Poland: a snapshot of digital skills

Introduction

In the 2024 edition of the Digital Decade report, Poland has achieved 44.3% basic digital skills coverage, compared to the EU average of 55.6%. This puts Poland at 55.4% of the overall target for the EU 2030 goal, which aims to have 80% of the EU population possessing at least basic digital skills. The country has seen an annual growth of 1.6% from the previous year.

According to the Digital Decade report 2024, Poland performs worse than the EU average in both digital skills indicators. The percentage of ICT specialists in employment has not surpassed the EU average, yet increasing from 3.7% to 4.3% (EU average – 4.8%).

Broad Alliance for Digital Skills in Poland (Coalition) (Szerokie Porozumienie na Rzecz Umiejętności Cyfrowych w Polsce) is an informal, voluntary coalition of non-government organisations, academic institutions, regional governments, professional organisations and companies that support its goals and work to achieve them.

The Coalition endeavours to establish synergies between diversely implemented initiatives, collects data on best practises, and disseminates them in a variety of environments, including those unaffected by the digital transformation. The Coalition contributes to the improvement of access to knowledge and information on a broader scale by increasing awareness of the benefits and hazards associated with technology.

Overview of state strategies and national initiatives

State strategies

In February 2023, the Council of Ministers in Poland adopted a resolution on the establishment of a government program called Digital Competence Development Program (Program Rozwoju Kompetencji Cyfrowych). The main objective of the Program is to constantly increase the level of digital competences by providing everyone with the opportunity to develop them according to their needs, taking into account all stages of life, both among ordinary users of digital technologies and ICT specialists. The Digital Competences Development Program consists of activities that we have assigned to five priorities for the development of digital competencies: (i) development of digital education; (ii) providing everyone with the opportunity to develop digital competences; (iii) support for digital competences of working people; (iv) development of advanced digital competences; (v) strengthening the management and coordination of activities in the field of digital competence development.

Cybersecurity Strategy of the Republic of Poland 2019-2024 identifies the strategic objectives and appropriate policy and regulatory measures to be implemented to ensure the resilience of information systems, operators of essential services, operators of critical infrastructure, digital service providers, and public administrations to cyber threats. The primary objective of the Strategy is to increase the level of resilience against cyber threats and the level of information protection in all sectors, including the public, the military, and the private sector. The dissemination of knowledge and best practises among the citizens will also enhance the security of information.

National initiatives

Poland recovery and resilience plan supports the digital transition with investments of €420 million to digitalise public administration with, for instance, the digitisation of invoicing and administrative procedures related to construction and spatial planning. €2.6 billion will be dedicated to ensuring access to high-speed internet and 5G network deployment in Poland.

The plan also includes reforms to digitalise education and investments of €1.4 billion in digital infrastructure and equipment for schools, as well as in digital skills of teachers. Transformative reforms and investments of €443 million are foreseen to strengthen the State’s cybersecurity capacity.

Under the plan, Polish schools will receive state-of-the-art multimedia equipment for use by teachers and pupils, including 1.2 million laptops, high-speed internet connections, and laboratories for STEM and artificial intelligence. In this manner, the plan will ensure that all primary and secondary schools in Poland have equal access to digital learning technologies.

Lekcja: Enter, supported by the Orange Foundation assist in development of digital skills and prevent digital exclusion through programmes like Mega Mission or #Superkoderzy. The Orange Foundation also carried out other awareness-raising and educational campaigns that benefited over 0.5 million children.

The main objective of the projekt „Szansa – nowe możliwości dla dorosłych” (A Chance – New Opportunities For Adults) is to support adults basic digital skills, such as understanding and creating information, mathematical reasoning, digital skills and social competences. Adults with lower levels of education were aided by individualised models developed in response to an open call.

Funding opportunities

Funding opportunities for upskilling and reskilling to support the digital competences of individuals and organizations are available in form of loans, grants and financial instruments. For the period 2021 – 2026 most of the activities in digital transformation are financed through Recovery and Resilience facility but also as activities in Horizon, Erasmus+, ESIF and EEA grant schemes. You may find more on the page of Polish Recovery and Resilience website, and in the article on the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.