Technological Rivalry Between States: How Can Poland Win in a Multi‑centric World?

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Does a country’s power still depend on its size today? The G7 summit currently underway in Evian, France, clearly shows that the traditional rules of the game are becoming a thing of the past, and the global balance of power is becoming multicentric.

The West faces the challenge of defending the existing order, and the main battleground is not territory, but new technologies. Today, these technologies determine economic, military, and political potential. How should Warsaw position itself in this new geopolitical reality? Our expert, Tomasz Pawłuszko, makes the point clear in his latest commentary for Łukasiewicz – ITECH:

“For Poland, technological competition is not a choice but a prerequisite for participation in the international system, which is transitioning to a polycentric phase. A middle-power country does not win in this competition through scale, but through the soundness of its choices, the efficiency of its institutions, and its ability to build cooperative networks.”

Key takeaways from the expert commentary:

  • A New Strategic Framework: These challenges are already recognized in the Polish Foreign Policy Strategy for 2026–2030, which identifies the technological revolution as a key factor shaping international relations.
  • The EU Shield: The response to global shifts is a European doctrine of technological sovereignty. For Poland, actively contributing to the EU’s digital autonomy is an opportunity to compensate for its limitations in terms of capital and scale.
  • It’s time for technology diplomacy: Poland needs a coherent national framework coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ongoing monitoring of technological dependencies, and a concentration of resources on research and development (target: 2.5% of GDP) in the area of smart specializations (including AI, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, and energy storage technologies). As a middle-sized country, we do not need to be the leader of every breakthrough—our strength must lie in smart adaptation, institutional efficiency, and building wise networks of partnerships. In an era of competition among great powers, nations compete not only for the inventions themselves, but above all for the rules governing their financing, diffusion, and standardization. A lack of active technology diplomacy means forfeiting influence over these rules. For Poland, making the right institutional choices today is the key to a secure and prosperous future.

As a middle-power country, we do not need to be the leader of every breakthrough—our strength must lie in smart adaptation, institutional efficiency, and building wise networks of partnerships. In an era of competition among great powers, nations compete not only for inventions themselves, but above all for the rules governing their financing, diffusion, and standardization. A lack of active technology diplomacy means forfeiting influence over these rules. For Poland, making the right institutional choices today is the key to a secure and prosperous future.

We invite you to read the full commentary by Dr. Tomasz Pawłuszka, who explains how Poland can turn global challenges into technological advantages.

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