Appointment at the Pilecki Institute

Polish President Karol Nawrocki appointed Justyna Orłowska as ambassador and special representative of the president for innovation and new technologies on the evening of 21 September 2026. The announcement took place during an official ceremony hosted at the Pilecki Institute in New York. Under Poland's Act on the Foreign Service, the post is a statutory presidential envoy designated for foreign policy assignments rather than a conventional diplomatic posting to an individual foreign government. Orłowska will lead engagement with the commercial technology industry and develop economic partnerships between Polish enterprises and the United States.

Nawrocki explained that Orłowska brings practical background from domestic government technology programs and prior collaboration with American technology firms.

“This experience that she brings to the President's Chancellery, experience from govtech and from cooperation with the new technologies sector in the US, will certainly be very important for Poland.”

Presidential Business Council and commercial outreach

During his remarks, Nawrocki emphasized that the presidency must maintain direct communication and regular feedback from domestic commerce. He noted that carrying out presidential duties requires accurate insight into how Polish enterprises develop and what operating conditions they require to compete.

The president noted that more than a dozen thematic advisory bodies operate within the Chancellery of the President to channel expert advice. He identified the Presidential Business Council as the primary institutional voice representing domestic entrepreneurs and business leaders. During the New York event, Nawrocki expanded the council by appointing two new members: Aleksander Hass and Przemysław Sęczkowski.

Track record in public technology initiatives

Orłowska has worked on digital policy and administrative technology programs in Poland over several years. She took charge of the GovTech Polska program as its director in 2018. In March 2020, then-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appointed her as the prime minister's plenipotentiary for GovTech to coordinate public sector digitization and tech initiatives.

The statutory appointment structure for Orłowska keeps the role outside the permanent foreign service corps while allowing the president to assign diplomatic tasks. Nawrocki previously applied this mechanism in October 2025, when he named Grzegorz Berendt as ambassador and special representative of the president for historical diplomacy.

Recognitions for technology and science leaders

Alongside the council appointments and envoy designation, Nawrocki conferred state decorations on Polish and Polish-American figures from science and business. The honors recognized contributions to advanced technologies, support for Polish enterprise, and efforts to build Poland's reputation in the United States.

The decorated individuals included software developer Tomasz Czajka, a multiple-time winner of international programming competitions. Nawrocki also presented awards to computational biologist Teresa Przytycka and mathematician Mati Staniszewski, an entrepreneur and co-founder of the voice technology company ElevenLabs.