Financing research work no longer a problem in Poland

In terms of the development of science, Poland has made great progress in the last 30 years. Polish scientists are successful, which qualify them to the world leaders, and the expenditures for this purpose are gradually increasing. In 2018, they reached 1.21 percent of GDP, and a year later it increased by as much as PLN 5 billion and it was by far the largest increase since 1989. Last year, the total budget for science, provided for in the budget act, reached PLN 31 billion (of which PLN 27 billion from the state budget and PLN 4 billion from the European budget) and it was as much as 11 percent increase on an annual basis.

"Polish science is doing well, but in the pandemic, most scientists recorded huge losses, they could not work at universities or laboratories. We are in a short period of time and not all the things we planned have been done. Foreign trips were almost completely suspended, which also meant that we could not share our experience results," prof. Maciej Żylicz, president of the Foundation for Polish Science, said.

According to Eurostat, in 2010–2020 Poland recorded an increase in spending on research and development, which is one of the fastest in the EU – in this respect only Greece and Belgium were ahead of it. However, last year the level of these expenses reached 1.4 percent of GDP which is still a result significantly different from the EU average of 2.3 percent. For comparison, the leaders (Belgium and Sweden) have allocated approx. 3.5 percent of GDP to research and development.

(Newseria)