Polish Market No. 3-4 (198) / 2013

Polish market :: 3-4/2013

PUBLISHED SIncE 1996 No. 3-4 (198) / 2013 :: www.polishmarket.com.pl

InsIde InnovatIon HIgHer educatIon PolIsH - amerIcan relatIons real estate

xavIer douellou managIng dIrector 3m In Poland

Contents

3-4/2013

From The President’s Press Office # 6

From The Government Information Centre # 7

Cezary T. Szyjko; Directions for the development of Polish technology parks # 26

Jan Sosna; Polish inventions 2012

Prof. Michał Szota, President of the Association of Polish Inventors and Rationalizers (SPWiR); R&D: Are we seeing a light at the end of the tunnel? # 34

Our Guest

Prof. Michał Kleiber, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN); We have untapped potential # 8

Stephen Mull, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland # 10

Prof. Leszek Rafalski, President of the Main Council of the Research Institutes (RGIB); Research – development – innovation # 24

# 32

innovation & medicine

Werner Deichmann, Juan Product manager at Orenore Polska; Poland ideal for a scientist? # 36

Elżbieta Radzikowska, MD PhD, the Medical Director of La Perla; A personalised approach to every client # 42

Magdalena Jasińska; Private healthcare still on top # 44

Cameron Kerry, the General Counsel of the Department of Commerce; A free trade zone is the future # 12

Higher Education

Jan Bury, Chairman of the Programme Board of the Innovation Forum, Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Group on Space; We do not have to conquer space. It will be enough if we just have our place in research and industry. That is a lot. # 14

Prof. Marek Ziętek, PhD., Rector of the Wrocław Medical University; We are an attractive partner for international cooperation # 48

International relations

Józef Wancer, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce; Poland invariably attractive # 16

Poland and Kazakhstan are strengthening cooperation # 17

Innovation

Prof. Marek Krawczyk, MD, PhD, Rector of the Medical University of Warsaw, the Head of the Chair and Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery; Time to invest # 46

Prof. Janina Jóźwiak, Director of the Institute of Statistics and Demography under the Economic Analysis College at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH); Forecasts for today and tomorrow # 50

Renata Łatanik; Transnational project makes for greater employment opportunities for graduates of ZSP No. 3 # 54

Poznań University of Technology; The authority of Engineering Management # 56

Xavier Douellou, Managing Director of 3M in Poland; Technology first # 18

Innovation Forum in Rzeszów

Prof. Henryk Skarżyński, creator and founder of the World Hearing Centre; Science and Innovation knows no borders # 20

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Zygmunt Berdychowski, a Member of the Programme Board of the 4th Innovation Forum in Rzeszów; Changing economy by innovation # 58

Powering Creation

Powering Creation

Independent Poland’s chemical industry was born in Tarnów in 1927. Since then, history has come full circle. Polish chemistry is being reborn in Tarnów these days – conscious of its strength and fully secure. Grupa Azoty is the fusion of everything that we, the Poles, have been able to do best in this industry.

We are ready to transcend new boundaries – because Grupa Azoty is a project focused on the future. This is the way it has always been. We’ve come a long way. We’ve changed. We are now competing with Europe’s largest chemical companies.

And thanks to the recently completed great consolidation, we are prepared for this better than ever before.

We have defined our aims in the strategy adopted for the years 2012-2020. Due to the Group’s well-conceived architecture, we are able to offer our clients an even broader product portfolio – from nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers as well as constructions plastics to OXO alcohols, plasticizers and pigments. We have no competition in this regard as of today. We possess our own logistics infrastructure, as well as research, development and servicing facilities, which also allows us to provide services.

We want to use these assets in further building the Group’s value and that of the companies which form part of it – keeping our shareholders, employees and the local communities in which we operate in mind. The two main lines of our current strategy are taking advantage of the increased scale of operations and maximizing the effects of synergy – this means full use of the potential gained through consolidation.

We are chemists. We are the architects of matter. The architects of the future.

We know what we are due to those who have come before us. We know what we owe to those who will follow us. We owe them a world which will be a better place to live.

grupaazoty.com

Contents

Mirosław Karapyta, Marshall of the Podkarpackie province; Podkarpackie - a region open to new challenges, ideas, and projects # 60

Tadeusz Ferenc, the Mayor of Rzeszów; Rzeszów – the capital of innovation # 62

Prof. Marek Orkisz, DSc, Eng., rector of the Rzeszów University of Technology; Innovation, knowledge and hard work # 64

Former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Amicus Europae Foundation, and Beata Radomska, President of the Executive Club; A good platform to exchange opinions # 94

Culture Cultural Monitor

# 96

Wojciech Malajkat, an outstanding Polish actor, director of Warsaw’s Syrena theatre; Theatre – an invitation to a discussion # 98

infrastructure

Mieczysław T. Starkowski; Runway and shops

# 66

PZL-świdnik: drawning on technological innovation

Mieczysław T. Starkowski; A snail on a highway

# 68

# 72

Warsaw in the top 5 target destinations for real estate investors in 2013 # 76

Renata Dorada, CEO PropertyGem; Luxury properties market in Warsaw # 78

Katarzyna Michnikowska, Senior Consultant, Valuation & Advisory, Cushman & Wakefield; Luxury retail in Poland # 80

The most exclusive address in Cracow # 84

finance Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, President of the Polish Bank Association (ZBP); “Long on brains and short on hands,” # 90

Maciej Proliński; The primary salon in Warsaw

food industry

Maciej Bartoń; Organic food reveals new horizons # 106

Correction: In our “Polish Market” Special Edition (No. 197/2013) issue, in the article “Poland’s” healthy banking system (page 22) we mistakenly wrote the wrong name of the author of the article. The correct author is Małgorzata Zaleska.

Our apology goes to our readers and the author. We would like to also inform you that Lidia Mikołajczyk-Gmur was a General Director in Velux Poland, not President of Velux Group, as we wrote in the Tiaras of Management ranking (page 19). Since March 1, the position of General Director at Velux Poland was taken by Jacek Siwiński. ::

President: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek

Columnists: Małgorzata Zaleska, Maja Sujkowska, Chałas & Partners

Editor-in-Chief: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Ewelina Janczylik-Foryś redakcja@polishmarket.com.pl Writers/Editors: Maciej Proliński, Jan Sosna, Sylwia WesołowskaBetkier, Grażyna Śleszyńska, Janusz Korzeń, Jerzy Bojanowicz, Janusz Turakiewicz

# 101

Agnieszka Turakiewicz, CeBIT Hannover – “Poland TalentIT People” # 102

Contributors: Magdalena Szwed, Bogdan Sadecki, Agnieszka Turakiewicz

Address: ul. Elektoralna 13, 00-137 Warsaw, Poland Phone (+48 22) 620 31 42, 652 95 77 Fax (+48 22) 620 31 37 E-mail: info@polishmarket.com.pl

# 100

events

Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza RYNEK POLSKI Sp. z o.o.

(RYNEK POLSKI Publishers Co. Ltd.)

Vice-Presidents: Błażej Grabowski, Grażyna Jaskuła

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Maciej Proliński; The underwater sob

real estate

Photographers: Jan Balana, Łukasz Giersz, Rafał Nowak Polish Market Online Editor-in-Chief: Wiktoria Grabowska Sales: Phone (+48 22) 620 38 34, 654 95 77 Natalia Suhoveeva natalia.s@polishmarket.com.pl Anna Tywonek anna.tywonek@polishmarket.com.pl Public Relations: Joanna Fijałkowska j_fijalkowska@polishmarket.com.pl

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REGON 011915685, NIP 526-11-62-572 Published articles represent the authors’ personal views only. The Editor and Publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for their contents. Unsolicited material will not be returned. The editors reserve the right to edit the material for length and content. The editors accept no responsibility whatsoever for the content of advertising material. Reproduction of any material from this magazine requires prior written permission from the Publisher.

Editorial

In the latest EC Innovation Union Scoreboard Poland has fallen from 22nd to 23rd position in the group of EU Member States in terms of the innovation index, and, as far as the innovation growth rate is concerned, it has only performed better than Greece and Cyprus.

Isn’t it time to sound the alarm and seek some means of rescue?

You could say that statistics are lying to us. We’ve always trailed behind in EU innovation rankings, and nothing has really changed in this respect. We’ve been overtaken by Lithuania, which has recently pulled off a major innovative investment, which, because of the size of that country, has significantly improved one of the 34 parameters considered on this scoreboard. This means that the European Commission statement cited above is worth as much as a piece of news about a statistician who drowned in a river with an average depth of 50 cm.

More important than the current level of the EU innovation index is the fact that Poland is finally implementing the much-desired shift in the structure of innovation. For example, last year there was a clear increase in the participation of industry in R&D financing. State expenditure grew, and so the overall expenditure on R&D, the number of patents and new technologies also increased. This is good news.

And yet there are also less optimistic reports. Two parameters declined – the number of new doctorate graduates and SMEs collaborating with each other on innovative projects. The latter is particularly disturbing as it pins down a very significant weakness in the Polish economy. The fact that Poles find it hard to cooperate with each other, of which sociologists and social psychologists are well aware, is clearly taking its toll on economic results, especially innovation. This is especially glaring if we look at creativity studies – Poles easily rank high among global leaders in this respect. But this position is crumbling because of the low level of so-called social capital, which pushes us to tragically-low positions in innovation statistics.

We can mostly agree with these statements. The studies performed since 2005 by the Institute of Economics of the Polish Academy of Sciences confirm that Polish businesses find it difficult to properly capitalise, quote, and record the intangible assets they hold and obtain – and it is this category that covers patents, technologies, and industrial design. They don’t pay much attention to them either, because, in contrast to their counterparts in other countries they receive no bonuses (such as tax reliefs) for innovation. Actually, the opposite is true - it happens that declaring the innovative nature of a project leads to nothing but problems – for example, higher risk makes it difficult to procure financing. Hence the already-approved bill, currently going through the legislative process, which will give preferential tax treatment to innovative companies, holds a lot of hope.

Will it work? Chances are it will. We have already seen that R&D responds well to good regulations. After all, the above-mentioned reversal of the downward trend in the participation of businesses in R&D expenditure might, to a great extent, be ascribed to the reform of the R&D sphere, and especially to the activities of the National Centre for Research and Development.

Those are probably not the only regulatory actions needed to turn Poland’s phenomenal creativity into an equally-amazing innovation level. The stakes are high. Last year Poles presented 704 new solutions at 19 international innovation shows. 454 were awarded with medals, including 52 winning gold medals and distinctions, and 3 collecting Grand Prix prizes. Will the world get to see them in action? ::

Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek Editor-in-Chief President Rynek Polski Publishers Co. Ltd.

An altogether different point is how reliable and true to life these statistical findings are. Jerzy Majchrzak, of the Innovation and Industry Department at the Ministry of the Economy, said that some World Bank experts doubted our statistics, saying that there must be some misrepresentation in them, as no country could develop so fast without a push on innovation. The Polish authorities also console themselves with the fact that the EC scoreboard was based on 2011 data, and the ones to follow (based on 2012-14 data) will be much more favourable to Poland, as they will take into account the results of a great increase in R&D expenditure, including EU funding.

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Photo Piotr Molecki

“Poland and Lithuania march in the same direction” President Bronisław Komorowski has attended the celebration of the Lithuanian State Rebirth Day in Vilnius. He highlighted that Poland and Lithuania, though focussed on their national interests, are ultimately marching in the same direction, and are both members of NATO and the EU.

President Bronisław Komorowski and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council

Talks with H. Van Rompuy about Ukraine and the euro EU-Ukrainian relations, in the context of a possible Ukraine-EU association agreement, and the prospect of Poland’s entering the euro zone, were the main topics of the meeting between President Bronisław Komorowski and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.

The President of the European Council shared with the Polish President his thoughts on the Ukraine-EU summit, which had taken place in Brussels, and also made it clear that the EU wished to sign the agreement.

President Komorowski declared Poland’s support for Ukraine’s ambitions to enter into an association agreement and assured the Ukrainian President of Poland’s continual involvement in bringing Ukraine closer to the EU. Both politicians highlighted the necessity of meeting the series of conditions set by the European Council on Foreign Relations in December.

President Komorowski had already sent letters to Prime Minister Tusk and the speakres of the Sejm and the Senate, in which he asked for support for the organisation of an efficient and wide-scale action of rendering available all the Polish experiences and providing Ukraine with expert resources to pave the way for its integration. ::

“It is important that, for a couple of years now, the Polish and Lithuanian people have been highlighting their respect for the independent existence of their neighbour, among others, through the presence of the Presidents at the ceremonies commemorating their regaining of independence in 1918,” emphasised President Komorowski during the ceremony of raising the national flags of the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Estonia, and the Republic of Latvia, in S. Daukantas Square in front of the Presidential Palace.

“It is good to know that today, while achieving separate national objectives, pursuing national needs and interests, we still go side by side in the same direction, as we as part of the democratic world, together in NATO and the European Union,” pointed out the Polish President.

President Bronisław Komorowski took part in the ceremony of the 95th anniversary of the Lithuanian State Rebirth at the invitation of Dalia Grybauskaite, the President of Lithuania. After the ceremony in Daukantas Square, both Presidents hold bilateral talks.

The President also met the representatives of the Polish minority in Lithuania in the Polish Embassy in Vilnius. ::

The memory of the Cursed Soldiers builds respect for Poland President Komorowski has laid a wreath under the plaque at the edifice of the Ministry of Justice, which commemorates the victims of Stalin’s secret service.

The President also conferred national decorations on the occasion of the National Cursed Soldiers’ Day, which falls on 1 March.

“The memory of the Polish anti-communist underground after 1945 makes it possible to build respect for modern Poland,” said President Bronisław Komorowski.

“Creating these memory anchors has its special justification, (…) through the memory of the hardest times and of the most painful events, we can build respect for the modern Poland. A Poland that is free, independent, and democratic. A Poland where we respect differing opinions, where we are safe from such terrible terror,” said the President. ::

Poland’s and Slovakia’s Presidents attend the Route without Borders’ opening Photo: president.pl

Poland’s and Slovakia’s Presidents, Bronisław Komorowski and Ivan Gašparovič, opened in Witów the 5th “Route without Borders” Popular Recreational Race leading from Siwa Polana in the Polish Tatra Mountains to Oravice in Slovakia.

Poland’s and Slovakia’s Presidents, Bronisław Komorowski and Ivan Gašparovič

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“This sports event should lead us to the implementation of the idea of organising the Olympic Winter Games in this region of the Tatras,” said President Komorowski. “Together with President Gašparovič we wish to jointly support the idea of organising the Olympic Winter Games in 2022 in our countries.” ::

Meeting of the Prime The Visegrád Group with France’s President and the Ministers of Poland and Lithuania Chancellor of Germany “This meeting, just like our cooperation in Brussels, shows that the countries of East-Central Europe, as well as Germany and France, feel responsible for the unity of Europe and the future of European integration. We share the view that the three tools we now need to build European unity include an Economic and Monetary Union, the competitiveness of the Member States’ economies and the strengthening of Europe’s defence capacity,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk about the meeting.

Poland’s Prime Minister emphasised that Economic and Monetary Union should foster unity, rather than perpetuate divisions in the EU. He also mentioned the need to remove all barriers that hamper competitiveness, and exemplified this with the development of the digital industry, which can prove a substantial factor in boosting the economy.

The EU budget Donald Tusk expressed his hope that “a constructive debate in the European

Parliament will help the budget to be adopted, with any potential amendments, before the end of the Irish Presidency, i.e. by the end of June.

“We both share a similar opinion on our mutual relations,” said Donald Tusk after meeting with Lithuania’s Prime Minister. “We had an earnest conversation in which we spoke about the problems that had been at work in Polish-Lithuanian relations,” he added.

Defence policy The Head of the Polish Government made a statement about the joint declaration of the Ministers of Defence of the Visegrád Group countries, France and Germany, in which these countries expressed their support for strengthening their cooperation in the field of defence, and also for improving the competitiveness of the European defence industry.

“We need to share industrial resources, jobs and technologies to ensure that the European defence is dependable,” stressed President François Hollande.

Among the guests of Donald Tusk were President François Hollande, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán and Petr Nečas.

Poland is currently holding the Presidency of the Visegrád Group. ::

Prime Minister meets the Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of the Economy in the Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates, came to Poland by taking the first Emirates scheduled flight of the Warsaw-Dubai route.

The launching of the direct air connection between the two countries was one of the subjects of Donald Tusk’s visit to the Arabian Peninsula in April 2012.

During their meeting, Donald Tusk and Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri discussed, among other issues, the future prospects for economic cooperation in the fields of energy and agriculture.

During his three-day visit to Poland, the Minister of the Economy of the United Arab Emirates met, among others, Janusz Piechociński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, and Sławomir Nowak, Minister of Transport. Also, meetings of the Polish-Emirates Joint Commission for Economic Co-operation and the Polish-Emirates Business Forum were held. ::

Donald Tusk pointed to the emphasis with which Lithuania’s Prime Minister talked about Polish-Lithuanian relations shortly after he took up his office. The Polish Head of Government expressed his hope that cooperation, which had not always been perfect in previous years, would improve in the very near future.

The Polish Prime Minister confirmed that both sides were interested in developing a joint gas connection. He added that it was very likely that this project, worth hundreds of millions of euro, will be eligible for co-financing from the EU. The Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council and the Eastern Partner Summit in Vilnius were also discussed during the meeting. “Lithuania can always count on Poland’s help, if the need arises,” declared Mr Tusk as he pointed to the experience of Poland on these two projects.

Lithuania’s Prime Minister emphasised that he had always considered Poland to be Lithuania’s strategic partner.

Due to the situation of the Polish minority in Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius said that the Lithuanian Government had appointed a working group whose task was to consider all the problems, and to provide the Government with proposed solutions as early as in March. He also mentioned that the existing Government’s plans include many actions in this area. ::

The Prime Minister’s visit to Estonia “The successful introduction of the euro to Estonia is an example for the entire region,” said Donald Tusk during his one-day visit to Tallinn. Donald Tusk met with Estonian Prime Minister, Andrus Ansip, and President Toomas Ilves. The goal of the visit was to strengthen regional cooperation in such areas as energy and transport.

During the meeting, Donald Tusk and Andrus Ansip discussed bilateral relations and regional issues concerning energy and transport, including primarily Rail Baltica, a project involving the construction of a railway connecting Warsaw, Kaunas, Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki. They also talked about security policy. Estonia’s Prime Minister thanked Donald Tusk for the involvement of Polish fighter planes in the Baltic air-policing mission.

Moreover, the Prime Ministers talked over the current EU agenda and Poland’s plans regarding the adoption of the euro. Estonia has been in the euro-zone since 1 January 2011. “Our meeting today proves that Poland and Estonia enjoy impeccable relations,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “What Poland finds truly impressive is how Estonia has successfully coped with the crisis. And the success of the euro in Estonia can serve as an example for the entire region,” he stressed.

Transport and energy were additional topics of Donald Tusk’s talks with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. They also discussed issues related to the Eastern and security policies. :: 3-4 /2012 :: polish market :: 7

Our Guest

We have untapped potential “It is the weakest link in the system that determines the extent to which businesses are innovative and the economy is competitive. If, for example, we merely increase funding for science, but fail to change regulations there will be no leap forward in terms of development.

Likewise, we will not be successful if we only change regulations, but fail to change the general culture of support for creative activities.

In the countries which we envy, and should envy, all the required factors work together while in Poland something is always lacking,” Prof. Michał Kleiber, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), tells Jerzy Bojanowicz.

What makes PAN speak on public issues, such as the Public Procurement Law? PAN is an institution composed of two parts, each with its different mission. One of the parts is a network of institutes conducting research – all of them are among Poland’s top scientific units. The other is a two-tier corporation of scientists made up of no more than 350 PAN members and a few thousand members of scientific committees grouped around individual problems and scientific disciplines.

The latter members are elected by the whole Polish scientific community.

The mission of the corporative part of PAN is to present standpoints on issues that are important for the state, in particular the education and scientific research system, and the use of research to develop an innovative economy. We try in particular to identify obstacles, which we think hinder the country’s modernization because they make it impossible to utilize knowledge generated in the education and science system. And we make these standpoints public.

The Public Procurement Law is an example of the regulations which are not conducive enough to the development of science and consequently the development of innovation in businesses. Because of its restrictiveness, the law hampers the work of Polish scientists whose life is already hard because research funding in Poland is very low compared to other countries. The European Union requires that public tenders should be held for purchases made by public institutions worth above EUR130,000. But each country can set its own limit below the EU-set threshold.

The limit is EUR70,000 in the Czech Republic and EUR14,000 in Poland, for instance.

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3-4 /2013

And since it is necessary over the year to add up purchases made successively by a scientific unit - which may have, say, 10 laboratories - the total value of individual purchases, even if some of them are small, may well exceed the limit, in which case the public procurement system becomes applicable. However, it is impossible to plan at the beginning of the year all purchases that the scientific unit will need in the course of its work - this is always unpredictable to some extent. The law is in contradiction with the very essence of scientific research.

We have been promised that the limit will be raised. But despite that, we are not quite satisfied because there are many other regulations which stand in the way of intensive scientific research.

There has been talk for years about problems with applying research findings in industry. Do you have any idea of how to

smooth the road from a concept to industrial application?

If that were simple it would have been done a long time ago. Unfortunately, synergy among many coordinated activities is needed for businesses to have a chance to become innovative. Of course, we need a strong knowledge sector, good education at all levels, including lifelong learning, and regulations conducive to businesses’ propensity to embrace innovation – more advantageous provisions of relevant laws, easier access to high-risk capital and well-thought-out rules of intellectual property protection.

Also needed is what I call a culture of respect for the creativity of individuals and organizations. I criticize the Polish media, including the public ones, for failing to report on real successes based on innovative achievements. There is too much of superficial talk about current political developments while programmes and articles presenting successful people and their firms are rarely seen. We do not create positive patterns of behaviour or encourage people to imitate the best. I know many firms which have achieved a real international success, but no one talks about them in Poland, their management are not asked how they have achieved the success, what obstacles they had to overcome and so on.

What can PAN pride itself on?

Unfortunately, it is not a Nobel Prize. We are still not approaching the point where a Polish scientist working in Poland will have a realistic chance of winning the prize – despite the fact that many scientists, research groups, whole research institutes and university departments represent world-class standards. We have a potential, but winning a Nobel Prize in science usually requires today huge amounts of spending, large research teams and excellent equipment. Unfortunately, as a system, we are not ready to produce a Nobel Prize laureate in science, though of course this may happen someday outside the system, so to speak.

Still, PAN has good reasons to be satisfied. Virtually all of its around 70 institutes have been granted the highest quality category according to the ministerial classification. They are in the lead in Poland and many of them have a very strong international position. These include the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Institute of Physics, Institute of Mathematics, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research

Our Guest in Olsztyn, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Institute of Fundamental Technological Research. We can certainly be proud of them in any international forum.

How do you assess the effectiveness of PAN institutes in acquiring EU funding?

Acquiring funding from EU structural and regional programmes by universities and PAN institutes is a reason for satisfaction and is of great help to Polish science. Unfortunately, most of the money received from the Cohesion Fund intended for the R&D sector in a broad sense is spent mainly on buildings and research equipment. It is good that we are modernizing them, but there is a risk that we will ultimately have a modern research infrastructure and no one to use it because we are neglecting the development of human resources for research.

The acquisition of grants from the EU Framework Programme is an element of this diagnosis. When it comes to funding for applied research, which is the main task of the programme, the main problem is that the number of businesses interested in participating in the consortia established for individual projects is too small. Polish universities and institutes do take part, but the absence of Polish businesses means that our economy does not benefit directly from this work. Scientific institutions have their “sins” as well.

One of them is the poor performance of Polish scientists in acquiring funding for basic research from the European Research Council. Although many of them are among leading European research teams, they are not among the very competitive group of the best 10%. And only the latter receive this very attractive form of funding.

How does Polish science compare with other new EU member countries?

There is a very strong correlation between the level of EU funding acquired for research and the level of funding from national sources. It is easier to acquire EU funding in the countries which spend decent amounts of money on research from their own coffers.

This is why the Czech Republic and Hungary, which spend on research respectively 1.8% and 1.2% of their GDP, come out better than Poland, where only 0.7% of GDP is set aside for research, not to mention the richest EU countries.

What is the task of PAN’s foreign research stations?

They operate in areas which are important for research and they have a long tradition.

These include the stations in Vienna, Paris,

Rome, Moscow and Berlin. The last one, run together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is called the Centre for Historical Research.

The station in Brussels has a quite different character. Its main mission is helping Polish researchers to acquire grants. A new initiative, pursued for several months now, is the opening of a station in Kiev.

These establishments have different tasks, but first of all they are stations serving the Polish research community as a whole. They organize conferences, where they show Poland’s research potential, but also serve as important cultural centres in the cities where they operate. The stations in Vienna and Paris also offer cheap accommodation to scholarship holders.

What I am dreaming of is for our stations to provide even more support to our embassies than they have so far. I have already held several talks with ambassadors and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I am for consolidating Polish promotional efforts abroad. The existing centres should be fully harmonized with each other. This seems especially important for me in respect of the stations in Rome, Paris and Berlin. For example, the excellently located station at Rue Lauriston in Paris is not only a traditional meeting place for the Polish community in France, but also a place well-known across the world.

Many people from Parisian elites take part in meetings held at the station.

The character of these stations goes far beyond research activity – they are truly important elements in the promotion of Polish culture and science.

And what about the Polish-Chinese Centre for Dialogue between Scientists and Engineers?

We are probably all agreed that China, especially after Expo 2010 in Shanghai, is becoming a very important economic partner for Poland. We have seen the germs of good mutual cooperation emerging in universities and PAN centres. But so far we have been unable to achieve strong cooperation leading to joint achievements of various kind. This is why we decided a year ago to set up a centre coordinating and promoting broader cooperation. Chinese researchers are visiting Poland and many joint projects are being planned.

We want to combine this cooperation with diverse initiatives of the Polish businesses which want to enter the Chinese market.

This is difficult in today’s world if the research and development component is not involved.

For a long time I was a professor at a university in Tokyo and I know Asia well and am aware of China’s potential. I believe that failure to make attempts to strengthen our relations with China would be a huge mistake.

Is the Biocentrum Ochota consortium of the Polish Academy of Sciences a model for other research centres to follow?

It is, because one of the problems Polish science is contending with in research activity is that – although each scientist needs to have autonomy, which can release their creativity – a real success these days is usually achieved through joint effort. It is a big challenge to reconcile these two ways of doing research. This is why it is necessary to create strong centres which will not be hindering individual work, but at the same time will ensure indispensable “critical mass.” This is the objective of the PAN Research Centres, which are included in a new law on the Polish Academy of Sciences at our initiative.

Biocentrum Ochota is to be an Americanstyle campus where scientists of various institutes will be meeting on different formal and informal occasions. Such contacts are very important in science. Biocentrum Ochota is focused on biomedical problems, but it is not the only PAN consortium. There are others already operating and more are planned.

What, in your view, is the future of PAN? The Polish Academy of Sciences has been significantly modernized. On the one hand, these are very good institutes and on the other hand a democratically elected corporation of scientists. Both parts are important, although they are not as closely connected with each other as they were in the past. Of course, the corporation supervises the institutes, but the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which holds most of the research funding from the national budget, plays a greater role in this respect.

PAN does not have now the administrative power it had under the previous system, when it was the main creator of the country’s research policy. And I think this is right. Today, its task is to conduct research in keeping with high standards and issue reliable experts’ opinions. It is not its task to aspire for any administrative role. It should also signal all flaws in the Polish research system.

If – as I always repeat – we do not increase funding for research from national budget and other sources, and do not improve other factors which can raise research standards, then for a long time to come we will continue to complain that Poland’s position in Europe and in the world does not meet our aspirations. Competition is incredibly fierce – every country is now putting emphasis on education, research and innovation. Our ability to do it better than others will determine whether or not we are successful. :: 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 9

Our Guest Stephen Mull, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, specially for “Polish Market”

Twenty-three years ago Poland and the United States signed a business and economic relations treaty to encourage and protect U.S. investment and business activity, and to stimulate the growth of the private sector and market institutions in Poland.

