Documented examples

Each record describes something a country built that the indicators do not capture. The source provides the published number; the mechanism is our interpretation.

Scores describe outcomes. These records describe how a country acted, what it needed and what happened. 742 of 742 records include a mechanism. They do not affect scores.

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SearchCountryCapabilityStatusWith a mechanism9 of 742 deliveries

Anticipation

1 delivery linked to Government foresight capacity.

Polandsince 1996dismantledbears on Government foresight capacity

Rządowe Centrum Studiów Strategicznych, liquidated in 2006

Poland's Government Centre for Strategic Studies, attached to the Prime Minister, with tasks of strategic programming and forecasting of economic and social development set in article 14k of the Act of 8 August 1996 on the Council of Ministers, was liquidated as of 31 March 2006 by the Act of 17 February 2006, in the year its budget had been planned at PLN 10,016 thousand.

10,016 thousand zloty, planned 2006 expenditure in budget part 47, government centre for strategic studies, 2006 (draft budget). Sejm of the Republic of Poland, government bill on the liquidation of the Government Centre for Strategic Studies (print 172, 5th term), regulatory impact assessment, retrieved 2026-10-02.

The move, and what it needed

Parliament gave a strategic studies centre attached to the Prime Minister its own statutory tasks and budget part, then a new government folded it into the Prime Minister's Chancellery and a line ministry as part of an administrative savings programme.

Preconditions

A statute giving the unit its own budget part, which made it visible as a line to cut
A government programme of administrative consolidation that counted a separate agency as overhead
Receiving ministries willing to absorb the tasks, which let the unit be closed without a visible gap

Limits: The figure is planned spending in the government's draft 2006 budget, quoted in the bill's regulatory impact assessment, not an outturn, and the same assessment expected savings of about half of it. The bill proposed liquidation on 28 February 2006; the act as passed (Dz.U. 2006 nr 45 poz. 319, ISAP, https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20060450319, PDF) set 31 March 2006, and the claim uses the enacted date. The centre's statutory work was forecasting and long-term strategic programming, which sits closer to development planning than to scenario-based foresight. Its tasks did not vanish: the act moved impact assessment, foreign policy concepts and analyses ordered by the Prime Minister to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, and the bill moved strategy and forecasting to the minister for regional development, so what ended is a dedicated unit with its own budget line, not every forward-looking task. Started is 1996, the year of the Act on the Council of Ministers whose article 14k held the centre's tasks; neither source gives the centre's founding date or first year of operation.

Coordination

2 deliveries linked to Public-private collaboration, University-industry collaboration.

Polandsince 2018still operatingbears on Public-private collaboration

Baltic Pipe gas interconnection

Poland's Gaz-System, Denmark's Energinet and Norway's Gassco coordinated the Baltic Pipe cross-border gas corridor; the interconnection launched on 1 October 2022 and reached its target technical parameters by November, allowing up to 10 billion cubic metres per year toward Poland.

10,000,000,000 cubic metres per year, baltic pipe capacity toward poland, 2022-11-30. 3 operators, transmission-system operators coordinating the interconnection, 2022. Polish Energy Regulatory Office, National Report of the President of URE 2023, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Three transmission-system operators aligned standards, permits, offshore construction and compressor upgrades around one operating date. Poland's public strategy created the demand and political priority, while the network companies supplied the engineering and cross-border interfaces needed to make the corridor usable.

Preconditions

Regulators and transmission operators with authority to coordinate across borders
A shared technical and permitting plan for offshore and onshore assets
An anchor demand and financing model strong enough to justify capacity before completion

Where else it has been used: Cross-border infrastructure travels through interoperable operators and a single commissioning plan. Baltic Pipe shows how a strategic objective can be converted into a working corridor when national and commercial incentives line up.

Limits: Capacity and commissioning dates show infrastructure delivered, not actual annual flows, gas-price effects, environmental costs or the security value of a single corridor under changing demand. The regulator reports technical parameters and the three-operator arrangement, while the project also depended on EU and national permitting outside this metric. The record describes a cross-border build rather than a purely Polish project.

Polandsince 2017still operatingbears on University-industry collaboration

Doktorat wdrożeniowy (implementation doctorate) programme

Poland's science ministry opened the implementation doctorate in the 2017/2018 academic year, funding doctoral candidates to do their research inside a firm or institution. In its first five editions 2,293 projects were approved, 479 people qualified for the sixth edition in 2022/2023, and 69.6 percent of the doctorates ran in the private sector.

