Key takeaway from „ POLISH REVOLUTION IN SMART SECTOR” report prepared in cooperation by ZIPSEE „Digital Poland” and the Polish Ministry of Development

GENERAL MARKET DATA

• Consumer electronics sector in Poland is one of the most dynamically growing fields of country’s economy. Its share in national economic growth is increasing systematically. Back in 2016, income of Polish house appliances sector amounted to almost 5 billion euro, which was over 1 percent of GDP growth. This puts Poland in the top three in terms of income with only Germany and Italy ahead.
• Value of manufacturing of big house appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines or dish washers in 2016 in Poland amounted to over 16,8 billion PLN. At the same time, Polish manufactures produced 22,4 million pieces of house appliance equipment. This means that production of such devices in Poland is currently over 40 percent of the whole production in Central Europe. In case of consumer electronics, Poland is mainly manufacturing TVs. Poland is the European leader in scope of their manufacturing. Over 20 million individual TVs have been manufactured in 2016.
• Devices from consumer electronics sector manufactured in Poland are mostly exported. 87 percent of house appliances manufactured in 2016 landed on foreign markets, mostly in Germany, Great Britain and France. Value of said export is estimated as 16 billion PLN which stands as 2 percent of the whole Polish export. In case of TVs in corresponding period, around 90% of the manufactured devices were exported.

PRODUCTION OF SMART HOME APPLIANCES AND CONSUMER ELECTRONICS IN POLAND

• 10 factories in Poland are currently manufacturing devices utilizing smart solutions. They create cutting edge TVs, ovens, refrigerators, washing machines and extractor hoods.
• There are also 7 R&D centers functioning in Poland which take care of the research and development of smart consumer electronics. Expenses for R&D in the country in the field of house appliances have reached almost 150 million euro and are one of the greatest in Europe after Germany and Italy. Manufacturers of house appliances and consumer electronics who are choosing Poland as the location for their R&D hubs, appreciate the value of Polish technical and scientific base. It’s important for the Polish economy as a whole. Solutions developed in R&D centers are utilized in manufacturing of electronic devices all around the world and thus, significance of Polish economy is growingon a global scale.

THE FUTURE OF SMART SOLUTIONS IN POLAND

• Poland has got a significant potential for development on the market of applications supporting smart devices. According to estimations, value of investments into Internet of Things (IoT) in Poland will reach over 5 billion
  dollars by 2020. Experts agree that over the next few years, the fastest growing market for IoT in Poland will be, amongst others, home appliances sector – the biggest potential for growth is exhibited by products related to smart housing. Polish people are also showing more interest in smart devices manufactured in the country.
• New solutions based on cloud computing, such as cloud gaming and sharing files, will be a challenge for manufacturers.
• Upcoming years will be a struggle for consumer electronics and house appliances manufacturers to keep improving functionality and personalization of devices.Development of IoT in turn, will play a significant role in building the economy of the future by, for example, building smart cities.