Today Poland is America’s largest trading partner in Central Europe, and our trade relationship is becoming stronger each day. Over the past 10 years bilateral trade has quadrupled. Meanwhile, American companies have invested USD21 billion in Poland, and they now directly employ 180,000 people. But I believe we can do much more to expand bilateral trade and investment as our economies grow.

Between 2008 and 2012 Poland’s economy grew faster than any other in the EU, with cumulative growth reaching 17% during that period. American businesses can be proud of contributing to that impressive record. They are active in almost every sector in Poland, and the United States is the secondlargest investor in terms of the number of companies active. The Embassy’s Commercial Section receives inquiries from American companies of all sizes that are interested in the Polish market because of Poland’s reputation as the economic and business leader in this part of Europe.

Poland over the next 10 years plans to spend up to USD45 billion on an ambitious defense modernization program, including an integrated ­anti-missile defense system, advanced Remotely Piloted Aircraft, helicopters, and anti-ship missiles. American companies are eager to participate with their proven expertise. American investment in Polish security not

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only makes business sense but also strengthens the U.S. strategic partnership.

Another area of critical strategic importance to both Poland and the United States is energy security. Promoting a diverse energy mix has been – and will continue to be - a primary focus of our work here in Poland.

The Embassy is working closely with the shale gas industry and the Polish Government’s Ministry of Environment to share best practices and increase public understanding of this cutting-edge resource. There remains much to learn about shale gas extraction and how it can be used safely and with minimum impact to the environment, but we are cooperating closely with Poland on this and other energy issues.

Nuclear energy is a key component of a diverse energy mix for Poland. We remain engaged with Poland’s nuclear regulatory agency and other institutions, with American companies actively interested in the future of nuclear energy in Poland.

Renewable energy options -- such as waste to energy, wind and biomass -- are all on the increase in Poland.

Many American companies are partnering with Polish business to bring these innovative technologies to the Polish marketplace with much success.

Increasing U.S. exports has been a top priority for President Obama. In 2009, he set a goal of doubling U.S. exports, and we are about half-way toward reaching that figure. The United States wants to help meet the growing needs of the Polish people.

U.S. companies are eager to offer their unique products and services ranging from consumer goods for Poland’s growing middle class, to cutting-edge products in fields such as aviation, information technology, medical equipment and energy efficiency technology.

In addition, we are now witnessing a surprising phenomenon that is great news for all of us. As Poland grows and expands, U.S.-Polish bilateral investment is slowly becoming more balanced with dollars flowing both ways.

According to some estimates, Polish firms have invested over USD2 billion in the U.S. market. An increasing number of Polish businesses now see investment in the U.S. facilities and workers as a way to build on their own growth and success.

This is a sign that our economic relationship has matured, and it is a trend that I intend to encourage during my tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Poland.

It is evident that our economic relationship is thriving, due in no small part to the excellent business climate here, the foundation that American businesses have established, and our dynamic economies. That success was evident last year at the U.S.-Poland Business Summit held in Warsaw last June and at the inaugural U.S.-Poland Business Week held in New York.

In March of this year the Obama administration notified the U.S. Congress of its intent to enter into negotiations on a comprehensive trade and investment agreement with the European Union, an accord that would significantly boost the Polish and American economies.

The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has the potential to significantly expand trade and investment between the United States and the European Union, generating new business and job opportunities.

The U.S.-EU economic relationship is already the world’s largest, accounting for one third of total goods and services trade and nearly half of global economic output. An ambitious, comprehensive, and high-standard agreement could significantly expand trade and investment between the United States and the European Union, generating new business opportunities and adding to the 13 million American and European jobs already supported by the transatlantic commercial relationship.

Although Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations are not yet under way, we look forward to the day when an agreement benefits the economies of both Poland and the United States in the form of higher employment, increased growth, and greater competitiveness. ::

Our Guest

A free trade zone is the future Cameron Kerry, the General Counsel of the Department of Commerce talks to Ewelina Janczylik- Foryś

of privacy protection. The Obama administration is committed to strengthening that.

What exactly did you and Minister Boni discuss?

Our discussion was focused on what we were doing in the United States in terms of privacy protection- particularly, the work with partners who are involved in the preparation of the codes of conduct on privacy protection. Mr. Boni is aware of the role of organizations like the World Wide Web Forum in helping to make the Internet the dynamic force it is today. He is aware of how technology in the digital world, business applications, and innovation move too fast for government. That was the subject of our discussion.

The United States and European Union are starting talks about a free trade zone across the Atlantic Ocean. What would be the benefits of the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership?

Well, it is very important to expand the strongest economic relationship and the largest trade relationship in the world. We are looking forward to an ambitious and focused effort to reach realistic results and to help remove trade barriers.

What was the purpose of your visit?

The purpose of the visit was to discuss trade and economic relations between Poland and the United States.

We had discussions to explore the challenges that the ministry of administration and digitization particularly has on this issue and to discuss one aspect of the trade relationship, which

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is data privacy. This is a big issue in the trade relationship because increasingly we depend on digital communications for the exchange of information. The digital economy is about 12% of GDP in the United States and it is growing fast. The same is true in the EU and in Poland. Minister Boni said that digitization was strategic for Poland. The United States has a very strong system

A re you optimistic about these talks?

We are moving forward in the debate. There is a high-level working group that has been working for almost a year and a half. I think it is very important that both sides have made a commitment to move forward in an ambitious way. Last week the Obama administration sent to Congress a notification of its intention to negotiate a free trade deal with the European Union. This started the clock on a 90- day period required to move forward with the efforts. We are looking forward to being in a position to put the issue on the table, in a matter of months.

This is one of the bureaucracy issues.

There are several parts in these negotiations – Congress and European parliaments. Do you think it is

Our Guest possible to reach an agreement in a reasonable time?

That question is very difficult. There are challenges in any agreement. There are conflicting interests - business interests, agriculture interests - that each country has to deal with. But I think we all know that. We are approaching this realistically. This is important for the growth of the EU and US economies. We both face challenges and, beyond that, competitiveness in the global economy. We will be able to work together. We have similar democracies, we are similar. This can be a model in trade agreements for the whole world.

I have to be critical at this point.

There are substantial differences between the United States and EU. A different business philosophy and bureaucratic standards.

How do you establish a free trade zone when the differences are so huge?

Well, that is what the negotiations are all about -how to reduce those differences and define the ways for us to work on the basis of our economic interests and reasonable agreements.

Do you think the EU has the right to feel neglected in last year’s trade talks?

No, I do not. I think it was about our commitment in Asia, but it was not a zero-sum game. We all recognize that there are economies in Asia and southern parts of the world like Africa that are important trade partners for us and EU. We recognize the importance of these emerging relationships.

Poland is a country where we are very strong in people- to- people relations. Because of that I think I can understand how important Poland is to America. In terms of visas we do understand the problem. Obama has indicated pushing forward legislated solutions. This is our main commitment.

Paul Krugman, the American economist and Nobel Prize laureate, said that although the U.S. economy was growing it still needed more help, because four million people had been unemployed for over a year.

You did not have anything like this since the 30s of the last century.

There is still significant unused production capacity, still a lot of unused

savings. What do you intend to do to fix the economy?

We do need more growth in the United States. The economy has been growing in the right direction but not fast enough. Not enough people have jobs today. What do we need to keep the economy growing? We need to continue to take steps that will strengthen the economy. That is one of the reasons we need the trade and economic partnership, so we can continue our economic growth and the growth of exports. President Obama set the goal to double exports three years ago. We need innovation. We have been working towards an innovation market by improving our patent system. We need to continue those steps to invest more in innovation and in infrastructure, in science, technology and engineering.

Can you do more? The United States is one of the most innovative countries?

I believe that, but we still need to maintain levels of research development spending. We need to take steps to move forward and to encourage innovation by making sure that innovators are rewarded, that we are producing new innovators, schools, colleges and universities, that we are helping to move the products of knowledge and innovation into the marketplace.

The United States is the number one economy in the world, but some people say that in 10 years your place will be taken by China.

Aren’t you afraid of that? What are you going to do to stop Chinese globalization?

I don’t believe that China’s growth is something that we should fear. This is not a zero-sum game. We cooperate with China, we have a number of economic and strategic discussions to expand economic cooperation. We have an important economic partnership with China. They need us, we need them. We need to be able to grow together.

But the US government is going to do everything to encourage US producers who have manufacturing sites in China to come back to the United States?

Well, there are many factors involved here. In economics a major factor is change. It makes economic sense

for some companies to move back to the United States. Economic competition does not mean we cannot have economic cooperation. China needs somebody to sell to, and we need people to invest in the United States. The same thing is true with the EU trade and investment partnership discussions.

Increasing growth in the EU will help our economy and the Chinese economy. And Chinese consumers are increasingly enjoying middle- class living standards. That is good for China and that is good for America. ::

Cameron F. Kerry As the General Counsel of the Department of Commerce, Cameron Kerry is the principal legal advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and third ranking secretarial officer. President Obama nominated him on April 20, 2009 and he was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on May 21, 2009.

He serves as chief legal officer of the Department and oversees the work of over 325 lawyers in 14 offices who provide legal advice to all components of the Department. Kerry is the Department’s chief ethics officer, and co-chairs the Secretary’s Internet Policy Task Force, which brings together Commerce agencies with expertise on the internet in the 21st century global economy.

During his tenure as General Counsel, Kerry has been engaged in the wide range of issues facing the Department of Commerce as it seeks to lay a new foundation for economic growth. He has been a leader on work across the US government on patent reform and intellectual property issues, privacy and security, and efforts against transnational bribery, including co-chairing the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Commercial Data Privacy that produced the Administration’s privacy blueprint, Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy. Kerry has travelled to the People’s Republic of China several times and serves as the colead in the Transparency Dialogue with China and the US chair of the USChina Legal Exchange.

Previously, Kerry was a partner in the Boston office of Mintz Levin, a national law firm. In over 30 years of practice, he has been a communications lawyer and litigator in a range of complex, developing areas such as telecommunications, environmental law, toxic torts, privacy, and insurance regulation. Prior to joining Mintz Levin, Cameron was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and a law clerk for Judge Elbert Tuttle of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Kerry has taught telecommunications law as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School and written and presented on communications, evidence, and environmental issues in a variety of industry and academic settings. Cameron was a senior advisor and national surrogate for the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign, and has served on boards of nonprofits involved in civic and political engagement and sports.

Kerry received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard College and his J.D. magna cum laude from Boston College Law School where he was Executive Editor of the Law Review and winner of the school’s moot court competition. ::

3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 13

Our Guest

We do not have to conquer space It will be enough if we just have our place in research and industry. That is a lot.

Jan Bury, Chairman of the Programme Board of the Innovation Forum, Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Group on Space, talks to “Polish Market.”

We meet just before the 4th Innovation Forum in Rzeszów. The theme of this year’s meeting is space and the aircraft industry. I know that the latter is doing well and is highly valued around the world, but can we talk about a Polish space industry at all? It seems that there are only a few companies operating in this sector.

The Polish space industry has been forming for more than twenty years now, but actually it is still based on small and medium-sized enterprises supported by several dozen research centres. However, the recent Polish accession to the European Space Agency will force large companies to be involved in the process of Polish space-sector

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development. The sector is naturally based on the aircraft industry, as it is the one best prepared to expand its production for space exploration purposes. It also is a big chance for the companies united under the “Aviation Valley” Association located mostly in the Podkarpackie region. The “Aviation Valley” companies, and there are more than a hundred of them, provide more than 90% of the production of the Polish aircraft industry. This is a huge potential that is still developing. In the near future, several thousand new jobs will be created in the industry. We also know that large foreign space-sector companies are interested in investing in the Podkarpacie region. The Aerospace Industry Employers Association has recently been established in Poland. As you can see, entrepreneurs in the aircraft industry are more and more active.

The defence industry, information technology and telecommunications are also of great importance to the space industry. In fact, this is what we are talking about at this year’s Innovation Forum. We have decided that it would be a perfect time for the representatives of the world of science and the entrepreneurs interested in the space industry to meet in one place, that is, at the University of Rzeszów, which is strongly associated with aviation. Research centres carry out studies and work on new products and technologies which they want the smaller and larger companies to get interested in later on. The Innovation Forum is a place

where their products can be promoted.

It has already become customary that, in addition to panel and backstage discussions, the issues raised at the Forum begin their life in the media and reach people who do not normally come into contact with these kinds of issues. It is felt particularly strongly at this year’s Forum: space issues are distant not only in reality but also figuratively. We show that it does not necessarily have to be so and that the space industry is a specific and profitable branch of the economy. For example, our lives would look very different without satellite technology and we wonder what would happen if the Internet were switched off for one day and if all the satellites were switched off, too.

And what is the Polish space policy like at the moment? Is there a government strategy for the development of the space sector in Poland?

Polish space policy is being formed in relation to European space policy. We want Polish companies and institutions to participate in joint EU space use initiatives. In mid-2012, the “Polish National Action Plan for the Development of Space Technologies and Satellite Systems in Poland” commissioned by the Minister of Economy, was drafted and approved. Its aim was to orient the development of the Polish space sector until 2020. It assumes, first of all, an increase in the participation in the space programmes and projects implemented by the European Union and the European Space Agency.

What benefits did Poland gain by joining the European Space Agency in the autumn of 2012?

First of all, access of Polish scientific and research institutes and enterprises

Our Guest to contracts related to the European space programme has become broader. Until that time, the EU contribution paid by Poland was used to fund space programmes in which we did not take part. Today, we not only can, but even have to, join them. The European Space Agency’s policy is based on the principle of geographical return. This means that about 90% of the contribution is given back to a given country in the form of industry and science contracts and the remaining part is used for the European Space Agency’s operations and investments in its infrastructure. Such a system means, as I have already mentioned, that we can not only participate in European space programmes, but we actually have to.

We cannot compete with such powers in this field as the USA or Russia, but is there any way in which we can “conquer” space?

Of course, we cannot compete alone with space powers that have implemented programmes to a greater or lesser extent since the 1950s. However, even as a Member State of the European Union and the European Space Agency, we have contributed to this field. We do not

have to conquer space. It will be enough if we just have our place in research and industry. That is a lot.

We know perfectly well that the development of the space sector is related to expenditure. The current budget financing is the amount of approximately EUR6 million per year. I also know that we have an ambitious plan to increase the budget expenditure on space activities to EUR100 million per year in 2017. Is this a feasible plan?

The European Union plans to spend more than EUR15 billion on space activities in the years 2014-2020. The money will be used primarily to implement three powerful programmes – Galileo, Copernicus and Horizon 2020. We initially assume that the estimated participation of Poland in these projects will be nearly EUR500 million. These expenditures are provided for in the State budget. At the same time, we hope that the national space sector will effectively recover the contribution Poland pays for these goals.

It is estimated that in 2020 the space sector could be worth EUR275 billion

and provide about 100,000 highlyskilled jobs in Europe. Will a “piece” of this pie fall to Poland?

That is why we engage in space programmes and projects. One of the objectives of the European Space Agency is to support the development of a modern and innovative space industry in the Member States. The ESA also implements programmes for practical applications of space technology such as telecommunications, Earth observation and navigation, which have the greatest market potential.

To meet these challenges, we must on the one hand ensure the cooperation and smooth functioning of all institutions connected with the space sector, or, in other words, an efficient organisational structure must develop that would coordinate Polish space activities, based primarily on the Ministry of the Economy and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), and, on the other hand, we must now take care of the fields of study in Poland so that they will be adapted to the needs of the space market. And this issue is one of the themes of the panel discussions of this year’s Innovation Forum. :: ADVERTISEMENT

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International relations

Poland invariably attractive Józef Wancer, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce, talks to Maciej Proliński.

strategy, Poland is now considered to be the most important country for investment in coming years. Since 1989 the United States has invested over USD30 billion in Poland. And now the country is among the leading foreign investors who take decisions to do business in Poland. According to data from the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), the United States was in first place at the end of March in terms of the value of money invested in Poland – USD620 million in the three months alone.

How is Poland perceived today from the perspective of an American investor? Is Poland already more competitive in attracting foreign investors compared to EU countries, or just countries in our region?

Poland’s attractiveness as a business location seems to be staying at a stable level. American businesses operating in Poland are satisfied with their investments here. A survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce shows that as much as 95% of the businesses are very satisfied and almost two thirds of them plan to develop their activity in Poland. At the same time, we have seen that the American businesses’ perception of Poland as a country has been improving fast in recent years as well. They have started to distinguish Poland from other countries in the region. Until recently, they looked at them as a single whole. Less than 20 years ago, there was talk in the United States mainly of the priority markets of the Czech Republic and Hungary. Now, this has changed. Under the American

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What projects are the Americans getting involved in? Please, give me some model examples of these projects.

The automotive and aerospace industry, energy, the Internet, biochemistry and biotechnology are certainly such promising areas. American investment in Poland also goes to the manufacturing sector, financial and insurance services, and trade. Almost 50% of the American capital is concentrated in the Mazowieckie province.

Much money is invested in special economic zones, including the Łódź, Wałbrzych, Katowice, Mielec and Legnica ones. Among the more important American investment projects in Poland in recent years is the decision of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to invest in Mielec. The largest investments made with the support of PAIiIZ include projects carried out by Dell, Unicorn Chemical LLC, Delphi and 3M. What is the strong point of what Poland offers?

“The Financial Times” has recently put Poland in first place in Europe and third in the world in a league table of the best investment locations for manufacturing. American companies are increasingly relocating part of their operations to Poland instead of bringing Polish engineers and specialists to the United States, as was the case until

recently. IBM and many other American institutions operate along this line.

What attracts American business to Poland is certainly our human capital, that is manly our qualified labour force.

But not only that. This is also the professionalism of Polish workers, Polish people’s good education and individualism, and finally our economic stability and geographical location.

Building bridges between science and the economy is the only way towards greater innovation. But it seems the situation in Poland is not good in this respect.

Success in this area is a function of many projects, experiments, tasks, tools and the environment. It does not depend on any individual talent. Unfortunately, this environment is still poor in Poland. Today, a new role of the scientific community is to offer its own intellectual potential in the language of business and contemporary development challenges. In Poland, we are still learning the rules of free market. A low contribution of private capital is a problem in funding R&D work.

Venture-capital funds are still in their infancy in Poland and many scientists are not even aware of the big commercial potential of their own knowledge.

A low participation of businesses in research spending is also a problem in Poland. Many Polish businesses do not know about opportunities to cooperate with the R&D sector. Most of them still do not know how to reach scientific centres interested in transferring their research findings to the marketplace. Poles should learn from the Americans about it, including in terms of mentality. But let us not complain. It is worth pointing to the interest from US companies in setting up business process outsourcing (BPO) and R&D and technology centres in Poland in recent years. In 2010-2012, we have seen a rise in interest in BPO on the part of HP, Citi International and other companies, and in R&D on the part of McKinsey, Symantec and Hamilton Sundstrand. In 2012, Cisco opened its support centre in Cracow. It was one of the most important foreign investment projects in Poland last year. ::

International relations

International relations

Poland and Kazakhstan are strengthening cooperation That is what His Excellency Yerik Utembayev, the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Warsaw, and Serik Nugerbekov, Vice-President of the Coordination Council of the Astana Economic Forum and Senator of the Republic of Kazakhstan, told the press during the conference that took place on 8 March 2013 in Warsaw.

Natalia Suhoveeva The said cooperation is developing on many levels: through joint infrastructural projects, innovations, technology transfer, regional development and investment. Surely these and many other fields will be the topic of the discussion during the official meetings scheduled by the Embassy of Kazakhstan. The first official visit of Serik Akhmetow, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, to Warsaw, planned for 16 May 2013, will also be an important event.

Polish Local Governments, business organisations and businesses were all invited to participate in the World Anti-Crisis Conference, which will take place during the 6th Astana Economic Forum (AEF) between 23 & 24 May 2013.

AEF is an important annual event, which has gradually become a good platform for meetings and dialogue between eminent figures in the world of international politics, science, business and media, for the purposes of joint discussion and finding solutions for global economic, financial and social challenges.

The 6th AEF will host approx. 8,500 delegates from 100 countries, including heads of State and Government, politicians and distinguished public figures, the heads of international organisations

and business corporations, laureates of the Nobel Prize and the representatives of world media.

According to the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations No. A/67/435/Add2, the main event of this year’s Forum will be the World Anti-Crisis Conference supported by the United Nations. Its most important result is intended to be the acceptance of the political declaration on, and the main priorities and directives of, the global anti-crisis plan.

The final conclusion of the Forum will be the preparation of an open letter by its participants, which will include recommendations for the development of the global economy. The letter is addressed to international and regional organisations, inviting them to the discussion of Heads of State at the G20 summit.

The third important event is the ­G-GLOBAL conference, which will take place on 10 September 2013 in Warsaw.

Mr Yerik Utembayev invited us to view the G-Global website www.groupglobal.org, associated with the Astana Economic Forum. Its goal is to facilitate interaction among those across the world who are interested in discussing and finding solutions to global economic, financial and other issues. ::

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Yerik Utembayev, the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Warsaw, and Serik Nugerbekov, Vice-President of the Coordination Council of the Astana Economic Forum and Senator of the Republic of Kazakhstan, during the press conference

3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 17

Innovation

Technology first Xavier Douellou, Managing Director of 3M in Poland, talks to “Polish Market”.

After 20 years of presence in Poland, with a complete portfolio of products and strategic business partners, does 3M Poland still have the same drive and passion to grow even further?

One of the critical Business pillars from 3M is to get an accelerated growth performance through new product introductions.

Our portfolio consists of more than 50,000 different products and 46 technologies dedicated to various industries. Each year we register more than 500 new patents, and we have registered 527 of them in 2012. Our position as an unquestioned leader of innovative solutions is the result of our creative & collaborative culture, which uniquely combines inspiration, passion and creativity. But our success begins with our ability to apply our technologies - often in combination - to an endless array of real-world customer needs. We understand the power of the chain reaction of new ideas, where one idea leads to another one.

This does not happen by chance. It is coming from the investment into our technology platforms and from the endless support to our collaborative culture that 3M is able to serve customers so successfully across many industries around the world and around the clock.

In our company, we also have a 15% rule, according to which each of our specialists can spend 15% of their total work time to develop their own ideas. Each year, our 3M operations in Poland continuously grow. Currently, we have 4 manufacturing sites in Poland and 1800 employees. So our innovations have no boundaries.

3M is a global manufacturing and trade company, operating trough five business groups. Why such a diversity? It is the current thinking that specialization is the way to go.

To bring relevance to the Markets that we serve, 3M is structured in five Business

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Groups from Health Care, to Consumer, to Safety & Graphics, to Industrial and to Electronics & Energy. This obviously helps to bring time compression & efficiency by sharing technology platforms & resources. For example, our Corporate Laboratory was able to develop the micro-replication platform, which has been used as a technology into various solutions. Already in the 80-ties of the 20th century, 3M started to use microreplication to manufacture reflective film used in road signs. Micro-optical reflective elements in the structure of the film make signs more visible and contrasting, helping drivers to quickly recognize and read their content. But the same technology is also used into the industry for the manufacture of abrasives or for the production of privacy filters for laptops and smart phones.

In view of the range of new technologies, you must hire specialized employees...

3M employs more than 87,000 people worldwide. This number includes 8,400 researchers who can use 46 technology platforms in their work.

We are also one of the strongest Corporate Brands in Poland. As I mentioned, we have

more than 1,800 employees working in our headquarters in Kajetany near Warsaw, and in 4 manufacturing locations (in Skomielna near Rabka, Janinów, and 2 in Wrocław).

Over the years, we have managed to establish a unique work environment, focused on personal growth and contributions from all employees, regardless of their position. William L. McKnight, one of the past 3M CEOs, initiated a management philosophy, which stands to this day: faith in individual initiative, accepting challenges and the right to make mistakes. This is why our Corporate Culture is based on collaboration and dialogue. We believe that our employees are the greatest asset that 3M has. For our employees, we propose some extensive training programs; we provide opportunities for them to always grow their skills, and we ensure the freedom to follow their ideas and make decisions. We are an attractive employer, and various specialists want to work for us. Our company is recognized every year into the best employer rankings. In 2012, we were listed among the FORTUNE’s TOP 50 Most Admired Companies. In Poland, 3M was ranked 2nd in Antal International’s ranking for the most preferred employer into the

Innovation

industrial manufacturing category, and was ranked number 6 in the Best Companies for Leadership ranking, prepared by HayGroup.

a unique opportunity to engage more deeply with our customers, and to work with them to help build stronger relationships.

How many new technologies have been patented in Poland? In 2011, you said that 3M was going to employ 100 people in R&D center in Wroclaw. What are the plans for the center?

A re you cooperating with universities?

Do you benefit from transfers from the scientific circles to the business world, or do you finance research yourself?

Investments in scientific research are extremely important to our company. Over the last 5 years, 3M has spent more than USD 7 billion in Research & Development, including USD 1.6 billion in 2012. We try to share our knowledge and experience with students. Our experts conduct lectures at universities; we have internship programs for which graduates can go through paid training programs at 3M to develop their skills under supervision of professionals. We have also enjoyed great support from the local city officials over the past 5 years. There is always significant excitement and wonderful engagement when we start considering investments in Research & Development and we have not encountered any significant barrier from a Polish law perspective.

We have been developing and strengthening our Research & Development footprint in Poland over the past 5 years. In 2011, 3M Poland celebrated 20 years of operations into this country so we have a strong reputation and presence into the local marketplace. The development of some strong R&D capabilities in Poland, to fully leverage our local customer requirements, is the next area for significant investment. We currently have around 50 employees into our Laboratory in Poland - some are engaged with our customers on product modifications but a growing number are focused on the development of new products which can be brought to the local Polish marketplace.

Our R&D capabilities in Wroclaw are currently developed to enable us to customize and develop new 3M products for our local market. While this capability will certainly serve our 3M Poland customers, we will be developing new products for the whole Central & Eastern Europe area. The investment we are making is all about increasing our ability to better serve our local market, through the strong leverage of 3M technologies to deliver superior solutions to our customers. One of the most visible pieces of this investment in enhanced local capability is in the opening of our Customer Technical Center in Wroclaw, scheduled for this year.

This exciting new development will provide

Today, when new products are introduced, not only their quality and usability is what matters, but also their design.

How are you using this important tool?

3M is famous for products which solve problems, create new opportunities and improve the quality of everyday life. We make sure that customers using 3M products feel comfortable not only at home, but also at work.

Therefore, we put a special attention to the design of our products. Starting with office products (such as Post-it ® notes in various colors and shapes), to modern mini projectors (such as Camcoder), up to ear & eye protections. 3M cooperates with design studios, including Pininfarina which designed feeders for our Post-it ® notes, or the shape of our multimedia projectors.

I said innovations have no boundaries. Our goal is to make progress possible and to solve problems that others cannot.

Is it easy to create new products and services in view of the global crisis? Or maybe you have not been affected by the declining interest in your products and services at all?

Into the current economic situation, innovation is a prerequisite not only for growth, but sometimes even for survival. Economic slowdown leads to new needs, followed by new solutions, ideas and Business attitudes.

Market research, conducted in Poland for example by the Institute of Economic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, clearly shows that innovative companies are doing better during the economic crisis. Innovations are the foundation for our day to day company operations. We use the New Product Vitality Index (NPVI) to measure the number of new products introduced into the market, and we consequently stick to a rule according to which 30% of 3M sales should come from products introduced over the last 5 years. ::

You’re a global company. Which market is the most responsive to innovation and technological ideas? Can you even highlight any country?

Over the years, we have proved that innovations can be introduced in any market, and in any area of life. Obviously, in some industries, such as health care, telecommunications or electronics, the latest technologies are used more frequently because this is the nature of these market segments. However, in 3M we are not thinking in term of individual industries; we are working on innovative products applicable to all sectors. As 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 19

Innovation

Science and Innovation knows no borders Prof. Henryk Skarżyński, creator and founder of the World Hearing Center, talks to “Polish Market.”

