OZEON - Business & Ecology

POLAND 3.0

The most important programme for the development of polish economy a key aspect of the three seas initiative

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MY GENES A discussion about history, future plans, and corporate social responsibility with Maciej Formanowicz, the President of FABRYKI MEBLI „FORTE” S.A.

GOOD BECAUSE MADE IN POLAND Discussing the significance of organic food with the President of the Agricultural Market Agency, Łukasz Hołubowski

TRIFFID – ROBOT FROM PODLASIE Interview with Adam Ławicki – designer and developer of autonomous systems

www.opentranslation24.com

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój is a unique event where many key and strategic economic decisions are discussed. When business undertakes ambitious development plans is usually where things get tough. The first and frequently unsurmountable barrier are environmental decisions. Permits, approvals, opinions, and then – protests, this is the every-day reality for managers who implement investment projects. It is obvious that the natural environment must be approached with respect, but, as with everything, this also has to be done with moderation.

In last year’s special edition of the OZEON Magazine – Business & Ecology, dr. Grzegorz Chocian of the ECOPROBONO Constrictive Ecology Foundation, writing about ecoterrorism, posed the question: “Would lieutenant colonel Ignacy Prądzyński have any chance today to build the Augustów Canal?” This question rings in my ears whenever I hear media reports about the ambitious pro-jects planned by the Polish government for the upcoming years. Discussion of such problematic issues is one of the things which lay in the heart of our periodical.

During the Forum we will discuss new challenges facing Europe in the nearest decades. This publication is dedicated to the participants of the 27 Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój. I sincerely hope that the topics addressed in this special edition of the OZEON Magazine will contribute to a lively debate on the direction of development for the European Union. The Poland 3.0 and TRIF-FID projects are excellent examples which show that we have no lack of ambitious and daring managers. A courageous approach to strategic issues is the only thing that will have a real effect on the development of our Motherland.

I hope you will enjoy reading the magazine and am looking forward to working with you.

Krzysztof Jan Stawnicki Editor-in-Chief

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National programme of the Republic of Poland

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The most important programme for the development of polish economy a key aspect of the three seas initiative.

Entrepreneurship in my genes

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A discussion about history, future plans, and corporate social responsibility with Maciej Formanowicz, the President of FABRYKI MEBLI „FORTE” S.A.

Good because made in Poland

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Discussing the significance of organic food with the President of the Agricultural Market Agency, Łukasz Hołubowski.

First step towards the new

TRIFFID – robot from Podlasie

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Interview with Adam Ławicki – designer and developer of autonomous systems.

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Biaform wants to invest approximately 100 million PLN in its new factory in Białystok – says Wojciech Strzałkowski, Chairman of the Board.

Bank with Exceptional Ecological Mission

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Over 18.6 billion PLN for initiatives and projects that develop business, reduce energy costs and are environment-friendly.

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OZEON MAGAZINE

The most important programme for the development of polish economy a key aspect of the three seas initiative.

NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

Poland 3.0 Programme – a coherent programme for the development of Polish economy composed of a range of complementary infrastructural and economic projects constituting an innovative and capable ecosystem. The Poland 3.0 programme connects the most important infrastructural projects whose lack is currently significantly hampering Poland’s economic development. Poland 3.0 is a programme of integrated activities aimed at connecting Polish rivers, motorways, and rail in a single multimodal transport platform and crating the largest European Trans-national Logistics Centre in Gorzyczki, intersecting the most important transport corridors in Europe.

POLAND 3.0 was never externally funded, both from state or foreign sources. The implementation of the Programme’s main assumptions make Poland a logistics centre, supports small and medium enterprises and Polish innovations, creates new jobs, makes use of the advantages of inland waterways, leads to significant budgetary benefits, and ensures security through rational water management while contributing to the development of tourism.

POLAND 3.0 – a powerful cooperation platform for business, local governments, and science.

www.polska-3-0.pl

OZEON MAGAZINE

Angelika Jarosławska

Poland 3.0 Program Coordinator

Programme initiator: Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs (www.klasterip.pl)

President Donald TRUMP and the Three Seas Initiative – POLAND 3.0 PROGRAMME

The Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs is a cluster of clusters, bringing together key national clusters. It is the largest cluster organisation in Poland, operating nationwide, with over 3700 companies from a wide range of SMEs and start-ups to largest Polish businesses.

“The POLAND 3.0 is a strategic programme in the Three Seas Initiative” – with these words RUDY GIULIANI started his first speech delivered in Poland. – The Baltic-Adriatic Sea and Baltic-Black Sea transport corridors inscribed in the project are natural connections for EUROPE, and POLAND is assuming a Leadership position within the initiative, Giuliani added. – When I looked into this initiative with General James L. Jones Jr. I saw that this is where Poland is joining its activities with Ukraine, which was not present at the summit even though Ukraine is the country bordering the Black Sea. Poland 3.0, as stressed on numerous occasions by Angelika Jarosławska, coordinator of the programme – I call her the Three Seas Princess, because, firstly, she is stunningly beautiful, secondly, she is intelligent, and, third, she is fierce as a lion in her fight for the programme. She captivated us with her knowledge of strategies and stages of the programme, from sea connections, through inland waterways joining ports and logistics centres. I also found out about the issues connected with the programme. These are long-term, carefully planned actions. What is,

As a “cluster of clusters” it is Poland’s only representative in cluster projects within the Visegrad Group. The cluster is successful on the international arena. We are putting much emphasis on supporting the ties between industry, business and science. Through its activities, the Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs along with its Poland 3.0 Programme supports Polish start-ups, businesses and technology in the process of preparing, joining potentials, promoting and commercializing, also through implementing them in a wide spectrum of activities and projects within the cluster.

It assists entrepreneurs in finding investors and new markets and helps them to pave a path towards development.

The cluster’s activities promote businesses, projects and start-ups, connects them through cluster organisations with other entities from specific industries, but also provides a base of collaborating universities and international cluster centres.

In a time of a justified increase of the significance of intellectual capital in the economy and a step towards a recognized importance of the small and medium enterprise sector, clusters are becoming a natural response to the requirements of new economic policy, an indispensable engine of development. Many of the projects implemented within the Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs constitute key national investments and successfully scale up on the international arena. The Cluster is also the initiator of the largest cluster programme in Europe – POLAND 3.0.

www.polska-3-0.pl

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OZEON MAGAZINE however, most inspiring about the programme is that it came into being just a few years ago as a ground-up initiative. President Donald Trump appreciated the information about the Poland 3.0 and Ukraine 3.0 initiative, as economic cooperation between these two countries is currently essential. We are pleased that the President of Croatia is so enthusiastic about the POLAND 3.0 programme, and was also impressed by our Princess Angelika. It is apparent that both of them are valiant women who know what they want. POLAND 3.0 and the Three Seas Initiative are a great opportunity for Poland.

POLAND 3.0 A KEY PROGRAMME IN THE THREE SEAS INITIATIVE Stable Poland and a strong Intermarium stand for security in this part of the globe. That is why the Poland 3.0 economic programme was developed so that Poland could utilise its natural resources and transit location in Europe. Poland is an integral part of the Baltic-Adriatic Sea and Baltic-Black Sea Corridors. Poland 3.0 is a key programme in the Three Seas project. It merges the establishment of an international connection infrastructure.

The programme joins integral projects in multimodal transport, infrastructural projects, The New Silk Road, as well as cross-border cooperation projects, energy security, new technologies, exchange of knowledge, technology transfer. The goal is to establish new forms of competitiveness for the region. One of the most important challenges for the Three Seas Initiatives is pushing the development of transport infrastructure. The objectives of the Poland 3.0 programme include the creation of nodal points for development, industrialisation, and innovation by integrating transport and building multimodal nodes.

Pic. POLAND 3.0

The Three Seas Initiative is supposed to enable largescale cross-regional projects.

Gen. James L. Jones – I have been associated with the Three Seas Initiatives for several years now and I wholeheartedly welcome the POLAND 3.0 Programme. – We talked a lot with the people behind the POLAND 3.0 Programme, especially because it is a bottom-up, apolitical, and mainly business initiative. Bogdan Węgrzynek, who had a very strategical approach to the activity, provides additional assistance for the initiative through clusters. Clusters are a very well-known concept in the USA. They provide a very straightforward and obvious support for the economy. My first contact with the programme was last year in Dubrovnik and already then I asked Angelika about the details.

