Krakow is growing in strength. It is becoming an increasingly recognizable brand on the European map of the meetings industry
In recent years, Krakow 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, Krakow 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 Krakow 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. Krakow 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. Krakow is a comprehensive city. Krakow is the City of Congresses!
Every year, reports are prepared on business tourism in Krakow
Research and numbers
Reports on business services in Krakow are prepared every year.
The latest reports "Meetings industry in Krakow", in 2023, over 4,300 events took place in the capital of Małopolska. An excellent indicator is the participation of congresses and conferences at the level of 2/3 of all meetings in the city. Total in business events in Krakow in 2023 over 915,878 people. Over 614,000 people took part in congresses and conferences. people. the scope of meetings and events was generated by the trade and service industries, which is consistent with global trends. The topic in terms of the number of events was the medical industry.
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 variety of proposed fields of study are an important measure of scientific potential. More than 160,000 students are educated at 23 universities here, and the teaching process is supervised by almost 12,000 academic teachers, including 794 full professors. Another 10 universities in Małopolska complement the rich offer of the region.
Every year, more than 55 thousand highly qualified graduates exit Krakow's universities. They do not disappear into a void: the city hosts numerous research and development institutions, whose cooperation with Krakow's universities and companies in the high technology sector contributes to the formation in Krakow of scientific research centers. The activity of Centers for Advanced Technology, Centers of Excellence, and Centers of Technology Transfer focuses on research work and the implementation of their effects and transfer of technology in cooperation with business. There are also clusters operating here – important from the point of view of the development of the knowledge economy.
Access to highly skilled staff means that multinationals locate their R & D centres in Krakow. The city has also become a leading platform in Poland for cooperation between local government, academia and business, also radiating throughout the whole region. Not without reason was Krakow selected as the headquarters of the National Science Centre, whose role is to support academic activities. 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.
Krakow and business
Krakow owes its economic attractiveness to the people living, working and studying here: they are the driving force behind the city's economic development. Over 804,000 inhabitants, including 61.2% of working age, creative, above-average educated and knowing foreign languages, allow Krakow to be perceived as a center 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 of both agglomerations 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 surroundings strongly captures the imagination of entrepreneurs.
From the point of view of investors, Krakow offers a whole range of possibilities to start and continue business. Numerous initiatives supporting business materially affect the positive reception of Krakow on the world's business map. Specialising in innovative projects, the Kraków Technology Park manages the Special Economic Zone, located in 22 sub-zones in areas of Małopolska and Podkarpacie provinces, in a total area of 558.71 hectares, offering investors the grounds, as well as office space for rent. Business associations and chambers of commerce are strongly active in the city.
It is hardly surprising that in the "Financial Times" report European Cities & Regions of the Future ranking 2018/19, the Małopolska strategy for attracting investment was – in comparison with other regions of Central and Eastern Europe – considered the best.
In the eyes of the experts
Krakow's positive image is confirmed by the numerous foreign investments in the city, both for smaller companies and international corporations. The city consistently and successfully promotes itself as a centre of high technology and the IT industry. In the prestigious report by the independent Institute for Market Economics "Investment attractiveness of Polish provinces and subregions, 2016", the Krakow subregion finished third in Poland (after Warsaw and Lodz) in the field of advanced technologies. The report also stressed Poland 's highest quality labour force, the large number of skilled workers, graduates and students, the very high standard of social and economic activity, and the availability of transport, social and economic infrastructure and the level of economic development and market capacity.
Krakow's advantages - 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. Kraków has also been appreciated in the Tholons Services Globalization CITY INDEX ranking for years: taking 20th position in its latest edition, Kraków was included in the Top 100 Super Cities. In the Forbes 2019 ranking, Kraków was awarded 2nd place in the "Business-Friendly City" category among cities from 300,000 inhabitants. up to 999 thousand inhabitants and 2nd place in the "Most ecological city in Poland" category.
The comfort of conferences or business meetings in Krakow 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 Krakow's meetings industry, ensure that every subject will receive creative development here, and even the largest conference – the right place and time.
