Foreign direct investments as a catalyst of technology transfer in Poland

In today's world, only countries with a high level of innovation, which specialize in the manufacture of products of a high technology are able to compete on a global scale. The achievements of theoretical and empirical research emphasize the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a channel for technology transfer in hosting countries. Poland since 1989 has opened up to foreign capital, what was crucial in transformation period. FDI played important role in privatization and internationalization process. The process of technology transfer will be examined in two dimensions in parallel: through the comparison of effectiveness of foreign owned companies and domestic companies and presentation of the existing between them gap. The main hypothesis are as follows:

- FDI in Poland are concentrated in medium advanced technologies,

- Foreign owned companies are more effective and productive than domestic companies,

- Through competition and process of learning and spill-over domestic companies are closing the gap with respect to foreign owned companies in the area of technology effectiveness.