The programme’s coordinator, Angelika Jarosławska, is working for the benefit of Poland, of Polish economy, and is also very intelligent and charming. I have to stress that the Polish government should do its best to support this programme, because from what I heard it came into being as a reaction to problems with inland waterways, which for years have been devastated and ignored in Poland. I congratulate you on the initiative and I fully endorse it.

Pic. POLAND 3.0

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Poland 3.0 present at the Seas Summit

www.polska-3-0.pl

Two transport corridors within TEN-T, the Baltic Adriatic Corridor and the Baltic Black Sea Corridor play key roles in the Three Seas region. The Poland 3.0 programme forms a multimodal transport plane in Poland (water, rail, highways, and air) and establishes Europe’s largest logistics centre in Gorzyczki–Věřňovice. One of the main aims of the initiative is the formation of close relations between the countries along the North-South Corridor, and the transport infrastructure is only one of the key elements of this corridor – notes Michał Kobosko, head of the Poland branch of Atlantic Council, one of the most influential think-tanks in the world.

POLAND JOINS AGN! A GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE INITIATORS OF POLAND 3.0 PROGRAMME Since 2011 The Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs has been involved in and co-organized a range of meetings and debates joining organisations and authorities, including specialists in water management, prof.

Zygmunt Babiński, Beata Chocian, hydrologists such as Stanisław Staniszewski, Marek Strzelichowski, and Jakub Stonawski. We also established a pioneering team on issues of eco-terrorism, whose main initiator is Grzegorz Chocian. For years we have also supported the Captain Council with Inland Master Czesław Szarek and Gabriela Tomik. It was our organisation which gave rise to the integration of all circles which were not indifferent to inland waterways and water management. What sets our organisation apart from the rest? We are free from politics and pressure and can act in a bottom-up manner, just like our cluster organisation started.

Poland 3.0 – a bottom-up economic programme implementing, inter alia, systemic solutions for the development of inland waterways in Poland. Poland 3.0 with almost four thousand companies, experts, active captains, Captain Council, specialists in the field of ecology, transport, logistics, collaborated to develop a systemic programme of inland waterways development in Poland, and establishing a sufficient ecosystem for its implementation. Poland 3.0 endorsed the development of multimodal transportation in Poland and re-establishing inland waterways even before there were any government plans.

When Poland 3.0 was advocating for inland waterways, everyone persisted that the idea would never work... That it is a legitimate, patriotic rush, a fight for the Country’s economy and security, but pushing across such important projects will never work. Poland 3.0 is a network of projects constituting a coherent programme of modernizing inland waterways. Poland 3.0 created a complete ecosystem for re-establishing inland waterways, at a time when the public awareness of the issue was rather low, and the media did not say a SINGLE WORD about inland waterways, nor did any government plans...

Our organisation managed to successfully stop the signing of a water directive, unfavourable for Poland, which in practice would exclude Poland form international transport for at least 20 years. In our organisation we were able to create such clusters as Metalchem Opole which produces large-scale components for energy plants, oil platforms, which can only be effectively transported along waterways.

To conduct a single transport, companies had to raise the level of water in rivers (!!!) at their own (great) expense.

Poland 3.0 took up the forgotten matter of inland waterways. This organic work at the roots and connecting people (communities, captains, experts, port owners, entrepreneurs, etc.) towards a common goal, i.e. the preservation of a most valuable resource – water, resulted in the Poland being a member of the AGN (European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance). For the last two years we were advocating Poland’s joining the AGN. We organised press conferences in the Polish Parliament, as well as numerous debates and working meetings on the subject. The Global Cluster Congress also focused on transportation, inland waterways, and the signing of the UN AGN convention.

Thanks to the work of Poland 3.0’s experts awareness is increasing about the fact that inland waterways provide security against floods and droughts, as well as water for life, agriculture, etc., extensive transport capabilities, international transport, tourism, all of which used to flourish in our rivers. Inland waterways are the most environmentally friendly and cost efficient form of transportation. It is absolutely not outdated... it is currently endorsed by the European Commission and all developed countries.

A Poland 3.0 expert, Inland Master Czesław Szarek and his team organized a Truth Cruise, which proved that the Odra River can be navigated by a barge filled with containers. For years the opinion prevailed that for Odra to be navigable 57 bridges would have to be raised, at an estimated cost of 10 billion PLN. There were doctoral dissertations on how to raise the bridges most efficiently, but nobody bothered to check if it was actually necessary...

That is why we went on a truth cruise, during which we used advanced research equipment to fully measure the Odra River, which has not been done before. We were never financed through state, government or European funds. Poland 3.0 is a one hundred percent Polish and bottom-up initiative. Did you know that in recent years only about 3% of the goods compared to 1935 was transported along the River Odra? Meanwhile, inland waterways are flourishing all around Europe...

We are striving for a comprehensive approach to inland waterways (meaning security, logistics, tourism, safe environment, and caring for the most precious of resources – water) and establishing proper conditions for the development of our companies. Recently our experts found an investor for the Port in Kędzierzyn-Koźle for almost 370 million PLN. With no inland waterways this port would be non-existent. And this is just the beginning...

Pic. POLAND 3.0

OZEON MAGAZINE

During our two meetings with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, he did not conceal his astonishment when we presented, as the Polish Cluster of Innovative Entrepreneurs, a programme for CHEMICAL WEAPONS DISPOSAL FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE BALTIC SEA with the safest and most efficient method of disposing chemical weapons, developed by our organisation.

At the time we were the first organisation to raise the alarm in the United Nations about the condition of the Baltic Sea, which is becoming a ticking time bomb, a threat to all population! The Baltic Sea basin contains over 50 000 tons of chemical weapons, while the relatively safe time of storing such materials in water (before the objects deteriorate and harmful substances are released in the sea) is currently expiring...

The Secretary General asked us to pass our project directly to his desk! The main authors of the SAFE BALTIC SEA project are Lukasz Porzuczek and Piotr Niemczyk. At the same time we informed the United Nations about the alarming condition of Polish rivers, whose tragic state affected our economy and water management.

We conveyed information about the need for making Polish Rivers more passable and for Poland adopting the AGN convention. When we discussed the same issues in Poland a lot of people, many of which today are near the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping, were against any activities benefiting the reestablishment of inland waterways and adjusting them be used in international transport, but Our organisation persevered, organizing debates and press conferences in the Polish Parliament, giving full instructions on what to do and when.

At the time, all we had was opponents! Except, of course, for the bottom-up layers: the community, entrepreneurs, and experts.

Almost no one believed that inland waterways would enter the Polish Parliament as a governmental priority.

Hundreds of thousands of kilometres travelled, every-day, social and organic devotion of the team for the Polish matter, and consequently, numerous meetings, studies, and, most importantly, substantiated arguments shaped POLAND 3.0 into a symbol of struggle with unreasonable and frequently very expensive projects designed by senseless officials.

We had numerous meetings with the future Prime Minister Beata Szydło and, most importantly, with the future Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping Marek Gróbarczyk. In Kuźnia Raciborska, thanks to the experts of the Poland 3.0 programme, Inland Master Czesław Szarek, Gabriela Tomik, Stanisław Staniszewski, and Josef Tobola, the first meetings with future decision-makers took place, discussing the POLAND 3.0 programme, which primarily focused on re-establishing inland transportation along the Odra Waterway and preparing it for the role of a water highway. The goal was to return Odra to its forwww.polska-3-0.pl

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OZEON MAGAZINE mer glory, lost through years of unaware decision-making.

Minister Marek Gróbarczyk looked with admiration at the involvement of our people, who gave their word to do everything in their power to support the Minister’s efforts to execute this difficult and long-term endeavour – an objective who’s first and necessary milestone was Poland adopting the AGN convention. Thanks to Poland 3.0, a water directive which would exclude Poland from international transport was not signed. The programme fits perfectly with the Three Seas Initiative’s activities. The Baltic-Adriatic-Black-Sea Initiative has been signed by 12 presidents.

During last year’s Economic Forum in Krynica we debated with the representatives of the European Commission, AGN-UN, initiators of the POLAND 3.0 PROGRAMME, and Minister Marek Gróbarczyk about the ideas for fast tracking Poland’s adopting the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance (AGN).

Minister Marek Gróbarczyk at the Forum in Krynica officially asked for our support in these uneasy task. Angelika Jarosławska, the coordinator of POLAND 3.0, presented Minister Marek Gróbarczyk with the honorary title of AMBASSADOR OF POLISH ECONOMY for his contribution to the development of Poland’s economy.