While pursuing their basic scientific, clinical and teaching tasks, they will be able to accelerate the use of state-of-the-art technologies to meet the needs of individuals, specific populations or societies of several countries in their region. Scientists are already coming to our center from around the world to learn and carry out together the most ambitious tasks. A few months ago, the World Hearing Center, one of the five centers which had initiated the global HEARRING network, started new research programmes with the participation of hearing implant experts and centers. The network is composed of the largest and best centers of this kind from all continents.

Do you follow American standards in your activity? Do you use their experience, or maybe it is the other way round?

More than 100 years ago two Mayo brothers launched a small hospital in Rochester, a town in Minnesota. Today, Mayo Clinic is one of the largest and most modern medical complexes in the world, employing 40,000 physicians, nurses and many other healthcare specialists. It determines the development directions for various specialties in contemporary medicine. While developing the guidelines for the World Hearing Center in Kajetany, outside Warsaw, writing its programme of activity and building the facility, I very much wanted it to become a “Polish Mayo.” I received great support from Prof. Thomas McDonald, the then head of the Department of Otolaryngology at Mayo Clinic. Since the very beginning he was generous with praise and words of recognition for us. When he was unveiling his Friends Forever plaque in Kajetany all he could see was merely the building shell of the future World Hearing Center. But he told us that we had been better than others at the very start

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and that our scientific achievements meant we would make it to the top in medicine. A scientist of his class and a sponsor of several thousand scholarships a year did not say so out of courtesy.

I am convinced now that we have already become an example for others to follow. The World Hearing Center has come into existence thanks to the pursuit by the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing and its many associates in Poland and abroad of a very extensive research, clinical and teaching programme in many areas of science and medicine. It is a product of systematic work over many years and a result of partnership with scientists working in diverse fields in Poland and other countries on all continents.

Our center is not designed to compete with anyone. We take up the challenges that are beyond the operating strategies of contemporary science and medicine, which are organized hierarchically to a smaller or bigger extent. I can already see a similar trend in the world. This means that we have initiated the development of a new network of medical centres, called reference centers.

The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing has cooperated with American scientists for more than 10 years now.

What does this cooperation involve?

Our cooperation with American colleagues has already lasted for over 15 years.

Over these years, many eminent American professors have visited us and our scientists paid frequent visits to the best American institutes and universities. These visits resulted in a number of joint programmes and projects. Many of our scientists went on scholarships to the United States. Several Polish-American Scientific Conferences were held before 2000. Then, in conjunction with Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, we launched Poland’s first large-scale hearing screening programme.

The screening tests were conducted in 82 schools in various parts of Poland on a group of around 6,200 children and teenagers. They showed that one in five children and teenagers aged from six to 18 years has some sort of hearing problem. This cooperation resulted in developing sets of APD hearing tests, which are still used today. Performed on pupils, the tests enabled us to work out age norms for tests for central auditory processes.

At present, in conjunction with Prof. David McPherson of Brigham Young University, we conduct comparative research

Innovation

into the effects of hearing training (auditory perception stimulation) and cognitive function training in children with central hearing disorders. As part of this grant, we have developed a procedure for testing auditory attention by the AEP-fMRI method, which may be successfully used in children.

I should also mention our very fruitful cooperation with Prof. Rene Gifford of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. We worked with this outstanding audiology professor on assessing the outcomes of patients with partial deafness who use the cochlear implant system. The research resulted in numerous articles published by reputable American scientific journals. Two years ago they were among the most cited articles. Cooperation with Prof. John Durrant, an outstanding audiologist, former dean of the Department of Communication Science and Disorders University of Pittsburgh occupies a very important place in our PolishAmerican scientific relations. We have jointly conducted research on the development of electrophysiological methods for hearing tests, and training in otological sciences and physiological acoustics. The launch of a new programme of study - audiophonology – is the product of this cooperation. In 2003-2007, we organized the first International Telemedicine Academy.

We also value highly our cooperation with Bożena Wróbel, assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology at the University of Southern California, who is an outstanding otolaryngologist. Thanks to her commitment and help, we have launched a new training programme in rhinal surgery for young physicians, with freshly frozen head preparations brought to our country for study for the first time.

Surgeries performed at the World Hearing Center are often broadcast on-line, which enables other scientists and physicians to take part in them remotely. Does this form of surgery attract big interest?

The seventh annual LION teleconference – the 7th Global Otology – Neurotology Live Surgical Broadcast – was held in May last year. The World Hearing Center took an active part in it by not only making it possible for all those interested to participate in the conference, but also presenting surgeries with my involvement to LION participants across the world. LION teleconferences are devoted to the presentation of the latest surgical techniques in the area of otolaryngology and neurological surgery of the

ear. More than 30 surgeries performed live by the best otological surgeons in centers across the world: in Brazil, Australia, Turkey, Spain, Holland, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Poland are shown during each meeting. The participants have an opportunity to hold discussions and ask surgeons and lecturers questions. On average, such surgeries are viewed by over 20,000 specialists, young surgeons and students. This is really an excellent opportuni-

contacts. These are two separate worlds now.

Instead, we should have a common goal – to apply research findings in practice as soon as possible. That you write about it is an excellent opportunity to promote science and encourage research and application becoming a normal thing.

ty for raising one’s qualifications while for us it is an opportunity to show the world the achievements of Polish science and medicine.

These are important international distinctions.

It is true. The American Otological Society is a very elite medical association, one of the oldest two in the United States. Suffice it to say that of its 290 members only 18 come from outside of the United States. I am the first and only Pole in this Society and this is a reason for great pride. We meet at least once a year and present our original scientific studies. Contacts with Brigham Young University in Provo have also given both sides much reason for satisfaction. Our joint work has led to specific practical applications.

In the United States, relations between science and business are quite natural.

This is not so in Poland. Why? Let us remember that it took them over 100 years to achieve that. We are catching up, but the effort will not produce effects instantly. We need to become mature enough, and change a lot in the way scientists, physicians and other people, including entrepreneurs, think. We all have to understand that the development of nations is based on scientific successes and achievements. We need to talk about them, appreciate them and encourage scientific work. Research findings must not be shelved, they have to be applied in practice. By whom? In many cases, scientists cannot do that by themselves.

Enterprising people are needed. We should talk about it as well and should not fear such

You are a member of the American Otological Society and an honorary professor of Brigham University in Provo, Utah.

W hat other distinctions are important for you?

I have indeed received many awards and other distinctions. I value especially highly those granted to me by scientific and medical communities. But I am also a laureate of the highest state distinctions that I received from the prime minister, health minister, minister 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 21

Innovation

of science and higher education, and minister of foreign affairs. I have received many prestigious distinctions in Poland and other countries. I have been honoured by the President of Poland with the Knight’s, Officer’s and Commander’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order, and received state distinctions awarded to me by the King of the Belgians, President of Ukraine and President of Georgia. Last year, I and my team received a medal in the prestigious Prix Galien competition. It enjoys the highest recognition in the world of medicine and is regarded as the second most important distinction in this discipline after Nobel Prize. But awards mean not only receiving accolade. They also mean an obligation to further hard work. They have always given me motivation.

Last year, I won the President’s Economy Award for my programme for the treatment of partial deafness and many other innovative scientific, clinical and organizational achievements associated with it.

Which of your achievements do you consider to be the most important in your career?

This is a difficult question because thanks to my hard and persistent work I have managed to achieve a lot. And although in Poland we are not accustomed to praising ourselves, I am glad that I have achieved so much. I have always been fortunate to work with the right people. I have put many ideas into practice and I continue to take up new challenges. I have performed many Poland’s first and the world’s first hearing improvement surgeries.

I have founded new medical establishments, like for example Europe’s second Diagnostic, Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People called Cochlear Center. I have put into practice the idea to establish and organize from scratch the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, and to build the International Hearing and Speech Center. The opening of the World Hearing Center is a success on a global scale – starting from developing the idea for it and its organizational concept to acquiring from European Union sources around 70% of the funding needed to earning independently more than 30% of the funding as the Institute’s own resources to building the center and furnishing it with equipment. It represents the largest ever own contribution from a scientific and clinical unit to its own development. This reflects the scale of unprecedented and real success we have achieved in several spheres - the economy because

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From left: Prof. Henryk Skarżyński, laureate of the Presidents Economic Award in category “Innovation” in 2012 and Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland.

Photos: the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing

we have been able to create more than 100 jobs, in medicine because we perform daily the largest number of hearing improvement procedures in the world, and in science because we have attracted dozens of foreign partners with whom we work on dozens of innovative undertakings.

The World Hearing Center is a chance to build a strong position for Poland in global science and medicine. The reputation of our country will be strengthened in the international arena if we add to that the popularization in Europe and beyond of universal screening test enabling the early detection of disorders of the senses. The World Hearing Center is provided with unique medical equipment, with an extensive teaching, scientific and application base, which enables training specialists from across the world in several areas of medicine, clinical engineering, physics, acoustics, biocybernetics, speech therapy, deaf education and the psychology of deafness. This also makes it possible to set new scientific research directions in these fields. Poland’s only Experimental Audiology Unit, Bioimaging Research Center, Epidemiology and Hearing Screening Tests Department, Implants and Auditory Perception Department, Teleaudiology Department, Tinnitus Clinic, Otorhinolaryngology Clinic, Audiology and Phoniatrics Clinic and Rehabilitation

Clinic operate at the World Hearing Center. We provide a base for the Otolaryngology and Rehabilitation Clinic of the Second Faculty of Medicine Warsaw Medical University and run a new programme of study – logopaedics with audiophonology – together with the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University.

We have set up a Post-Secondary Audiology School and Post-Graduate School of Logopaedics of the Deaf at the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing.

Developing a concept for and successfully performing, for the first time in the world, a series of surgeries to improve hearing in patients with partial deafness, both adults and children, is also my big scientific and clinical success. Ten years have already passed since this method was applied in clinical practice. The results we achieve in adults are the best in the world. Our results in children are still the only ones described in literature. We have over 1,500 patients who have undergone partial deafness surgeries. They are the largest group of such patients in the world. Last year was also very successful in terms of clinical achievements. First of all, we performed more surgeries which are pioneering in Poland – the implantation of the CODACS system, the latest middle and inner ear implant, and another BONEBRIDGE implant. ::

Innovation

Research – development – innovation Prof. Leszek Rafalski, President of the Main Council of the Research Institutes (RGIB), talks with Ewelina Janczylik-Foryś

Innovation is the word which has fought its way into all areas of human life. I wonder what it actually brings us.

There are numerous examples of truly innovative products and services. The application of innovative solutions in practice has proliferated but its scale in everyday life has not been as high as it should have been yet. In our country, there are still too many barriers which inhibit turning innovation into practice.

What kind of barriers are these?

Some time ago I took part in a debate entitled “Is Polish Science not Wasted?” The idea was to exchange opinions on the status of Polish science and higher education in the context of scientific and technological transfers to the Polish economy. The students and other participants in the debate were asked the following question: “Would you set up an innovative economic activity?” This was when they expressed fears about the paperwork and the path that needs to be followed to establish your own business. Financial audits and issues related to social insurance contributions make the system we live in too bureaucratic and repressive – hence the aversion to setting up new businesses, including innovative ones.

It is also true that no innovation-inspiring mechanisms for entrepreneurs have been developed yet. Research on new solutions is often loaded with certain risks that are faced by both entrepreneurs and researchers. Not all research ends with success. This makes entrepreneurs afraid of investing in research that seems too risky. Therefore, we should consider introducing certain incentives, like tax breaks, that would partially cover the losses that may be sustained in connection with negative research results.

We lack the kind of solutions which have already successfully functioned in a number of other countries.

Less than 1% of the State budget goes to scientific research.

Yes. It is around 0.7%. The State actually invests less than 1% of its budget in scientific research, although this statistic is not fully objective. Entrepreneurs completing

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We can still encounter situations in which not every scientist is open to the business world. Given that, how can we encourage the former to cooperate with businesses and what incentives could be provided to the latter?

This only applies to the scientific staff who conduct research oriented to practical implementation. I think that such criteria should involve all scientific units conducting this kind of research. Currently they only refer to research institutes, and their assessment of universities is based on their laboratory potential and publications. I believe that this is not a fair division, as there is frequently an excess of publications describing research results, whereas the actual implementation is not an important element of academic activity.

statistical questionnaires may classify their research to different categories. The inaccuracy of such questionnaires may result in the research being classified either as a service purchased on the market, or as research activity.

In contrast, banks often view their products, like electronic systems, as innovative, whereas in fact these are not newly-created technologies, but rather solutions re-purchased from someone else. These examples show the discrepancy in the questionnaires completed, which inhibits a precise definition of outlays on scientific research.

We can now take pride in a well-negotiated EU budget for 2014-2020. So far we have spent PLN 25 billion on scientific and teaching infrastructure.

I am very glad that the amount allocated to research will be much higher than it has been so far. Additionally, corporate taxpayers will be able to donate 1% of their tax to selected scientific entities. Institutes cooperating with entrepreneurs will encourage them to use this opportunity, especially given that it will cost them nothing but it might support science.

A nd this is the major objection made by entrepreneurs.

Nevertheless, we have to realise that not all academics are naturally predisposed to creating the kind of research work that can be used in practical terms. Such openness to the business world should not be expected in the field of the humanities. Things look different as regards scientists conducting applied research.

Can you see, Professor, how the sciencebusiness relationship is evolving?

Some business-oriented scientific centres have a good long-standing relationship with entrepreneurs. This particularly refers to technical research institutes. Also some universities of technology, such as the AGH University of Science and Technology, cooperate with the industrial world. Unfortunately, most universities are dominated by teaching activity.

Increasingly, private entrepreneurs themselves are establishing specific centres for laboratory research.

True, but such cases are infrequent. Entrepreneurs prefer ready solutions, developed through specific projects. The risk factor is of essence to the business world. While acquiring a research result from an institute, the risk is cut to the minimum, as such a product (or technology) has already been developed and

Innovation has brought tangible benefits. This cooperation simply pays off.

often high-quality, the practical training is not, because it costs too much. Fortunately, this is not always the case.

Master’s theses should not be put aside, but they should be closely analysed.

Master’s theses can be very interesting and sometimes they are. However, most of them are based on study projects. In very few cases, students are given the real chance and conduct laboratory research. This is a weak point of many universities. Studies should be based on theory but the outcomes of theoretical considerations often require practical verification.

Such verification is available in the laboratories of research institutes. A novelty or innovation can hardly be created in the absence of well-equipped laboratories, which is why they are what most higher education institutions dream of.

It is nonetheless not so bad because graduates from Polish universities are in demand abroad. How are such talented graduates searched for?

Thanks to the long-standing cooperation with universities, we can expect the exceptionally-gifted students to be identified. At first, such a student cooperates with a given research institute, based on a commission contract or a contract for specified work.

If both parties are satisfied with this cooperation, it is continued on graduation. It goes without saying that an adequate salary is essential and some institutes offer a competitive level of remuneration.

Does it mean that university graduates might have substantial knowledge but they lack experience?

Yes. The students themselves claim that the lack of practical knowledge is the weak point of most universities. Although the subjects taught in the renowned universities are

Is it likely that our universities will become “goods” for exports?

I think knowledge of foreign languages among the teaching staff still poses a problem.

Many professors have a good command of foreign languages but they find it difficult to teach in this language. This still creates a barrier.

Renowned universities have no problem with acquiring the staff teaching in a foreign language and they can be competitive. Currently young university leavers are fluent in foreign languages and they are able to effectively communicate with foreign contractors. Having gained the necessary experience, they can participate in international research projects.

Have research institutes recently established any significant contacts with foreign partners?

In mid-February 2013 I signed a cooperation agreement between the Main Council of the Research Institutes and the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL), which is a Taiwanese organisation uniting research laboratories. This coincided with the announcing by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) on 1 March 2013 of a competition for joint research projects based on Polish-Taiwanese cooperation. I expect that this agreement will make it easier for research institutes to establish cooperation with Taiwanese partners, leading to the implementation of joint projects in the thematic areas defined by the NCBR. :: ADVERTISEMENT

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Innovation

Directions for the development of Polish technology parks Technology parks have a 20-year tradition in Poland and they carry out a very important mission to combine science and business. Judging from the experience of recent years and the growing number of parks in Poland, it is doubtful whether all of them will be able to survive without EU funding, as they have not had to confront the market so far. Only those which will find their niche and establish a well-thought-out business model have a chance.

Cezary T. Szyjko Pro-development mission The first technology park 1 opened in the United States in 1948. The next, and the most known, Stanford Research Park, played a key role in the creation of the famous Silicone Valley.

Nowadays there are around 800 institutions of this kind all over the world.

Technology parks sometimes operate within Special Economic Zones. They usually work closely with local universities. Together with a great concentration of businesses and business-like services, a technology park is a place where synergy happens – generating added value by cooperation between science and business.

These institutions are quite a new phenomenon in Poland and today every Polish province has at least one technology park. However, not all parks that were founded before 2000 have stood the test of time. It turned out that it is hard to keep such projects on a high economic level without a well-thought-out business model.

The first technology park in Poland was founded in 1995 – it is the Poznań Science and Technology Park. The first

1 The popular term technology park is not always precise. There are some more accurate terms, like science park, research park, science and research park, science and technology park, industrial and technology park, technopark and technopolis.

These are the systematising terms for organised economic complexes. These types of facilities are founded to implement policies supporting young and innovative businesses, especially in the area of advanced technology industries.

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private technology park is also located in the Wielkopolska region: the Nickel Technology Park Poznań. Most Polish technology parks are in the early stages of development. There are still not many examples of good practices which could be followed and adopted by other parks. Therefore, the identified best practices should be seen from the perspective of the development stage of the parks – at the current stage they should be treated more like examples of some interesting solutions.

Local driving forces Parks are institutions that should mainly facilitate the development of cooperation networks in the region.

So, the degree of involvement in cooperation with the government authorities, businesses, and the science and research sector is very important.

Most Polish technology parks declare their willingness to have impact on the region and surroundings in their strategies or missions, but then they face a lot of difficulties in practice.

Modern theories point to the need to build a network of cooperating institutions and businesses, which improves the flow of information and technologies, and facilitates innovation. Some of the parks operating in Poland understand this attitude very well and, through various initiatives, they try to foster not only cooperation between businesses based in the

technology park, but also cooperation with other partners in the region.

Technology parks in Poland are on a good track to becoming one of the most important elements in regional innovative systems and therefore a way of transformation towards a knowledge-based economy, where innovations and new technologies will play an increasing role. The very fact of new parks being created is important for the region’s development by attracting investors and assistance in initiating contacts between the two worlds that ultimately should form an effective system of technology transfer.

Conditions for success The truth is that creating the right innovative environment is a longterm process that requires the consistent involvement of many players, including local-governments, business-related institutions, businesses and academic institutions. Therefore, the dialogue between these institutions is necessary, so that the services which support businesses meet their expectations, and the creation of a technical and institutional infrastructure allowing the transmission and adaptation of innovation becomes possible.

An important factor in the success of a park is the right choice of the businesses that operate within it. A park can fulfil its task in the field of technology transfer and develop in this direction only with clients who will decide to use this type of services.

That is why some parks decide to accept companies of a specific profile.

For this purpose, some parks organise, for example, business plans and technology-project contests, and the main prize is the possibility to operate in a technology incubator for a certain period free of charge, and to receive expert advice. Thanks to that, the park can select businesses with the greatest potential and the

Science for Industry www.is.gliwice.pl

Instytut Spawalnictwa (Institute of Welding) for nearly 70 years has conducted research into welding technology in Poland. The Institute deals with all problems associated with the processes of joining structural materials with the use of advanced technologies of welding, brazing and thermal cutting as well as allied technologies. In its activities the Institute develops close links with the home industry and foreign centres, especially with small and medium enterprises producing welded structures and international research centres.

Development and applied research Development and applied research constitute the base of the activity of the Instytut Spawalnictwa. These works are conducted in collaboration with research institutions and industrial enterprises within home, European and other joint research projects. Research covers the following areas: :: welding technologies, :: weldability of materials and testing of welded structures, :: environmental engineering in welding, :: specialist equipment and materials, :: automation and robotised welding processes.

Education on the international level Education on the international level. Instytut Spawalnictwa has achieved European and then international certificates and approvals and become the member of the important European welding organisations. The role of the Institute includes supporting of welding companies in improving their competitiveness, therefore European and international programmes and principles of training of welding personnel have been introduced. The certificates issued by Instytut Spawalnictwa for welding and non-destructive testing personnel are approved worldwide. Companies in Poland are able to compete in the world market thanks to the implementation of international standards which are the basis for the producers of welded structures and products.

Technology Institute prepares the wide offer of the relatively inexpensive solutions for the enterprises producing welded structures. Instytut Spawalnictwa offers advisory technical services, expert opinions, developing and qualification of welding technologies, certification, training as well as seminars and conferences. Simultaneously the Institute, taking into consideration the future needs of the companies, conducts research within various European funds and statutory works. In general the transfer of information on innovation and its advantages, and in the result the innovation itself to the industry is the basic role of such research institutes as Instytut Spawalnictwa.

The offer The offer of Instytut Spawalnictwa in the filed of welding technology for the industry comprises the following: :: applied and development research, :: expert opinion and advice, :: testing for CE marking, certification and approvals, :: transfer of innovation into industry, :: education and supervision of welding training in Poland, :: certification of personnel, quality management systems, factory production control system, welded products and processes, :: testing and qualification of welding technologies, :: qualification of industrial enterprises and supervision of structures manufacture, :: standardisation, :: scientific, technical and economic information, :: collaboration with Polish and foreign organisations.

Instytut Spawalnictwa 44-100 Gliwice, ul. Bł. Czesława 16-18, tel. 32 33 58 367, fax 32 231 46 52, 32 331 61 05 is@is.gliwice.pl, www.is.gliwice.pl NIP: 631-010-22-58

Innovation

best chances of surviving on the local market in the future.

An important way of achieving success and promotion is a professional website for the park. The site should provide all the necessary information on the operation of the park, its package and the businesses running in the park. Information on the events taking place in the park must be updated all the time. The website should also allow sending an application form to the park, incubator or laboratory.

Modern IT solutions allow the promotion of the park through the products of the companies, but also to promote companies whose software has been used through the website of the park.

Challenges In the nearest future the parks operating in Poland will have to face a lot of serious challenges. One of the most significant is the ability to offer some tangible benefits to their occupants, as well as the self-financing capacity. Polish parks have to diversify their activities, learn how to use economies of scale - and therefore get the biggest savings possible for their occupants seek international affiliations, enter

partnerships with local governments, and, of course, remember about academic activity all the time.

It seems that technology parks built around well-established research and academic institutions are the perfect location for research and technology-oriented businesses. Thanks to the combination of research, science and business, new impulses for the economy and enterprise should arise. So, it seems that parks fulfil their role as a place of cooperation between business and science. And that’s the problem. According to the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centres in Poland” report, the biggest barrier for the parks is the selfcontained scientific community. People managing the parks point to the fact that scientists are not willing to cooperate and commercialise the research results.

The challenge in the field of operational efficiency is to set measurable goals and monitor their implementation. It allows an improvement in the park’s efficiency and helps deploy the available resources at achieving goals in a better way. The consistent

measurement of the level of goal achievement is essential for making rational and objective decisions on the park’s activity and planning expenditures. Goals should also have a financial dimension – the park aims to ensure that the funds invested by outside businesses reach a particular value.

Recommendations Today’s image of the parks leads to the conclusion that, in general, technology parks have a positive influence on the regional economy. Since the innovation of businesses in Poland is still at quite a low level, the parks have a bigger role to play in the future. In order to track the progress in the development of the parks and their influence in their region, it will be necessary to run regular research and continue to analyse the factors that contribute to the success or failure of parks.

It is beyond doubt, however, that the intermediate level of advancement of technology parks in Poland shows that these institutions require further financial backing so that they can develop and, as a result, support the development of particular regions. Institutions that have the funds to support projects connected with the development of technology parks should however allocate these funds more sensibly and take into account such elements as the development potential of a particular park or the specific goals of the proposed project.

Polish parks should improve the conditions for technology transfer and the commercialisation of research results of academic institutions. As well as that, they should become more responsible in terms of the implementation of government, regional and local programmes supporting entrepreneurship, technology transfer and business development. Specialisation is an opportunity for parks, and it is very important, as it can lead to creating clusters. Polish parks have a chance to survive only if they broaden and develop their options so they won’t become only a site with some extra services but most of all a partner in development on the competitive EU market. ::

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Innovation

Wielkopolska’s innovation climate Until not so long ago, Polish businesses did not consider the public R&D sector to be effective when it comes to innovations and new technologies. Any kind of cooperation between science and business was characterized by the lack of mutual trust and focused on searching for uncomplicated ways to increase the production capacity, rather than investing in new innovative products and technologies.

This began to change as the European Union adopted a range of priorities and strategies that opened the possibilities of funding innovative projects aimed at improving the EU’s competitiveness on the global market of new technologies.

Prof. Bogdan Marciniec

Wielkopolska is among the leading academic centers in Poland and one that harbors a great R&D potential. Releasing this potential will be easier thanks to the creation of the high-tech center. The idea is in line with the EU’s priority to develop the R&D sector, as it drives growth and enhances competitiveness. Innovation should, therefore, be regarded not only as a scientific activity, but also, and perhaps primarily, as a factor in the socio-economic policy, since its main purpose is to magnify the impact of the implementation of new technological solutions in production, exploitation and service sector.

Wielkopolska seeks cutting-edge technologies The Wielkopolska Centre of Advanced Technologies – Materials and Biomaterials (WCAT) will be located in Poznan, the region’s capital city. The entire scientific community of Poznan is involved in this pioneering undertaking. As a multidisciplinary research center, it will be a very important part of the knowledge-based economy that Wielkopolska is keen to build.

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It is essential to provide suitable research infrastructure, which can be fully exploited precisely by specialists from various scientific fields. WCAT will bring together renowned scientists and engineers who will do research into multiple-use materials and biomaterials.

The integration of the entire scientific community (5 universities, 5 research institutes and the Poznan Science and Technology Park) will allow to establish one major globally recognized R&D center.

The center’s mission is to reveal original synthesis of chemicals as well as bio- and nano- materials of the new generation, and to develop on this basis advanced technologies and biotechnologies for optoelectronics, medicine, agriculture and many other industries. The research conducted in WCAT is supposed to lie technological groundwork for a range of applications of bioorganic chemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology to medicine and food industry.

This project is a very good example of using resources from the Cohesion Fund. Greater scientific competitiveness of one region

has a positive impact on the competitiveness of the whole Europe. That is why it is important to encourage innovation investment, to stimulate the development of new technologies that will be ably demonstrated so they can be applied in the innovation diffusion process.

Turning ideas into business reality For over 17 years, the Poznan Science and Technology Park (PSTP) has actively worked to facilitate the process of commercialization of knowledge and to support the development of innovative companies, including spin-offs.

Thanks to PSTP, entrepreneurs can also use modern office and laboratory infrastructure. The Technology InQbator, which operates under PSTP, offers support in drafting a business plan or choosing a legal form of your business activity, but also financial assistance to start and grow your business.

The latest initiative of PSTP is the construction of the Complex of High Technology Incubators, i.e. is the largest laboratory complex in Poznan intended primarily for the spin-offs that deal with materials and biomaterials as well as information and communication technologies. The Complex of High Technology Incubators will provide entrepreneurs, on preferential terms, with brand new professional laboratory and office space equipped with advanced IT facilities. Along with the complex of incubators, PSTP is an entity that plays a key role in the transfer and commercialization of technologies developed in the Wielkopolska Centre for Advanced Technology. It is also an essential factor of the efficient diffusion of new technologies across technology parks and hightech industry. ::

The autor is Member of Pol. Acad. Sci.; A. Mickiewicz University, Center of Advanced Technologies; Poznań Science and Technology Park of A.Mickiewicz University Foundation

Poznań Model

for Transfer and CoMMerCialisaTion of Knowledge and TeChnologies froM invenTion To innovaTion

Adam Mickiewicz University Centre of Advanced Technologies Grunwaldzka 6, 60-780 Poznań, Poland www.wcat.pl

Poznań Science and Technology Park of Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland www.ppnt.poznan.pl

Projects are co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Operational Programme Innovative Economy 2007-2013

Innovation

Polish inventions 2012 Last year, Poles took part in 19 international innovation exhibitions, where they showcased 704 solutions. They have won 454 medals, including 52 gold ones with honours, and 3 Grand Prix.

