The changing geopolitical situation, trade tensions, technological competition and growing uncertainty around global supply chains make Europe must redefine its approach to economy, technology, energy and security.
As a result, the question of economic and technological sovereignty returns more and more often. Not only about how to protect our own interests, but also about what position we want to occupy in the economy of the future. About the extent to which we want to be the creator of solutions that shape the future, and to what extent we only want to be their recipient.
In search of control
A natural reaction to growing uncertainty is to strive for greater control over our own economic and technological development. In practice, however, the modern economy is based on a network of mutual dependencies that cannot be simply turned off. No country today is fully independent. They all operate in a network of technological, financial, energy and infrastructural interdependencies.
Even the United States, which dominates the field of artificial intelligence today, remains dependent on the most advanced chips produced in Taiwan. Europe uses American cloud services. China needs Western technologies in many segments of advanced manufacturing.
So the question is not how to become completely independent from the world. The question is rather: what position do we want to occupy in the global system of interdependence. This opens a more important question: what competences, technologies and products allow you to build a lasting position in such a world?
Imitation is the way to nowhere
The experience of countries that have successfully caught up with economic leaders shows that they very rarely achieved this goal by copying their development path.. Imitating the leader, they most often simply remained a step behind him. Lasting advantages usually arise when you manage to create something unique and difficult to replace. In a world of interdependence, such competences, technologies and products have the greatest value.
Countries are least likely to succumb to pressure when they have resources or solutions that others cannot easily replace. The goal is not only to limit one's own dependencies. It is equally important to build advantages that make others need us as well. Europe already has many examples of such specializations. The Dutch ASML produces the world's most advanced lithography machines, without which modern semiconductors would not be created. German Zeiss supplies the optics necessary for their operation. In Poland, WB Electronics, one of the European leaders in unmanned systems and communication solutions for the military, whose technologies are used by the armed forces of many countries, has built a similar position in its niche.
It's impossible without Europe
It is these types of competences that make even the world's largest economies need to take Europe into account in their technological and industrial strategies. They are not only a source of economic value, but also a source of agency. It is also a good example of the fact that medium-sized economies can also occupy strategic positions in global value chains. There is an important lesson for Poland from this observation.
Our ambition should not be to try to copy Silicon Valley. It should involve identifying areas where we can build our own technological and industrial advantages. It may be artificial intelligence used in specific sectors of the economy. These may be dual-use technologies developed at the interface between civil and defense. These may include space technologies, cybersecurity, advanced industrial automation or solutions related to energy transformation.
Polish challenges
In many such areas, Poland is not starting from scratch. Contrary to often repeated opinions, we are not condemned solely to the role of a recipient of technologies created elsewhere. In many segments, we have competences that can become the foundation of our own advantages. A good example is the Polish company viktor.com, which develops AI agents that act as digital workers. It recently raised USD 75 million. financing in round A – one of the largest rounds of this type for a Polish technology start-up at such an early stage of development. This shows that technologies capable of competing globally can be created in Poland.
However, the history of many innovative companies shows that creating technology is only the beginning. Equally important is the ability to finance its further development and scaling. This is why modern sovereignty is based not only on technology, but also on infrastructure and capital. Technological means the ability to create your own solutions and competences. Infrastructure concerns control over networks, data centers, energy and communication systems. Capital means the ability to finance one's own development without having to constantly rely on foreign capital.
Capital market in the service of sovereignty
Of these three pillars, capital remains the most underestimated. If the most promising technology companies are forced to seek financing exclusively abroad, decision-making centers, intellectual property, jobs and future tax revenues often flow away along with the capital. Without your own capital, it is difficult not only to create a technology, but also to maintain control over its further development and the benefits it generates. Therefore, building a strong capital market is not just a financial project. It is an element of building modern economic sovereignty.
Today, Poland is at a special moment in its development. After three decades of catching up with the richest European countries, we are increasingly moving from the stage of technology absorption to the stage of co-creation. More and more Polish companies not only export products, but also take over foreign enterprises, technologies and brands. Increasingly, we are becoming not recipients, but co-creators of global value chains.
At stake is not only the rate of economic growth. At stake is Poland's place in the future distribution of technology, capital and added value.
In a world of interdependence, sustainable economic strength comes neither from isolation nor from attempts at self-sufficiency. It results from the ability to create one's own competences, technologies and companies and to take positions in the global economy that allow one to maintain agency in the technological changes shaping the next decades of development.
Author: Mikołaj Raczyński, vice-president of the Polish Development Fund