At the Economic Forum, Poland 3.0 participated in the discussions among the Visegrad Group. Individual projects within the Poland 3.0 programme were scrutinized by teams of experts in numerous panels concerning economic matters, international cooperation, and the fourth industrial revolution, all at the Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdrój.

There was also a special debate titled „Polska 3.0” with Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Shipping Marek Gróbarczyk, Victoria Ivanova, Economic Affairs Officer, Inland Water Transport – concerning the UN AGN convention, whose signing is a priority for Poland, and which includes integrating inland waterway networks in from Western through Eastern Europe, all the way to the Ural mountains.

The debate about Poland 3.0 was recommended by the Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdrój as one of the most important and noteworthy discussions.

THIS YEAR WE REPORTED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND ANDRZEJ DUDA, PRIME MINISTER BEATA SZYDŁO, AND MINISTER MAREK GRÓBARCZYK – TASK ACCOMPLISHED.

Pic. POLAND 3.0

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www.polska-3-0.pl

POLAND IN THE HEART OF EUROPE THROUGH THE POLAND 3.0 PROGRAMME GORZYCZKI–VĚŘŇOVICE LOGISTICS CENTRE. Since 2012 the Poland 3.0 programme has been successfully developing the cooperation policy between Poland and the Czech Republic within the establishment of the Gorzyczki–Věřňovice International Logistics Centre – Europe’s largest logistics centre, which thanks to its exquisite transit opportunities and densely populated area in Poland was named by the UN as one of the most desired inland communications centre in Europe. This project is significant for the development Śląsk and all of Poland, in line with the Polish integrated transportation concept.

The location of this investment is right at the crossing of main trans-European transportation lines. The planned Gorzyczki–Věřňovice International Logistics Centre is the only location where all the major transport corridors within the so-called 6th Multimodal North-South Corridor intersect.

The discussed location is a specific “staple” with potential to connect not only two states of the Visegrad Group, but also two macro-regional strategies of the European Union, the so-called Baltic Sea strategy and the Danube strategy, which is not without significance to the assumptions of the European TEN-T networks, which establish the Baltic-Adriatic corridor among the nine essential corridors for the development of the EU’s transportation policy. Within the Programme, Śląsk will develop the largest European inland port and multimodal Logistics centre, creating over 70 000 new jobs and enabling Poland to make full use of its transit location in Europe. The inland port on the River Odra, connected to the railway, will put our country in the New Silk Road project, which will reach the logistics centre through the extended broad-gauge railway line no. 65, the LHS, Extending the broad-gauge railway line is not only the optimal use of the line, which will spread its wings under the POLAND 3.0 Programme and become part of the nationally essential multimodal Logistics Centre, becoming the transportation “wind rose” in an area today facing extensive unemployment. The Logistics Centre is being modelled after the Ruhr and Saar regions in Germany. Śląsk may become an analogous centre of innovation, industry, and logistics on a broad scale. The execution of this endeavour will promote this part of Europe as highly attractive location on the international arena, which is also fully prepared for new investments.

OZEON MAGAZINE Meetings and discussions about this great undertaking have taken place on various levels.

The project was presented to President Andrzej Duda as well as ministers, entrepreneurs, major experts in financing, logistics, economy, etc. The project was met with a highly positive response.

PRESIDENT ANDRZEJ DUDA ON POLAND 3.0 “Poland needs sustainable development, and this kind of development is what we are lacking” – said President Andrzej Duda in a special letter to Polish Entrepreneurs commemorating another edition of the Economic Forum in Krynica.

The President took note of the project and declared his support for the measures described in the POLAND 3.0 Programme. He also stressed that Poland needs a socio-economic programme, and the execution of such a complex endeavour will be an opportunity for creating tens of thousands of new jobs and will strengthen Polish companies, as a remedy addressing the issues of our current economy. The media highlighted that never before has any president of Poland expressed such an open support for Polish enterprises.

Insufficient of new jobs, low innovation and competitiveness of Polish companies, as well as the dominating share of micro enterprises which compared to the vast expansion of foreign investors seems rather sparse against trans-national corporations... These are only some of the issues that could be addressed by Poland 3.0.

New Silk Road benefiting Poland.

Broad gauge reaching the Gorzyczki–Věřňovice Logistics Centre.

The concept of the New Silk Road on land and sea, i.e. the “One Belt and One Road” Project envisages the establishment of a network of transport corridors connecting China with European Union states. It mainly involves the construction or modernisation of commercial rail connections between Europe and Asia, including also high speed rail, roads, inland and sea ports and airports, as well as the creation of industrial (oil/gas pipelines) and telecommunication infrastructure. Currently only approximately 3.5% of China’s export reaches the European Union by land. Its main advantage is the significantly lower cost compared to air transport and several times shorter shipping times compared to sea transport.

To support this project the Chinese authorities established a $40 billion Silk Road fund.

The programme is implemented in cooperation with partners from Europe and Asia.

Laying two parallel rail lines on a short distance between Sławków to the Gorzyczki– Věřňovice Trans-national Logistics Centre (with over 500 hectares of investment area in a Special Economic Zone) will make the Centre the single location in Europe connecting EU railways with wide-gauge rail from the far east, along with the A1 highway, a waterway (river port), and a convenient highway connection with the largest cargo airport Pyrzowice-Katowice, and nearby airports in Ostrava and Krakow. UN experts determined that the area is the most growth-oriented location in Europe. Poland 3.0 teams coordinated the implementation of the New Silk Road with the Chinese government. The teams also participate in working meetings on infrastructural investments with the owners of Chinese State Treasury companies. Poland 3.0 experts also negotiated the final contracts with Czech companies.

www.polska-3-0.pl

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OZEON MAGAZINE POLAND 3.0 PROGRAMME REPRESENTING THE COUNTRY IN MEETINGS WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON THE FINANCING OF THE INTEGRATED EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK The European Commission makes all the decisions concerning the financing of infrastructural and industrial projects with strategic significance for the development of Europe. The corresponding disputes need ambassadors of the Polish cause. The Poland 3.0 Programme is present at the most important decisions of the European Commission which relate to the future of financing for Poland. Both in the future as well as today, Europe is placing its trust in multimodal transport, the development of transport networks and logistics centres. PL 3.0 is the only cohesive and completely bottom-up initiative which will allow Poland to implement strategic and crucial infrastructural projects. PL 3.0 matches the EC’s largest transport programmes for the coming years. Poland 3.0 connects Polish rivers, highways, railways, and airports into a single plane of multimodal transport and establishes the Gorzyczki–Věřňovice Logistics Centre so that Poland can make use of its strategic location in Europe.

Creating the Logistics centre with over 60 000 new jobs will open our country to European and Asian movement of goods, while a new “Silicon Valley” in Śląsk rises around the centre.

Poland and Polish companies can no longer remain the periphery of Europe.

•

The programme will allow Poland to implement strategic and crucial infrastructural projects. POLAND 3.0 matches the European Commission’s largest transport programmes for the coming years.

POLAND 3.0 REPRESENTING POLAND IN KEY TALKS ON THE BALTIC-ADRIATIC CORRIDOR AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITHIN THE CORRIDOR The coordinator of Poland 3.0 taking part in talks and debates with the European Coordinator for the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor.

The coordinator of the POLAND 3.0 Programme represented the country among the most important representatives of Baltic Sea states in German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin at the “8th EUSBSR Annual Forum”, organized by the German Government and the European Commission on 13-14 June 2017. When the Polish representative was announced in the programme of the international conference, no one expected such a profound and ground breaking presentation by Poland which challenged the current discourse. Angelika Jarosławska presented POLAND 3.0, a well advanced programme which is fully compatible with European strategies, based on cluster-oriented connection between companies and regions in essential and coherent projects addressing the Polish economy, as inscribed in the Programme. Other speakers at the conference, including ministers from Baltic States, used the Poland 3.0 programme as a model of efficient domestic management of the vast potential offered by transport corridors. Poland 3.0’s Coordinator took part in the debate in Berlin hosted by the European Coordinator for the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, prof. Kurt Bodewig, followed by a discussion of the measures employed by the Poland 3.0 programme in order to make fully utilise the economic, transport, and financial potential of the multimodal corridor. „Transport as a Driver for Innovation and Regional Growth in the Baltic Sea Region”.

