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It has been over 15 years since we opened our first office in Poland. Back in those days, it had one room and could fit no more than three people. Since then, we have invested dynamically, mirroring the growing potential of the Polish economy. Now, we employ more than 1000 Googlers in the country. Only last year, we added over 350 people, opened our new office in Warsaw and launched a Google Cloud region — the first such investment not only in Poland, but in Central and Eastern Europe.
We are now making another step forward in reaffirming our commitment to Poland. We will invest nearly $700 million in the purchase and further development of The Warsaw HUB, a modern office complex right in the heart of Poland’s capital city. Google had moved into The Warsaw Hub as a tenant last year, opening a new office there — a home to teams working primarily on our most advanced solutions powering Google Cloud and its many global customers. It is already our largest site working on cloud technologies in Europe. With this new investment, across our sites in Warsaw we will have capacity for 2500 employees, with potential for future growth. We hope it also signals our long-term confidence in the potential that Poland and the region have as an attractive location for top talent and place to develop cutting-edge technologies.
Our work in Poland goes beyond supporting its digital economy, and right now we are extremely focused on helping those who need it most at this time. Last week we announced that Google will provide $10 million to local organizations helping refugees from the war in Ukraine who arrive into Poland. The funding will support both immediate humanitarian efforts and assistance for refugees in the first weeks of their stay in Poland, as well as their longer-terms needs. We will also be using Google’s spaces and resources to support those affected, including by using the Google for Startups Campus in Warsaw as a space where local NGOs can provide legal and psychological support to refugees. As the needs of those affected by the war change, we will be looking at other ways in which we can help.
View of the Warsaw skyline from Google's office at The Warsaw HUB
Contributing to Poland’s digital growth
Over the years, we've seen first hand in Poland how technology can help people get through difficult times, but also to grow their careers and businesses for the future. As we continue to invest not only in infrastructure, but also in talent and knowledge, we are confident that Google can continue helping Poland’s economy use its advantages and the power of technology to support its future economic growth. Much like the last 15 years, we will continue partnering with business, academia, public sector and the non-governmental organizations in Poland to ensure that our continued investments in the country enable society to benefit from what technology has to offer.
Investing in the future flexible workplace
We also believe that the future of work in this new, digital economy is flexibility. Whilst the majority of our Poland-based employees want to be on-site some of the time, they also want the flexibility of working from home a couple of days a week. Some of our people will want to be fully remote. Our future office spaces in Poland will have room for all of those possibilities.
Over the next few years, we will be investing in the construction of the next workspaces in our new office in The Warsaw HUB to ensure that it is best equipped to meet the needs of our new ways of working. We'll be introducing new types of collaboration spaces for in-person teamwork and inclusive meeting rooms for hybrid working as well as de-densifying the offices to improve wellbeing and providing many amenities (like outdoor terraces) to make sure that we offer the best possible work environment for the many talented people that will be joining us in Warsaw in the near future.
We know how hard it can be to keep on top of what’s happening in your community, let alone news globally. To help address this, Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news publishers, will begin rolling out today in Poland as “Showcase w Wiadomościach Google.” Google has signed partnerships with 47 Polish publications, including national, regional and local publications from across the country such as Wprost, NaTemat, Spider’s Web, 300Gospodarka, Lublin24 and TuŁódź. News Showcase is part of our global investment in news and reinforces our commitment to journalism in Poland and around the world.
Logos of our News Showcase partners in Poland
News Showcase panels can appear on Google products, currently on News and Discover, and direct readers to the full articles on publishers’ websites, helping them deepen their relationships with readers. Panels will also include extended access to paywalled content from participating publishers to give readers even more from their favorite sources, hopefully leading to more subscribers for the news organization. In addition to the revenue that comes directly from these more-engaged readers, participating publishers will receive monthly licensing payments from Google.
“News Showcase is another Google project supporting media outlets worldwide and once again they are doing it on such a large scale,” says Michał Mańkowski, editor-in-chief, chief operating officer and board member of naTemat Group, a nationwide online media publisher. “I am glad that Google recognizes more and more the important role of reliable and trustworthy publishers, and supports them in this way. We are proud to be in this group.”
“We are thrilled to be joining Google News Showcase. We are now certain this new platform will help us even better control how our content is seen by our readers,” says Przemysław Pająk, editor-in-chief of Spider’s Web, an independent business and technology news company. “We are not only going to use News Showcase to promote important news that we have been regularly bringing onto the media market, but also present our best columns and premium articles in an attractive way.”
Since we launched News Showcase in October 2020, we’ve signed deals with more than 1,200 news publications around the world and have launched in 14 countries including India, Japan, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Austria, the U.K., Australia, Czechia, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, Canada and Ireland, bringing more in-depth, essential news coverage to Google News and Discover users. More than 90% of the publications that are part of News Showcase represent local or community news. Local news is an essential way for readers to connect to their communities and ensure they get the news that impacts their day-to-day lives.
An example of how News Showcase panels will look with some of our partners in Poland.
"Projects like this one, supporting real journalism, are extremely important in a world overloaded with quick and short information, which often misses issues that matter,” says Michał M. Lisiecki, founder of PMPG Polskie Media SA, a traditional and new media publishing group. “Google News Showcase has a chance to gain recognition not only among editors and journalists but, most importantly, among readers who value quality content. I keep my fingers crossed for success, because it is now time for substantive and economic cooperation between global technology leaders and local media.”
“Quality local journalism plays a significant role in communities today. We are excited to be joining the project,” says Piotr Piotrowicz, CEO of Południowa Oficyna Wydawnicza, a local publishing group in central Poland, and CEO of the Local Media Association. “I believe Google News Showcase offers a chance for those important stories to reach new readers in our region and for local media to grow their digital future.”
An example of how News Showcase panels will look with some of our partners in Poland.
Google News Showcase is our latest effort to support publishers of all sizes and the news industry in Poland. Through the Google News Initiative we supported 163 local Polish newsrooms through our Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to help them continue their vital work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We also provided 6.6 million euros to support 33 Digital News Innovation Fund experimental news projects from leading publishers like Agora, Fratria, Gremi Media, Polityka, Polska Press and ZPR Media. Around the world, the Google News Initiative has supported more than7,000 news partners in over 120 countries and territories.
Since 2015, the Google News Lab has trained nearly 12,000 Polish journalists, newsroom staff and journalism students on a range of digital tools to help them research, verify and visualize their stories. Every year, we run an open Google News Lab Summer School for reporters from media located across the country to help them use those tools in their vital daily work in their local communities.
Google also sends eight billion visits each month to European news websites from products like Search and News, which publishers can monetize with online advertising and subscriptions on their websites and apps. Our ad technologies enable news organizations to sell their ad space to millions of advertisers globally — including advertisers they wouldn’t have access to without these services.
We’re dedicated to continuing our contribution to and collaboration with the news ecosystem, supporting the open web and continuing to provide access to information in Poland and elsewhere.