Kraków Technology Park — City–University Technology Transfer & Special Economic Zone

Kraków Technology Park (KPT) was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Municipality of Kraków, the Jagiellonian University, Kraków University of Technology and the AGH University of Science and Technology, alongside the Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks, to link the city's academic research base to industry and to manage a new special economic zone.

Results: KPT now manages the Kraków Special Economic Zone, which covers 1,016 hectares across 39 subzones in 38 municipalities in the Małopolska, Świętokrzyskie and Podkarpackie regions. On its home campus, KPT hosts 117 tenant companies and works with 600 zone investors, and has graduated 300 companies from its startup acceleration programmes. In 2024, fDi Intelligence (Financial Times) named the KPT-managed zone the 'most innovative economic zone in Europe', a repeat honour after winning the 'Industrial Champion' category in 2023 among 63 global submissions.

Sector focus includes Industry 4.0 (KPT leads the hub4industry consortium) and gaming, alongside renewable energy and materials engineering technology-transfer services for tenant firms; clients over the years have included Comarch, CD Projekt RED and Revolut.

Why it's a good practice: it pairs a formal three-university technology-transfer mandate with the fiscal tools of a special economic zone, giving Kraków a mechanism to convert academic research into locally anchored industry — and to extend that reach across dozens of neighbouring municipalities rather than keeping the benefit within city limits alone.

Read more: https://www.kpt.krakow.pl/en/

Read the full analysis: https://media.kpt.krakow.pl/367368-krakow-technology-park-the-most-innovative-economic-zone-in-europe