The debate’s panellists included Kathrin Schneider – Minister for Infrastructure and Spatial Planning of Brandenburg Germany, Ricardas Degutis – Vice Minister of Transport, Republic Lithuania, Angelika Jarosławska Vice-President of the National Cluster of Innovative Enterprises Coordinator of the infrastructural cross border program Poland 3.0, Ossi Savolainen – Regional Mayor of Helissinki – Uusimaa Region, Thomas Mortsell – Vice President of the Region Vasterbotten, Martin Kotthaus Director-General for European Affairs German Federal Foreign Office, Aino Lepik von Wiren – Acting Undersecretary for European Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic Estonia.

The potential of the cluster-based, economic programme Poland 3.0 was highly praised by the European Commission and government officials representing Baltic States, including prime ministers and ministers.

“Poland 3.0 – Connecting regions, connecting countries.

As they summed up: Make the Baltic Region Great again!

Poland 3.0 programme perfectly fits into the Intermarium concept, under which the Baltic-Adriatic Sea – Black Sea initiative has been signed by 12 presidents.

We need to promote transport links, to promote connectivity and joint opportunities for economic growth with our neighbouring countries. Well-connected European companies to the rest of the world, to boost the competitiveness of EU industry and offer improved conditions for market access. By implementing the POLAND 3.0 programme, our country opens up to both European and Asian shipping routes, allowing us to use our transit and central location in Europe, which is a really favourable location from the logistics point of view.”

POLAND 3.0 Press Team

www.polska-3-0.pl

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OZEON MAGAZINE

It is the people who create a company. The staff has to take satisfaction in their work. Not only in the form of salaries. It’s an association of people who have to feel like a community.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MY GENES

Mr President, in one of your interviews you said that entrepreneurship is in your genes. What did you mean by that?

After my father retired he made a family tree, which was really well documented and reached back as far as 1592. All of my ancestors were entrepreneurs, of course, in accordance to their times. They hired students and apprentices. One of my ancestors was a wheelwright, one was a carriage-builder, one made shoes, another was a stove maker. One traded in grains. So all of them were entrepreneurs in a way and I think this is why I said it.

How did your enterprise start?

Well, that was a long time ago. When I was at University I already tried to earn some extra money, to contribute to the family budget. Money was hard to come by at home, so I had to make my own. So we started a business painting flats.

The end of the 1960s and early 1970s was a time when a lot of new blocks of flats were built. And when I was a student you could actually make some extra money painting walls, sanding and varnishing floors. That was the beginning. In regard to a more serious business pursuit, however, as a formaly trained furniture maker I started my business in 1985.

I started a company making garden furniture.

OZEON MAGAZINE

Maciej Formanowicz

President of the FABRYKI MEBLI “FORTE” S.A.

Apparently already in your first job you had managerial tendencies, presenting, for example, improvement proposals.

You are digging deep (laughing). This happened when I was doing my internship; my father worked for Zjednoczenie, so my internship was taken very seriously by the directors of the factory. I went through all the departments, according to procedure. I made notes, so when the director took me in for a talk and asked me how I liked it, I took out my notes and started explaining everything to him. The rest of the people in the office looked at me like I was snitching. But I was doing it in good faith. I talked about what I believed needed improvement, change, etc.

That was in the seventies.

By the time Martial Law was instated I was already in companies owned by Poles living abroad. That was good business training. The business at the time in Poland was unprecedented, it functioned based on market rules, and taught me how to run a mature business. I really learned a lot then. Once I finished work with these companies I started my own business.

Was it then when you came up with the idea to rear chickens?

Factory work was boring me, suffocating, so I started devising something new. My wife’s friends owned chicken coops, we arranged some locations, and everything was ready. But when my wife asked me how many eggs a hen laid per day, I think I said five. Then she said “don’t you go into chickens”.

Then came 1992.

We made upholstered furniture in collaboration with a Belgian company called ROM. With Mr. Herbert Rom. That was in 1990 and 1991. We established a network of stores in Poland, I dealt with selling upholstered furni-ture made to order, or, as you would call it today, “custo-mized furniture”. A client came to the store, selected a fabric and picked the furniture up three weeks later.

Today this is a standard service, but it was completely new then. We had about a dozen or so furniture stores in Poland and they were functioning very well. ALNO – a German kitchen maker – came to us with a proposal to sell their kitchens in our stores. I made a test run, and it turned out that these kitchens were so horrifically expensive that only one a month was being sold. You could make a living out of it because the profit margin was high. When I went to a trade fair in Cologne in 1992 I spoke with the owner of the company and told him that it would be a good idea to start making kitchens in Poland. He liked the concept. I started looking for a factory in Poland. Not craft workshops though, because I was never a craftsman. I couldn’t reach an understanding with the Furniture Factory in Wyszków.

So I bought the Furniture Factory in Ostrów Mazowiecka within the so-called small privatisation sector, and transferred it to the company with the Germans. We had 50/50 shares. A company with 50/50 shares is difficult to run as it requires agreement in all matters, but we made it and I was proud of the outcome, because the German partner was bigger than O was and could easily force a different distribution of shares. Later the partner backed out and sold its shares, and this is how FORTE developed.

Its first Factory was in Ostrów Mazowiecka, in 1993 the factory in Suwałki was established. Then, already as FORTE, we purchased a furniture factory in Białystok.

I personally bought a company called Furnel, which had plants in Hajnówka, Przemyśl, Jasło, and Elbląg. The plant in Jasło made furniture boards, we had to shut it down because it was outdated. We also sold the Elbląg plant because it was too far away and did not fit into our structures, but we kept the plants in Przemyśl and Hajnówka. The plant in Przemyśl was closed in 2005, because it did not correspond to our modern development needs, and it was also rather far away. We needed modern, prospective facilities, and the one in Przemyśl was, after all, an old cavalry barracks, so it was really difficult to expand.

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OZEON MAGAZINE Since you had a business partner in Germany, you should have looked for plants closer to the German border.

head that we cannot fully trust the availability of wood-based resources produced by board companies.

Yes, but I made furniture and that was the industry I was familiar with. The most modern furniture factories were created in Ostrów Mazowiecka, Białystok, and Suwałki. They were the last to be build, in the “real socialism” period. At the time I lived in Wyszków, so I was close. Later we “took” Suwałki. The factory in Suwałki was the most modern in Poland. I really like this factory, if you could put it that way. It’s one of my beloved children, a well developing plant.

Here I must digress. We want to be using raw particle boards, which we then process by coating them with foil.

We are using foil because of its excellent quality. It’s three dimensional, meaning that it has wood pores, and you can almost get splinters out of it. I’m only joking about the splinters. But raw particle board is not an attractive product for board companies. They prefer to make lami-nated boards. I understand that and I’m not mad, but what I need is raw particle board. So we decided to open our own board factory.

And then came 2015 when you decided to spread your wings?

We are in a good economic situation. We are mainly set on dealing with large sellers, mainly in Western countries. We know how to service them and be flexible at it. We have a really wide range of furniture designs which are produced at the same time. To put it more clearly, we have 3.200 designs while our competitors have from 400 to 800. This shows the scale of our flexibility.

And you are exporting most of your products.

Yes, 87% of our production is exported. But the Polish market is also very important, and at the same time it is expanding. The average German citizens spends 400 Euro every year on furniture, while the average Polish citizens spends 40 Euro. Germany has 80 million people, here we have 36 million, so we can compare the size of the markets. Certainly – the sales in the West is larger and that is why we were directed towards the west. We established sales organisations there, we are selling under our own brand. We are developing well. The resource issue is a significant element. Because furniture is not made of wood, furniture is made of wood-based materials. I remember 2006 when I travelled across Europe in search for materials and boards because they were difficult to buy in Poland. The problem was an artificial one, created by some of the board producers, there are only three of them, but it was a great risk for us. I always had it in the back of my

What made you decide to base the factory in Suwałki?

We wanted to build the board factory in Suwałki at Północna Street, where one of our largest factories is located. We prepared all the designs. That was the original assumption, to have a board production department next to our existing factory. But everything turned out to go really slowly. Not because of protesting locals but rather environmental organisations from Koszalin had a real interest in stopping the new factory. It turned out that these organisations are closely related with our competitors.