2,293 approved doctoral projects, implementation doctorate projects approved in the first five editions, 2022. 479 doctoral candidates, candidates qualified for the sixth edition, 2022/2023. Polish Ministry of Education and Science, '5 lat programu Doktorat wdrożeniowy', retrieved 2026-10-01.

The move, and what it needed

The science ministry paid a scholarship to doctoral candidates who were also employed by a firm, with a supervisor on each side. The firm gets a researcher working on its own problem and the university gets a funded doctorate. Each edition was a national competition that universities applied to.

Preconditions

Universities accredited to award doctorates and willing to accept dissertations built on applied work
Firms with enough technical depth to host and co-supervise a doctoral project
A ministry budget line able to fund multi-year scholarships on top of the firm's salary

Where else it has been used: Close in design to France's CIFRE industrial doctorates (since 1981) and Denmark's Industrial PhD. Poland's version runs through annual ministerial editions rather than a standing agency.

Limits: The figures are the ministry reporting on its own programme. They restate a report by the state-owned Łukasiewicz Research Network, not a statistical release. 2,293 is approved projects, not completed doctorates. The page gives no completion, dropout or defence rate, and no figure for patents, products or firm R&D that came out of the work. The latest count read here is from 2022. Figures for the editions since then, including later press totals of about 3,000 participants, were not verified at an official source. A co-funded PhD placement is one channel of university-firm collaboration, and it does not measure the intensity of joint research the indicator asks for, such as co-publications, contract research or co-patenting. 30.4 percent of placements are in the public sector, including state-owned companies and public institutions, so not every project links a university with a private firm. Firms may use the scholarship as a wage subsidy for staff they would have employed anyway.

Learning

1 delivery linked to Adult learning participation.

Polandsince 1999still operatingbears on Adult learning participation

County and city general secondary schools for adults (licea ogólnokształcące dla dorosłych)

Poland's county governments and cities with county rights ran general secondary schools for adults whose enrolment rose from 26,443 pupils in 2010 to 47,584 in 2013, fell to 16,470 in 2021 and recovered to 26,734 in 2024, according to Statistics Poland's Local Data Bank.

26,734 pupils, pupils in general secondary schools for adults governed by country powiats and by cities with powiat rights (sum of bdl variables 473647 and 8836), 2024. 47,584 pupils, same sum at its 2013 high, the largest value since the country-powiat series begins in 2010, 2013. Statistics Poland (GUS), Local Data Bank (BDL), subject P2031 'General secondary schools for adults', variables 473647 (pupils, governed by powiat self-government, country powiats) and 8836 (pupils, governed by cities with powiat rights), Poland, retrieved 2026-10-02.

The move, and what it needed

Counties and cities with county rights, which own Poland's public secondary schools, keep evening and extramural general secondary classes open for adults who want the same matura a teenager earns, tuition-free and funded through the public education budget.

Preconditions

A county tier of local government that owns secondary schools and decides which adult classes to open
A national exam and certificate system that treats an adult's matura the same as a teenager's
A per-pupil public education budget that follows adult pupils into local-government schools

Limits: The figures are computed: GUS publishes the two governing-body series separately (2024: 13,857 in country powiats and 12,877 in cities with powiat rights; 2013: 30,667 and 16,917; 2010: 11,917 and 14,526; 2021: 8,046 and 8,424) and this record adds them. The country-powiat series starts in 2010, so the sum cannot be taken further back, and the city series alone shows a break (40,439 in 2000, 5,259 in 2006, 18,038 in 2007) that tracks the restructuring of secondary schooling and a change in classification, not a real swing. These schools are a minority of adult general secondary schooling: in 2024 the same subject counts 102,881 pupils in total, of whom county and city governments hold about 26 percent, gminas, voivodships and central administration another 1,360, social organisations and associations 5,277, and the remaining roughly 69,500 sit in schools run by other bodies, which the variables read here do not break out. The 2013 high was a two-year surge from 23,737 in 2011 that the source does not explain, and the 2024 count is back at its 2010 level after three years of growth, so the record is filed as operating: the fall from 2013 to 2021 reads as a surge unwinding rather than a lost capability, and a reader who treats 2013 as the baseline would call it eroded. BDL labels the school year by its start year; the API response does not say so, so '2024' most likely means 2024/25. A pupil count is enrolment, not completion or a matura pass, and it covers general secondary schooling only: adult vocational schools, post-secondary schools, courses and employer training are outside it. The 1999 start is the year Poland's county tier was created and given secondary schools; it was not read at the cited source.

