Frequently asked question (FAQ)

Does a participant have to stay in Poland during the program?

The participant' stay in Poland might be necessary and dependent on the needs of running the business, as well as acceleration with a business partner - this depends on the specifics of the business.

It may be useful to to have electronic qualified signatures (in line with eIDAS) issued by a trusted certifying entity.

What are the potential costs to be incurred?

Access to the Acceleration Program is free of charge for Start-ups. Start-ups shall bear the costs related to the participation in the Program, such as travel costs, accommodation and meals.

A required part of the Soft-Landing and Development stage is the employment of a Start-up Concierge., and of the Acceleration stage is for Start-up's to employ a Mentor and establish cooperation with a Business Partner interested in implementing the Business Idea in their business or investing in a Start-up.

Start-up can use the grant to cover costs earlier described in the budget for both stages: Soft-landing and Development as well as Acceleration.

Can a business idea be submitted more than once?

A given Business Idea may be submitted to the Acceleration Program once within one round of recruitment.

If the Business Idea remained on the reserve list until the start of the next call round it can apply for participation in this round. Business Idea in this situation is not subject to re-evaluation, and the result of the previously conducted evaluation is taken into account in creating the list of Business Ideas recommended for participation in the program.

In what language does the start-up apply to the program?

Communication within the Program shall be in English by electronic means, with project documentation being prepared in both English and Polish.

Who is the Connect Poland Prize Accelerator addressed to? 

The Connect Poland Prize Accelerator is addressed to start-up teams coming from abroad (outside Poland), which, by applying to the program, are declaring their willingness to establish and register a commercial (capital) company on the territory of Poland, in which: at least 50% of shares are held by natural persons who are not Polish citizens, and at least one member of the company's management board is not a Polish citizen. 

What countries are startups looked for from? 

Having in mind the aim of the Poland Prize program which is to encourage foreign star-ups to run their business in Poland, we invite start-ups from all over the world – besides Poland. At the same time, we focus our activities to key (but not restricted list of) countries where we plan to scout for start-ups, i.e. Ukraine, Belarus, other Eastern Partnership (e.g. Armenia, Georgia) and European countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain). So start-ups from other countries are also welcomed to participate in our acceleration program. 

What areas of solutions are supported within the program? 

We have basically two acceleration tracks – a general and an industry-specific one. The industry-specific track covers acceleration in the following specializations: 

• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 

• bioeconomy 

• pharmaceutical biotechnology 

As part of the general track, applications covering solutions from different industries can be submitted. Nevertheless, they should be in line with the scope of the National Smart Specializations (NSS). Currently, there a total of 13 smart specializations in Poland, all in the framework of 5 areas: 

1. healthy society 

2. agriculture and food bioeconomy, forest based and environmental bioeconomy 

3. sustainable energy industry 

4. circular economy (CE) – water, fossil raw materials, waste 

5. innovative technologies and industrial processes 

For a NSS list and detailed description of smart specialization, please visit a web-page: https://smart.gov.pl. 

How and when one can submit an application for the acceleration program? 

We plan to organize 4 selection rounds in total. An application should be submitted electronically, by creating an account and filling the online form available on the platform https://polandprize.lpnt.eu in the “Apply” tab. 

You can learn more on the current and upcoming selection rounds on our web-page in the “News” section, and by following our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectPolandPrizeLPNT. Also, you can get relevant information and contact us directly by reaching our scouts and sending a message via our Facebook page, email or phone. Our scouts’ contact information is available on our web-page in the “Team” tab.