We went ahead with plan B. We urgently needed a warehouse. We analysed locations in Hajnówka and Sokółka, we also took into consideration the extended Economic Zone in Suwałki. The whole time we were hoping we would manage to build the factory at Północna Street. But when the protests were dragging on, we changed our original concept and the warehouse was the start of a large investment: a board factory and a furniture factory. The location is very good, the Economic Zone in Suwałki is outstanding, really well thought-out. It’s close to the town, but at the same time, far enough not to collide with the local interests. It does not impact the environment. Of course, you have to comply with all the rules. Today you can’t even talk about creating a factory that would harm the environment. I read about problems in cities, about smog and everybody waiting for wind. But the issue is not with the

Pic. FORTE S.A.

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Pic. FORTE S.A.

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wind, but rather with emissions. How can we say that if we have wind we won’t have smog? We have to deal with the cause, not with the result. It means that the person permitting the use of some boilers or fuels must check if they comply with standards. The factory we are building is exceptionally clean. There is no such other clean factory in the industry in Poland. We will be reaching 10% of the existing standards. The factory won’t have any stacks, only two wet electrostatic precipitator outlets, which together cost 18 million PLN. So these protests are a common fraud scheme. They are not about caring about the environment, but rather about having particular interests. The only goal is to stop the creation of a competing company which could force other companies to start investing. Because somebody who sees such a clean factory might start asking: “So why does the factory in my town produce so much smoke?”

That is really interesting. I have seen with my own eyes factories which have significant problems with particulate emissions. We received signals from protesting citizens of Szczecinek and Mielec. Perhaps that is why people in Suwałki are protesting? What is the situation with existing factories?

I don’t think I’m the right person to ask. I’m not the one giving out permits and controlling the environmental activities in towns like Szczecinek or Mielec. What I can say is that our factory is completely different. These are photographs received by people in Suwałki. This is what our factory will look like. This, on the other hand, is a photograph of the factory in Mielec. How can you compare it to the one in Suwałki?

When I was preparing for this interview I visited Szczecinek and Mielec. After only one day there my eyes began to water and burn and the air had a very distinct smell.

Mielec is not that far away, it’s worth visiting to see what kind of smoke it’s got. It needs expensive investment funds and a temporary production halt to implement the changes. Let’s try to use one measure. State institutions which are supposed to look after the environment are established exactly for that purpose. Not only in terms of

new investments, but also in terms of the existing ones.

Meanwhile, the existing ones keep on functioning based on permit extensions. There is no problem with extending permits. But this kind of smoke from a factory in a Western country would bring it to an immediate closure. In the West, factories no longer have smoke stacks, but rather wet electrostatic precipitators. They don’t produce pollution because nobody would allow it. Why isn’t it like that in Poland?

When Ikea was building its plant in Orla, environmental organisations protested against it.

Because these organisations are related to one of the board producers. Ikea has electrostatic precipitators.

How is our local, Podlasie-based business, economic, and environmental community reacting to your investment?

We have no problems. Recently we were able to collect 500 signatures from the citizens of Suwałki and even a nearby village. From people who don’t see any threats and don’t agree with the protesting visitors. A large company brings business. Today we are hiring 3.500 people, but we also create jobs for a large number of other companies which provide us with products and services. Also, although this may sound strange – Poland is facing labour shortages. There is a shortage of labour because some regions are starting to have an employee market rather than an employer market. If we want employees we have to offer better salaries, to be a more attractive employer.

This results in increased average salaries in the region.

For some companies this is not a favourable situation.

We pay official salaries. Whereas the whole construction, catering, and commercial sector as a widespread system of dual pays. I am very fond of the idea of bringing order to Poland. When people start making more money, other companies also have to pay. If someone starts modernizing, others have to follow. Investments in modernisation are induced by the economic situation, pressure, etc. Each innovation results in an innovating neighbours, because they have to keep up. This form of development sets off a positive growth curve.

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Pic. FORTE S.A.

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There are voices in Białystok saying that once the new investment in Suwałki is opened, the plant in Białystok will be shut down.

There are no such plans. The challenge we are facing is in the quantity of product range. Shutting down the Białystok plant would be problematic because this factory manufactures specific products and is also specifically equipped for that. It fits into our whole structure. We shut down Przemyśl because the factory was too small and too far away. That is why we need central warehouses in Ostrów Mazowiecka and Suwałki, so that one truck to our client carries mixed furniture. One factory cannot produce more than several hundreds of products because it would get confusing. This type of production has to be divided somehow. Therefore, we are not looking for a substitute for Białystok, but rather a fifth factory.

So the factory at Północna Street will also function?

Most certainly, both the plant at Północna Street in Suwałki and the plant in Białystok. We need a fifth factory.

I had to ask because people were becoming worried.

I perfectly understand that people get concerned, but the plant in Białystok is big and very good.

But the factory in Białystok is located almost in the centre of the city.

When we took over the factory in Suwałki in 1993 it was also located far from the city, and people had to walk or cycle to work. Today there are apartment blocks right next to the factory. That is why I like the Suwałki Special Economic Zone. It’s common all around the world for industrial parks to be located away from the cities. Certainly, environmental regulations have to be closely observed.

In Western countries factories stopped producing smoke because suitable filtering devices were installed.

This is where environmental education comes into play.

And also compliance with the law. We can’t have situations where inspectors announce their visits in advance, to give ample time to shut down harmful installations. If we want to protect the environment, let’s protect the environment.

If we allow pseudo-environmentalists, or eco-terrorists, to harm some companies only because they are financed by polluters, we will not achieve our goal, which is a clean Poland. It is simply impossible.

You are said to have a well-developed CSR scheme and an employee training system. I was also interested in the idea of organizing a preschool, because it is rather rare in Poland.

It is the people who create a company. The staff has to take satisfaction in their work. Not only in the form of salaries. It’s an association of people who have to feel like a com-munity. That is why we think very broadly about work satisfaction in FORTE. This is where the training and in-formation programmes come from, as well as corporate volunteering and the preschool-nursery.

The training con-ducted in our company represents a very high level.

And a massive number of people is taking part in it.

FORTE Academy?

Yes. These are training schemes intended not only for the managerial staff, but also for production employees.

The-se activities are aimed at increasing the awareness and knowledge of our employees. Completing the academy guarantees a pay raise. Most certainly this pays off. Pe-ople with more education are also more efficient. We don’t want them to work more, to make two hundred units inste-ad of one hundred. What we intend is to make the one hun-dred units more cost-effectively, to avoid shortages, to be aware of why we do what we do. The second issue are the pro-social initiatives. I have a rule. When I do something, I do it to help, not to put my conscience at ease. I visited the Holy Land. There, upon the Mount of Beatitudes the-

OZEON MAGAZINE re is a small chapel depicting virtues. Charity goes in line with prudence. The point is not to give something senselessly, just to put it to rest. If we do something, we have to do it reasonably, to actually help somebody out. We want people to feel connected to the company. We started an initiative where the employees can propose ideas for improving their living space. They want to renew the school library? Fine. They want to make a children’s playground?

Very good. They want to create a jogging route? Excellent.

There is one condition – we will help out if they ensure their own contribution. We are currently implementing seventeen such ideas (this year we are planning another edition of the workers initiative programme), where we provide additional funds, and the employees provide the work. This is corporate volunteering. Can you imagine how elevating this is? And now I can answer your question about the preschool. This is also a significant element of encouraging collaboration with the company. A part of our family-oriented policy. We want to be a part of the regional environment. We need a strong staff that has a sense of satisfaction from working with us. How can we encourage young people from Warsaw to work, settle in Ostrów Mazowiecka? They will come when they find decent wages.

But they also need attractive apartments. Moreover, they need a movie theatre and a possibility to send their children to kindergarten and school. Here you can get to work in 10 minutes. In Warsaw you sometimes need an hour and a half. These are the non-salary incentives which can have a significant impact on the decision about relocating to Ostrów. And this is exactly where we are going.

The preschool was established in 2015. It had forty children then. Today it is a nursery-preschool, where even one-year-olds can attend. We have more than eighty children.

In Suwałki we are planning to open a preschool for our employees' children, where they could drop their children off on their way to work and pick them up when returning home. And it's not that they have to collect their child at 16:00 sharp. The preschool is open as long as necessary. It is a bilingual preschool, meaning that half of its person-nel speaks English remotely at all times. The preschool is in its second year and these children can now speak English. The parents pay 250 PLN for their first child and 150 PLN for every other child each month.

global leaders, having the greatest profits, the biggest turnover, etc. They say – we want to create beautiful things, make magnificent, useful, exceptional products, etc.