Adaptability

3 deliveries linked to Institutional responsiveness, Disaster preparedness and recovery.

Polandsince 2015still operatingbears on Institutional responsiveness

mObywatel digital ID wallet

Poland made the mDowód digital identity document in the mObywatel app legally equivalent to the physical identity card inside Poland; the Ministry of Digital Affairs reports that eight million people use the document, which can also support PESEL blocking and other public-service interactions.

8,000,000 people, people using the mdowód digital identity document, 2026-08. 1 nationally recognised digital identity document, legal status of mdowód inside poland, 2026-08. Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs, mObywatel usage update, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Poland put a verifiable identity document and several high-value public functions in one mobile wallet, then gave the digital document explicit legal standing so offices, banks and other authorised institutions could accept it. A central app reduced the need for each service to build its own mobile credential.

Preconditions

A trusted national population register and physical identity issuance system
A state operator able to sign and revoke verifiable mobile documents
A legal rule that tells frontline institutions when a digital document is equivalent to paper

Where else it has been used: Digital wallets travel when legal recognition follows technical deployment. Poland's adoption shows the pull of a useful document, while the single-app design keeps recovery and exclusion as live governance questions.

Limits: The user count measures adoption of a government wallet, not successful completion of public services, equal access for people without compatible phones or the privacy and fraud risks of concentrating documents in one app. The ministry reports a rounded current total and does not state how often each user presents the credential. Legal equivalence applies in Poland and does not automatically make the document a cross-border EU credential.

Polandsince 2016still operatingbears on Institutional responsiveness

Rodzina 500+ and 800+ child-benefit delivery

Poland's ZUS-administered child-benefit system has paid support since 2016 and moved applications and payments online; by November 2023, the government reported nearly seven million children reached and almost PLN255 billion transferred, before the monthly benefit rose from 500 to 800 złoty in January 2024.

7,000,000 children (nearly), children reached by rodzina 500+ since launch, 2023-11. 255,000,000,000 Polish złoty (nearly), support transferred through the programme since launch, 2023-11. Polish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Rodzina 800+ announcement, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Poland turned a broad entitlement into a single national payment workflow, then shifted administration to ZUS and required online applications through ZUS, Emp@tia or bank channels. Automatic uprating from 500 to 800 złoty preserved continuity for existing families without a new eligibility decision.

Preconditions

A population and social-insurance register that can match children to guardians
A payment agency with nationwide bank-transfer and fraud-control capacity
Assisted application routes for households that cannot navigate online forms

Where else it has been used: Large child-benefit systems travel when payment infrastructure is simpler than case-by-case welfare administration. Poland's digital-only application rule shows the efficiency gained and the inclusion risk that must be managed alongside it.

Limits: The cumulative transfer and child counts show administrative reach, not poverty reduction, fertility effects, take-up among eligible families or the programme's fiscal sustainability. The government reports rounded totals and the period includes a change from 500+ to 800+, so the numbers do not describe one constant benefit. Payments are made to bank accounts, leaving delivery quality dependent on digital access and accurate beneficiary records.

Polandsince 2018still operatingbears on Disaster preparedness and recovery

Alert RCB national emergency SMS channel

Poland's Government Security Centre launched Alert RCB as an opt-out-free emergency SMS channel in 2018; in its first year it activated the system 23 times and, working with mobile operators, sent about 200 million warning messages to phones in threatened areas.

200,000,000 SMS messages (about), warning sms messages sent in alert rcb's first year, 2019-06. 23 alerts, alert rcb activations in its first year, 2019-06. Government Security Centre of Poland, quarterly analytical bulletin no. 27, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

RCB receives hazard information from crisis services and meteorological agencies, defines a threatened geography and legally requires every mobile operator to broadcast the same short warning without prior subscription. The channel is deliberately simple and complements local sirens and emergency services.

Preconditions

A central crisis authority able to trigger messages across all mobile operators
A geographic targeting system at least as precise as the powiat
Operator capacity and redundant channels for outages, roaming and people outside coverage

Where else it has been used: Mass SMS warnings travel when the state can use operators as a coordinated last-mile network. Poland's early data also makes the latency and duplication limits explicit rather than hiding them behind a reach percentage.

Limits: Messages and activations measure the scale of a warning channel, not delivery time, comprehension, false-alarm rates or whether people changed behaviour. The bulletin notes that large-area alerts could take two to three hours to distribute and that phones outside network coverage might not receive them. Roaming can also produce duplicate messages, so SMS volume is not a unique-person count.