Jan Sosna Harvester designed by the Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering has won gold medals in Warsaw, Moscow and Poznań, and the title of Polish Product of the Future 2012. It already works in the fields of Poland, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Croatia

Future inventors are growing up – winners of the Young Innovator 2012 competition: Karolina Śledź of the elementary school no. 12 in Siedlce (helmet for blind people) and Bartłomiej Wdowczyk of the junior high school no. 5 in Radom (environment-friendly house)

Gold medals 2013 :: 15 gold medals were awarded to Polish inventions at FINEX, February 4-7, 2013, Tehran. Inventors from the Technical University of Częstochowa won 4 medals, from the Silesian University of Technology and the Institute of Oil and Gas won 3 medals each, from the Military University of Technology and the Institute of Power Systems Automation – 2 medals each, and from the University of Science and Technology (AGH) and Innovation- Implementation Unit Inwex – 1 medal each. :: At this year’s Malaysia Technology Expo, February 21-23, Kuala Lumpur, Polish inventors won 17 medals, including two gold ones. Among the winners was the Institute of Oil and Gas for its inventions - a versatile addition to high stability oils, supporting the regeneration of the filter engine exhaust ignition, and a multifunctional addition for diesel fuels. Judging by the current problems of the world automobile industry, these inventions will surely not be shelved. ::

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The Ministry of Science and Higher Education summed up the achievements of Polish innovators by handing out the Minister of Science Awards for special promotion of Polish inventions abroad. The laureates were: Silesian University of Technology, Częstochowa University of Technology, Łódź University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology, Military University of Technology, prof. Zygmunt Kowalski from the Krakow University of Technology, Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements, Textile Research Institute, Institute of Oil and Gas and Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering. The Ministry also awarded diplomas to inventors who won last year gold medals with honours at the international innovation fairs, and distinctions to the young innovators.

“The fact that Polish inventions gain recognition of the international jury shows that Polish scientific and technical thought can be competitive,” said prof. Barbara Kudrycka, Minister of Science and Higher Education.

Prof. Leszek Rafalski, Chairman of the Central Council of Research Institutes, was also proud: “Our institutes have a lot to be proud of. Many of them received international awards and distinctions, which is the result of combining the creativity of scientists and modern research infrastructure. 119 research institutions in Poland include 187 accredited laboratories, 50 accredited certification bodies and 20 accredited calibration laboratories and inspection bodies. This is a huge potential of expertise, research methods and laboratory equipment,” said prof. Rafalski.

Polish top inventions, including the shale gas exploration technology, Polish surpematerials of the 21st century, the hits of Polish robotics and many others can be seen at the 20th Exchange of Polish Inventions in the

Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw.

For example, solutions “ready to implement” in medicine aroused great interest, such as new prosthetic biomaterials or “the pain eliminator”, i.e. a solution proposed by the team of prof. Andrzej Lipkowski from the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine in Warsaw, which received the prestigious Grand Prix at the Brussels Innova Fair for the development of special compounds that eliminate the side effects of morphine, “a drug of last resort” for people suffering from severe pain. However, the most optimistic information is that some of the new inventions met with business interest and have already entered a phase of deployment.

“This year, the Exchange of Polish Inventions Awarded at the World Invention Exhibitions celebrates its 20th anniversary. This only confirms that the Polish scientific and technical thought is not only known, but has long been appreciated all over the world,” said Janusz Piechociński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy. “The quality and the number of Polish inventions presented in the world get greater every year. The scope of promotional activities is further extending to international inventions - both in Europe and on other continents. The successfulness of Polish exhibitors is possible thanks to efforts and commitment of many people. Their work towards technical and technological progress is increasingly gaining recognition in Europe and in the world. The catalogue of innovations showcased at the 20th Exchange debunks the myth that Polish inventions and inventors do not exist. It is quite the opposite: Poles often lead the way which others follow only later,” claimed Minister Piechociński.

The Exchange was organized by the Association of Polish Inventors and Innovators (SPWiR) and Eurobusiness-Haller, a private company. Since 1989 SPWiR has been promoting Polish inventions at international exhibitions and innovation fairs. In 2012 it organized national innovation stands at exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Geneva, Seoul, Sevastopol, Taipei, Nuremberg, Warsaw and Brussels, presenting more than 470 innovative technical and technological solutions that received 379 medals, including 148 gold ones. ::

Innovation

R&D: Are we seeing a light at the end of the tunnel?

“The fact that the world is waiting for Polish inventions should not obscure the idea that we need to focus most on their implementation here, in Poland” says Professor Michał Szota, President of the Association of Polish Inventors and Rationalizers (SPWiR).

Last year, the largest international exhibitions awarded Polish inventors a total of 454 medals. This year has also started quite promisingly – in over two months you have received 17 gold medals alone.

You had your personal contribution to three of them. Are all these achievements typical of a country which still ranks at the very end in most innovation classifications?

If we were to measure the country’s level of innovation by inventors’ creativity, and the latter by the number of awards won, the situation would be great, especially since in recent years the distinctions have been growing in number. Unfortunately, the main obstacle in Poland has always been the road “from the idea to the industry”. I’m an optimist, seeing that this area is ceasing to be a subject of merely theoretical deliberations.

In particular, the redevelopment of the whole financing system for the Polish R&D sector offers prospects for a better utilisation of our national creative potential, along with the expanding and increasingly-advanced – largely thanks to EU-funds – laboratory and research facilities.

A shift in focus can now be observed towards the organisation of research and implementation processes. This stems from the fact that we need good managers, even more than people creative in science and engineering. Although Poland can boast a huge implementation potential, we are still unable to adequately put it to practical use.

A breakthrough can come with launching and concentrating public support on the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR). The Centre “forces” scientific entities to apply their solutions. It makes financial support for a project conditional not only on a positive appraisal of its research potential, but also the procuring of business partners, for which it provides assistance. And such a solution is beneficial for the economy.

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As President of the SPWiR, you surely find it obvious that, besides an efficient system for the state and business support for technical and technological innovations, a wide sphere affiliating public and community institutions has to emerge, creating a climate conducive to inventiveness.

Even the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) initiates projects such as the Innovation Creator, to foster creative thinking, also among young and older children. As an Association, we engage in many of these efforts, cooperating with the Polish Engineering Association (NOT), the majority of research institutes and many schools. We undertake grassroots activities with young people, co-organising the “Young Inventor” (with NOT) and “EKO” contests, the latter devoted to green solutions and open to young participants. Our Association has devised an all-round programme of youthoriented activities.

A pivotal role in stimulating inventiveness and innovation can be attributed to the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), a distributor of major EU grants. This institution looks primarily at the application potential and implementation opportunities of a given solution.

The NOT merits mentioning, as it is currently undergoing transformation and

generational replacement. Its strength used to lie in industrial enterprises and their development of the streamlining movement, unfairly unappreciated today, yet understood and fostered by many companies. Not only do enterprises keep this mechanism operational but these are also institutes and universities which focus on the quality of their personnel. In doing so, they don’t restrict themselves to purely scientific development, but aim at devising various solutions to be implemented worldwide.

Taking a brief look at the list of Polish winners of international invention contests, we can see entities functioning in this manner, like for example the Oil and Gas Institute. …under Professor Ciechanowska’s management. Similarly, the Institute of Precision Mechanics, whose technologies find purchasers globally - from India, Australia, to Canada. Then we have the Łódź University of Technology, where the solutions by Professor Kula are sold all across America.

We could continue this list for quite a time.

A re Polish inventions better known domestically than abroad?

Apparently, we find it problematic to have our inventors being openly proud with their successes. I would very much like to know about the practical application of the contacts delivered to Polish creators by the SPWiR after international exhibitions. According to my calculations, last year’s total of all kinds of business proposals for specific solutions reached over a thousand. I know that many of them have been finalised, that is sold and implemented, or their authors have joined international teams working on global projects.

But there is a second side to this coin.

The fact that the world is waiting for Polish inventions should not obscure the idea that we need to focus most on their implementation here in Poland. If a given solution has already been implemented in our country, or its industrial application here is not possible, but it can be exported, then I’m all for selling – a product, a licence or a patent.

This should be done in such a manner as to make the inventor’s profit mobilise the said inventor, as well as others. And to channel the money into the Polish economy, as its driving force. ::

Obowiązujące postaci znaku Ustalenie obowiązującej postaci znaku jest wstępem do standaryzacji systemu identy kacji wizualnej rmy. Standaryzacja ma na celu stworzenie spójnego / jednorodnego wizerunku marki, a co za tym idzie zwiększenie świadomości marki wśród klientów. Wymuszenie stosowania tej samej wersji znaku przez rmę, jak i podmioty współpracujące z rmą np. Agencje reklamowe czy studia reklamy wizualnej. Stosowanie jednego standardu ułatwia rozstrzyganie sytuacji spornych które mogą wyniknąć podczas używania jednego znaku przy współpracy z podmiotami z zewnątrz jak i wewnątrz rmy.

Wersja podstawowa

Wersja webowa

Wersja jednokolorowa

Wersja na ciemnych tłach

Innovation & medicine

Poland ideal for a scientist?

Werner Deichmann, Juan Product manager at Orenore Polska

I work in Orenore, an investment fund company which possess a portfolio with projects of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas apart from other areas like renewable energy and multimedia. The proper expansion of the portfolio requires very accurate studies of the projects that our management finds interesting.

Many of my duties are related to the evaluation, from the Intellectual Property and the marketability points of view of projects that always seem to be extremely promising and revolutionary when they are presented to us, and they are indeed, but often more as scientific advances than as possible products that can solve, without investing decades on investigation, a current problem or necessity.

In my experience I have become convinced that there is no lack of great minds in Poland. I have met many bright scientists during these years and I can see that many go to the best

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universities abroad, where they meet the world leaders in their fields and work in the best laboratories but, after a few years, many of them come back to Poland.

This is surprising if one takes into account that they come back to a country where a public fund investment in R&D (Research and Development) has never been higher than 0.55% of the GDP, and the plans of reaching 1.9% before 2020 (the average in EU is 2%) are perceived with general scepticism. In my opinion they come back to find something that is very rare and one of the most valuable “invisible assets” of the Polish society - the respect given to those belonging to the “inteligencja,” a word that refers to the social class composed of people with the highest education and those whose work contribute to the world of culture.

More surprising still is why so many bright scientists do not seem to

be having an effect in the number of patents issued in Poland.

On January 17-18, the Nencki Institute, an institution at the avant-garde of life sciences in Poland, organized a series of conferences, with the title of “Managing Innovation” on the subject of how the innovations coming from the academia can be converted into commercial products.

Apart from my opinions, I will cite some of those expressed by Polish scientists at that conference and others belonging to a conversation that I maintained with Andrzej BiałkowskiMiler, an analyst and manager in the Bio Tech Med Cluster Mazovia (BTM) where he is responsible for management of scientific projects both at the pre- and post-capital investment stage, as well as coaching and supporting a group of technology brokers.

In order to understand why the science and the industrial worlds are so far apart in Poland it is necessary first to understand how they see each other.

A perception that I had in Spain, where I studied Biology and I have confirmed in Poland is that the ideal

Innovation & medicine

for a scientist is to develop his or her career in the University and achieve great discoveries that will widen and give deeper detail to human knowledge. That objective is something that can be done only with enough government financing but that ideal comes from other times, when the practice of science was more related to philosophy than to a dynamically developing world in which the application of knowledge is key for the success of any economy. Nowadays it shouldn’t be the only objective. But as much as the scientist wants to create new knowledge, acquire respect in their community and leave their mark for the future what the industry wants is to make money as much and as fast as possible, to grow and to conquer markets. It is like if both worlds not only spoke different languages but had evolved completely different cultures. And the consequence that I saw in Spain and now in Poland is that to work for the Industry is seen as an abandonment of the real objectives of the scientist, therefore it is a destiny for those who are less successful in the academic circles.

The government should then price between the scientists their efforts to approach the industry.

Andrzej Białkowski-Miler answered to that observation that the government is doing a lot to promote science being commercialised. The institutes get more financial support when they develop a higher number of industrial applications. The problem that he sees with the incentives is that as much as the directors of scientific institutes are evaluated by the industrial applications developed by the scientists working in the institute, those scientists are evaluated according to purely academic merits.

That has much more to do with basic science than with its possible applications. Since the continuity of the scientists in their job depends on their evaluation, the illusive financial incentives related to the commercialisation of scientific results are simply not strong enough for a majority of researchers and, to be effective, must be combined with other arguments, of both material and utilitarian character.

The experience in USA has shown that what can most influence the

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attitude of the scientists towards industry is to have models of success.

This is difficult to happen nowadays in Poland because the risk of failure related to the establishment of a start-up is always high and in the case of success most of the economical gains go to the University.

One possible solution to the problem, not excluding any other options, might be to include patents to the evaluation of individual scientists.

In general it is easy to see that in Poland there is a clear lack of interest of the Polish medical or pharmaceutical companies in long-term investments, necessary for R&D projects reaching the phase of POC (Proof of Concept). It is much easier to find companies willing to invest in a scientific project if one looks in Germany, England or the US where there are also scientists with many years of experience in Industry.

On that subject A nd rzej Białkowski-Miler thinks that the most probable reason why it is difficult to find Polish industries interested in R&D is because Poland is a transforming economy and still its main competitive advantage on a global market is pure price; for that reason it is cheaper to produce what others invent than to risk the investors’ money in long and risky projects.

I have heard that opinion in Spain also and when the economy was at its best. It seems to me that the nature of business is to make money easily and when that opportunity appears they always will try that way before the difficult. It is true also that in a mature economy there is place for companies with enough resources to invest in a future that looks even decades ahead and Poland is now creating the infrastructures that will make the appearance of such companies possible.

A very powerful instrument that the Polish government possess to promote the establishment of relations between science and Industry are the EU funds dedicated to NCBiR, PARP and other regional development programmes that promote the creation of consortiums scienceinvestors(industry, venture capital funds, etc.).

The experience of Andrzej Białkowski-Miler is that many projects presented to those programmes

do not have much commercial future but still are receiving lots of money.

Still, he is not pessimistic about the achievement of the goal which the EU funds have. Even if many fail to create a product, the goal of establishing cooperation bonds between the industry and the academia is being fulfilled.

Independently of the achievement or not of their goal, my experience, and that of many colleagues that have applied or seen the projects that they manage granted EU funds, through one of the mentioned programmes is that they carry a huge bureaucratic burden. It is sometimes difficult to understand the objective of some requirements of the administration and the great amount of documents that each project has to gather makes things so difficult that one wonders how can it be physically possible that the public servants supervising the projects read even a small fraction of those documents. Surprisingly enough, they still manage to find even the slightest mistake and promote it to the level of intolerable flaw or make additional requirements based on rather Kafkian reasoning.

Marek Zagulski, CEO and Co-founder, Genomed said during the conference that because the EU funds have to be given by Polish institutions in order to get the money one has to go through what he called “a way through hell”. He also added that because of that Genomed has four people working full time just to answer questions from the administration. I must say that his words didn’t surprise me at all.

The hostile attitude of the administration towards the citizens is a problem that shocks any foreigner living in Poland. After eleven years living in this country and asking everybody whom I could the reasons of that behaviour I came to the conclusion that very probably it is due to a kind of philosophy of the administration born during the communist times that saw the “public servants” as the system’s first line of defense, something that has evolved into defending the system against possible misuses and abuses by the people that have issues to treat with the state. I have witnessed during the last years a slight but progressive change in attitude towards a philosophy of the administration as a public service that is happening probably

Innovation & medicine

because the directors, formed during the previous regime, are beginning to retire and I foresee that the influence of many emigrants coming back will speed up the change sooner or later.

Another factor that is greatly influencing the work of many groups of top scientists is the creation of building complexes with state of the art laboratories and technologies like the Centre for Preclinical Research and Technology (CePT) in Warsaw, and the Wrocław Research Centre (EIT).

The heart of CePT institutes is concentrated in an area of no more than one square kilometre, very close to Żwirki i Wigury Street. The three major Polish universities are part of the consortium that constitutes it and there are seven research institutes.

For Marcin Szumowski, president of the Medicalgorithmics company and Managing Director of BTM Mazovia, the scale of the projects that such technology parks allow and the number of transfer of technology deals that take place in them makes it possible for start-up companies to be able to reach the point where they need no more to live from public funds.

Very important also, during the last years has been the establishment of clusters where scientists and investors meet and can integrate the needs of the industry with the possibilities of the scientific community to meet those needs. During the series of conferences Marcin Szumowski, Managing Director of BTM Mazovia, cited the definition of a Cambridge cluster: A cluster is a place that makes it possible to reduce the number of phone calls from twenty to two and actually getting to the right person in the second phone call.

Andrzej Białkowski added that the apparition of clusters, both legally established and those of less formal character, is probably the most important factor in promoting the cooperation between science and industry because it gives the opportunities to meet and gain trust to each other and find matching competences and resources that can be used for common benefit, this however wouldn’t have been possible without the EU funds that stimulated the contacts.

Something that is rarely mentioned as an important aspect that needs to be built between science and industry

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is trust. Scientists tend to think that when people from industry approach them it is only to exploit them, to get their lifetime’s work fruits in exchange of nothing. It is the nature of business to negotiate to take as much as possible from the other side and for the lowest possible price but even in business it is well known that a long-term relationship cannot be based on that strategy.

On the other hand, industry very often doesn’t treat science seriously.

A phrase very often heard in business circles is that “science doesn’t deliver.”

That means that when you agree with a scientist to achieve a goal, in the process of achieving it, something more interesting could arise and the scientist would decide to pursuit an alternative goal. Finally when the investor asks what he or she has done they will say that a lot of articles were published and a few great scientific discoveries were done.

For Andrzej Białkowski-Miler it is basically a problem of working habits and mind paths, or more bluntly speaking- communication. On the one hand it is not good when industry has too much power over the scientists and on the other when an investor wants to go from technical point A to B there is, metaphorically speaking, a sea between both points with plenty riffs and rocks and the scientist is the one who has the ability to avoid them. Therefore the industry needs to trust the scientists while the scientists need to adhere to the objectives marked by the industry.

Andrzej Białkowski explained that his mission at BTM is to work mostly as translator, joining people from both worlds and helping them to create a common language and culture that will allow them to trust each other and sail to the objective. Marcin Szumowski also added that there needs to be mutual and open relationships with honest and alligned goals - trust on the funding end on the research science inventor end and in the tech transfer as well as more collaborative innovation, developing communication and a joint effort to solve complex problems.

At last but not at all the least important of the factors that I see very often in my job is the heterogeneous attitude towards intellectual property protection between the scientists.

It is of paramount importance for the industry to have the exclusivity of the production and commercialisation of the products that are developed by them or the teams working for them. The reason is very simple, it is the only way to recover the huge investments made to develop a product and that is something that often can only be assured by a patent. But patents cannot be granted to inventions that have been disclosed before the application and it is hard for scientists to comply with that condition because their prestige depends on publishing the results of their work.

It is also quite common that a scientific group working on a project do not check before embarking on it if there are other groups patenting products that come from the same area of work, which can give rise to bad surprises when receiving an International Search Report from a national or any of the supranational patent authorities. There are also scientists that do very well their patentability research and choose a patent attorney who is supposed to be specialized in their field but happens to be poor at writing patents. This is not unusual because the number of patents issued in Poland is low and most of the experience that the patent attorneys possess is in translating the text of foreign patents into Polish or applying for Polish patents, which are not required to be of high quality. If the new European Unitary Patent substitutes the actual local system that source of income based on translations will disappear and those unable to write good patents will have to learn to do it or experience a professional failure. There is a strong opposition from the Polish chamber of patent attorneys to the Unitary Patent and there is also a strong media campaign announcing apocalyptic effects on Polish business but I still haven’t seen a scientist or an engineer complaining about it.

Altogether, the relationship between Science and Industry in Poland is at its infancy. It is a complicated infancy but one that, thanks to the vast intellectual resources that the young scientists constitute, the talent of the Polish businessmen and the help of the appropriate policies, gives many reasons to be optimistic about the future. ::

Innovation & medicine

POLATOM – a recognised and innovative brand on the radioisotopes market The POLATOM Radioisotope Centre is a self-contained unit of the National Centre for Nuclear Research which is engaged in scientific research and development in the field of the use of radioisotopes in nuclear medicine, industry and science and the production of radiopharmaceuticals and radioactive sources.

The history of POLATOM’s operations dates back to the 1950’s. Then, in 1957, at the then Institute of Nuclear Research in Świerk, near Warsaw, Ewa, the first research reactor in Poland was commissioned.

This was the beginning of the country’s activities related to the development of methods for obtaining isotopes and radioactive preparations. Further opportunities for development came in 1974, with the launching of Maria, another research reactor with which POLATOM’s activities have been inextricably connected until today.

Currently, POLATOM combines in its activity basic scientific statutory objectives and, successfully commercialises its own potential and research achievements. In the scientific arena, it is a leading centre in Poland that conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of the production of radioactive preparations. The main areas of POLATOM’s research activities include nuclear chemistry, radiochemistry, the physical chemistry of radioactive elements, analytical chemistry, biochemistry and the metrology of ionising radiation. POLATOM

carries out intensive scientific cooperation in Poland and abroad, taking part in international projects and research programmes. The research and development projects are primarily oriented towards applicative purposes and often lead to the implementation of innovative products and technologies. The vast majority of commercial products on offer, including approximately 150 items, are the results of POLATOM’s own work.

Implemented and launched by POLATOM, the innovative products are gaining recognition, confirmed by a number of national and international awards and distinctions, among others, for ophthalmic sources for the treatment of eyeball tumours, the 99mTc-Tektrotyd, a peptide kit for isotope diagnostics in oncology, and, in the final of the World Exhibition on Inventions, Research and New Technologies, Brussels Innova 2012, for Itrapol and Lutapol, the precursors of the production of highly-specialised radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy called internal radiation therapy.

POLATOM is Poland’s only producer of radioactive preparations, and radiopharmaceuticals constitute its most important product group. POLATOM is present on all the continents, exporting its products to over 50 countries.

The current POLATOM’s commercial package includes

:: A wide range of scintigraphic kits for 99mTc labelling for the examination of organs and cancer diagnoses, :: Preparations of radioactive iodine-131 for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases, :: Preparations for the palliative treatment of bone metastases, :: Radionuclide generators: 99 Mo/99mTc and 188 W/188Re, :: Precursors for the preparation of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, :: Ophthalmic applicators for brachytherapy, :: Industrial sealed sources, :: Radioactive standard solutions, :: Radiochemical reagents, :: A wide range of special customised radioactive preparations, :: Accessories for nuclear medicine units, :: The calibration and servicing of dose calibrators, :: The installation and maintenance of isotopic equipment, :: The handling and transportation of radioactive materials.

POLATOM’s activities in all areas meet European and international standards; with regard to its quality-assurance system, POLATOM holds the PNEN/ISO 9001:2009 Certificate of Compliance with regard to trading of dual use items and technology - the Internal Control System Certificate. Its standard of radiopharmaceutical production is confirmed by the GMP Certificate and qualifications in the area of ionising radiation metrology laboratory are confirmed by the Accreditation Certificate of Calibration Laboratory in compliance with the PN-EN/ISO 17025:2005. :: www.polatom.pl

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Innovation & medicine

A personalised approach to every client Elżbieta Radzikowska, MD PhD, the Medical Director of the La Perla network of clinics, and a specialist in plastic and general surgery and aesthetic medicine, talks to Maciej Proliński.

Elżbieta Radzikowska, PHD, the Medical Director of La Perla

Physician Karol Stelmach – a friend of the protagonist in the cult Polish TV series from the 1970s, “The Forty-year Old”, directed by Jerzy Gruza – says that you can still pass as a member of the intelligentsia in Poland even though you have no front teeth... I think that in recent years our approach to beauty has changed for the better.

Certainly, the market for plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine is rising. We can say that more and more people are taking advantage of such services. That’s probably also thanks to the fact that their material status has improved lately. Looking at the range of services provided by, for example, La Perla, I can say that aesthetic medicine has been the most popular choice. La Perla gives me quite a thorough cross - section of this field, as we provide a very wide range of services – aesthetic medicine, the widest choice of services in non-invasive cosmetology, plastic surgery and spa treatment. I believe that it is such multi-profile facilities that have a better chance of development in Poland today. Working in such a centre means that we don’t have to persuade people to go for a major surgery, we can start from minor interventions. You’ll find here our holistic approach to beauty, to the human being, and also a more personalised approach to our patient-clients.

We sometimes complain that Poland is still not very good at embracing the potential of our scientists. What is it like in medicine?

In this respect, already at the universities, the development of science is intended to bring progress in both practical and clinical medicine. What we do, also in our basic university units, whether this is biochemistry or genetics research, should assume, and often assumes, this form

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of transfer. However, and we have to stress this as well, it’s not always possible within the framework of a plan, as many scientific discoveries have been accidental. Providing funds for such research is an altogether different subject. Unfortunately, the situation is worse here.

Still, we have a great many wise people around. I recently paid a visit to the Department of Clinical Genetics at the Medical University of Lublin, managed by Janusz Kocki, MD PhD. I haven’t seen such state-ofthe-art equipment for genetic tests anywhere else in Poland. The opportunity to cooperate with such people and a chance to develop are invaluable in the activities of any physician.

As a rule, based on the company’s structure, La Perla clinics operate as medical organisations. How do you define the role of Medical Director in this company?

The Medical Director is just a person who is in charge of the personnel working in this place. She or he has to choose professional, reliable people. The Medical Director is also the person who takes responsibility for the majority of surgeries performed here. Let’s stress this – in La Perla everything comes under the meticulous scrutiny of specialist physicians with experience on the broadly-understood market.

Let’s not forget that we don’t save lives or treat illnesses. What we do is an added value to our lives, and if we choose to take advantage of it we need to be sure that it’s all of topnotch quality. I’m also very much for a much wider understanding of these facilities, so that our activities are not associated merely with making people look younger.

I guess that anyone who decides to study medicine, and then work in the field, should be aware that

he or she is choosing a profession that calls for dedication, lifelong learning and following new trends in science and technology that could benefit his or her profession. Such thinking must yield results.

Medical studies require conscientiousness, hard work, and regularity. You can’t just skip a chapter in your handbook and tell yourself that you’ll come back to it some time later. These are special studies, as these graduates will be in contact with the human being – body, mind and soul – for their entire professional career.

I think that every future physician must realise that, on the one hand, the diploma is a gateway to a career, and on the other, it’s only the beginning of a long road.

Th is year, besides your work for La Perla, you’ll also be working at a new private facility in Warsaw. Can you already share some information about this place?

This “new and not-so-new” private facility in Warsaw is to be based on the former Sisters of Saint Elizabeth Hospital on Goszczyńskiego Street in the Mokotów District, which was closed in 2006. This place has a tradition. The hospital still lives in the memories and habits of the district’s residents. This new place is being organised by Paweł Obermeyer, who also asked me to take part in this project. This is to become a multi-profile hospital, featuring general surgery, plastic surgery, urology, oncology, laryngology, and several other specialisations. This private establishment, in contrast to many other private clinics in Warsaw, will be trying to get a contract with the National Health Fund, as we also want to treat patients based on public-health insurance. The grand opening will be in May 2013. Feel invited to come! ::

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Innovation & medicine

Private healthcare still on top Fast and professional services without queues – can this be achieved in healthcare? Yes indeed. Many private clinics provide comprehensive medical care, with all the necessary equipment available on site and short waiting times. There you won’t see doctors and nurses on strike. Just as you won’t see patients complaining.