This, of course, is partially a propaganda. But this also shows a changing approach. Values need to shift. In the past it was only more, faster, higher. Today we are looking at numerous aspects.

On the one hand we have engineering, and on the other we have people. On the one hand we have innovation, and on the other we have the environment. On the one hand we have technology, and on the other we have culture. I saw a picture once of a boat with oars. One oar was signed pray and the other one was signed work. The boat’s passenger asked the boatman: why the two signs? The boatman an-swered: try rowing with only one oar.

Balance is largely achie-ved through understanding the role of the entrepreneur. The role cannot only come down to making money. Perhaps this is the initial thought, but as we develop, as we know more, the more reflections we have. My role is to serve.

I do not work completely for myself. This is my role in society. Do other en-trepreneurs share this idea? I don’t know, I believe many do. Everyone has their responsibilities. That is why today,when we’re hiring three and a half thousand people, and several tens of thousands indirectly, I cannot simply say, “I don’t care, I am the employer and you listen to me.” Nonsense! We have to form structures where everyone understands that we are a community of people, where everyone contributes towards some common interest.

I think you are the first entrepreneur to come up with an idea of a company preschool.

This was also influenced by my daughters. One is working in the company, the other one is a psychologist in Switzer-land. They also believe that we have this role.

The point is to include everyone in the common good of the company. Which is our common place.

Capitalists change.

Not really so much. If we take a look into the past, at what Hiszpański or Poznański did, what they did in Żyrardów, building settlements, sewage, hospitals. That was a sort of understanding. Then came a time of a very predatory capi-talism. Now we see a new wave. I read a very interesting book, whose title can be translated as “I will live to be a hun-dred”. Studies show that children born No matter how long the child stays in the preschool? today in Germany have a 50% chance to live for 100 No matter how long. The possibility of sending their chil- years. This means that we will have to effectively work for dren to such a preschool is a crucial element of a family 70 years. In the past 40 year olds were considered elderly. budget. And here is an interesting fact: Some parents cla- In the not so distant fu-ture 30 year olds will be like today’s imed that their children are supposed to go to school and teenagers, who are just beginning their adult life and might forget the English they learnt in preschool. Their obtaining knowledge. request was: build a school! This is the impact we have on our environment, creating a sense of community, Your life is not only a series of successes. You have also failed. which we have to do together. In this case the company is a part of lifestyle, a way of life and piece of the The sun doesn’t always shine. You always have to community. The company is not my own. It’s a joint take into account periods of bad weather. You have stock company, it’s shared, and I’m only its president. to pay for your mistakes, but a lesson can be drawn from them. There is an old saying: what doesn’t kill you That’s interesting because often the situation is this: everyone makes you stronger. Certainly, I make mistakes in should bow down to me, as I provide jobs. I am the employer! business. I even went bankrupt, just at the very beginning of my business activity. It was in the early The world is changing at an extremely fast pace. The last 15 1990s. When Balcerowicz initia-ted exchange of the years focused on computerization, and the next 15 years Zloty, foreign-currency loans became impossible to pay will be completely different. Virtualization will be the key, back. We had to face various challen-ges in business. and everything will be connected in a network. We have to be It’s a good thing if one learns from one’s mistakes. In aware that people today are completely diffe-rent than they our company people are allowed to make mistakes. were years ago. They think differently. The-refore, the They have the right to be wrong. Because other-wise they philosophy of the company also has to change. Today the become scared and stop thinking. largest companies no longer talk about being Thank you very much for the interview.

Krzysztof Stawnicki

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I would like Polish products to be on the shelves of all European grocery stores.

Not only apples, poultry, mushrooms, asparagus, milk and dairy, but, simply, high quality Polish products.

GOOD BECAUSE MADE IN POLAND Mr President, before we move on to the interview I want to ask you about the table in your office. I see here tomatoes, carrots, chokeberry juice from the Biebrza river valley, and a jar of honeydew honey. Is this all just for show?

Just for show? I don’t really understand. Do you want to try anything? Go head!

We open the jar of honey.

Well, I can see that someone has already tried it.

Of course. Do you really think we’ve put all this here just for show? That wouldn’t make any sense. I can also tell you this: the honey you are eating comes from Trześcianka by the river Narew, from an apiary which won first prize in last year’s Honey Festival in Kurów. It was awarded for its lime honey, the one you are holding right now is its honeydew honey.

May I have another spoon? Please excuse me, but I can’t help myself with honey... and this one is truly perfect.

Mr President, we would like to talk with you about organic food.

Pic. Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development

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Organic farming should be a trend closely followed by Polish agriculture. Especially by Polish agriculture. Let’s take a look at foreign markets. What is being produced there, and how?

It is also worth noting what the consumers are choosing.

What are their expectations? There is a trend to be more fit and more green. Full harmony, smallest possible impact on the natural environment. All this is certainly affecting the market. Customers buy fuel-efficient cars and switch to natural food. This type of produce is easily discernible, because organic food always has a special certificate marking.

I am glad to say that more and more products with this type of marking are found in our stores. This is a very prominent and increasingly massive trend.

Massive? What are you saying? What immediately comes to my mind when I hear “organic food” is some small store run by a cranky bearded guy in a worn out sweater!

Let’s crunch the numbers then. Organic food in Poland is grown on 660 thousand hectares. And the area is still increasing. Organic food is produced by 28 thousand producers. Several hundreds of large and well-known food processors. And that’s not all of it! We can also say that Polish food is “more organic” than food from other counties? Why is that? Because preparing the soil for organic food produc-

OZEON MAGAZINE

Łukasz Hołubowski

President of the Agricultural Market Agency

tion in Poland takes only 3 years. In other European Union states the same process takes approximately 7 years. This shows us what kind of soils we have and what our potential for growth is.

I understand that Polish soils are unpolluted. No one has put tons of artificial fertilizers or contaminated it with pesticides.

Indeed. Polish farmers use the smallest amounts of artificial fertilizers among all European Union states. For many reasons. Interestingly, one of the reasons is that Polish agriculture is one of the most modern in the world.

Pic. Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development

Once again I am left without speech! When I thing about farmers I see an unshaved man in rubber boots and a beret who’s leaning on a dirty pitchfork.

(From left) President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Krzysztof Jurgiel, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and President of the Agricultural Market Agency Łukasz Hołubowski

There are still such cases. These people produce only for themselves. But when you visit a modern farm and farmers who sell their produce, I can assure you that their farms are of top global quality. Referring the dirty pitchfork you mentioned, there manure is usually removed with machinery. More and more processes are being automated. Milk production is completely sterile.

I understand. Does the Agricultural Market Agency influence farmers to switch to organic food?

The Agency cannot exert any influence. What we are trying to do is promotion. We collaborate with all promotional funds. We want their product ranges to also include organic food.

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Once again I am left without speech! When I thing about farmers I see an unshaved man in rubber boots and a beret who’s leaning on a dirty pitchfork.

There are still such cases. These people produce only for themselves. But when you visit a modern farm and farmers who sell their produce, I can assure you that their farms are of top global quality. Referring the dirty pitchfork you mentioned, there manure is usually removed with machinery. More and more processes are being automated. Milk production is completely sterile.

I understand. Does the Agricultural Market Agency influence farmers to switch to organic food?

The Agency cannot exert any influence. What we are trying to do is promotion. We collaborate with all promotional funds.

We want their product ranges to also include organic food.

What do you mean by promotion? Do you give some awards, like French wine producers who stack their labels with scores of medals?

French wines have medals on their labels because they organize wine contests. It is similar with organic food producers.

They also have their contests with awards and certificates. The Agricultural Market Agency’s objectives don’t include organizing such competitions. What we can do, however, is to ensure that information about such competitions goes far and wide.

To help them develop a reputation similar to the wine medals you mentioned. Moreover, the Agency helps producers with establishing business contacts and entering new markets.

As mentioned, France is popular for its wines and cheeses, Italy is wine, pasta, and olive oil, Spain is olives. What is Poland’s pride? What is our flagship in the organic food market?

Most certainly we have a wide range of fruit and vegetables. We also have excellent organic food processing. Do you know that 90% of our produce is exported? Only 10% stays in the Polish market.

Well! Another surprise! Where are we exporting?

