Kraków to host ABSL Summit 2025 with Mario Draghi delivering keynote on Europe’s tech challenges
The ABSL Summit 2025 is set to take place from June 23 to 25 at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, bringing together one of Europe's key gatherings for the business services sector. Organised by the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL), the event will attract around 1,500 participants, including business leaders, public administration representatives, economists, and industry experts from across the globe. This marks the third consecutive year Kraków will host the summit, highlighting its rising stature as a central hub for business services in Europe.
This year’s theme, "Embrace Technology, Empower People," reflects the sector’s continuing commitment to balancing technological advancement with human capital development. Janusz Dziurzyński, president of ABSL, articulated the sector's vision around the "3Ts": Talents, Technology, and Transformation. According to Dziurzyński, the Polish business services sector exemplifies success through ongoing skill enhancement, cutting-edge technology implementation, and deeper specialisation, which collectively underpin Poland’s growing competitiveness on the global business stage.
Kraków’s repeated role as host city underscores its growing reputation as a major centre for business services. Aleksander Miszalski, the president of Kraków, expressed pride in the city's capacity to foster favourable conditions for investors, citing its access to specialised talent pools, quality office infrastructure, and high living standards. He emphasised that events like the ABSL Summit not only consolidate Kraków’s position but also promote meaningful dialogue between entrepreneurs, enabling the exchange of ideas and strengthening the region’s economic ecosystem.
The summit’s agenda promises a series of high-profile debates and discussions. Most notably, Dr Mario Draghi—former Prime Minister of Italy and ex-President of the European Central Bank—will deliver a keynote address focussing on Europe’s challenges concerning technology and innovation competitiveness. Draghi’s insights aim to highlight strategies that can help restore and build a sustainable economic advantage for Europe amid evolving global pressures. The prominence of his participation reinforces the summit’s importance as a platform for serious policy and economic discourse.
Other distinguished speakers include Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization, Krzysztof Gawkowski; Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański; Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Beata Javorcik; Deputy Minister of Development and Technology, Michał Baranowski; and former US Ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski. Additionally, Jacek Siewiera, former head of the National Security Bureau, will provide a live connection from The Hague linking the summit’s discussions with key topics from the NATO summit, reflecting the event’s breadth in covering both economic and security dimensions.
The ABSL represents over 260 leading global companies and supports a sector employing over 457,000 people in Poland alone. Its mission is to foster a competitive, sustainable business services ecosystem that creates valuable jobs and encourages responsible investment. The summit illustrates the continued growth and resilience of this sector, which has maintained momentum even amid global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions like Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
In the wider ABSL network, other events are planned to build on this momentum. The ABSL Forum 2025, scheduled for September in Riga, will address themes such as AI-driven innovation, workforce transformation, and cybersecurity. Meanwhile, an ABSL Conference in Brno in November will explore the intersection of human potential and digital innovation, continuing the dialogue on shaping the future of the business services industry.
Together, these gatherings demonstrate the dynamic and interconnected nature of the sector, which continues to navigate and lead through complex economic and technological transformations across Europe. The ABSL Summit 2025 in Kraków stands as a focal point for collaboration, learning, and strategic thinking as the industry looks towards sustainable growth and enhanced competitiveness on the global stage.