The 2026 state budget allocates PLN 44.26 billion for science and higher education, an increase of PLN 1 billion compared to 2025. However, according to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), the rise is merely nominal and fails to offset inflation. He warns that without real investment in research and innovation, Poland risks deepening its technological dependence on foreign countries. Leading scientists have formally appealed to the government to revise the draft budget.
“Next year’s science budget will be slightly higher in nominal terms than last year, but when we account for inflation, we’re effectively standing still,” said Professor Marek Konarzewski, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, in an interview with Newseria.
“Looking at the past decade, as Professor Piotr Sankowski recently pointed out, our share of science spending in GDP has actually been declining.”
Lowest Science Spending in Relation to GDP This Century
According to Piotr Sankowski, President of IDEAS NCBR, government spending on science in 2005 accounted for 1.27% of GDP, but today it stands at just 1.02% — the lowest level in real terms in the 21st century. Data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) for 2023 show that total R&D intensity reached 1.56% of GDP, still half the level of Europe’s innovation leaders. The EU average for that year was 2.3% of GDP.
“This is not a problem of Polish science — it’s a problem of Poland as a country,” Prof. Konarzewski stressed.
“By not investing in our scientific development, we’re gradually losing technological sovereignty. It means that in the future we’ll have to import technologies instead of developing them ourselves.”
He pointed to defense spending as an example. “Most of the technologies we are currently acquiring for national defense come from abroad,” he said. “Many of these solutions could be developed domestically, using the skills and intellect of our own scientists — but that potential remains largely untapped.”
Record Defense Spending but Weak Technological Base
According to the Ministry of National Defense (MON), half of next year’s defense spending — a record PLN 200.1 billion, or 4.81% of GDP — is expected to remain in Poland. That represents a PLN 13.5 billion increase over 2025. However, analysts say these assumptions are unrealistic.
A report by the National Security Industry Club, presented during the MSPO defense fair in Kielce, found that one in three defense companies has yet to benefit from rising defense budgets. Experts warned that with such low investment in R&D, catching up with technological leaders in the defense sector is impossible — leaving Poland with limited control over imported technologies, their further development, and potential exports.
“Cutting spending on science is like sawing off the branch we’re sitting on,” Konarzewski said.
“Poland has already exhausted the simple growth model based on cheap labor. Wages are now approaching those of neighboring countries, so the question arises — what will we compete with next? The answer should be better products and better technologies, but without investment in science, we won’t have them. That’s not just a question about the future of Polish science — it’s a question about the future of Poland itself.”
The NCN Warns: “Science Can’t Breathe”
The National Science Centre (NCN) has also appealed to the government to increase funding. Its budget for 2026 remains frozen at the current level, even though the NCN Council estimates it needs PLN 400 million more to sustain its operations. Without this increase, the NCN warns that it will be forced to limit grant competitions, reduce their frequency, and cut support for young researchers, all of which will harm the innovation capacity of Polish science.
The NCN’s statement — endorsed by numerous academic institutions and scientists — warns that freezing funding will have irreversible consequences, including:
- Loss of young research talent,
- Weakening of universities and doctoral schools,
- Disbanding of innovative research teams,
- Decline in Poland’s position in European and global science,
- Reduced national potential in fields like healthcare, defense, energy, technology, and education.
“To put it simply — the NCN is the oxygen of Polish science, and the current funding level is critically low,” reads the appeal.
“We therefore demand a revision of the 2026 state budget to increase national spending on research, particularly by raising the NCN subsidy by at least PLN 400 million, and to guarantee annual funding growth tied to GDP.”
