Companies from Asia, Belarus and the USA are looking at Poland

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Recent months have witnessed a significant inflow of new foreign investments in Poland and the CEE region. In particular, investors from Asia, Belarus and the USA are looking towards our country – according to an analysis by CBRE. As a result of the pandemic, investors’ requirements and the general characteristics of the process of analysing the location’s potential have changed. Flexibility, which is provided by mass remote work, has gained in importance. This is one of the key elements in verifying a region’s attractiveness for new investments, right next to the quality of infrastructure and access to staff.

– Access to the labour market and specific professional competences is becoming easier due to the growing popularity of remote working. The new approach to work influences the way in which the needs of employees and employers are combined with the infrastructural needs of investment projects. Flexibility is gaining in importance, which is becoming one of the key elements in the verification of a location’s potential by foreign investors – points out Daniel Bienias, CBRE’s managing director.

Asians invest capital in Poland

Until now, Asian countries have successfully competed with Europe, especially in the area of business services outsourcing. However, the pandemic and the popularisation of remote work have made Asian investors, particularly from India, Japan and South Korea, look more and more favourably on Poland. They are attracted by the quality of infrastructure and access to staff who are not only suitably experienced and educated, but have also proven effective in remote and hybrid ways of working.

– The advantage of our country, in comparison with other countries of the CEE region, is also a large experience in the modern business services industry. The scale of operations, the level of sophistication of supported processes and the high quality of ICT and office infrastructure speak in our favour. Moving new processes to Poland is a conscious process of Asian organizations, which is proved by the fact that some of these entities already run their activity in Poland and think about expansion to other cities – says Daniel Bienias, CBRE’s managing director.

Relocation from Belarus to Poland

At the turn of 2020 and 2021, the leading direction in terms of the number of enquiries and new investment projects in Poland is Belarus. The political situation in this country made many organisations with foreign capital decide to relocate. Due to its geographical proximity, Poland has become the main direction, especially since the specifics of projects relocated from Belarus often include the relocation of personnel. The quality of life in Polish cities is integral to ongoing projects, as is the infrastructure and transport links that generate interest in investment in central Poland. Most of the projects relocated from Belarus are based on the service of IT processes, therefore the profile of locations is analysed in detail in terms of labour market absorption for selected regional cities.

High activity of investors from the USA

Investors from the United States are still interested in Poland. The scale of planned investments is high – a large number of projects for the service sector oscillate around the demand for about 100-300 employees in the first years of operation, although larger investments are also considered. On the other hand, investments of a diversified character, i.e. encompassing both business services, logistics and production sectors, have recently come mainly from Germany and other Western European countries, such as i.a. Switzerland or Great Britain.

Source: CBRE