Here, Anything Is Possible: The Phenomenon of Poland Tech Week

People told them it was completely impossible. Even the most seasoned veterans - those who had organized more than a few startup events - said the same.

Simply put, you generally don't decide on a whim to pull off a technology festival without substantial financial backing, a large team, or years of accumulated know-how.

Unless, like Maciej, Giovanni, and Jan, you are 21, 24, and 25 years old, respectively. And you don't know any better yet.

Poland Tech Week: Sources of Inspiration

At the end of August, they decided they wanted to organize Poland Tech Week for late October - a week-long tech gathering held across multiple locations, featuring free events where participants could listen to startup founders and tech leaders, or even play a game of padel with them...

The idea was born during the summer, inspired by Amsterdam Tech Week, co-founded by Giovanni Antonelli, who works as a Venture Partner at the fund PROfunders Capital.

“In July, I saw the impact of Amsterdam Tech Week on social media. It’s an ecosystem I know well, having studied in Amsterdam myself. My girlfriend sent me a link to Giovanni's initiative. I immediately wrote to him, pointing out that Poland was missing a major startup event,” recalls Jan Lis, an investor at ffVC.

Although Giovanni and Jan shared the same lecture halls during their university days in Amsterdam, their closer bond developed only through discussions about Poland Tech Week. “To be honest, we were getting to know each other over Google Meet,” says Giovanni.

Jan and Maciej had studied together at Bocconi University in Milan. “We met at a startup event in Italy. I wanted to pull him into the project right away,” Jan comments.

Poland Tech Week: How It Came Together

“We started reaching out to everyone playing key roles in the startup world, set up a website, and created a LinkedIn profile. At first, people didn't fully believe we could pull it off. One evening over the phone, we even considered shutting the initiative down. But we concluded that our vision was right and that we had to give it everything we had, regardless of the scale we managed to achieve. Then, day by day, more people began declaring they would host an event during Poland Tech Week - including entities like SpaceXAI - and the community turned out to be incredible,” Jan Lis explains.

Ultimately, between October 26 and 30, a total of 51 events (including two hackathons) were hosted under the Poland Tech Week banner. Sixty-five institutions and organizations were involved, and more than 2,000 people took part in the free events.

“I said you can’t do a Tech Week in 60 days. Poland’s tech ecosystem proved me wrong. I will never doubt it again,” Aleksandra Pędraszewska, Partner at the Vastpoint fund, wrote cheerfully on LinkedIn.

Małgorzata Boryń, co-founder of neptune.ai - the Polish startup acquired by OpenAI - commented humorously: “Never tell Polish people that something is impossible. It’ll get old pretty quickly”

Poland Tech Week 2027

“I can already say that the next Poland Tech Week will take place in 2027. The community response was fantastic, and besides, we believe that when it comes to companies and technology built in Poland, we truly have something to brag about. The core idea behind the first Polish tech week was to show that Poland is a place where it’s worth investing, taking on major challenges, and building global companies. Poland Tech Week also helps attract international founders and investors to the country, enabling them to fit a huge number of high-value meetings into a packed schedule over just a few days,” emphasizes Maciej Wojciechowski, a Bocconi student and board member at Innovis VC, a European organization helping students enter the world of VC funds.

About the author

Michał Karbowiak

Journalist and business specialist covering stories that often escape global media attention. Connecting Polish innovation with a global perspective.

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