Magdalena Jasińska As private medical services are becoming increasingly popular with Poles, medical centres are branching out to deliver outpatient, diagnostic, rehabilitation and hospital services.

These are dedicated both to individual and corporate clients. The Polish medical market is also becoming more and more attractive for clients from abroad.

It is often the case that they visit Poland for the specific reason of being treated by Polish specialists.

The private healthcare services market is one of the most profitable and up-and-coming industries. According to projections provided by the PMR Consulting company, the period of 2012–2014 will see the medical industry growing at 5% per year (CAGR). Currently, the healthcare-services market in Poland is worth more than PLN 100 billion, and Poles are spending an increasingly large proportion of their budgets on private healthcare. “The value of the prepaid medical care market will continue to grow at a double-figure rate to approximate PLN 3 billion by 2014,” said Adam Roz­ wadowski, President of the Board of ENEL-MED.

Leaders of private healthcare in Poland Private healthcare can be obtained as prepaid care, from medical insurance, or by way of individual appointments (specialist appointments, dental appointments, outpatient tests and diagnostics). In Poland, these are mainly provided by large companies and groups of their subsidiaries. Moreover, the market is full of smaller health centres and private clinics, which are dedicated to and successful in their specific fields of medical specialisation. There isn’t enough space to cover them all in a single article.

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The majority of the macroeconomic factors remain conducive to the development of this sector, with the demographic structure and increasing health consciousness among Poles being the most important. “This dynamic is also generated by the growing demands of the public as far as the quality of healthcare goes. These are the demands that the public sector fails to meet,” stressed Adam Rozwadowski.

The most popular Poland-wide medical clinics include:

LUX MED The Group is currently owned by Mid Euro Partners. However, in 2012 an agreement was signed under which LUX MED will be acquired by the BUPA Group. The deal is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013. The LUX MED Group emerged from the integration and development of healthcare facilities which had previously operated under such brands as CM LIM, LUX MED, Medycyna Rodzinna (Family Medicine) and PROMEDIS. This medical network provides outpatient, rehabilitation, and hospital care, and also performs diagnostic procedures. Within the LUX MED Group operates LUX MED Diagnostyka (Diagnostics) and Tabita, a residential rehabilitation care facility. The healthcare services provided by LUX MED are used by 1,200,000 people, including 700,000 participating in their companies’ healthcare plans. LUX MED has 114 publicly-available and companyaffiliated venues across Poland, with a network of more than 1500 affiliated health centres. In 2012, the group was expanded to include 15 MegaMed venues, and also highly-specialised Endoterapia endoscopy centres located in Warsaw and Łódź. The diagnostic infrastructure was expanded as well.

Medicover Medicover is part of the international Medicover Group, and has been operating in Poland since 1994. It comprises Medicover, Medicover Ubezpiecze­ nia (Insurances), Synevo, Centrum Medyczne Damiana, Medicopharma pharmacies and Europejskie Centrum Macierzyństwa Invimed (the European Centre of Motherhood). Moreover, it holds stock in Sport Medica S.A (the Carolina Medical Centre). Medicover owns 30 medical centres in major cities across Poland and 20 company-affiliated centres, providing healthcare to more than 500 thousand patients. At Medicover, clients can get diagnosed, consult occupational medicine specialists, go to regular specialist appointments, get tested, use emergency services, try infertility treatment, and also receive hospital treatment, which is provided in two hospitals located in Warsaw, i.e. Medicover Hospital, which is a highly-specialised hospital, and Damiana Hospital.

ENEL-MED Enel-Med is a Polish family-owned company founded by Adam Rozwadowski – its owner and President of the Board. The company has 12 medical centres, 10 diagnostic laboratories and 2 hospitals at its disposal. Also, the company collaborates with nearly a thousand affiliated centres. ENELMED provides its clients with outpatient and specialised care, and also hospital services and medical imagining using CT and MRI. ENEL-MED serves both corporate (more than 1,400 businesses) and individual clients (more than 300 thousand people).

ENEL-MED venues also attend to the clients of insurance companies, with which it cooperates.

He who pays the piper calls the tune!

Despite being costly, the private healthcare services are growing more and more popular. Why? Patients value their time and the ready availability of specialists. And in public medical centres, you have to wait months for your appointment. Also, when using private healthcare you can be sure

Innovation & medicine that the medical staff are nice, helpful and highly-qualified, and there are also comfortable conditions and highquality medical equipment.

“We want to ensure that our patients receive the best service standard there is, which is why we are dedicated to using state-of-the-art technological solutions on a regular basis,” said Anna Rulkiewicz, President of the Board of LUX MED. However, the services in this industry are unique, as what’s at stake is human health and life. Those who manage public healthcare institutions have little financial capacity to improve the quality of services provided there, whereas in private venues, quality is what matters the most. “This is why reliable service, diagnostics and therapy management should be the flagships of the private sector,” claims Małgorzata Wodyńska, PhD, a medical consultant at tŚw. Jadwigi hospital in Trzebnica, where she specialises in rehabilitation, and at NZOZ Zawidawie (non-public healthcare centre).

Want employee satisfaction?

Provide a proper healthcare plan.

The private healthcare sector is getting more and more recognition from employers. An employee medical plan is one of the perks that improves employment conditions. And it is mutually beneficial. Indeed, because employees and their families gain easier access to specialists and medical tests, their absence caused by illness is shorter, which means improved productivity. It is equally important for the image of the employer as a company that cares for its employees and their health. Corporations can choose from a range of pre-designed packages, and some medical operators also provide customised employee healthcare plans.

The price, scope of medical examinations and available specialists depend on the package type.

because here they can get world-class services, performed by internationally-acclaimed specialists using the best medical equipment there is. Our consultants receive education in international centres and collaborate with international organisations. They enjoy recognition and acclaim in the international community. The quality of services provided by Scanmed Multimedis is world-class, with the prices lower than elsewhere in Europe. And thanks to the modern-day achievements in communications and transport (especially in the European Union), patients can choose their place of treatment from across the whole of Europe and the World.”

As reported by the HealthPoland. pl Medical Tourism Agency, Poland as a medical destination is most often visited by Germans, Americans, Swedes, Danes, Italians and Belgians.

Healthcare services in these countries cost 30–40% more than in Poland. According to the Agency, among the most asked-for services are those involving dental tests and procedures, and also cosmetic, ophthalmologic, orthopaedic and laryngological procedures. It is becoming a regular and popular practice among clinics to collaborate with travel agencies and tourist websites to help the medical tourists arrange their stay in Poland.

Due to the economic crisis, 2010 saw the number of patients from abroad fall compared to 2009. However, it was

projected that the market will recover. According to data provided by the Polish Association of Medical Tourism, in 2012 alone the industry could have reached PLN 800 million, and had the chance to continue growing at 12-15% a year.

The medical sector is undergoing rapid changes, and there has been much investment and modernisation going on. The ENEL-MED medical centre best exemplifies this development, having invested the capital it secured on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in several projects, including the construction of its second hospital in Warsaw at 128 Solidarności St. together with the diagnostic department, the launching of a multi-specialty medical centre with a diagnostic laboratory in Gdańsk, and a diagnostic laboratory in Konin. Also, ENEL-MED is planning to open a new medical facility in the Promenada shopping mall in Warsaw in 2014. LUX MED has been busy as well. “We have just launched a new facility in Gorzów Wielkopolski, and we are planning to open more of these in Szczecin, Białystok, Rzeszów and Toruń. In addition, two brand-new medical centres will soon be open to patients in Wrocław and Kraków. We are also working hard to consistently improve our capacity in highly-specialised services, including hospital services. Last year we acquired Endotherapy, and there’s still more to come,” reported Anna Rulkiewicz. ::

The grass is greener on the other side of the fence…

Poland is becoming an increasingly popular European destination. However, it is not only a tourist destination. It is more and more often the case that people come to Poland to use our healthcare services.

Joanna Szyman, President of the Board of Scanmed Multimedis, notes: “Poland is popular with foreign clients 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 45

Higher education

Time to invest

New Pedriatic Hospital

Prof. Marek Krawczyk, MD, PhD, Rector of the Medical University of Warsaw, the Head of the Chair and Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery, talks to Maciej Proliński.

fact that European funds, which have been funneled to Poland for some years now, provide Polish universities with a concrete basis to ensure that the quality of research in our laboratories is comparable to that proverbial Harvard’s.

“Poland deserves its Harvard,” a few years ago in the pages of “Polish Market” Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka said. How is it with science in Poland? For years, there has been talk of the science sector being underfunded.

It no doubt is, though some positive steps have already been made. They are due not so much to the new regulations, but rather to the

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But the key issue is the importance of intellectual capital for the economic development.

Certainly, the problem is often that the achievements of scientists cannot be applied directly in industry and business. The science and higher education reform is intended to help reverse this negative trend to make a more efficient use of the enormous potential of Polish science. First of all, it is essential to decentralize the process of research funding. It is scientists themselves, not politicians, who know best what projects have the greatest potential and chances for academic success in the world. It is within the minister’s competence today to secure funding for major investments such as national research centres. In the light of the reform of education, decisions on allocation of public funds for scientific

institutions and research projects are taken by independent scientific bodies: National Science Centre that distributes funds to basic research, and the National Centre for Research and Development that allocates funds to applied implementation-oriented research. The teams in charge of evaluating projects include scientific experts, but also entrepreneurs, practitioners. We are heading in the right direction. The point is that the procedures should guarantee not only openness and transparency, but also that the decisions on funding projects harboring the greatest innovation potential are made by suitably qualified persons with a certain acquis with regard to implementation. I also believe that the current research infrastructure investment boom will soon create appropriate conditions for Polish scientist to work for their measurable success.

In appreciation of your work, the academic community elected you for the term 2012-2016, and thereby entrusted you again with the rectorship. What are the most important challenges facing the Medical University of Warsaw MUW today? What will your priorities be in the near future?

MUW has for years proved that a good management strategy, high teaching standards and a great deal of attention to students can earn it a high position in the rankings, and not just those national. If focused on quality,

Higher education on providing a wide range of attractive programmes, a university is able to expand, attract outstanding students, as well as win grants for research and teaching, which will ultimately lead it to achieve a higher position even amid strong European competition. I will continue, during this term, what was started in previous years. By the end of 2013 we will have commissioned the Centre for Preclinical Research, which is our largest project financed from the EU structural funds. This is a key project, implemented under the Operational Programme Innovative Economy. The Centre for Preclinical Research and Technology (CePT) project will cost approximately EUR 100 million. It is coordinated by the Medical University of Warsaw and implemented in cooperation with the University of Warsaw, the Warsaw University of Technology and seven institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The primary objective of the CePT project is to purchase and manufacture specialized stateof-the-art research equipment. As a result, a scientific platform will be available to accommodate environmental research laboratories.

We are about to finish work towards establishing the Academic Centre for Clinical Research. A special unit will be set up to oversee the conduct of clinical research.

The Centre will be of significant help both to researchers and companies which need to perform clinical research. We have already signed contracts with AstraZeneca and other companies. The role of the Centre will include the organization and coordination of research in the university’s teaching hospitals in various areas, such as diabetology, pulmonology, oncology, gastroenterology, cardiology, transplantology.

I n recent years MUW has carried out significant infrastructural projects to upgrade its educational and research facilities. Are you not afraid of overinvestment?

Yes, over the last years we have definitely invested a lot, but we certainly have not overspent. I would say it has been a time of catching up on neglected infrastructural improvements. The First Lady Anna Komorowska has recently visited our premises.

It was one year after the cornerstone was laid for the new Pediatric Hospital in the MUW’s campus at Banacha Street. The construction progress is almost palpable today. The carcass of the hospital is already in place. In a year’s time, two underground storeys and six overground ones were constructed. It is an impressive pace. This modern hospital is very much needed not only for MUW or Warsaw, but also for the whole country. New solutions will be implemented such as combining the

maternity clinic with the neonatal intensive care unit, which will eliminate the need for transporting premature babies requiring surgery. In terms of the conditions for treatment of children and teaching students (38 new seminar rooms) the Pediatric Hospital means a brand – new European quality. We opened a modern Library and Information Centre with more than 120 rooms, including a number of seminar rooms. We are building the Sports and Rehabilitation Centre. We are striving to accommodate Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, established in December 2012, in the campus at Oczki Street. Last year, we had Klub Medyka redecorated. This legendary music club, whose history dates back to before World War II, is a very interesting and important spot on the cultural map of Warsaw.

It is worth pointing out that MUW is a truly international institution, where teaching is based on global standards of education and scientific exchange between universities and research institutions. Since 1998, MUW has cooperated with 50 European universities under the Erasmus programme and with 15 partner universities under CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies). Our university offers medical studies in English and has long-lasting 20 years’ experience in teaching foreign students. The English Division of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine educates nearly 600 students from 30 countries, mainly Norway, Sweden, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia. From this academic year, foreign students are also admitted to the English Dentistry Division of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine. MUW boasts professional teaching and scientific staff, educated both in Poland and abroad.

Another strong point is an innovative approach to education, with students working in small groups, having direct contact with patients, participating in interest circles, as well as research activities.

Are MUW’s graduates successful in labour market? Poland is the country where industry is steadily shrinking, so there is little chance of finding a decently paid job in engineering. And how are things in the medical sector?

There is no such problem in medicine.

I do not think that graduates of medical faculties will have to worry someday about the lack of work. But pharmacists have indeed voiced some concerns recently. That is what prompted us to extend the teaching programmes addressed to them to cover clinical pharmacy to enable them to work as hospital pharmacologists so that they are no longer perceived by the labour market as pharmacy staff only.

What are the other educational challenges?

I would certainly mention the joint implementation by all the medical universities of the simulator-based education. We have already prepared a draft project of the Medical Simulation Centre in our campus at Banacha Street. Further challenges will involve adapting graduates of medical faculties to changes resulting from the abolition of post-graduate internship.

Medical studies are very special insofar they cover the human being as a whole: from physiology to metaphysics. Many students fail to face up to this challenge and drop out, don’t they?

Throughout their professional lives, our graduates will have to deal with man, his body and mind, the most complex, delicate, and still not fully explored organism.

These studies require reliability, diligence and regularity. Anyone deciding to undertake such studies chooses a profession that requires commitment, lifelong learning and readiness to follow developments in science and medicine-oriented technology. At MUW we educate nearly 10 thousand students in 13 fields of studies and in 2 specialties. As regards medicine, only slightly more than 5% of our students drop out.

Every year we have nearly 500 graduates of medical studies.

January 26 marked the National Day of Transplantation. Let me ask you about your day-to-day experience in the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery. Is the transplantation awareness rising among Poles?

The past year was very good for liver transplantation. Almost 170 transplant surgeries were performed in the Chair and Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery. By way of comparison, in 1996 a mere six transplantations were done. We are the largest centre in Poland and one of the most important in Europe. The standard of care we provide to our patients is no worse than in the best European clinics. Our clinic meets world standards in respect of treating patients after organ transplantation. It’s a huge satisfaction for me to be able to lead such a team. But this success would not be possible without a growing number of donors, which is something that points to beneficial changes in Polish awareness.

This is largely thanks to the concerted action for transplantation presided over by the Mazowieckie province Governor Jacek Kozłowski. All this has already begun to produce tangible results. :: 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 47

Higher education

We are an attractive partner for international cooperation An interview with Prof. Marek Ziętek, PhD., Rector of the Wrocław Medical University.

Can you tell us about your scientific and research resources - are they developing? Are you investing in the University’s infrastructure?

The major investments we have successfully completed include the construction of the new building of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy, which was co-financed by the EU, and the implementation of the project entitled “The Integrated Didactic Centre of Wrocław Academic Dentistry”.

Under the project, some state-of-theart dental equipment was bought for the students of the Faculty of Dentistry.

Thanks to financial support from the EU, we have also succeeded in renovating the buildings of the old campus, which were erected at the turn of the 20th Century, bringing them back to their former glory. These buildings are home to the departments of theoretical studies of our University.

The significant investments we are delivering at the moment include the construction of the Medical Reference Centre, with a modern library and state-of-the-art teaching rooms, and also the long-awaited “Supra-regional Child Oncology Centre in Wroclaw”, also known as “Przylądek Nadziei” (“The Cape of Hope”), dedicated to the youngest patients. The Centre is scheduled for completion in 2015.

What do you think about science in Poland compared to Europe and the world? What is the significance of your University on the European and global map?

While still admittedly lagging behind Western-European countries, Poland is slowly catching up. This is also the case with our University. Year by year we are putting out more scientific publications, which have been of

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an increasingly better quality as well.

Also, we have been successful in innovation. Last year, the inventions presented by the Wrocław Medical University during the 61st World Exhibition on Inventions, Research and New Technologies “BRUSSELS INNOVA 2012”, dedicated to the transfer of technologies and the implementation of technological advancement, won two awards - the gold and the silver medals.

We also hold shares in the Wrocław Medical Science and Technology Park, whose task is, among other things, to search for new technologies in medical practice. We are dedicated to supporting these efforts, and by doing so correspond with the plans of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to strengthen cooperation between the worlds of science and business and better meet public-health needs.

C an Polish science become an “export good”? Are foreigners

interested in studying at the Wrocław Medical University?

Yes, we are indeed popular with foreign students, and the graduates of our University best showcase the potential we have. Currently, there are 400, 379 to be specific, students enrolled on the medical course, whereas dentistry is studied by 82 people. They come from Sweden, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

We have had many successes in the field of dentistry and, more specifically, implantology and biomaterial implants.

Our centre leads in the immunological studies of the aetiopathogenesis of periodontal diseases.

What’s more, the beauty and the academic tradition of Wrocław alone make it an attractive place to study in.

We are meeting at a time when the healthcare system is under a barrage of criticism, and the quality of health services is far from satisfactory. Patients are distrustful towards emergency dispatchers and doctors. Why has this been so for the last few years? What is the result of such a situation? Is it the media that are in fact debasing the image of the healthcare system?

In critical situations, the blame always rests with specific individuals.

Indeed, the system is in true need of some changes in, for example, the insurance system, competitive publichealth providers, legislation on the research and teaching hospitals or the system of paediatric care. However, it is horribly unfair to make generalisations about tragedies in the healthcare system which have taken place and will continue to do so regardless of the system or the country. It’s true that the media should provide the news, but why always put the onus on the system when a person dies or gets sick? It’s not the system that’s responsible, but specific individuals and situations. ::

English Division T. Chalubinskiego 6a 50-368 Wroclaw, Poland phone: +48 71 784 15 56 +48 71 784 15 58 +48 71 784 11 19 fax: +48 71 784 16 76 e-mail: ed@umed.wroc.pl

www.ed.umed.wroc.pl

Studies in English Applicants are expected to have excelled in basic science courses in physics, chemistr y, biology, mathematics and English. The academic year formally star ts on the 1st of October and is divided into two sessions. The student must successfully complete all of the course work of one academic year, before being approved for promotion to the next year.

Admission criteria ers 6 year medical program at Faculty of Medicine and 5 year program at Faculty of Dentistry.

The candidates for the studies have to possess at high level an adequate knowledge of the studied subjects: Physics, Chemistr y, Biology. This will be checked during the enrolment procedures. Candidates will be chosen by open competition on the basis of grades on the high school diploma from Biology, Chemistr y, Physics.

Payment The students enrolled in the academic year 2013/2014 are obliged to pay the non-refundable admission fee 900 PLN as well as the respective tuition fee for 1st year till the 15.09.2013. The payment of the annual University tuition fee should be done till 15th September for each next year.

The students enrolled in academic year 2013/2014 are obliged to pay the Annual University Fee in PLN (Polish zloty) according to the scale below.

Medicine

Dentistry

Year of Study

Tuition (PLN)

Tuition (PLN)

I (with admission fee)

49 200

53 400

II

48 300

52 500

III

48 300

52 500

IV

48 300

52 500

V

48 300

52 500

VI

48 300

-

Total

290 700 PLN

263 400 PLN

Higher education

Forecasts for today and tomorrow “The Institute of Statistics and Demography is in the group of 18 leading demographic institutions that have launched the initiative Population Europe: The European Population Partnership. The aim of this project is not only to strengthen research cooperation and share expertise, but also to work together with a view to disseminating knowledge about the new demographics of Europe and engaging in debate, both domestically and internationally, on demographic changes and their consequences,” Prof. Janina Jóźwiak, Director of the Institute of Statistics and Demography under the Economic Analysis College at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), tells Jerzy Bojanowicz.

Prof. Janina Jóźwiak, Director of the Institute of Statistics and Demography under the Economic Analysis College at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)

What is the mission of the Economic Analysis College?

It conducts quite diverse studies, ranging from macro-economic modeling to business information technology. The Institute of Statistics and Demography - as its name suggests – deals with the specific issues related to statistics and demography, the major part of ​​our research being demographic changes in Poland. It happens that today, as it can be seen in the public debate, these are hot topics: pension schemes, retirement age, the declining birth rate and population and family policies.

We also carry out research into standards of living, poverty, income distribution, etc. Furthermore, the Institute is involved in several large empirical studies, including the international project “Generations and Gender Programme” (GGP), launched in 2000 by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and the Population Unit under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. We are part of the International Working Group (IWG), which was set up for the purposes of this programme and brings together members from 28, mostly European, countries.

As part of the GGP, the Institute of Statistics and Demography is conducting panel surveys on a random nationwide sample of people aged between 18

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and 79, with the aim to obtain information on demographic processes in Poland to understand causal mechanisms for the creation, development and dissolution of families, relationships between generations and changes in social roles of men and women. Respondents are supposed to tell us about how their biographies evolved in the context of demographic changes: education, labour market, family formation, migrations, etc. Their answers will provide the basis for making certain generalizations as regards changes in the biographies of subsequent generations, or in relationships within families and between them. The first round of panel surveys has already been carried out in 15 European countries.

Research concerning standards of living, poverty, or income levels are carried out “here and now”. And what timeline has been adopted for demographic studies?

It depends. It is “here and now” when we examine current views and attitudes, that is determinants of the respondents’ demographic decisions.

However, it also happens that we look into the past to investigate facts related to the family creation, having children, education and work, and this is called retrospective studies. But what we do is of course forecasting demographic changes.

The biggest demographic problem in Poland is a long-lasting decline in the number of births. This downward trend began to be visible in the mid1980s after the 1983-1984 baby boom.

At first, it was somewhat explainable, because the high birth rate years are always followed by a decrease, but what happened a decade later was a sharp slump. A particularly low number of births and a low fertility rate the average number of children born – to a woman throughout her life – was recorded at the beginning of the 21st century, and this decline, which has been pushing its way through for the past 20 years, is so deep that the resulting changes in the population’s age structure are hard to reverse. It is all the more difficult when you consider the aging of population and the extending life expectancy of Poles, the latter being of course, a very positive development in itself.

One of the Institute’s staff members, Paweł Strzelecki, has recently conducted simulations on the future size of the labour force in the period up to 2060, assuming various fertility rates, as well as changes in the retirement age and in the level of econimic activity. He found that the number of people of working age is bound to decrease regardless of the adopted variants. Even if we assume that from now on, that is from 2013, the fertility rate will rise rapidly to reach the replacement ferility rate and will remain until 2060 at, let’s say, 2.1, the number of people of working age will continue to decrease over this period!

Grants are an important issue for each research institution. What is the situation like in your Institute?

I could cite quite a large list. The research project under the GGP programme is financed from the grant that we obtained from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education - yet before the creation of the National Science Centre. We also won a large grant from the National Research and Development Centre, under the programme LIDER, to carry out a project called FAMWELL, which is devoted to the new patterns of family formation in Poland, with the consideration of the social and economic context, preferences, and the impact on life satisfaction. This study is aimed at identifying links between the living conditions of families, including especially the

Higher education labour market situation of women, and women’s decisions about having children. We also received a grant from the National Science Centre to compare Poland and Italy in terms of the labour market situation and demographic decisions – “New Patterns of Family Formation and Dissolution in Poland and Italy – the Search for the Change Factors FAMCHIP”.

We are also conducting a project the “Policy Ideas and Practice of Active Aging” for which we have funds from Norway. The European Commission is financing, under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, our project that deals with the use of the so-called small area statistics to measure poverty – “Small Area Methods for Poverty and Living Conditions Estimates SAMPLE”. This project provides a solution to an important methodological problem associated with measurements which, in the case of a small number of observations, might be burdened with error.

The Institute’s staff members participate in a subjective health study carried out for the programme “Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe SHARE”).

We cooperate with the Institute for Educational Research to do research into educational careers. We have also won a grant to examine demand for the care of the elderly.

In 2012 a project of type of Network of Excellence titled “Reconciling Work and Family in Europe RECWOWE” was completed. Carried out under the 7th Framework Programme, it dealt with the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, with several European institutions being involved. The programme was coordinated by the University of Nantes and our Institute was the only Polish participant.

In February a large 4-year international research project “Families and Soci-

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eties” was launched, funded from the 7th Framework Programme and coordinated by the University of Stockholm. The consortium is composed of demographic research institutes, including the Institute of Statistics and Demography at the Warsaw School of Economics, and the best European researchers representing different disciplines.

Does the Institute have any contracts with foreign institutions?

Formally, the Institute has no legal personality and all contracts with foreign partners are concluded by the Warsaw School of Economics.

However, in some particular cases, agreements are signed at a lower level. On this basis, the Institute signed an agreement with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, and joined as a partner the network “Population Europe”, which brings together several major European centres for research in population. The objective of the “Population Europe” is to transfer the results of demographic research to policy-­makers both at the national and European level.

One consequence of the demographic decline is a decrease in the number of students. How do you assess the interest in studying at the Warsaw School of Economics?

There is an average of 3 candidates for one place. This indicator has been very stable over time and shows that young people are interested in studying at SGH. Every year, we take about one thousand students who, after the third semester, choose specialties of their interest. Of course, the most popular one is finance and accounting.

At the same time, the demand decreased for management graduates, and increased for those majoring in quantitative methods in economics and information systems (formerly econometrics). The College of Economic Analysis is involved in teaching most courses in the latter field of study. Our graduates pursue a career in analytical departments of banks, or insurance institutions. As the Institute, we have the first contact with students in the second semester, teaching basic statistics. Then, we deliver a lot of lectures for the students working towards their MA degrees.

Plans?

The most important thing is for us to attract a new group of young people to the Institute, because I am afraid that a generation gap is about to set in. We want to launch the second round of surveys within the scope of the GGP project, to hire a few people, and then get them tied to the Institute. At the beginning of this century, we had a group of young, ambitious people who, while working at our Institute, held internships and scholarships in major foreign research centres, establishing international cooperation with their colleagues from other countries. They earned PhD degrees and the next step is 2-3 years’ postdoctoral studies during which they use again scholarship opportunities to pursue their projects in major international research centres.

This is a normal career path - maybe not everywhere in Poland, but certainly in the western European and American universities. Here is the reason for possible staff shortages at the Institute.

In the years 2013-2015 the Institute will host the European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD) in which twenty PhD students from all over Europe will participate. This school, which is a unique European project, was set up in 2005 at the initiative and under the auspices of the European Association for Population Studies, a consortium of several leading European research institutions in the area of ​​demography, including our Institute. The essential idea that prompted the creation of EDSD was to create an annual advanced programme in the area of ​​demography addressed to the selected PhD students from various European universities. Lectures are delivered by renowned and often eminent scientists from the partner, though not only, institutions. The idea is, on the one hand, to consolidate distributed postdoctoral studies in the filed of demography and, on the other hand, to prepare the young generation of researchers for the scientific career. It is also important that PhD students, who come together as part of the school, create, and already have, a permanent network of international cooperation. Entrusting EDSD to our Institute, and more generally to the Warsaw School of Economics, is a prestigious award. As you can see, we have a lot to do. ::

Higher education

Photo: Michael Pang/stock.xchange

Global system for testing, monitoring and forecasting storm activity

The subject of the offer is the global system for testing, monitoring and forecasting storm activity in real time based on propagation of electromagnetic field signals of extremely low frequency (ELF, 3-3000 Hz). Data on storm activity are significant for early warning in case of the lightning hazard.

