Poland is attracting investors not only through competitive costs, its location and warehouse infrastructure. Increasingly, Asian companies are also considering whether facilities are ready for automation, systems integration and real-time operations management when selecting investment locations. The market is therefore entering a new phase: moving from nearshoring, driven primarily by location and costs, towards techshoring, where competitive advantage is increasingly built on digital infrastructure.
Europe remains one of the most important destinations for global investors despite the slowdown in foreign direct investment. According to the EY European Attractiveness Survey 2026, the number of investment projects in Europe fell by 7% last year, while Poland recorded a 10% increase. At the same time, investments related to technology, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing are among the fastest-growing categories.
“Just a few years ago, investors were primarily asking about warehouse clear height or the number of loading docks, while discussions focused on location and rental costs. Today, questions about power availability, a facility’s readiness for automation, systems integration and the ability to scale operations are becoming just as common. Poland is no longer competing solely on warehouse space, where we may soon see a supply gap, but on the entire business environment it can offer,” says Igor Roguski, Partner at real estate advisory firm SQM Advisory.
This shift clearly illustrates how expectations towards commercial real estate are evolving. According to JLL’s study “Are Polish warehouses ageing?”, the factors expected to have the greatest impact on the development of modern warehouse facilities over the next five years are smart technologies (62%) and process automation and robotisation (54%). Competitive advantage is therefore increasingly determined by more than the building itself. What matters more and more is whether the property can be integrated with security, logistics, energy management and access control systems, and whether it enables real-time data analysis and process automation.
Real estate advisors are observing the same shift. According to KPMG’s “German CEE Business Outlook 2026”, more than half of German companies planning to expand their operations in Central and Eastern Europe identify Poland as their preferred investment location. At the same time, businesses are increasingly looking beyond costs and location, focusing also on the availability of energy infrastructure, automation potential and opportunities for future growth.
Logistics is one of the areas where this transformation is particularly visible. Blue Bolt also implements digital access management solutions in logistics facilities, where technology can support, among other things, the movement and access of couriers, employees and contractors. Processes that previously required manual handling can therefore be moved into a digital environment and integrated with other systems operating within the facility. This reflects a broader shift in the approach to logistics real estate – digital infrastructure is increasingly being considered as early as the design and operational planning stages, rather than only after a building becomes operational.
The digitalisation of logistics facilities is no longer treated as a technology project implemented after the investment has been completed. Increasingly, it is planned as part of the entire operational environment, as it affects not only the efficiency of day-to-day processes but also the ability to grow and scale the business. As a result, proptech solutions are evolving from being simply part of a building’s equipment into an integral component of the infrastructure used by businesses.
“A warehouse is no longer simply a place to store goods. It is becoming part of a company’s digital operating environment. Investors, including Asian companies, increasingly expect a standard that can be implemented both in a new facility and integrated with existing infrastructure across different countries. Today, the greatest value comes not from the number of systems, but from their integration. For companies operating across multiple markets, proptech is becoming part of their operational infrastructure rather than an add-on to the building,” adds Maciej Grabowski, Founder of Blue Bolt, a Polish proptech company.
In the coming years, investment competitiveness will no longer depend solely on location or operating costs, but increasingly on the level of digitalisation across the entire logistics ecosystem. Countries and markets that fail to build integrated data infrastructure and real-time management capabilities will gradually lose competitiveness in attracting the most advanced investments in e-commerce, manufacturing and new technologies. Poland still holds certain advantages today, including costs and workforce availability in selected regions. The key challenge, however, will be turning these advantages into a lasting market standard.