Western Europe is our largest market, followed by China. The Chinese can afford buying good, quality food. Another similarly prospective market is the United States, where the trend to be green is most prominent. We have to remember that customer preference is one of the key elements of trade. Clients who select food not only based on price, but also based on quality.

Confucius said: You are what you eat. People are looking for food that is high quality, healthy, and safe to eat. Food with no chemical additives or genetic modifications.

What is the greatest wish of the President of the Agricultural Market Agency?

In terms of organic agriculture I wish Poland would conquer this segment of the market. To come with a bang, wedge between other producers, settle in and say: “I’m here!” And I wish that Polish products to similarly appear in all European grocery stores. Not only apples, poultry, mushrooms, asparagus, milk and dairy, but, simply, high quality Polish products.

To quote the father of Polish poetry: “Let it by all and sundry foreign nations be known...”

Exactly. We want people to say “it’s good because it’s Polish”.

Wojciech Koronkiewicz

Pic. Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development

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www.plantwear.com

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TRIFFID – ROBOT FROM PODLASIE We are hearing more and more about an invention of yours that’s going to revolutionise the future?!

Well, perhaps not the entire future, but at least one field.

Specifically, greenhouse cultivation.

And what is this invention?

Put simply – phytomonitoring. Today this is done manually, or rather optically. We intend to automatize the process and increase the amount of provided information, resulting in more data for analysis. We want our robot to work autonomously. It means that it would work independently and automatically.

If I understand correctly, let’s say you have a huge greenhouse with plants, and your robot goes through this greenhouse and does what?

It checks how the plants are feeling, looking at lighting, water supply, pests.

Does your robot replace the gardener?

That would be too simple. There are many gardeners. Our robot replaces a specialist. In the Western Europe this specialists are called “greenfingers”, and their knowledge doesn’t only come from education, but also from observations passed over through generations, from father to son. In Holland there are farms which for generations have cultivated tomatoes. They have “secret” methods to make their tomatoes give rich fruit with the best possible flavour. The details of such cultivation are often the best-kept family secret.

All right, but how will your robot get this secret information? It doesn’t have generations of family history.

That is a very good question. Let’s imagine a greenhouse.

60 degrees Celsius, incredible humidity. And here we have an elderly gardener who has to go through a dozen or so greenhouses every day. Several hectares. Once or, sometimes, three times a day. In the morning, at noon, and in the evening. And that’s an absolute minimum. Now this gardener might be elderly, or sickly, or might simply have something more important to do at the time. And he can’t inspect the greenhouses.

What then?

This is where our robot comes in, to replace him.

Is this a riding robot or a simple sensor in the wall?

Most certainly our robot is riding through the alleyways between the plants. Collecting data and samples from almost every plant.

Wouldn’t it take the jobs from people who want to work and walk through greenhouses three times a day?

On the contrary, no. Greenfingers are unwilling to pass their knowledge on. The robot, on the other hand, is safe. It won’t pass any information, even if it was stolen from the greenhouse, because it is only a data transmitter. All the algorithms and data are stored in the gardener’s computer, and based on this information the gardener can make specific decisions.

Pic. White Hill

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I’m sorry, but this immediately brings some cosmic or military ideas to mind. These kinds of robots are used today in Martian rovers as scouts in contemporary battlefields. Can this gardener be transformed into a Robocop?

OZEON MAGAZINE

Adam Ławicki

Chairman of the Board of White Hill Sp. z o.o.

We had visits from representatives of various fields, but we are obliged to maintain confidentiality of our talks.

I can only say that the cosmic lead is quite right. As you know, the students from the Białystok University of Technology have won the Martian Rover competition twice.

We have used some of their experience.

Of course, we all know that a greenhouse is exactly like Mars.

We think it’s even harsher. We already mentioned the humidity and temperature. The ground and the weight of the device are other factors. The Martian rover had to move through hard rocks. Our robot has to be autonomous and more around delicate plants.

I didn’t think of that. But how did you get this knowledge?

Did you contact any gardeners?

Of course. We had questions and doubts at every stage of our project. We collaborated with a University in Holland, which developed a range of markers after consulting gardeners.

Fine. You came up with the idea for the robot in Białystok, but where will it be made? Here. In Białystok. Where? How? Normally. We are a part of the Metalworking Cluster, one of the key national clusters. And we supplement each other. We mainly deal with transforming an idea into a product. Others deal with mass production. Our cluster includes companies which wouldn’t have any problems with making a robot like ours. Of course, most people are surprised by our idea. Wherever we go and whoever we talk to, we always hear the astonishment: “A robot from Podlasie? But you can only go mushroom picking there!”

So when does production start?

The first prototype of the riding platform is ready. We are currently designing the robot’s arm. At the same time we are working on imaging and neuronal networks. A complete prototype should be finished by the end of 2017. Before we start production the prototype has to pass wide range of tests. The project’s completion, resulting in initiating production, is planned for March 2020.

But now I hear there are people interested in your idea already knocking at your door.

We had visits from two of the biggest Polish producers, people from Holland also want to test our robot. They

ordered twenty six units. If these check out, real orders will start flowing in.

There are greenhouses all over the world today, even in such warm places like Spain.

And Morocco. We talked to producers in Spain and Morocco, who are also interested.

It seems you should have enough orders. What’s next?

Are you resting on your laurels and watching your accounts swell up, or are you planning something new?

That’s an interesting point. “Gluttons looking at their growing accounts’. We see it in a different way. We want to invest the money we make to develop our business further. We want to create new jobs. For years we have only heard that young people are leaving Białystok because they can’t find any space for their ideas and knowledge here. We want to create such space, or at least to give an example that you don’t really have to leave. That you can actually live here, work here, and develop here.

I take it back then. Do you have any new ideas?

Certainly. The robot hasn’t been our first idea. We have already developed a patient flow management system.

Also, we are currently finalizing to put a vision of improving medical care units on paper. And these are not our only projects, but we are not allowed to discuss all of them.

Well, finally. Will there also be a robot putting people in lines to the doctor’s office?

We were rather thinking about something much smaller, elegant, for each atient. We have already made appointments for a lot of meetings and talks.

Thank you for the conversation. One last question, a private one. My ten-year-old is spending all his time in front of the computer. Should I punish or reward him?

Punish him if he’s only playing games. If he’s taking a screwdriver to open it up and try to modify it, reward him, even if this results in a short-circuit or explosion.

Wojciech Koronkiewicz

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OZEON MAGAZINE

Biaform intends to invest approximately 100 million PLN in its new plant in Białystok, allowing it to double its output.

FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE NEW

OZEON MAGAZINE

Wojciech Strzałkowski

Chairman of the Board of BIAFORM SA

Biaform is one of the national potentates in specialized plywood production. Its plywood is used in the construction, transport, and furniture industry. It can be used for making safe playgrounds for children. The Białystok-based company exports 60% of its plywood to more than 25 countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Biaform’s brand is recognized abroad and the company is bravely taking on even the most challenging tasks.

– The current plant is working at 110%. We have no more room for expansion at our property. We need modern and new production halls to be able to keep up with all the orders we are receiving. Both nationally and internationally – says Wojciech Starzałkowski, Biaform’s chairman of the board.

The beginning In 1919, a former cloth factory owned by Artur Hasbach, which was destroyed in the First World War started producing plywood. The business was developing very well, the plywood was shipped to such countries as Great Britain, Holland, and Belgium. Later the factory also produced plywood for aviation, used in the production of planes such as the LWS-6 Żubr. And when it seemed that the company has nothing but a brilliant future ahead, the global economic crisis at the turn of the 1920 and 1930 hit it hard. Its employees felt it, as they stopped getting wages, and the company ceased paying taxes.

Pic. BIAFORM SA

– In 1933 the factory went bankrupt. The district court in Bialystok issued that the factory is to be taken over by the State Treasury as payment for its due taxes. The plywood factory was managed by the State Forest Holding in Białystok – says Bartosz Bezubik, the president of Biaform SA. With its new owner the company started to slowly regain its position: it expanded its product base, increased production and, consequently, employment. By 1938 the company hired 406 people. It was the biggest employer in Bialystok, apart from the textile plant, which was a potentate at the time.

Unfortunately, the prosperity was disrupted by the Second World War. The factory was operational during the Soviet

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OZEON MAGAZINE and German occupation. However, when the Nazis were retreating from Białystok in 1944, they set the plant on fire.

Only two buildings and one stack survived. And in these conditions the plant had to start anew.