Gabriela Konopka-Cupiał, PhD For several years an increase of storm activity in the world has been observed. With the increasing number of storm events their intensification has also been noticed. Nowadays atmospheric electrical discharges become a hazard for agriculture, industrial infrastructure and transportation, especially safety of air and sea transport. Because of the need to recognize and to prevent the negative effects of lightning a number of methods and techniques for storm detection and monitoring have been performed.

Currently numerous commercial and empirical storm activity monitoring systems exist on the world market. In their principle, they are mainly based on detection of radio waves emitted by lightning. Due to the limited range of waves dense deployment of the detecting devices is required, hence the simultaneous observation of the Earth in the range of VLF waves faces difficulties. Another problem is the unsatisfactory accuracy of the lightening intensity determination.

Global system The solution for this problem is waves of extremely low frequency ELF (3-3000 Hz), which are propagated without loss over long distances (up to 40,000 km). One single detecting device can register all lightening across the planet. The barrier in the application of ELF waves is their overlapping as a result of re-circulation of the Earth. The resonance phenomenon (Schumann resonance) makes it difficult to determine the location of lightening sources.

The subject of the offer is a global system for testing, monitoring and forecasting storm activity in real time based on the ELF waves.

The system uses efficient algorithms for analysis of wave resonance in the Earth ionosphere cavity, through which the location of storms and their intensity in real time can be determined. A single device for storm monitoring already records signals from all lightning on Earth. The application of several to several dozen stations with recording equipment, distributed relatively evenly over the globe, in different continents in conjunction with the computing algorithm, allows for precise imaging of storm activity (both the location and intensity) in the given coordinates, even in the areas where their coverage by other methods is impossible.

The main advantages of the proposed storm activity system are: :: global coverage, even using only one monitoring device;

:: high precision of the lightening intensity determination; :: ability to outline storm activity maps graduated in units of current per unit area, including the areas of the globe previously inaccessible by the other systems because of their limited access; :: an opportunity to observe the movement of storm centers in real time.

Another important advantage of the system is the relatively low cost of producing and maintaining the apparatus due to: a small number of measurement points (the target system 15-30 points) required for highly precise monitoring of storm events on a global scale; very high apparatus reliability due to the simplicity of the applied technical solutions.

The offered storm activity system is still being developed at the Astronomical Observatory at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University. Currently the Centre for Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Development (CITTRU) is looking for companies and institutions interested in the technology development, its testing and application of data obtained by the system. ::

Gabriela Konopka-Cupiał, PhD Project Development Manager phone: +48 12 663 38 32 email: gabriela.konopka-cupial@uj.edu.pl

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Higher education

Transnational project

makes for greater employment opportunities for graduates of ZSP No. 3

The dynamic development of modern technology is setting new directions of development of modern vocational education. More and more companies acknowledge the fact that close cooperation with institutions training mid-level professionals is today more than just a feature of corporate social responsibility. One of such companies is Mazowiecka Spółka Gazownictwa.

It has already carried out a second EU-funded project in cooperation with the Technical Gas High School in Upper-Secondary School Complex (ZSP) No. 3 in Łódź, while also giving the school its patronage.

Renata Łatanik The project, like the previous one, was implemented in the framework of the Operational Programme Human Capital, Priority IX: education and competence development in the regions. Foreign partners of the project were: Spain’s Barnagas Norte SL and Germany’s Viessmann Werke Berlin GmbH & Co. KG. The agreement on transnational project ended on March 31, 2013.

This form of training future professionals – in cooperation with the companies of a given business profile – becomes more and more popular. This inspires optimism: employers get a chance to hire better-skilled workers, and workers can avoid the stress involved in the induction into the new duties. But it has yet another obvious advantage for employers: it saves time and costs that have to be incurred because of the need to train new employees. Actions taken as part of the project are also intended to contribute to reducing unemployment among people aged 18-24 in the Łódź region. The unemployment rate in this group has increased in recent years: from 16.2% in December 2007 to 19.5% two years later (data retrieved from a report “The labor market in the Łódź region in 2009”, www.wup.lodz.pl).

The joint implementation of the EU project is yet another form of

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cooperation between Mazowiecka Spółka Gazownictwa and the Technical Gas High School. Owing to additional financial resources it is possible for the students to gain skills and competences that are bound to increase their chances for employment after graduation. The previous project (carried out under the Priority IX, measure 9.2: increasing the attractiveness and quality of vocational education) was focused mainly on the organization of extra-curricular activities for 150 students pursuing the gas and sanitation specialty. It was also conducted in collaboration with foreign companies, and was intended to increase the students’ skills in view of their future employment.

Another reason why students found the project particularly interesting was that it involved study visits to foreign partner companies, world leaders in innovative heating systems and advanced technology solutions for leading regional gas operators and distributors. The aims of the project are consistent with those of the Operational Programme Human Capital, measure 9.2, as they cover designing and implementing development programmes for vocational education institutions through various forms of extra-curricular activities intended to nurture the key skills development.

At the same time, the professional development of students in cooperation with employers increases the chan­ces of young people in the labour market. Another aim of the project was to develop innovative forms of teaching, more effective than traditional ones. It is worth mentioning that Viessmann, a foreign partner of Mazowiecka Spółka Gazownictwa, has been for many years promoting professional development. Since its establishment in the 1960s, the Viessmann Academy has been training future professionals, as well as organizing various training programmes and seminars. Every year, more than ­92,000 heating professionals participate in these activities. Set up in 2003, the Viessmann Academy’s PostSecondary School of Modern Heating Technology is the only such institution Poland. Its creation marked the introduction of a new type of vocational training, the one that relies on close cooperation with employers. Accordingly, a mutually beneficial trend seems to have been ushered in.

The actions taken as part of the project were aimed to: :: enable students to develop key skills (entrepreneurship and initiative) and professional skills through various forms of extracurricular activities (trainings in welding gas installations and polyethylene pipes, occupational health and safety, English classes, a website building workshop, active job search classes taught by professional advisors, a seminar on new technologies in the gas industry and a training on equal opportunities for women and men) :: learn from international partners and work together to develop best solutions with respect to cooperation between employers and vocational schools :: create students’ portfolios (including certificates on the trainings

Higher education completed under the project) to help them start their professional life after graduation :: purchase equipment for welding gas installations and for occupational and health safety :: hold study visits to the Spanish and German partners, at the University of Science and Technology in Cracow and at the Institute of Oil and Gas :: visits to foreign partners in Poland :: issue follow-up materials and practical guides for students and teachers summing up the trainings The study visits had undoubtedly a range of additional advantages. Students will certainly remember a visit Welding polyethylene pipes

The cooperation with foreign partners has allowed students to get to know the day-to-day business operations in the liberalized gas market.

From the point of view of the Polish gas market – where this process is only beginning – it is an extremely valuable experience. Awareness of the conditions in which ­European companies operate will certainly prove useful in the future. And this is all thanks to the fact that the project was joined by foreign partners that enjoy international reputation. ::

Workshops for students

Students visiting the Viessmann company

to the Museum of Gas Lights that can boast of the richest collection of such lights in Europe, including 90 items originating from 25 German and 11 other European cities. It was also with great interest that students visited the partner companies and listened to their histories, development tracks, products offered and technological innovations presented by the employees themselves. A visit to the University of Science and Technology in Cracow (AGH) was valuable too. During the seminar organized by AGH, students could learn about the innovative technologies used in the gas industry, see the equipment available at the university, as well as to make themselves familiar with the educational opportunities in view of continuing education.

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Higher education

The authority of Engineering Management

Marian Król, President of the Hipolit Cegielski Association is presenting the Honorary Statuette of Hipolit Cegielski to Prof. Leszek Pacholski

The Faculty of Engineering Management at the Poznań University of Technology is a continuation of the interdisciplinary activities in the field of engineering management adopted in 1951 by Prof. Teobald Olejnik, Doctor Honoris Causa of the PUT, at the request of the Minister of Higher Education, who established the Faculty of the Higher School of Engineering at the H. Cegielski Metal Industry Complex in Poznań and, in 1956, a major in “Production Organisation”.

The right climate to launch the “Organisation and Management” major came after the Institute of Organisation and Management was established in 1970, becoming an interfaculty body in 1976.

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The then Vice-Director Leszek Pacholski, PhD. Eng. D. Sc., who gained the title of Professor of Technical Sciences in the field of organisation and management in February 1986, soon became the chairperson of the Institute. Later, in 2001, he established the Faculty of Computing and Management, which was divided into the Faculty of Computing and the Faculty of Engineering Management in 2010.

The assiduity and consistency of Prof. Pacholski resulted in the Faculty’s running multidisciplinary research and studies at three levels, both full-time and extramural, in the following majors: Safety Engineering, Logistics, and Management (Engineering Management). Doctoral studies organised in the field of

“Management and Production Systems” provide an opportunity to obtain a PhD. in such disciplines of technical sciences as “Machine Operation and Construction”, and, in economic sciences, in “Management Sciences”.

The subject range of scientific research includes :: engineering management in the strategic, tactical, and operational contexts, :: quality-assurance systems, :: the development of economic networks and clusters, :: innovation and knowledge transfer, :: logistics, :: the ergonomics of manufacturing systems and working conditions, :: building human capital in organisations, :: computing systems.

Over the course of his 45 years of educational, research, and management work, Dean Leszek Pacholski has become an eminent international expert working at the meeting point of four specialisations: Human Factors Engineering, Production Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Engineering Management. On the global scale, he is considered one of the fathers of macroergonomics.

In 1986 his outstanding achievements led him to become a member of the International Ergonomics Association, which he was for 20 years. He is regularly invited to scientific councils and global and national congresses in the field of human-technology interactions. He holds the title of European Ergonomist. He took part in a series of academic placements and study visits to several dozen countries. He is a member of numerous editorial councils of global and Polish scientific journals and presides over several.

From 1978, for 20 years, he was Vice-President of the Committee on

Higher education Ergonomics affiliated to the Praesidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Currently he is a member of the Praesidium of the said Committee. In this term he is President of the Committee on Ergonomics at the Poznań Division of PAN and is also a member of the Committee on Machine Building.

The second field of Prof. Pacholski’s interests involves multi-object manufacturing systems, and particularly technological and organisational reconstruction and development. He gained global recognition for his participation in the technological, organisational, and economic restructuring of the Szczecin Shipyard, and in the attempts at consolidating the Polish ship-building industry. In 19932002 Prof. Pacholski was the President of the Supervisory Board of Stocznia Szczecińska S.A., and then the Stocznia Szczecińska Porta Holding S.A., grouping several dozen production companies, and he returned to this function in 2008. Before that, for many years he had been associated with the current Mahle – Krotoszyn S.A. Company. He was also head specialist at the Metalplast Main Research and Development Centre in Poznań.

Prof. Pacholski’s combination of theoretical and applied science in respect of organisation, management and production engineering led to his being invited to the Boards of the following professional organisations: the Polish Federation of Engineering Associations, the Scientific Society for Organisation and Management (he was President of the Scientific Council of the Wielkopolska Division); and the Polish Ergonomics Society (he was President of the General Board for two three-year terms).

From December 1989 until mid-1998, following a nomination from the Speaker of the Sejm, Prof. Pacholski presided over the Labour Protection Council at the Praesidium of the Sejm.

He was authorised to take part in selected sessions of Parliament and the Government of Poland.

It should be emphasised that the professional activities of Prof. Pachol­ ski in the development of organisation, management and production

Prof. Leszek Pacholski, PhD. Eng. D. Sc. for fifty years has been primarily associated with the Poznań University of Technology. He was able to accomplish what is regarded a model for a research career in the field of technical sciences (Ph.D. in 1973, D. Sc. in 1977, Professor’s title in 1986). Professor Pacholski’s publications include over three hundred items. He is a global professional authority, operating at the interface of four specialisations, namely Human Factors Engineering, Production Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. His achievements in the field of ergonomic analysis methods in multi-object manufacturing systems were of a pioneering character for the so-called third-generation ergonomics, and were published on virtually every continent. Professor Pacholski has lectured and presented his achievements in research centres and universities in many countries of the world.

He was also a member of editorial boards of English-speaking world-wide scientific journals and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) journals. Prof. Pacholski is so far the only representative of the region of Central and Eastern Europe who has been granted the prestigious International Ergonomics Association Fellow Award. The European Ergonomist job title granted to him at the end of 2009 has a unique character as well. Finally, he has been named Organic Work Leader and has won several major State and regional awards. :: engineering has many times been recognised and awarded with Minister’s and University rector’s distinctions. Prof. Pacholski has also received numerous awards from associations (NOT, SIMP, TNOiK, PTErg), regional awards (the honorary badge of Poznań and the Wielkopolska Province), including the Organic Work Leader distinction in 2011 and the Honorary Statuette of Hipolit Cegielski from the Hipolit Cegielski Association. Prof. Pacholski also received several Ministerial (the Medal of the Commission of National Education and the Halina Krahelska Medal) and State distinctions (the Cross of Merit and the Orders of Polonia Restituta

– Knight’s Cross, Officer’s Cross and Commander’s Cross).

Prof. Pacholski is an academic teacher who maintains a close association with the majors he initiated and co-established. His publications include more than three hundred items (books, monographs, articles). The achievements of Prof. Pacholski in respect of academic-staff education include 35 completed PhDs and 75 reviews and opinions for academic degrees and titles, and professorial chairs. He was a reviewer for the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science (the so-called Polish Nobel Prize) in technical sciences. :: 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 57

Innovation Forum in Rzeszów

Changing economy by innovation Ewelina Janczylik-Foryś talks to Zygmunt Berdychowski, a Member of the Programme Board of the 4th Innovation Forum in Rzeszów, about new technologies and space.

mobilising those who know how to use this potential and how it can have a beneficial effect on the economy.

The Polish aircraft industry is one of the largest in the world. We can confidently say that this is thanks to new technologies. In this case, we can see real benefit to the economy. We can say that the aviation industry is a gem of the Polish economy.

Of course, there is no doubt about that. This is something amazing, especially when we see what is happening in Aviation Valley. Within a short period of time, we have had investments in Mielec, Rzeszów, Warsaw and Świdnik. Poland is not only a manufacturer of ready-to-fly helicopters and airplanes but also a major producer of parts for large airplanes. Certainly, we have made great progress in this area over the last few years. Of course, this is not a position comparable to the one we had in the interwar period and the 1970s, when the foundations of the Polish aircraft industry were being built.

Where should we look for solutions created with a view to space?

I have already mentioned GPS. But think about clothes and medicine, the agri-food industry and the electroengineering industry. These are products and services in which Polish technology could be used successfully as well.

Polish universities educate professionals who could relate their work to such a future. I think that Poland’s share in the sector will continue to grow.

We meet on the occasion of the upcoming fourth edition of the Innovation Forum in Rzeszów. The Forum’s theme this year is the aircraft industry and space. This issue deals with a much-discussed topic at the moment - Polish accession to the European Space Agency. Now aircrafts, this I understand. But space – isn’t it too far away for us?

I don’t think so. At the moment, we are witnessing the use of multiple technologies or products in the economy that have been prepared

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specifically for space missions. It is no secret that GPS is based on satellites, and that it was built primarily in connection with space missions, and later with army equipment, to finally become accessible to everyone. We are witnessing solutions rooted in the exploration of space. More and more investments are being made in connection with the exploration of outer space, and it was only natural - when we joined the European Space Agency and when we became co-hosts of European policy - to talk about profits,

The aircraft industry is one of the few business areas which cooperate with the science sector. Regarding the Polish reality, this is a kind of phenomenon, because, as businesses complain, professors are afraid to take up cooperation with business.

This probably is a part of our legacy from the earlier era in which the two worlds either did not meet or met only very rarely. Now, we have a transition period in which the coexistence mechanisms have not developed sufficiently. So far, our economy has grown, not

Innovation Forum in Rzeszów due to its being innovative, but, above all, because it used earlier projects, proposed a cheap labour force, so the idea was essentially to duplicate what already existed in Western Europe. It seems that this stage of the development of the Polish economy is slowly coming to an end.

We need to be increasingly innovative and focussed on searching for new solutions and changes to improve what we already have. Of course, these changes cannot be implemented without money or scientists. I am confident that the years to come will bring a turning point… However, it is hard to expect that the Polish economy will create additional resources for research and development in a situation where it is fighting to prevent recession and keep investment on a level that is absolutely essential and necessary to build a market position with a view to expansion.

We are talking in unusual times, when, on the one hand, the era of the use of the simplest reserves for economic development, and cheap labour that was well-educated and accepted renunciation, is coming to an end. On the other

hand, it is hard to expect the subsidising of scientific research in a situation where growth is at a level of less than 2%. However, the trend is clear and the next few years will see a turning point in this respect.

Hence the idea of certain private companies backing scientific research.

Yes, as it is everywhere in the world.

The best solution would be when the State collected as little of its taxes as possible and left as much as possible with entrepreneurs so that they could spend that money on research providing opportunities for broad expansion.

The current conditions are as follows: first, the State takes from an entrepreneur what he or she has earned in the form of taxes and then launches grant programmes designed to encourage entrepreneurship. In Poland, we are only just creating a much easier and simpler way between the economy and science without going through the budget.

Recently, the subject of clusters and that it may be clusters that

could increase the level of innovation, appear more and more frequently?

Like every solution, this one is also burdened with both hopes and delusions, but with the tendencies to use it in a way that also does not at all correspond to its assumptions.

One could say that supporting efforts to find the funds necessary for research is entirely rational. However, I have no doubts that this “merger”, creating additional streams to finance development and innovation, is largely loaded with the appearance of cooperation, that is, only the desire to obtain the grant. But, in the Małopolska province we have witnessed that sports and tourism clusters have had initial successes. There appear products which are common and come from very different sides - from the government, private entrepreneurs to non-governmental organisations. Certainly, we are witnessing a huge growth in interest in operating under such legal formats, but I would approach this in a very rational manner. :: ADVERTISEMENT

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Innovation Forum in Rzeszów

Podkarpackie

– a region open to new challenges, ideas, and projects Mirosław Karapyta, Marshall of the Podkarpackie province, talks to “Polish Market.”

Innovation is talked about everywhere and by everyone, but what is this concept really about? In discussing the operations of businesses the definition seems very simple, as we can speak about introducing new products onto the market, enhancing the production process and so on. What about “regional innovation”? What does it mean to you?

Regional innovation does not necessarily have to involve pursuing “novelty” in various spheres of life. Instead, it can be a creative way to make use of your own advantages. Sometimes you just need to redefine, discover, and promote them, turning them into a highlight. Discovering, branding and supporting the development of the region’s smart specialisations are the tasks of the regional authorities cooperating with their partners from the fields of economy, science, culture, and NGO’s. In Podkarpackie we are in the process of developing the kind of cohesive innovation system which combines the technological solutions generated by the companies from Aviation Valley, the ICT and the chemical clusters with the tourist and agricultural assets of the southern Podkarpackie Province. All you need for a creative and active life is here, right at your fingertips. Thanks to the extension of the transport infrastructure (the A4 motorway and the airport), we are also closer “to the world” and the world is closer to us. If you add to that the fact that Podkarpackie is the safest region in Poland and that, statistically, people live the longest lives here – then developing a competitive edge should be based on an innovative approach to the assets we already have and on using all our advantages.

motivation to go for innovative solutions, as for a whole era the region has been considered as Poland B, which has been reflected in such expressions as the Eastern Wall, which is just one step from the stigma of the “Wailing Wall”, as the eastern regions have sometimes been called. We want to turn our region into an area of strong economic, cultural, and intellectual exchange between the west and the east, the north and the south. We are trying to be active in initiating supraregional projects in the Carpathian area and include partners from Ukraine, Slovakia, and Romania in joint actions for the development of this characteristic European subregion.

Why is innovation such an important objective for the Podkarpackie Province?

If you’re not enterprising, creative, and original, you will fall behind in the competition for development, a better quality of life, and the efficiency of the complex socioeconomic system. Podkarpackie has special

What are the benefits of innovation for the region?

I have already mentioned the advantages for the region’s image. This new image of Podkarpackie as a region open to new challenges, ideas, and projects is not just a marketing measure, an element in promotional

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actions, but a real policy of opening up managed by the regional authorities. A policy that is resulting in the appearance of new investors, new educational projects and strategies, which combine the most important aspects of the regions competitiveness – aviation, IT, culture, environmental protection, and quality of life – into a coherent whole.

How do you assess the innovation level of Podkarpackie’s clusters?

Most experts say innovation is the way to improve competitiveness. That is why numerous clusters from the Podkarpac­kie Province are actually focussing on innovation-promoting activities. A cluster’s innovation level is determined primarily by its participants and the projects implemented within it. The best-known and developed cluster is Aviation Valley, which features aviation producers. Its position in the rankings is high, as it is composed of the region’s most innovative companies. It also boasts a decade of tradition and extensive experience. Thanks to this, Aviation Valley was able to implement an industry-foresight project, one of the first of its type in Poland.

In 2004 the Regional Innovation Strategy for the Podkarpackie Region for 20052013 (RSI) was passed. What are its objectives and outcomes?

The strategy outlines the region’s route to becoming an innovative place and defines the priorities and strategic goals of the innovation policy in the Province. The strategic goals focus on a stronger and more developed regional innovation system, an enhanced financial-support infrastructure, the improved use of R&D potential to achieve higher innovation levels in the Province’s economy, and the construction and development of an innovative culture among the residents. This strategy is seen as an innovation-related companion to the regional-development strategy. It is being implemented through, for example, meetings between scientists, businesspeople, and authorities within the framework of the Podkarpackie Innovation Forum, which helps to disseminate good practices in respect of innovative production methods, procedures, and economic and organisational solutions. ::

Innovation Forum in Rzeszów

Rzeszów – the capital of innovation Tadeusz Ferenc, the Mayor of Rzeszów, talks to “ Polish Market”.

The next, 4th, edition of the Innovation Forum is approaching. It certainly is a great promotion for the city. In fact, when the name of the event is mentioned, the association with Rzeszów comes to mind immediately. Does this really have an effect on the growing popularity of the city? Is it reflected in numbers?

Since the adoption of the Brand Strategy for Rzeszów in 2009, the City of Rzeszów Promotion Programme and the promotional slogan “Rzeszów - the Capital of Innovation”, the vision of development is being consistently implemented. With authentic products based on the economic potential of the city, the main industries, that is, aircraft and information technology, and people with vast knowledge who are full of innovative ideas, the activities have been focused on the economic promotion in Poland and abroad, participating in trade fairs, investment missions and international projects. Innovative congresses and conferences are organised here, including the Innovation Forum, the Innovative Marketing in Local Governments Congress, InternetBeta, Discoverers’ Day – the Interactive Picnic of Knowledge and international cluster conferences.

The current 4th Innovation Forum will be the next step in the development of the innovation sector. This time, it will be focused on the space industry. The first edition of the Innovation Forum was attended by 100 people.

This year, over 400 people from all over the world have signed up to take part – I think that these figures demonstrate the increasingly strong position the Forum has in the international arena.

I hope that all our actions and also the very close cooperation between business and universities, namely the Aviation Valley Foundation, the Children’s University of Technology and numerically-controlled machine youth training, are winning us new investors. In 2012 alone the companies that formed here included Software Mind (IT), Heli-One (a helicopter service) and McBraida (manufacturer of high-precision gas turbines, and other components for the aircraft industry).

They have employed several hundred people.

The choice of your city as host is probably not accidental. The City of Rzeszów is considered to be a very innovative and

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progressive one. It is increasingly often said that it is the “Capital of Innovation”. Where did the idea come from to create its image in a way that would be associated with the adjective “innovative”? Is this strategy for promoting the city in this respect a joint one with Minister Jan Bury, who comes from Rzeszów and also actively supports the “Innovation Forum”?

It all started in 1790, when Jan Potocki, a nobleman of the Rzeszów region, decided to fly up into the sky in a balloon to see the world from above for the first time in Poland.

A century and a half later, in 1937, it was decided to establish in Rzeszów the WSK company, within the framework of the Central Industrial District (COP), which produced aircraft engines. Over the years, many aircraft companies with research and development centres have located themselves in Rzeszów. The “Aviation Valley” Cluster brings together nearly 100 companies and is one of the most dynamic in the aircraft industry in the world. The high-tech IT industry thrives as well, with one of the European giants, Asseco Poland, at the head. The services of Mr Jan Bury, MP, are enormous. Had it not been for his actions, there would be no Innovation Forum in Rzeszów.

Why is it that Rzeszów is so innovative?

Why do you not say that about Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, or other Polish cities?

What distinguishes Rzeszów in this respect?

It is not only the city that prides itself on its aircraft traditions, but also the region.

The number of professionals working in this industry is enormous, but the requirements of the labour market are constantly growing. We place great hopes in young people, who are the future of the city’s development.

In Rzeszów, about 60 thousand young people are studying in 60 different fields. According to the latest Eurostat survey, the city holds the position of a European leader in terms of the number of students (353 students per 1,000 city residents). Here, the learning process is adapted to the needs of the labour market.

Schools and universities cooperate with the largest workplaces, including WSK Rzeszów, UTC Aerospace Systems, MTU, Borg Warner, Asseco Poland and IDEO, which themselves also recognise the need for the training of the next generation of professionals and help to teach young people jobs that are needed within ordered specialities, endow scholarships and guarantee jobs. Owing to this collaboration, practical training centres for young people have been established. In technical fields, 25% of students and one in ten information technology specialists in Poland have graduated from one of Rzeszów’s Universities.

What do you think influences the level of innovation in the region?

If we are talking about large-scale industry, of course, cutting-edge technologies.

But not only that. These can be seemingly small things, such as timers at intersections, maintenance-free bike rentals, service points for residents located in shopping malls and hypermarkets, selling Municipal Transport Company (MPK) tickets via mobile phones, free broadband Internet access or a telephone service centre for residents.

These are the innovations that we have introduced, but really, everyone should look for innovations in themselves. I am convinced that this is how it happens and that is why we can say that we are becoming an innovative society. ::

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• The ABC Data group is the leading IT distributor in Central and Eastern Europe • Thanks to continuous development and multiyear investments in Internet customer service platforms, our company is one of the top online sales companies • In June 2011 ABC Data – Colorovo, a proprietary brand of ABC Data S.A., made its debut.

• Every year from 2009 to 2012, ABC Data S.A. was awarded by EMEA Channel Academy with the title of the best IT distributor in the CEE Region

Innovation Forum in Rzeszów

Innovation, knowledge and hard work Prof. Marek Orkisz, DSc, Eng., rector of the Rzeszów University of Technology, talks about innovation in Polish higher education.

Innovation is essential for the competitiveness of the economy. However, to maintain this competitiveness, businesses and the education sector need to be more inventive and invest more in innovation, research and technological development. Innovation must also be construed as the ability

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of entrepreneurs to constantly seek to use in practice the results of research and development, new concepts, ideas and inventions.

The Rzeszów University of Technology, the largest technical university in the region, can boast of close cooperation with industry, as well as various technology and innovation implementations. We have completed the process of intensive university infrastructure development. Our laboratories are fitted out with ultra modern, often unique in the world, equipment which can be used to drive new and innovative research.

An example of innovative activities pursued by the Rzeszów University of Technology is the project “Modern material technologies used in the aerospace industry” worth PLN 86 million.

The strategic objective of the project is to move the focus of aerospace research carried out in Poland to areas that have or will have a decisive impact on improving the competitive advantage of the Polish economy.

For over 80 years, our region has been the crucial aviation industry hub not only in Poland, but also in this part

of Europe. The Rzeszów University of Technology is actively involved in building and exploiting the potential of aerospace technology. We are conducting many research projects. We are the only public university to train civil aviation pilots; it is noteworthy that most LOT pilots, including captain Tadeusz Wrona, are our graduates. Moreover, the university is a member of the Aviation Valley Association that brings together 101 entities involved in the aerospace industry. Apart from pilots, the university also educates high-class engineers, chemists and IT specialists.

