Kraków Technology Park (KPT) — Startup Incubator and Innovation Accelerator

Kraków Technology Park (KPT) was established in 1997 by the City of Kraków and the Małopolska Region to drive innovation-led economic development. It is publicly owned and performs a dual role: managing the Kraków Special Economic Zone (now part of the Polish Investment Zone) covering 949 ha across 36 subzones, and operating a startup incubator and a series of acceleration programmes.

What it does: The KPT incubator currently houses 117 tech companies, while its acceleration programmes have graduated more than 300 startups. The flagship KPT ScaleUp programme, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under Poland's Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014–2020, prepared Industry 4.0 and smart-city startups for deployment in large corporations. KPT also organises Digital Dragons, one of Europe's leading games industry conferences, now attracting ~2,000 participants annually.

Results: In 2023 KPT issued 60 Polish Investment Zone support decisions for companies declaring combined investment of PLN 2 billion and 1,099 new jobs. Over its 28-year history, KPT's ecosystem has generated notable alumni: CD Projekt RED (The Witcher franchise, ~10 billion USD market cap at peak), Comarch (EURO STOXX listed), Autenti, Reality Games, and Seedia. KPT was a founding member of EBN — the European Business and Innovation Centre Network.

Why it works: The combination of a large-scale investment zone (providing tax relief to attract established companies) with an incubator and targeted acceleration for early-stage startups creates a full innovation pipeline — from first idea to scaling company — under public ownership with EU co-funding backstop.

Source: https://www.kpt.krakow.pl/en/ | https://ebn.eu/2022/04/04/25-years-ktp/

Read the full analysis: https://www.kpt.krakow.pl/en/