Augmented reality, AI and robotics: Discover Poland's 'Silicon Forest'

Poland’s Podlaskie region is rich in natural beauty, with abundant forests. But now it’s aspiring to be a kind of ‘Silicon Forest,’ through its blossoming technology and IT scene.

Innovation is at the heart of Podlaskie’s innovation and investment vision. It’s looking to fertilise an ecosystem, which the data shows already employs more than 10,000 people in the IT sector, including over 4000 software developers.

The international TenderHut Group is rooted in Podlaskie. One of its 15 companies, Holo4Labs, has developed advanced augmented reality technology, to help scientists do away with manual, time-consuming tasks. 

The company says its hi-tech goggles can help cut drug development by up to three years.

“With new drugs, it takes 10 or 15 years for this drug to be developed. This reduces the time to one, two or even three years less," revealed Maciej Falkowski, the Head of Product at Holo4Labs.

"I can fully focus as a scientist on my work, as I can see everything in my eyesight and navigate with voice commands, so I can work with my hands free.”

“If we are talking about the future and what we want to do here also is that we are really working closely with all universities. We are trying to train the new people, we are trying to have the best employees that we can, and I also see a lot of growth here,” said Robert Strzelecki, the CEO of TenderHut Group S.A.

For the Medical University of Białystok, in the regional capital, tech is at the heart of research, focusing on things like artificial intelligence, and how it can help personalise future treatments.

"There’s a great environment for collaboration between universities, like academia and business partners, which helps to develop tools that will actually be delivered to the