Innovation is hard, target-oriented, focused work that requires knowledge, diligence, perseverance, and commitment: innovators use their strongest skills. Universities need to streamline education so that graduates acquire all of the skills mentioned.

Innovation is closely linked to knowledge, and knowledge is gathered not only through research and technology, but also through new solutions applied in marketing and management.

All these elements are combined during the annual Innovation Forum, an important initiative in terms of discussing and identifying the issues relating to competitiveness and cooperation between science and business in ​​high technology. It is an honour for the Rzeszów University of Technology to host such a significant event. ::

AEROSPACE PRECISION WORLD CLASS QUALITY

Infrastructure

Runway and shops Airport, in the broad meaning of the term, is of great importance for the region, integrating it, building a good image, and even adding prestige.

But this is not an easy business.

Mieczysław T. Starkowski According to the traditional division, the Świętokrzyskie Province makes part of Poland B – the less developed part of the country. Situated outside the network of motorways and highspeed rail, it is not the leader of economic growth. But it does have huge aspirations, such as the desire to have an airport.

“We have a small airport in Masłów near Kielce. The latest changes in regulations create an excellent opportunity for this type of facilities to acquire the status of a public airport with limited certification. That is why we would like that the government’s activity in respect of testing demand is not limited to the areas where airports already exist, but cover the whole country,” said Cezary Błach from the Świętokrzyskie Marshal’s Office during the 6th International Conference “Airport 2013”.

The Masłów airport probably will not be competition for the biggest regional airports, but will rather complement this network. The idea is that these facilities are included in the

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concept of spatial development of the country. But the airport cannot be merely a projection of the region’s aspirations. A sensible business model must be developed and then translated into a truly effective enterprise.

Who will use the airport in Masłów, then? How many passengers can there be? What airlines might be interested?

What is the economic outcome?

For the time being, plans for the airport cover only irregular flights. It is supposed to be a city port serving mostly local businesses, especially that Expo Kielce is currently Poland’s second exhibition centre. It is, therefore, expected, that a lot of non-scheduled business flights will be operated, especially during the fairs. The regional authorities declare to be open to discussion if only any carrier is interested in using the airport in Masłów. Either way, the value of the project is estimated at several tens of millions of zlotys.

The situation is quite different in Łódź, which is a significantly larger city. Last year, there was much talk

of an airport. There were great hopes too: the Euro 2012 tournament, development of infrastructure, including roads. “Euro 2012 has shown us the importance of aviation to the economy,” says Krzysztof Kapis, director of the Aviation Department at the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy. “To put it differently: it is the economy and its requirements that propel infrastructural development, including in aviation, because this makes for the well-being of society,” he adds.

“In the past year a lot changed,” confirms Przemysław Nowak, president of the Władysław Reymont Airport in Łódź. The airport industry is one of those that have used up the opportunity created by Euro 2012. It absorbed far more resources than others,” he says.

Airports do undoubtedly encourage regional development. But it should be remembered that the world is changing. Gone are the good times, that is the beginning of this millennium, when airports were profitable, handling approx. 200,000 passengers per year. The circumstances were completely different. Most of the costs were not included in its balance sheet, because the airport was shared with the armed forces.

And other fees were also much lower.

Last year, the airport in Łódź handled 462,000 passengers. And yet, if not helped by its partners, it would not have coped, especially that various decisions are taken behind the back of the aviation industry. For example, the bar was significantly raised as a result of encumbering airports with an obligation to cover the border security costs. That is something that airport operators must be aware of.

According to Przemysław Nowak, it is pointless to consider the construction of a cargo airport in eastern Poland. And yet such ideas appear quite often. Meanwhile, economic studies show that there is no chance for such an airport to subsist charging freight fees only.

There are currently as many as 13 regional airports. Therefore, a serious business concept is needed before a decision to make such an investment is made. According to some analysts, the so-called gas station syndrome is at play here. It is commonly known that markups on oil are now so low that most of the stations earn on what they

Infrastructure sell in their stores, as well as on a variety of additional services. Is a modern airport such a point providing half and half air services and other services?

Experts have no doubts. There must be assumptions both with regard to passenger and cargo traffic. But that is not all. It is additional services, parking fees, etc. that are expected to generate the bulk of the revenue. And this is something that cannot be achieved with small traffic.

The airport business is burdened with a huge investment risk. It is about a major capital-intensive, and thus long-term, infrastructural project. It is not possible to back out of it in a short time. Therefore, the investment decision requires giving special consideration before it is made.

Theories appear sometimes on the seasonal airports. Such facilities run at full speed at a time when large fairs are held for instance. Is such a business model likely to prove successful in practice? “No, it is nonsense,” insists Przemysław Nowak. “Imagine that an airport employs 200 people. So what?

We will lay off a large outfit in winter, and then we will hire some new through the employment office in summer? The idea is completely false that if the traffic falls by half, employment can be reduced by half too. The team must be in full force. Everyone counts money today, so we try to maintain a minimum level of employment,” he says.

The seasonality of the traffic is only one of the problems of airports. For example, there are a lot of charter flights in Katowice. But just a small swing in the market is enough for the traffic to start shrinking rapidly, which naturally results in a sharp drop in revenues. But workers cannot be laid off seasonally.

According to Przemysław Nowak, it is not true that there is no demand for flights nor that capital for development is lacking. However, there are many other barriers. The situation is not easy across Europe, because there is an increasing pressure from low-cost carriers. One person related to the aviation industry says that airports are even blackmailed by them. On the other hand, a variety of decision, taken many years ago, are in force that restrict competition.

Some flagship carriers, for example, Turkish Airlines, would like to operate from regional airports, but they

cannot because this is not allowed under the bilateral agreements concluded in the distant past. If state authorities do not change this, regional airports can only dream of further development. Meanwhile, the government has its hands tied because the situation of Poland’s national carrier Lot is extremely complicated, so it is futile to talk now about the benefits for other carriers.

“In that case, we are dealing with a paradox,” says Przemysław Nowak.

“In principle, Turkish Airlines cannot expect any further increase in passenger numbers in Warsaw. Instead, there are reasons for them to be willing to fly from Łódź. But Lot refers to a bilateral agreement that dates back far in the past. Such examples can be multiplied.”

As emphasized by Przemysław Nowak, Lot has long limited the number of flights from regional airports, as it flagged the idea of setting up a hub in Warsaw. But his strategy has been discussed for a long time. And nothing is changing – except for the fact that carriers from other countries increase, as far as possible, the number of passenger flights from regional airports. Lot does not do this itself, and tries to disturb others.

“Last year, all the regional airports achieved the revenues of PLN 500-600 million. Unfortunately, the industry is not profitable,” says Artur Tomasik, president of the Upper Silesian Aviation Association that manages the Katowice Airport, and president of the Regional Airports Association.

Only 5 out of 12 regional airports bring a net profit, and the situation is increasingly difficult. With the current traffic structure, which is based in regional airports primarily on low-cost carriers, the breakeven point is probably at the level of about 1.5 million passengers per year.

The revenue from additional services should ideally have more than a 50% share in total revenues. But regional airports are used mainly by people who fly to work, and therefore do not use the commercial services as willingly as others.

Polish airports are still at an early stage of development. First investments made in previous years did, of course, raise their standard. But it should be remembered that the starting point was very low. The primary concern was building terminals since what is

now regional airports was then used mostly by the army.

Naturally, the parameters of runways, aprons and other airport elements meet all the required standards.

But the world is moving forward. By 2020, many costly investments need to be made in order to comply with the standards and requirements imposed by the European Commission and international aviation authorities.

However, most of these airports are owned by local governments or the state. It is public authorities that have guaranteed bonds or loans that regional airports resorted to in quest for investment capital. Thus, it may be difficult in the near future to secure the financing of new projects, which are necessary for these airports to further develop.

Legal issues are also a heavy burden. Under the present legal regime, there is virtually no possibility of attracting investors to the airports. It is believed to be the greatest threat to the functioning of Polish airports, which is why any decision as to the opening of a new airport should be seriously reconsidered. The crucial question is in fact whether the revenues would be large enough to cover operating costs.

“Another important factor at play are financial problems,” admits Krzy­ sztof Kapis. “Despite the strong absorption of EU funds in a number of projects, airports would have to shoulder the huge investment burden – up to 80% of their budgets. In the long run this would mean greater risk for these companies, and this is a business-like barrier, not an administrative one,” he argues.

“In principle, it is unquestionable that airports stimulate regional development,” says Przemysław Nowak. “We have tangible evidence.

If Łódź had not taken the decision to put up the money to build a solid airport, there would probably not be so many businesses investing in our city,” he adds.

But let us repeat: an airport itself is not sufficient. It is not enough to build an impressive facility, because there are many other conditions that must be fulfilled, including, first of all, securing a certain level of passenger traffic. Therefore, the airport should be well connected with the nearest city and other major urban centres through the dense road and rail network. ::

Air traffic in Poland

Number of passengers in millions

2 007 – 18.8 2008 – 20.63 2009 – 18.93 2011 – 21.71 2012 – 24.42 Source: ULC

3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 67

Infrastructure Project Zero - a completely electric powered technology incubator

PZL-Świdnik: drawning on technological innovation Ever since its acquisition by AgustaWestland in 2010, PZL-Świdnik has taken systematic steps to stay ahead of the competition and develop a stable business. Being a part of AgustaWestland group enables PZL-Świdnik to benefit from the Company’s outstandingly innovative technologies and capabilities, as well as to participate in the expansion of AgustaWestland’s state-of-the-art product range and to work on brand new, innovative programmes.

PZL-Świdnik and AgustaWestland together ahead of the game In 2010 PZL-Świdnik became the third European industrial pillar of AgustaWestland’s operations (the other two based in Italy and the UK) and is being fully integrated into Company’s organization. PZL-Świdnik is actively involved in the design of AgustaWestland’s new products and is strongly contributing to the development of the AW149 military helicopter, which is PZL-Świdnik’s offer within the tender for 70 helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces. - The AW149 is the only new generation military aircraft in its class in decades, representing the best solution to meet the future requirements of the Polish Armed Forces. Once the AW149 is selected by the Polish MoD, the helicopter will be

The sole new generation multipurpose military helicopter AW149

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produced, assembled, delivered and supported through its entire lifecycle by PZL-Świdnik in Poland, said Nicola Bianco, PZL-Świdnik’s Managing Director.

With the SW-4 ‘Solo’ RUAS/OPH (Rotorcraft Unmanned Air System/Optionally Piloted Helicopter) based on the proven light single engine SW-4 platform, being developed in a close collaboration with AgustaWestland engineers, PZL-Świdnik aims at playing a major role in the UAV sector, which shows significant growth potential and opens new market opportunities.

The close cooperation between the companies and the state-of-the-art technology transfer to PZL-Świdnik will continue under AgustaWestland’s latest programmes, namely the AW169 and AW189, which are part of the Company’s family of the new generation helicopters, including the AW139 model. The AW139 has been hugely successful and has become the best selling medium twin helicopter in the world marketplace for various applications. Nearly 500 complete fuselages of this model have been produced

by PZL-Świdnik since 2000. - AgustaWestland’s helicopter family shares the same high performance flight characteristics and safety features, as well as a common cockpit layout, design philosophy and maintenance concept.

This commonality will allow more effective operations for customers operating helicopter fleets across the 4 to 8.5 tonne categories, clarified Mieczysław Majewski, President of PZL-Świdnik’s Management Board.

Benefiting from AgustaWestland’s innovations PZL-Świdnik is backed by and can benefit from AgustaWestland’s latest research technology efforts which increase its competitiveness on the market and allow to further strengthen its capabilities.

A great example of AgustaWestland’s revolutionary projects is a completely electric powered technology incubator called ‘Project Zero’. It is designed to hover like a helicopter and convert to a fixed wing aircraft in forward flight thanks to its two integrated rotors which can be tilted through more than 90 degrees. ‘Project Zero’ continues to arouse great interest throughout the aerospace industry.

This is a great achievement of AgustaWestland which gives an insight into how advanced the rotorcraft of the future may be.

The ‘Project Zero’ brings together many of the advanced technologies AgustaWestland has been researching in recent years, and demonstrates the Company’s strong technological potential, which PZL-Świdnik can benefit from, said Nicola Bianco.

Strategy for the future PZL-Świdnik’s strategy for the future is seeing the Company strongly committed to developing new programmes, meeting new requirements in Poland and further strengthening its industrial capabilities through specific investments. The development of the AW149 military helicopter, the SW-4 ‘Solo’ RUAS/OPH unmanned aerial system and the latest AgustaWestland’s products allow PZL-Świdnik to play a leading role as the sole Polish OEM, with great prospects for both domestic and international markets.

With over 60 years of experience and having produced over 7400 helicopters, PZLŚwidnik is the only Polish OEM with the capabilities to undertake helicopter design, research & development, system integration, manufacturing, support, training and upgrades. ::

Infrastructure

LOT Polish Airlines – we are changing for you Recently, we have been witnessing many changes to LOT Polish Airlines. The Polish carrier has picked up the gauntlet that was thrown down by the competition and is implementing changes which will be appreciated by its passengers. Today, the carrier boasts one of the youngest fleets on the continent.

The company can also pride itself on being the most punctual airline among European carriers. The company was placed first in the “Europe Major Airlines” category in the global ranking FlightStats 2012 On-time Performance Service Awards, leaving behind such carriers as Aer Lingus, Finnair, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Owing to well-functioning cooperation with LOT Polish Airlines, the quality of service at the airports and the regularity of flights soared.

In order to make its portfolio more attractive, LOT Polish Airlines has introduced changes to the flight timetable, and at the same time has bolstered its position on the routes on which it has enjoyed a long-standing high popularity status.

After the winter break, the flights from Warsaw to Rome and Athens have made their return to enjoy popularity in the summer season.

The carrier has also increased the frequency of cruises to Chicago and New York, which are scheduled for the holiday season, in its booking systems - to 11 flights a week for each of the destinations. It is also worth

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mentioning that there is a more-than-40year-long tradition of flagship direct longdistance transatlantic LOT Polish Airlines cruises to Chicago, New York, and Toronto.

LOT Polish Airlines’s strategy, under which the company plans to strengthen and maintain of business routes, as the carrier has in its range cruises to all major European capitals and business centres in its convenient business timetable, like for example Brussels, Geneva, London, and Moscow.

Its broad flight network influences Poland’s business and tourist attractiveness. As analysts state, if it were not for LOT Polish Airlines, there would have been no direct links from Poland to Northern America or Asia, which means no connections to the global centres of commerce and business. The carrier is also a guarantor of prices in the Polish sky, as its operation ensures that the competition maintains stable ticket prices. This carrier also safeguards the development of Warsaw as an airline hub linking East with West, and as an important European capital.

The Polish airline market is developing rapidly. This can be corroborated by the

growing number of people using airline services in our country. In 2012, the number of passengers going through Polish airports grew by 12.6% compared to the year before. It is estimated to grow by another 7% in 2013. This means that Polish airports will attend to nearly 26.3 million people this year. The Polish aviation industry generates PLN6.8 billion a year, which translates into approx. 0.5% of the GDP and nearly 65 thousand jobs. LOT Polish Airlines is the most important gear in this market and the driving force of the Polish economy in the sectors of tourism, transport, and services. This company and other companies which cooperate with it provide nearly 40 thousand jobs. Warsaw’s Chopin Airport is the best example of the above – as many as 50% of its passengers are LOT Polish Airlines’s travellers.

The aviation market does not boil down to the transport of passengers alone. It also includes cargo and mail transport. LOT Polish Airlines transports 24 thousand tonnes of cargo and mail every year. This bolsters and ensures the competiveness of the Polish economy by maintaining stable rates for air exports and imports.

The airlines are open to innovations and are not afraid of changes. The company’s aim is to meet global standards, and the implemented changes actually make it possible for the company to find a strategic investor. The company’s authorities have confirmed that the search is ongoing. ::

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Infrastructure

A snail

on a highway

A huge cash inflow in a very short period of time came as a surprise to all of us. The country was not prepared for it, nor were construction companies. We expected a blossoming development, and what we have is massive layoffs.

Mieczysław T. Starkowski At the end of January, the European Commission threatened to freeze aid funds for Polish roads totalling over EUR 3.5 billion. As reported by the Polish Press Agency, the European Commission claims that “Poland should audit road projects managed by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA)”, and that it will suspend further payments until any possible irregularities are dealt with and supervision is strengthened.

The case is consequential, as it involves allegations of price-fixing between contractors, with funds from two operational programmes being at stake: the Operational Programme “Infrastructure and Environment” (OPIE) and the Operational Programme “Development of Eastern Poland” (OP DEP).

Not surprisingly, verbal jostling followed immediately afterwards. According to Piotr Popa, a spokesman for the Ministry of Regional Development, there has been a serious mistake.

The European Commission suspended two tranche payments to the amount of PLN 3.5 billion (approx. EUR 830 million), and not almost EUR 4 billion as it was mentioned by the EC press service.

“The amount cited by EU officials stands for the value of yet-tobe-cleared road projects implemented by GDDKiA. The Polish side has not

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provided the European Commission with relevant bills yet, so no other payments were suspended. GDDKiA continues to implement projects and settles accounts with contractors on an ongoing basis,” said Piotr Popa.

For her part, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Minister of Regional Development reacted very sharply. “The decision of the European Commission was completely unfounded. I will keep insisting that there was no fault on our side, and EU officials act to the detriment of Poland’s budget,” Bieńkowska said. She was backed up by Sławomir Nowak, Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Affairs, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

For the time being, it is difficult to tell how the case will turn out, and therefore what impact it will have in the long run. What is sure, though, is that construction works will be severely deferred or even halted for weeks, if not months. The Polish construction sector, already weakened, is going to suffer yet another blow.

And if it happens that the said funds are not paid out, we will be facing a long-lasting breakdown. Troubles of the Polish construction industry did not start last January, but months earlier.

“In the construction sector crises occur every few years. But in Poland

prosperity periods have been shorter recently. Today’s situation is very difficult, resembling a landscape after the storm,” said Marek Michałowski, President of the Polish Association of Construction Employers, a few days prior to the conflict with the European Commission.

In the second half of the 1990s, there was a particularly intense inflow of foreign capital, including cash, high technologies, organizational and marketing standards. These contributed to the development of the construction industry. On the other hand, Polish companies have struggled to compete with more experienced and wealthier foreign investors. This led to a deep recession lasting from 2000 to 2003.

“The accession to the European Union proved to be extremely beneficial.

It was of great importance for the Polish construction industry. The opening of borders and the inflow of aid funds became a strong impulse for development,” emphasizes Zofia Bolkowska, a professor at the Higher School of Management and Law, an expert of Polish Construction Congress.

And then we got carried away by a magic phrase “Euro 2012” (UEFA European Football Championship) and a catchy slogan “Poland under construction”. We had to build four large stadiums, hundreds of miles of highways, train stations, hotels and many other facilities. Poland was supposed to be a paradise for builders.

“Two years ago, Poland’s construction market was worth approx. PLN 190 billion. The largest share of this amount (about 40%) was held by the companies carrying out infrastructural projects: stadiums, highways and other roads, and airports,” estimates Zofia Bolkowska.

There was a wave of euphoria throughout the country. Preparations for Euro 2012 were expected to bring enormous profits for Polish construction companies. Unfortunately, it was known for some time already that we would not manage to harness this opportunity. And it has been lost indeed.

The beginnings of infrastructural programmes were promising. The construction output was increasing.

Tasks were planned well in advance.

But in the second quarter of 2012 something got blocked. Since then, implementation delays and subsequent

Future4Build

The second edition of the Future4Build conference proved that environmental issues in construction are currently a hot topic which is expected to continue to grow in relevance in the near future. There is no turning back from further pursuing the idea of sustainable growth in construction. The industry leaders present at the conference, a total of 40 companies, stand as the evidence of the growing business opportunities in the eco sector.

“Passive-housing solutions are experiencing considerable growth, reaching currently as much as 50%,” says Mr Sławomir Tomasz Kwiatkowski, Director of Elwiz S.A. No company striving to make headway on the real-property market can afford to ignore the requirements of the increasingly better-educated clients for

their services. Events such as Future4Build help to make this education even more complete.

Enthusiastic interest was enjoyed by the Innovative-Product Zone, abundant in some very interesting products and solutions, ranging from simple monitoring systems to heavyweight equipment. Winners awarded in five categories were Ekoenergetyka Zachód and Kerakoll.

Participants in this year’s Future4Build conference declared their interest in attending the following year’s edition, complimenting the event’s high quality in terms of the presented content and smooth organisation.

The third edition of the Future4Build conference is scheduled for 6-7 November 2013 ::

Infrastructure bankruptcies have been plaguing the construction industry.

“In 2011, after several years of unstable market situation, the construction output increased by 16%. Last year, however, the situation changed radically, with a 1% decrease,” says Marek Michałowski.

Unfortunately, there was an incredible accumulation of all possible mistakes. Before Euro 2012, the pressure was very strong for the implementation of delayed infrastructural projects.

At the same time, financial difficulties started to affect construction companies. Contracts were increasingly expensive due to higher wages and costs of materials.

The valuation of contracts is too low (and often absurdly unrealistic), something that we all turn a blind eye to. Tenders are solely governed by the principle of the lowest price, without taking into account the offeror’s experience as an evaluation factor. That is why, competitors bid very low prices. The actual costs are several times as much. Many of them undertake tasks that are far beyond their expertise and logistical know-how.

It often happens that projects are put together in the last, and therefore require lots of changes to be made by contractors, even if these changes are without their fault. It is contractors who run a risk having limited possibilities of contract revaluation. Troubles are easy to predict from the very beginning.

Today, we can even talk of a breakdown. It was already clear in the second half of 2011 that the financial situation of the construction industry can undermine the ability of many businesses to perform as a going concern.

In the first quarter of 2012, the financial outlook further deteriorated, especially for the companies operating in the road infrastructure sector.

The first quarter is always the worst in the construction industry, but last year indicators were much lower than in previous years. Unfinished and non-cleared contracts result in a lack of liquidity, which, in turn, leads to

The construction sector is plunging. Last year, it registered a net profit margin of minus 2% as compared to 2.3% two years earlier. According to data of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), 38% of businesses suffered losses. Debts and payment backlogs were running up.

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slowing down the pace of work and delays in payment, including with subcontractors.

“The construction sector is plunging. Last year, it registered a net profit margin of minus 2% as compared to 2.3% two years earlier. According to data of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), 38% of businesses suffered losses. Debts and payment backlogs were running up,” says Marek Michałowski.

A survey of 1,700 construction businesses found that 56% (and 70% for those implementing infrastructural projects) of them did not generate profit in the first quarter of 2012. Companies that are in financial difficulty have recourse to short-term borrowing, and therefore running up their debt. On the other hand, banks increasingly refuse loans.

“Troubles did not happen suddenly. On the contrary, they were predictable. Experts anticipated them already a long time ago. There is virtually no doubt about one thing. A massive infrastructure investment programme worth tens of billions of euro - somewhat surprised all of us. We made all possible mistakes. We were not prepared as a country in whatever respect: mentally, logistically, financially. On the one hand, we strived to pay as little as possible, which resulted in an unrealistically low valuation of contracts. On the other hand, there was a drastic increase in the cost of construction materials with no possibility for contractors to compensate it,” reminds Dawid Piekarz, Vice-President of the Polish Association of Construction Employers.

The list of mistakes is very long. For example, in general, construction contracts are based on a similar template across Europe. It is extremely simple, with three columns: price, time limit for completion, individual terms.

In Poland, there are no such fixed rules. Each contract is written afresh to include individual features. Lawyers reap benefits. Malicious tongues say they have a lot of work on their hands, and a lot of money in their pockets.

“Another Polish national specialty is a tender policy. There is an incredible imbalance between the parties to the contract. The contracting party has only privileges, and the contractor only duties. It did not take long for the results to appear. The financial standing

of construction companies has been worsening since the second half of 2012.

After Euro 2012, there is no pressure from the government as regards infrastructural projects. Builders receive less orders on hand, and the overall growth is weaker,” explains Dawid Piekarz.

The construction industry is of great importance for the economy. It gives employment to approx. 600 thousand people. The multiplier effect is not to be neglected either. One person employed in the construction industry creates 3-4 jobs in related sectors (design, other services, transport, building materials). Naturally, this works both ways, and the recession in the construction industry will push up the unemployment rate in related sectors.

“Layoffs have already started. To date, tens of thousands of people have been affected. According to the worstcase scenarios, the figure may reach up to 150 thousand people by the end of this year,” estimates Dawid Piekarz.

“This year is going to be very difficult. The construction sector is crippled, and the government washes its hands of the problem,” says Marek Michałowski.

“The past year saw a decline in the number of construction permits. The situation in the housing sector is far from being good, with an output of a mere 150-160 thousand apartments a year. This is not the pinnacle of our dreams,” admits Janusz Żbik, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy. However, he strongly opposes the argument that the government does nothing, as it wants to “simplify the investment process as much as possible”, it prepares a housing support scheme, and counts on the European funds in the new financial perspective. Stakes are high with EUR 5 billion for rail infrastructure and EUR 10 billion for roads.

In July 2012, a codification commission was set up under the chairmanship of professor Zygmunt Niewiadomski, which should prepare this year a draft law on the energy performance of buildings. Amendments are also expected in the construction law.

As you can see, targets are ambitious. Let us hope they will be achieved.

The only question is how the construction industry will survive the extremely difficult year 2013. ::

Infrastructure

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Year after year, Poland is becoming a country of increasing investment potential. In 2011, it was recognised as one of the most attractive locations in Europe. More and more often foreign entrepreneurs are being attracted by the aviation sector which has had a long tradition in Poland.

Major investors come from the USA, Germany and China.

According to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), in the years 2007-2012, 8 aviation projects were completed, paying off by more than 1,000 new jobs and total annual sales of EUR186.8 million. Future prospects are also promising.

Anna Tywonek The current situation of aviation investments in Poland, the status and prospects of the aviation sector, and the opportunities for R & D, were introduced by the “Aviation Industry in Poland. Current Status and Prospects” conference organised by PAIiIZ. It is difficult to ignore the fact, however, that highly-qualified staff was the most-often-quoted argument. Nicola Blanco, Vice President of PZL Świdnik, repeatedly stressed that Poland offers chances for growth because of the people and their impressive education that allows them to take up work in the aviation sector, which is unique in comparison to other countries. Owing to this we are becoming competitive in the global context. What is more, the aviation sector contributes to the fact that we can today talk about an employee’s market, not an employer’s. According to foreign investors, the Polish mentality has also changed with regard to the approach to technology, which affects the success and development of the company as well. The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the special economic zones offer their assistance to foreign investors while the InnoLot

sectoral programme co-finances development work, which offers the opportunity for combining business and science. To become a leader, however, Poland will have to face the barriers set by the State. Paweł Poncyliusz, stressing that AVIO is not going to stop investing in Poland, paid particular attention to the law because of which all arrangements take too long.

The aviation sector currently constitutes one of the most attractive sectors of the Polish economy. Owing to the highly-skilled staff that properly utilises the opportunities offered by foreign investors, we are building an increasingly-strong position in the global dimension, which can bring Poland incredible economic benefits in the future. We must, however, bear in mind that we are at a stage where entrepreneurs are investing in Polish companies. Therefore, the next step should be to encourage them to engage in R & D funding to a greater extent. ::

27th – 28th May 2013, Prague Why EBCG’s CFO Forum?

1. Gain the most up-to-date knowledge from C-level strategists, thought leading market experts and the key drivers who will deliver keynote presentations, real-life case studies and interactive sessions.

2. Build your own network with peers during the interactive sessions, open panel discussions, networking luncheons and cocktail reception.

