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Polish companies… are conquering Great Britain!

The 3rd Polish-British Business, Trade and Investment Forum, which took place on March 10 at the PAIH headquarters, is behind us. This year's event was devoted to the currently important topic of digitization in the health services sector and medical technologies. Companies creating new medical and peri-medical technologies are currently, in addition to the IT industry, one of the main goals of financial and industry investors. The Polish British Forum was therefore an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest trends in the medical sector. The event was also an opportunity for representatives of Polish and British business to meet face-to-face with a group of potential partners, clients and investors.

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The event was organized by the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology, the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, the Department for International Trade and the British Embassy in Warsaw.

The meeting was started by Robert Tomanek, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology, who pointed out that this year's forum was exceptional due to the fact that it was overshadowed by two great processes - the pandemic and the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union. He indicated that both issues are a great challenge for the business world, but that business is facing them. As Minister Tomanek pointed out, Great Britain is an important trade partner for Poland, which for years, has been the third largest recipient of our exports. He recalled that our trade in goods in 2020 amounted to over EUR 18 billion, Polish exports reached EUR 13.6 billion, and imports from Great Britain - EUR 4.7 billion. He also drew attention to the fact that Poland needs capital, knowledge and patrners, and Great Britain is a window to the world that Polish companies can use.

Graham Stuart, the British Parliamentary Undersecretary of State (export Minister) in the Department of International Trade, also spoke about the need to strengthen cooperation. The British minister pointed out the benefits of joint investments and new ventures, like those that are already successfully operating, for example, Luxmed which belongs to the British company Bupa. He stressed that the trade agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union offer a chance for further projects, and cooperation in the field of medical technology will have become increasingly important economically.


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Grzegorz Słomkowski, a member of the Management Board of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, pointed out that Poland has a chance to become a serious player on a not only European scale, in the development of medtech projects. - During the forum, we focused on showing the possibilities of cooperation in this area between Poland and Great Britain, which has been our important trading partner for years - emphasized Grzegorz Słomkowski. - There are more and more medical Start -ups on the Polish market. What's more, they are developing dynamically, offering solutions that provide significant support to Polish patients and winning awards in international competitions. We expect the real first Polish unicorn to be in the medical field - stated Grzegorz Słomkowski.

Interest in the medical industry on the Polish market is confirmed by inquiries from foreign companies that have come to PAIH. Only last year, the Agency handled 6 medical investment projects, and another five are already in the pipe line. Everything indicates that the upward trend in this sector will continue for a long time, the more so, as the technologies used in healthcare are currently extremely necessary for everyone. Poland, which has a base of world-class programmers, engineers and scientists, has the chance to become a leading hub for medical innovation in the region - said Słomkowski.


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An important part of the 3rd Polish-British Forum were the discussion panels with the participation of experts and representatives of companies from the medical industry. Participants of the debate "Risks and opportunities - what are the key and digital trends shaping the health care system in Poland and Great Britain?" COVID forced the acceleration of many processes, which had a significant impact on dealing with the pandemic. An example of this are e-prescriptions introduced before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which turned out to be a very important factor in the fight against the negative effects of lockdown. The participants emphasized that COVID-19 contributed to the development of existing ideas that had not previously reached a mass scale. Masood Ahmed, General Medical and Clinical Information Director in the NHS, Black Country & West Birmingham CCG, said that, Poland is becoming an increasingly important direction that provides interesting solutions - e.g. platforms that allow you to sign up for doctors of various specializations and different facilities, in one place on the Web. - We are observing a large increase in the number of applications and programs from Poland that allow us to better deal with the pandemic - said Ahmed.

In the next debate "Supporting innovation in the health care sector in Poland and Great Britain", the participants emphasized that innovative ideas do not come out of nowhere. They need skillful support from the State, which is responsible for the standard of medical care and creating appropriate conditions for economic growth.

Forum participants also had the opportunity to learn about a case study of cooperation between the CEE Orthopedics Institute, Smith & Nephew and the Independent Public Complex of Healthcare Establishments in Ostrów Mazowiecka as well as examples of investments.


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The event ended with virtual networking sessions on digital health and medical technologies between Polish and British companies. The online conference was followed by nearly 500 people from Poland and Great Britain.