantastic festivals. To these advantages, however, purely economic, or even business, arguments have been added: Today, Kraków is a place where it is not only worth, but – according to current trends – necessary to organise business meetings or congresses.

The 41st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the ICE Kraków Congress Center showed that the capital of the Malopolska Region is capable of hosting the most spectacular events and organizing them at a world-class level, thanks to professional service providers cooperating with the MICE sector. It is in Kraków that the Open Eyes Economy Summit takes place - the congress is devoted to the economics of values. It is here that the biggest conference in this part of Europe devoted to the Digital Dragons video game industry is organized and visited every year by nearly 2,000 people. Kraków also hosts the European Congress of Local Governments, DEVOXX one of the largest conferences for Java programmers, the European Cybersecurity Forum, the annual conference of the Aspire Association, and medical congresses with diversified themes; from family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, to orthopedics and cardiology. Kraków is a comprehensive city. Kraków is the City of Congresses!

Research and figures

Reports on business tourism in Krakow are compiled every year.

According to the latest report, “The Meetings Industry in Krakow,” over 4,647 events took place in the capital of Małopolska in 2024. An excellent indicator is the share of congresses and conferences, which accounted for two-thirds of all meetings in the city. In total, over 1,218,932 people participated in business events in Krakow in 2024. Over 547,000 people took part in congresses and conferences. The largest number of meetings and events was generated by the trade and service sector, which is in line with global trends. The humanities sector was next in terms of the number of events.

City of Learning

Krakow – a city of five renowned universities – is one of the most important educational and scientific centers in Poland. The number of universities, students, and the diversity of courses offered are an important measure of scientific potential. There are 131,961 students enrolled at 23 universities, and the teaching process is supervised by nearly 13,000 academic teachers, including 3,900 professors. Another 10 universities in the Małopolska region complement the region's rich offer.

According to the latest data, almost 35,900 highly qualified graduates have left the walls of Krakow's universities. They do not end up in a vacuum: there are numerous research and development institutions operating in the city, whose cooperation with Krakow's universities and high-tech companies contributes to the creation of scientific and research centers in Krakow. The activities of Advanced Technology Centers, Centers of Excellence, and Technology Transfer Centers focus on research and the implementation of its results and technology transfer in cooperation with business. Clusters also operate here, which are important for the development of a knowledge-based economy.

Access to highly qualified staff means that international corporations locate their research and development centers in Krakow. The city has also become a leading platform in Poland for cooperation between local government, science, and business, radiating throughout the entire region. It is not without reason that Krakow was chosen as the seat of the National Science Centre, whose role is to support scientific activity. Our city is also home to institutions with long traditions, such as the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Kraków and business

Krakow owes its economic appeal to the people who live, work, and study here: they are the driving force behind the city's economic development. With 809,168 residents, 61.1% of whom are of working age, creative, above-average educated, and fluent in foreign languages, Krakow can be seen as a hub where it is worth locating business ventures. All the more so because the huge Silesian agglomeration, with its human, industrial, and cultural potential, is getting closer to Krakow, not only thanks to the A4 motorway, but also in mental terms (the cooperation between the two agglomerations has even led to the coining of the term “Krakowice”). In short, 8 million people live within a 100 km radius of Krakow: over 1/5 of the entire country's population. The multicultural and colorful landscape of the surrounding area strongly appeals to the imagination of entrepreneurs.

From an investor's point of view, Krakow offers a whole range of opportunities to start and continue business activities. Numerous business support initiatives have a significant impact on the positive perception of Krakow on the global business map. Specializing in innovative projects, the Krakow Technology Park manages a Special Economic Zone located in 36 subzones in the Małopolska, Podkarpackie, and Świętokrzyskie provinces, covering a total area of 949 hectares, offering investors land as well as office space for rent. The aim of the Krakow Technology Park is to create tools that support the development of companies and actively respond to business needs. More than 1,500 companies use the services of KPT annually. Business associations and chambers of commerce and industry are also very active in the city.

In the eyes of experts

Krakow's positive image is confirmed by numerous foreign investments in the city, both by smaller companies and international corporations. The city consistently and successfully promotes itself as a center of high technology and the entire IT sector. It is worth emphasizing the highest quality of labor resources in Poland, a very large number of qualified employees, graduates, and students, a very high level of social and economic activity, as well as transport accessibility, social and economic infrastructure, and the level of economic development and market absorptive capacity. In 2025, during the Smart City Awards gala in Rzeszów, Krakow received an award in the Smart City category for cities with over 300,000 inhabitants.

Krakow's strengths – human and cultural potential, scientific and research facilities, favorable location, and very good infrastructure – are confirmed by the opinions of international experts assessing the investment attractiveness of cities and regions. In the Forbes 2025 ranking, Krakow was awarded 3rd place in the “Business-Friendly City” category among cities with 300,000 to 999,000 inhabitants (behind Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg).

The comfort of conferences or business meetings in Kraków will be enhanced by the urban facilities – full of open-minded people, interesting places and ideas. In a city where students are a quarter of the population, new ideas and views will always find an attentive listener. The academic and business setting, and the professionalism of Kraków's meetings industry, ensure that every subject will receive creative development here, and even the largest conference – the right place and time.