WARSAW: Poland aims to double tax breaks for companies investing in research and development, a government minister said on Friday. Science and Higher Education Minister Jarosław Gowin said the plans would help boost innovation in the Polish economy. The government wants a new bill on innovation to come into force on 1 January 2018. It will usher in bigger tax breaks for businesses investing in innovation, collaboration with universities and research institutions, and in research and development. “Currently, [the tax breaks] amount to 50 percent and everything indicates that from January 1, 2018 this will be 100 percent,” said Gowin, who is also a deputy prime minister.
“In other words, an entrepreneur will be able to deduct every penny invested in collaboration with the science sector, in research and development.” He pointed to the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index released earlier this week, in which Poland has moved up one notch, climbing to 22nd place from 23rd last year. Gowin said Poland was improving in terms of innovation, even if slowly. He added he was convinced that this year the country would leap ahead, boosted by a separate bill on innovation that came into force at the beginning of this month.