Building

2 deliveries linked to Large project delivery.

Polandsince 2018dismantledbears on Large project delivery

Ostrołęka C coal block, and its abandonment

Poland began the 1,000-MW Ostrołęka C coal-block project in 2018 without full financing, suspended construction in 2020 and demolished the built elements in 2021; the Supreme Audit Office later found that the unfinished investment consumed more than PLN1.5 billion.

1,500,000,000 Polish złoty (more than), cost of the unfinished ostrołęka c investment, 2025. 1,000 megawatts (about), planned electrical capacity of the abandoned coal block, 2018. Najwyższa Izba Kontroli (Supreme Audit Office), Ostrołęka C closure audit, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Poland committed to a large coal unit before its financing, fuel assumptions and climate-policy fit were fully re-tested. When the economics and policy context changed, the state-owned investors suspended the build and converted the site toward gas, but only after construction and contractual obligations had made the exit costly.

Preconditions

Independent feasibility and financing checks refreshed when a project is materially delayed
Board and shareholder oversight able to stop a state-owned project before sunk costs compound
A site-reuse and worker-transition plan that preserves options after cancellation

Where else it has been used: Ostrołęka travels as a warning about energy megaproject lock-in: changing course is rational when assumptions fail, but review gates must come before construction and contract settlement, not after.

Limits: The audit's cost figure covers the investment and its close-out as assessed by NIK, not every wider system cost or the value of the later gas-fired replacement. The project was a state-owned-company investment rather than a conventional central-government budget line, and the audit is a retrospective accountability finding. Abandonment can prevent further losses, but it does not recover the sunk expenditure or prove that every original energy-security objective was mistaken.

Polandsince 2019still operatingbears on Large project delivery

Vistula Spit shipping canal (Przekop Mierzei Wiślanej)

Poland's Maritime Office in Gdynia signed the first construction contract for the Vistula Spit waterway on 4 October 2019 and opened the canal on 17 September 2022. The Supreme Audit Office found that by April 2023 the programme's value had risen 125 percent, from PLN 880 million to over PLN 1,984 million, and that its completion deadline had slipped two years to the end of 2024.

125 % overrun (PLN 880 million to over PLN 1,984 million), cost overrun of the vistula spit waterway programme against its original value, 2023-04. 2 years (to end of 2024), extension of the programme's completion deadline, 2023-05. Najwyższa Izba Kontroli (Supreme Audit Office), audit of the programme 'Budowa drogi wodnej łączącej Zalew Wiślany z Zatoką Gdańską', retrieved 2026-10-01.

The move, and what it needed

The Council of Ministers established a multi-year programme and the Maritime Office in Gdynia contracted and built it. The minister responsible raised the budget twice and extended the deadline without telling the cabinet that the project no longer passed its own cost-benefit test. A strategic objective, sea access that bypassed Russian-controlled waters, overrode the economic appraisal.

Preconditions

A strategic or security rationale strong enough to survive a failed cost-benefit test
A multi-year programme instrument whose budget the responsible minister can revise
An audit office with the mandate to publish findings after the fact and to notify suspected crime and breaches of public finance discipline

Where else it has been used: The pattern of a politically fixed opening date and a budget revised to fit is common to prestige infrastructure. What sets this case apart is NIK's documentation that the threshold breach was known before the first contract was signed.

Limits: This is a delivery with a large documented overrun, and it should be read as evidence of poor cost and schedule performance, not as a success. The 125 percent is NIK's figure for the programme budget as revised up to April 2023. Against the further revision to PLN 2,127.5 million in May 2023 the overrun is about 142 percent, a figure computed here and not published by NIK. Final outturn cost after 2024 was not checked. NIK found that the cost-benefit threshold was crossed at a 20 percent cost increase, and that the minister knew of a more than 100 percent rise before the first contract was signed. The project is therefore uneconomic on the state's own appraisal, and NIK said it was considering notifications of suspected crime and of breaches of public finance discipline. Only the canal and lock are open. NIK states that the sea-going vessels the programme was designed for cannot call at Elbląg until port works there are finished, so the canal's stated purpose was not delivered on the date the first metric describes. The ministry's count of more than 1,770 vessels in the first year is mostly small craft and is not used. The programme was set up by a Council of Ministers resolution of 24 May 2016. 'Started' uses the first construction contract in 2019, and a reviewer could set it at 2016.