National Centre for Research and Development Poland

Helps Polish innovators access national funding, partnerships, and commercialization support for applied technology projects.

Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju, or NCBR, is Poland's national research and development funding agency and an executive body under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It finances applied R&D from early concept through demonstration to commercialisation, and its governance moved from the Ministry of Education and Science on 2024-03-07. The centre sits at the research end of the public innovation system, with a mandate aimed at knowledge creation, technological progress, and nationally defined strategic priorities.

NCBR funds work through grants rather than venture capital or loans. Current funding routes include the large-enterprise and non-SME tracks of Ścieżka SMART, strategic programmes such as AGROSTRATEG, HYDROSTRATEG, and NUKLEOSTRATEG, the LIDER UP leadership programme, and international ERA-NET and joint transnational calls. Named strategic calls carry budgets of PLN 300 million for AGROSTRATEG I, PLN 200 million for HYDROSTRATEG V, and PLN 150 million for NUKLEOSTRATEG I, alongside a defence and security history that spans 19 competitions and more than PLN 4.1 billion. Its sectors span fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, climate, cyber hardware, defence, energy, hardware, manufacturing, materials, medtech, robotics, semiconductors, transport, agritech, and foodtech.

NCBR is the right route for teams that need high-budget, agenda-led research support and can meet a specific call design. Its competition model is top-down: the public agenda defines the problem, and applicants must fit the technical and thematic terms set for the round. That makes NCBR a strong match for research organisations, large companies, and consortia with substantial technical depth, while PARP remains the closer home for SMEs seeking implementation support.