National Plywood Factory In the People’s Republic of Poland period the company in Dojlidy had its ups and downs. On 22 July 1948 the Białystok Plywood Industry Plant was founded, employing 203 people.

During the next years the plant acquired new machines and built additional facilities – in 1984 it had 450 employees and exported 9% of its production. It entered capitalism with good and modern machinery. In 1994 it was transformed into a company wholly owned by the State Treasury, and three years later it received its current name – Biaform SA Zakład Przemysłu Sklejek, a Plywood Manufacturing Company.

Today Production still goes on at the same location today. Modern production machinery usually cannot fit into old production buildings. Sufficient to say that if the machinery was set out in accordance with today’s production technology and logistics standards, its output would increase by approximately 30%.

– We intend to increase our output by 100 percent more than we produce today, but we can also significantly expand our product offer. We can achieve this by using modern machinery, but also by setting it up in a logical production chain.

That is what we lack today – explains Wojciech Strzałkowski.

Biaform’s chairman of the board adds that the employment in Biaform will initially increase by approximately 20%. He is counting that the new production plant will take over all of the company’s current staff. – These are excellent specialists who have shown their support of the company on many occasions.

The company already has a 10 hectare plot it needs, located outside of Białystok. There it will build 18-20 thousand square meters of production facilities. Currently it is in the process of obtaining all necessary administrative permits. At the same time it is appointing an investment advisors who will develop a concept for the new plant and plan the moving process. This is very important, as the company wants to avoid halting production for even a tiny bit. The production halls will be designed in 2018, and we should start building in 2019.

– The new property has another advantage: it will give us a smooth view of the future and possibility of further development if needed, including building additional facilities.

It is estimated that the value of the whole investment is approximately 100 million PLN. The new investment will be funded by selling the property where the company is currently located (a possible site for a housing development).

The company is also planning to apply for assistance grants within European Union funds.

Ulf Hakisson

Pic. BIAFORM SA

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Zakłady Przemysłu Sklejek

BIAFORM SA Dojlidy Fabryczne 24

15-566 Białystok, POLAND

Biaform’s offer includes: RAW PLYWOOD SHUTTERING PLYWOOD ANTI-SLIP PLYWOOD VARNISHED PLYWOOD MELAMINE PLYWOOD WOOD BRIQUETTE

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OZEON MAGAZINE

Over 18.6 billion PLN for initiatives and projects that develop business, reduce energy costs and are environment-friendly.

BANK WITH EXCEPTIONAL ECOLOGICAL MISSION

Bank Ochrony Środowiska, which for over 26 years has been effectively involved in building the Polish economy, grants funding for investment projects important to the development of regions. Multiple products and services of BOŚ Bank – in compliance with the bank’s environmental mission – support projects that combine business results with social and ecological sensitivity.

Ecological specialisation is both an exceptional characteristic of Bank Ochrony Środowiska and its strength that has been building the bank’s market position for over 26 years now. The total value of environmental investment projects accomplished with BOŚ support since 1991 has already reached 50 billion PLN. To finance these projects, in both preferential and commercial models, BOŚ has so far allocated about 18.6 billion PLN. The range of the bank’s environmental activities is very wide. Loans granted for environment-friendly projects contribute not only to water treatment plants or atmosphere-protection investment projects but also to the modernization of machinery, replacement of old installations or projects boosting energy-efficiency. BOŚ actively co-finances initiatives that let entrepreneurs make savings, for instance, by reducing energy purchase costs or by implementing other environment-friendly solutions generating further savings to companies. Also, Polish companies are more and more frequently reaching out to state-of-the-art eco-technologies – these include heat pumps installed in houses, solar panels or photovoltaic systems, or even onsite sewage facilities.

Cutting energy consumption brings considerable financial benefits – often counted in thousands or tens of thousands of PLN a year. Environment-friendly investment projects may have (and often do have) one more benefit – preferential funding may be granted for them – either in the form of lower real loan costs or better terms of repayment, for instance, for longer than standard loan periods or with grace periods for loan principal repayment.

Customers Benefit from Partnership Having a properly shaped loan offer, Bank Ochrony Środowiska closely cooperates with the National Fund for Environment Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW) (BOŚ majority shareholder) and Voivodship Funds for Environment Protection and Water Management. In individual regions, together with the Voivodship Funds, BOŚ grants preferential loans for investment projects that contribute, inter alia, to reducing ground-level air pollution or to fund renewable energy microinstallations. These preferences include low-interest loans from the Funds and subsidies to interest or principal of bank loans.

Ecology Experts only in BOŚ To button up their environment-friendly projects the customers use environment protection engineers and ecology experts hired by the Bank. Among other things, they make sure that money granted for pro-ecological projects is spent in accordance with rigorous requirements of the environment protection laws. Assistance in preparing an optimal model of financing a specific investment project is most valuable particularly in those initiatives that use preferential funding terms, national and EU subsidies.

Then, it is often mandatory to present measurable, properly documented ecological effects of a given project and Bank’s ecology team help the customers define and document such effects.

From Bank Account and Loan to Foreign Credit Line Funding Financial solutions that support projects within the broad realm of environment protection are an obvious and unique characteristic of BOŚ offer. However, it must also be stressed that the bank offers a wide spectrum of products targeting both individual and institutional clients.

According to BOŚ Development Strategy for 2016-2020, the bank gradually intensifies its activities in the segment of micro, small and medium businesses. Among other

New BOŚ branches actively use nature and ecology-related features.

projects, it has recently implemented a new customer service model for small enterprises, based on its branch network. At the same time, the bank continues to develop its offer for affluent customers as part of its private banking operations.

BOŚ cooperates with selected foreign banks the purpose of which is to support small and medium businesses, also in the area of infrastructural investment projects. By doing so the bank becomes involved in actions to revitalize cities and towns, meaning to rebuild or build local infrastructure – often using EU funding. An example here may be the sixth credit line offered with the European Investment Bank, disbursed under an agreement which BOŚ signed early June this year. 75 million euro is at disposal and funds from this pool may be requested and used by small and medium businesses, municipal companies and local governments.

CSR in a Bank? Absolutely Bank Ochrony Środowiska has effectively combined corporate social responsibility (CSR) with its organisational culture. In BOŚ we treat CSR activities seriously and relations we build with customers, stakeholders and employees are based on fair play. Multiple socially responsible projects are conducted by BOŚ Foundation. One of them is a national educational campaign “Postaw na Słońce”, or “Bet on the Sun” – a project where foundation employees encourage Polish families to use renewable energy sources, including photovoltaic systems. Awareness of RES (renewable energy sources), knowledge of the fact that using solar energy is economically effective is popularised among school students and through them also among adult people – house owners, local government leaders and property administrators. Another project of the Foundation “Brudno Tu”, or “It’s Dirty Here”, is very quickly growing up to become a civic initiative the purpose of which is to get rid of illegal dumping of waste. BOŚ Foundation encourages local people and tourists to report and monitor places where waste is dumped and also cooperates with municipalities by helping them fulfil statutory requirements in this area.

„Klony” for Entrepreneurs Close cooperation between BOŚ and businesses, co-financing of their projects, is not only limited to a typical bank-customer relationship. In early 2017 BOŚ started a project called “Klony”, or “Maples”, within which it awarded companies from all over Poland that develop their business in compliance with broadly understood sustainable development principles [a maple leaf is a part of BOŚ logo – ed.]. In eleven regional ceremonies, the bank awarded over 50 entrepreneurs for, among other things, thermal efficiency improvement projects, new technology investments, construction projects promoting stricter energy-consumption standards or projects implementing solutions that enable manufacture of healthy, organic food. BOŚ Foundation was also involved in the project and awarded companies that go beyond standard business framework, socially active firms whose operations are beneficial to local communities. This autumn during the “Klony” Gala, the final winner will be chosen from among all the so-far awarded entrepreneurs.

New companies, New Challenges Fast development of local entrepreneurship expected in the light of ambitious plans of the Polish economy and new EU financial framework sets new challenges for banks. Exceptional competence of Bank Ochrony Środowiska, many years of experience in supporting initiatives and investment projects of small and medium businesses, including those in the field of natural environment protection, undoubtedly represent a strong card in the fight for the customers in the more and more competitive market.

International conference „The directions of eco-energy development”

OCTOBER 11 2017 – BIAŁYSTOK, POLAND

www.ekoforum.fowe.pl

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