3. Find out how other CFOs: • manage their financial team to create value • cooperate on sustainable improvement and lead their company to success • protect, forecast and manage risk • deal with recent financial landscape, and share your opinion in interactive panel discussions

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Real estate

Warsaw in the top 5 target destinations for real estate investors in 2013 According to CBRE’s latest Real Estate Investor Intentions’ Survey, launched at MIPIM 2013, the property industry’s annual trade show, Warsaw ranks among the top 5 destinations, which real estate investors plan to target in 2013. Experts from CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services company, believe this is underpinned by Poland’s relatively favourable economic performance to date and its positive outlook. Investor optimism regarding European markets is reflected by a significant majority of those surveyed, 58% of whom say they expect their purchases in 2013 to be higher than in 2012. Only 45% gave the same answer last year.

Germany was found to be the most attractive market for investment in Europe for more than a third of investors (35%). Overall Western Europe ranked as the preferred destination for investors with 43% of the votes, Asia and North America came second with 18% votes each, while Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets were chosen by 14% of investors, compared with 19% last year. The majority of investors choosing the CEE region consider Poland to be the most attractive destination for purchases (10% of all those surveyed) and show limited interest in other markets in the region. Poland’s results exceed the number of votes given to France, Spain or Nordic countries.

Mike Atwell, Head of CEE Capital Markets at CBRE in Poland, said “While London stands out as the single most attractive city for the second consecutive year, with Munich, Berlin and Paris moving up in the ranks, Warsaw remains CEE’s go-to destination for commercial property investors. Investor intentions for

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2013 are influenced by perceptions of market risk and the relative strength of economic fundamentals in different parts of Europe. That is why Northern Europe, notably Germany, the UK (predominantly London) and Poland continue to be seen as promising destinations and continue to attract funding.”

With recession becoming reality in much of Europe, it is seen as the biggest threat to market recovery by almost half of investors (47%). The eurozone break-up was selected as the biggest threat by only 9% of respondents this year, down from 24% in 2012. Concern over debt availability as a threat to recovery was cited by 14% of respondents, half as many as last year. This marks a shift in comparison to the 2012 survey, when the three biggest threats to a recovery of the European property market were, in the following order: the inability of investors to source new debt, economic recession and a break-up of the eurozone.

Peter Damesick, Chairman, EMEA Research, CBRE commented: “While recession is a key concern, fears of a euro break-up have subsided and the overall impact of the eurozone crisis on investment activity appears to have lessened. Despite a difficult economic backdrop, there is evidence of improved sentiment among European real estate investors compared to the mood a year ago. It remains to be seen if this might be dented by new uncertainties following the Italian election result but the survey findings fit in with several emerging trends in the market over recent months. These include signs of increased liquidity overall and more transactions in non-prime property and in certain

peripheral European markets. These trends are set to continue and potentially gather pace during 2013.”

The 2013 survey also revealed some shifts in investor preferences between different sectors of the real estate market. As in 2012, offices were the single most preferred sector for purchases, chosen by 29% of investors.

There is a marked rise in the popularity of logistics property among investors this year with 20% selecting the sector as the most attractive for purchases compared with 14% in 2012. In contrast, investors appeared more cautious towards retail property this year, with lower proportions of investors selecting shopping centres or retail warehouses as the most attractive sectors compared with the 2012 survey.

Przemysław Felicki, Associate Director, CEE Capital Markets at CBRE in Poland, said: “Investors are very selective and diligent when it comes to retail. There are a lot of factors which have an impact on the performance of a retail asset and an in-depth analyses are required to fully understand the market position of a centre and its future potential, especially that sometimes the basic statistics regarding a city or a particular project can be misleading. In addition, a lot is being said recently about e-commerce or mobile commerce and its influence on traditional retail.

Nonetheless, there is still strong demand for both prime, core shopping centres and value-added retail projects, which allow for asset management initiatives and value increase.

We should see few major retail assets or portfolios being traded this year in the CEE region, primarily in Poland.” ::

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Real estate

Luxury properties market in Warsaw The financial crisis and the resulting economic uncertainty have had a significant impact on the Polish residential market. But in Warsaw we have seen prices decline mainly in the so-called popular segment in recent years, the price of high-end properties per square metre remains at a high level. This is because there is always a group of people who are interested in buying this type of property, to use it either as a residence, a good investment or a prestigious company headquarters.

Renata Dorada, CEO PropertyGem The factors that determines exceptionality and luxury of a real estate and influence its price is the design original architecture that makes such investment noticeable. Such buildings must fulfill many conditions, like for example have an underground garage for the residents, the reception desk in the lobby, high standard of finishing of the common areas and

façade and provide extra facilities.

Today, to encourage buyers, in addition to an exceptionally attractive location, developers must offer amenities that were not available just a few years ago. One example is the increasingly common concierge service, or the constant presence in the building of a person combining the functions of a receptionist, butler, advisor and secretary. Buildings with premium apartments must be well located. Therefore, most such residences are offered in the central districts of cities, for example in Warsaw’s Śródmieście or Powiśle.

Warsaw is a leader on the market of such projects, where prices for apartments vary considerably. This is directly related to the material status of potential buyers, an increase in the purchasing capacity of Poles, a better level of mobility within society and a larger number of incoming investors. Our capital city offers the largest amount of luxury properties and the price per a square metre differs from PLN 14,000 up to 40,000.

Today the most luxurious buildings in Warsaw to be completed soon are: :: Apartamenty Na Powiślu – a luxurious project of Powiśle Park on Kruczkowskiego Street in Powiśle.

The 139 apartments are intended for discerning customers who are seeking comfort, modern solutions and a distinctive character of the building.

Apartments designed by Kuryłowicz & Associates are 3 m high, airconditioned and located next to three parks.

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Everything needed for a comfortable life is within a few minutes’ walk: the Vistula River, Trzech Krzyży Square, boutique shops, and popular restaurants and cafés. It’s dedicated to people interested in living in a quiet place surrounded by green areas. :: Złota 44 - a project of Orco Property Group on Złota Street will stand 192 metres (54 storyes) tall.

It was designed by the world-famous American architect of Polish descent, Daniel Libeskind. It will have 251 apartments of different sizes. Thanks to its remarkable shape and sustainable technology it is one of the most innovative and ground-breaking projects in Poland. It’s intended for people wishing to live in the city center get accustomed to busy everyday life. :: Cosmopolitan – a project of Tacit Development on Twarda Street. It has 252 apartments in a 44-floor building, finished with the highest quality of materials and equipment. It is a masterpiece of architecture, not only because it was designed by Helmut Jahn with a brilliant and modern sense of form and style, but also because it is supposed to give its inhabitants a sense of stability and safety. It is directed to people attracted by modern architecture and running businesses.

Many premium apartments and penthouses in Warsaw are often treated as an investment. Such an investment makes it possible to profit from lease, and in the long term also benefit from an increase in the value of the property. The buyers are not just wealthy Poles but also foreigners, with both groups acquiring such apartments as either homes or investments. Investors all over the world realized a long time ago that buying an apartment downtown is an excellent long-term investment.

Our company PropertyGem provides high quality advice to clients planning to purchase or rent a real estate by finding the best offers and giving the different perspective based on our residential sector experience. ::

Real estate

Luxury retail in Poland Katarzyna Michnikowska, Senior Consultant, Valuation & Advisory, Cushman & Wakefield

The modern retail market in Poland has been developing for more than twenty years now and has reached maturity with a variety of retail facilities, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, shopping centres, retail parks, fashion houses, as well as specialized or outlet centres. While in the 1990s the market development was powered by hypermarket chains constructing owner-occupied schemes on their own or in cooperation with developers, after the year 2000 shopping centre developers and investors entered Poland to build more advanced retail complexes with a wide choice of fashion stores, anchored by a supermarket instead of a hypermarket, and frequently providing leisure and entertainment facilities such as a cinema, a fitness club, a bowling alley, a family entertainment centre, cafes or restaurants. Retail schemes became more attractive

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through improved architecture, fitout standard and interior design. The tenant mix also changed with retailers representing the mid- and luxury market segments finding their way into retail schemes.

One of the most interesting shopping centres in Poland is undoubtedly the Stary Browar Shopping, Arts and Business Center built on the premises of the former Hugger Brewery in Półwiejska Street in downtown Poznań. It came onto the market in 2003 and three years later its investor decided to have it considerably extended. Stary Browar now provides around 48,000 sq m of retail space and more than 200 stores, restaurants, cafes, a cinema and theatre, a concert hall, exhibition space, music clubs, the Blow Up Hall hotel, as well as office space. Its tenants include Massimo Dutti, Answear, Calvin Klein Jeans, Armani Jeans, Versace Collection, Marella, Pollini, Marc O’polo, Lacoste, Guess, Estée Lauder, Hilfiger Denim, Deni Cler, Tru Trussardi, Diesel, Baldinini and Furla.

By contrast, the Klif shopping centre in Warsaw, opened in 1999 in the area bordering on the Śródmieście and Wola districts, has transformed from a small mass customer retail scheme into an exclusive fashion house. Faced with the competition

Real estate from the nearby Arkadia shopping centre opened in 2004, Klif, which is one of the oldest shopping malls in Warsaw, underwent a gradual transformation. It is now positioned as a fashion house with mid- and highend brands, and offers around 18,000 sq m of retail space and more than 100 stores, including brands such as Lacoste, Palmers, Penny Black, Tru Trussardi, Guess, Pollini, Marella, Deni Cler, Salamander, Baldinini and Marlboro Classic.

The Złote Tarasy complex in Warsaw, located next to the Central Railway Station and opened in 2007, appeals to both tenants operating in Poland and other retailers planning their debut on the Polish market.

Its signature feature is the irregular shaped glass roof and the terrace storey structure. The Złote Tarasy complex comprises office buildings, a multiplex cinema and a shopping centre providing 63,000 sq m and 250 stores, service outlets and restaurants, including Bath & Body Works, Hugo Boss, Victoria’s Secret, Swarovski, Parfois, Marc O’polo, Massimo Dutti, Guess and Deni Cler.

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Złote Tarasy is home to many flagship stores of retailers entering the Polish market.

The Silesia City Center in Katowice is also popular with retailers offering high-end brands. It was built on the site of the former Kleofas coalmine and delivered in 2005, followed by extension in 2011. With 84,000 sq m of space and 300 stores it is currently one of the largest shopping malls in southern Poland. Its tenants include Armani Jeans, Versace, Burberry, Calvin Klein Jeans, Deni Cler, Furla, Guess Denim, Lacoste, Marc O’polo, Marella, Marc Cain, Marina Rinaldi, Massimo Dutti, Parfois, Pollini, Swarovski, Tommy Hilfiger and Tru Trussardi.

The luxury appeal of the Manufaktura shopping centre, opened in Łódź in 2006, results from the comfort of shopping and the extended leisure offer rather than the mix of luxury retailers. This retail complex offers 110,000 sq m of space and 250 stores of brands such as Aldo, Le Mac, Patrizia Pepe, Armani Jeans & Versace, Marella, Hugo Boss, Deni Cler, Tommy Hilfiger, Parfois, Emporio Armani and Swarovski. The historic postindustrial buildings of the former Poznański factory and the outdoor courtyard holding events, concerts and theme meetings all contribute to Manufaktura’s appeal.

Practically all large Polish cities have third- and fourth-generation shopping centres. Although there are still no luxury profile shopping malls in Poland, many retail schemes have separate sections with a focus on exclusive stores. Galeria Mokotów in Warsaw, for instance, boasts the Golden Avenue, i.e. a shopping arcade with a higher fit-out standard, being home to luxury brands and stores of top designers, including Robert Kupisz and Bohoboco. In addition, most shopping malls in central locations of the largest Polish cities have an “oasis of luxury”.

Luxury department stores have also sprung up on the Polish retail market, including Kraków’s Likus Concept Store opened in 2005 and Warsaw’s VitkAc opened in 2011. The Likus Concept Store is located in renovated tenement houses of the Main Market Square and offers the LFC Boutique with Dsquared2, Lanvin, Balmain, Viktor & Rolf, John Galliano,

Martin Margiela, Dolce & Gabbana and Ann Demeulemeester, Bar 13, Vinoteka 13, Delikatesy 13, and space for exhibition and sale of original homeware.

VitkAc is an exclusive modern design department store in Bracka Street in Warsaw. It offers fashion collections of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, Balenciaga, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Chloe, Diesel, Emporio Armani, ­Dsquared2, Givenchy, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs and Saint Laurent. Shopping can be done both in brand chain stores and in multi-brand stores of Polish retailers.

Luxury retailers entering Poland are interested mainly in high street premises. Exclusive micro retail locations are being gradually established in the largest Polish cities, including the area of Trzech Krzyży Square in Warsaw (Trzech Krzyży Square and Bracka and Mokotowska Streets) with stores of brands such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Burberry, Lilou, Ralph Lauren, Mont Blanc, Tru Trussardi and Carolina Herrera. Kraków’s luxury retailers, including Swarovski, Parfois, Lacoste and Escada, are located in the area of the Main Market Square and Floriańska and Grodzka Streets.

There are around 30-35 luxury fashion brands (clothing, accessories and footwear) operating in Poland and although their number is rising, it is still much lower than in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This is due to the lack of appropriately prestigious retail locations and large top quality premises.

Another factor hampering the entrance of luxury brands into Poland is the wealth growth rate. The spending power of Polish consumers is steadily rising, but it is still far behind that of Western Europe. According to a survey published by GFK Polonia, Poland is in the 28th position in Europe behind the Baltic states and before Turkey in terms of the spending power strength. In addition, Poland is a heavily polarised market with the largest urban areas enjoying the highest spending power and rural areas in south-eastern Poland faring the worst.

The number of luxury retail schemes and exclusive brand stores is expected to rise with the growing affluence level in Poland, but it may be quite a long time before it happens given the current economic downturn. ::

Real estate

The most exclusive address in Cracow After nine years of preparation, an investment project that may well set a new standard in the quality of life in the city has commenced. Located next to Wawel Hill, the former nunnery of the Colettine Sisters and its adjacent land will undergo a thorough revitalization, which will result in the apartment complex – Angel Wawel.

Preparations for the project started in 2003, when the Angel Poland Group purchased the building and adjacent land at 12 Koletek Street.

The history of this area dates back to the 16th century, when the Colettine nuns were given the land as their future home and chapel. Over the centuries the area has expanded several times and now is the time to determine its final form.

The existing parts will undergo a complete renovation, which has been agreed upon with the city conservator since the planning phase. Particular attention will be given to the historic wall paintings. Additionally, the brand new apartments will enclose the building and create the representative form of the inner patio. Renowned British landscape designer, Matt James has been chosen to design the gardens on the premises. The residence, when ready, will comprise 235

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apartments in various styles – both historical and modern.

“After a long period of preparation we are proud to announce the commencement of the construction of Angel Wawel. The combination of location, history, quality design and facilities make for a unique place that will provide a prestigious lifestyle par - excellence, an investment that will last for generations,” says Mr. Shahar Samuel, the president of Angel Wawel company.

The project will be ready in mid-2015. The pre-sales have already started. The authors of the architectural designs are the Gottesmann-Szmelcman studios from Paris in cooperation with Krakow’s ABP office.

The newly created courtyard will be a garden, designed by British landscape architect Matt James. Sculptures created by the famous sculptor from Krakow, Mr. Bronislaw Chromy, will add another decorative dimension to the courtyard. The whole area will be equipped with CCTV systems.

For residents there will be a swimming pool, sauna, a steam room, and fitness area available. At their disposal there will also be an exclusive “Residents’ Lounge” zone equipped with a wine cellar, bar, club room, children’s playroom, home theater room, games room and a reading room and representative retail zone on the ground level.

“This is a new concept for Krakow but we believe Krakow is ready and deserves such a project, as other metropolitan cities around the world boast,” adds Mr. Ron Ben Shahar.

The Chapel - Past Times and its New Function After dismantling the Colettine Sisters’ nunnery and the acquisition of the land by the

Association of Charity, the former cloister garden was transformed into public buildings. In 1882, at the junction of Sukien ­nicza and Koletek Streets, an impressive building in the eclectic style was built – The House of Protection of the Association of Charity (a nursing home). The chapel bay was located in the corner bay, at level I and II. By an agreement with the city’s conservator, the building will undergo renovation while preserving its historic forms and murals. The building will be transformed into 600 sqm penthouse premises.

The chapel is built on the plan of an equilateral octagon. The inside is plastered and polychromed and covered with a wooden dome. Decorative paintings from the interwar period, are by Jan Bukowski – the creator of the Mariacki Church wall paintings.

In the upper part of the walls there is a painting of a heart with a crown of thorns and symbols of the seven deadly sins - the heart with seven daggers. Below are symbolically painted day and night as the moon and the sun, in the centre is a symbol of Christ - a monogramatic cross composed of the Greek letters Chi and Rho - the initial letters of Christ’s name.

While maintaining the historic, centuriesold character of the chapel it will certainly be the most unique living space in Poland and perhaps in this part of Europe. With respect to the history of the chapel and its surroundings, the investor’s intention is to deliver this apartment to people who are also familiar with the intangible value of this place. ::

Invest in Poland

The battle for the economic zones In the January interview for “Polish Market,” Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechociński announced that his main goal was to support business activities, among other things through the extended operation of economic zones. “I believe that the Special Economic Zones (SSE) should still exist, as they are an effective tool for ensuring the flow of investments and stimulating the creation of new jobs. Their activities up to date have been a perfect example of that. According to the data for the third quarter of 2012, the Special Economic Zones received investments of over PLN83.8 billion and created 186 thousand new jobs,” said Janusz Piechociński.

Ewelina Janczylik- Foryś Deputy PM also announced that jointly with the Ministry of Finance they would develop criteria for the operation of the Special Economic Zones in the areas struggling with structural unemployment. In order for the joint-amendment Act to be created, we need to speak as one voice, which should be that expressed by the Government coalition. However, it turns out that the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Finance have different views concerning not only the extended operation of the zones, but also their very existence.

The Ministry of the Economy would like to extend the operation of the zones till 2026 (the current legislation states that the Special Economic Zones should end their operation in 2020), while the Ministry of Finance is sceptical, not to say hostile, toward such an idea.

The subject of the Special Economic Zones was discussed at the “Building competitive advantages for Poland” conference, organised by the Ministry of the Economy with the cooperation of the Conference on Special Economic Zones.

Alongside Minister of the Economy Janusz Piechociński, who regards extending the operation of the Special Economic Zones as a matter of honour, the debate was attended by Prof. Jerzy Buzek, Janusz Steinhoff, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance between 1997-2001, Maciej Grabowski, Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, and Paweł Orłowski, Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Regional Development. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy was represented by Under Secretary of State Radosław Mleczko, and Krzysztof Krystowski (Bumar Group).

“Currently, there are 14 Special Economic Zones operating in our country, which have

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issued 1506 permits for conducting business activities, with nearly PLN84 billion invested by entrepreneurs,” said Paweł Orłowski, Deputy Minister of Regional Development.

Special Economic Zones and business environment institutions operating there have actively applied for EU funds. They allotted them for such purposes as the construction and development of technological parks and industrial parks, and to set up business incubators. “An important rule for disbursing EU funds in the next financial perspective will be to allot them towards investments which generate true economic profits, especially towards the ones connected with the so-called smart specialisations,” emphasised Paweł Orłowski. “That’s why during the ongoing debate in Poland concerning the future of the zones, we should also consider how their operation could support the internal potential of the regions,” he added.

One of the accusations of the Ministry of Finance is the zones’ support of the regions, which are already strong enough due to industrial traditions. In short, the Ministry of Finance believes that the special economic zones only deepen the disproportion between the well-developed industrial regions, the western zones, and the east of Poland.

“Do the Special Economic Zones constitute a lever for balanced regional development?

No, because the most new jobs have been created in the Katowicka, Wałbrzyska, Łódzka and Tarnobrzeska zones, while the least in the Słupska, Suwalska and WarmińskoMazurska zones. They support regions attractive economically,” said Maciej Grabowski, Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Finance.

“Expectations that investments will be higher in a time of crisis are unrealistic. It’s as if

you would’ve expected the lands supplied with water by the Nile to have more water when the Nile dries up,” Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament in 20092012, replied sharply.

Deputy Minister Radosław Mleczko emphasised that the debate on the forms of support for the businesses must take into account a series of factors. In this context he also addressed the situation of social groups finding themselves in an extremely dire situation on the job market, especially the young. In the light of the data presented by the European Commission, approximately 5.5 million young people in the European Union cannot find work, while 7.5 million of those aged 15 to 24 are not studying, training or working.

That’s why the Commission has recently presented a Youth Employment Package which aims to improve the access of young people to employment, education and training options, which in turn should improve their quality of life. Another aspect addressed by Radosław Mleczko was the necessary issue of conducting a job-market test considering future solutions and those currently in operation. The assessment of the influence of a given solution on the job market will provide an objective answer to the question of its effectiveness and the validity of its acceptance or future maintenance. The report concerning the effects of the operations of the Special Economic Zones for the end of the third quarter of 2012 indicated that 186,584 new jobs had been created.

More voices in the Government speak for the extension of the operation of the Special Economic Zones, but one of the major Ministries, the Ministry of Finance, has a different opinion. It looks like there will be an interesting clash in the Government concerning the future of the zones. What will be its effect? We still have to wait for that answer. ::

Law

Restructuring instead of liquidation Stop liquidating and start restructuring – this is what the team working under the aegis of the Minister of Justice, which has prepared recommendations concerning amendments to the bankruptcy and reorganisation laws, seems to be saying. And this is by no means strange. Based on the 2011 survey, liquidations accounted for 80% of all bankruptcy cases. However, will new regulations succeed in changing the image of bankrupt companies to such an extent that bankruptcy leading to liquidation ceases to prevail over other solutions preserving company existence on the market?

In Poland, records in the number of bankrupt companies are broken every year. Some experts explain this phenomenon by referring to the development of Polish entrepreneurship, which translates itself into a growing number of bankruptcies. Certainly such statements are not entirely groundless and they should be taken into account while analysing the scale of the phenomenon in question.

Nevertheless, while in the past only small and medium-sized companies were likely to go bankrupt, nowadays this is no longer true, as bankruptcy concerns both the smallest entities and the real giants.

Mikołaj Chałas, Process and Arbitration Department, Chałas & Associates Law Office

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The negative perception of bankruptcy and the falling trust of business partners towards a bankrupt company are the two factors which the legislator intends to tackle in the new regulations. Is such a revolutionary change to Polish consciousness possible at all? So far, despite similar intents expressed in the amendment to the Bankruptcy and Reorganisation Act dated 2003, this has been in vain. Even the team drafting the new recommendations has considered the current application of the reorganisation procedure much less than symbolic. As a result, the team proposes that the new Act be entitled

“Restructuring and Bankruptcy Proceedings”. This may additionally stress that the new regulations are not intended as pure satisfaction of the bankrupt’s creditors, but also as a means of maintaining its ongoing market operations and restoring financial liquidity. The economic assumption stipulating that “bankruptcy law does not stigmatise entrepreneurs” is obviously justified but “the tool” which merely involves changing the Act’s title seems hardly sufficient.

The amendments to the general provisions of the Act involve, in particular,

Paweł Borowski, Barrister, Head of the Process and Arbitration Department, Chałas & Associates Law Office

Law

The aforementioned changes are intended to adjust the content of the

insolvency provisions to the reality of economic operations, and to the intuitive and commonly-understood term “insolvency”, at the same time considering the relevant economic premises behind insolvency.

Considering the difficulties in determining the economic criterion of insolvency, the team has indicated the possibility of using a wide array of example financial capacity measures. The list of criteria, as presented by the team, makes use of auditing principles, including especially National Standard on Auditing No. 1 and International Standard on Auditing No. 570 “Going Concern”. The example criteria based on the aforementioned standards involve withdrawal, or a documented intent to withdraw, of substantial financing from the debtor by its creditors in the period of the previous 12 months, or the departure of the key managerial staff, and the lack of successors, in the period of the previous 12 months.

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Despite the aforementioned changes and the plans for the future application of bankruptcy law, the team did not forget about the other businesses operating on the market. As put by the team itself, the bankruptcy law system should protect market players against debtors who are incapable of settling their debts due to financial reasons. Moreover, the legislator should avoid introducing legislation which would provide for the possibility of eliminating from the market those businesses whose failure to settle their debts results from reasons other than financial insolvency.

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To sum up, the underlying assumptions and changes concerning Polish bankruptcy law seem adequate and very much needed for businesses operating on the domestic market.

What is worrying is that there are not enough tools to implement these changes, and the fact that Polish entrepreneurs are inherently reluctant to cooperate with insolvent companies. :: ADVERTISEMENT

the new definition of insolvency, which might contribute to a prompt reaction before the debtor finds itself in the situation that precludes any arrangement. Therefore, it has been proposed that the current wording of Article 11 of the Bankruptcy and Reorganisation Act (“The debtor shall be considered insolvent when it fails to settle its payable financial liabilities”) be replaced as follows: “1. The debtor shall be considered insolvent when the assessment of its financial situation indicates that it has lost the ability to settle its payable financial liabilities. 2. It is implied that the debtor is insolvent when the delay in settling its payable financial liabilities, upon the submission of a bankruptcy petition or a petition for recovery or composition proceedings, has exceeded three months” (Article 12 should be crossed out). It is further proposed that Article 11 Point 2 (“A debtor who is a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality, who is assigned legal personality under a separate Act, shall also be considered insolvent when its liabilities exceed the value of its property, even though any such liabilities are being settled on an ongoing basis.”) be amended as follows: “1.

A debtor who is a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality, who is assigned legal personality under a separate Act, shall also be considered insolvent when its liabilities exceed the value of its property, and this situation continues for more than 24 months, provided that the sum of any such liabilities does not include the liabilities from legal activities, as defined in Article 14 § 3 of the Commercial Companies Code. 2. In exceptional circumstances, when there is no risk of the debtor losing its liability to settle its payable financial liabilities in the nearest future, the court may dismiss the bankruptcy petition. 3. This provision shall not apply to the partnerships defined in the Commercial Companies Code, in which at least one partner responsible for the company liabilities with its entire property is a natural person.”

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Finance

“Long on brains and short on hands,” says Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, President of the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) The crisis has - understandably - made some authorities in Poland find themselves in a situation which justifies their restraint from engaging in any actions of a strategic nature. Consequently, they have embraced the following philosophy – let’s handle whatever we can, fund the projects which happen to be at hand, and stabilise the situation. In short, I would say that “we’re long on brains and short on hands around here.”

Let me enumerate only a few examples. A very important issue in our climatic zone is the problem of residential housing – one that is modern, energy-efficient, and generates numerous innovations and jobs. A strategic agreement is needed for this problem to acknowledge that this is for the common good of all Poles – the whole 38 million of them.

Another such project is power engineering, including renewable-energy sources and energy-efficient technologies. The discussion on this subject must evolve, since this is also a common good, which will determine whether Poland will enjoy a sufficient pace of growth and whether its economy will be competitive. We have the opportunity to prompt research and development in this project with Polish science and Polish entrepreneurs.

This philosophy must be finished with. In the next financial horizon, – viewed from the EU funding perspective, but also with the stimulation of general trends for the immediate future in mind (over 90% of projects is implemented without EU funding) – we must engage in strategic projects which will be of relevance for Poland within the next 10, 20 or 30 years.

We must know where we’re heading, even if only on a couple of basic levels.

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The third issue is the participation of the banking and commercial sectors in investments. It is important to note that the Polish banking sector has contributed PLN 35 billion. to the financing of EU projects worth in total c.a. PLN130 billion. How can we unlock the full available potential and accomplishments of the banking sector? And both of them are considerable - extraordinary even - as the Polish banking sector has not reached out for a penny’s worth of public aid during the crisis, nor has it required any remedial interventions. It has been able to secure a decent level of financing for the economy, ranking Poland fourth worldwide in terms of access to financing. We have good-quality credits and excellent human resources,

but the sector’s potential has not yet been unlocked.

When reading through all those EU programmes, you come across the word “bank” only 3-4 times. Once it may actually refer to a bank account, but, other than that, only “cell banks” or “banks of initiatives” run through. Some mindsets seem to have adopted the “banks-beware-of-project-funding” principle. As a result, many projects fail to undergo reliable assessment. While, private-funding contribution, that is a bank contribution, of about 10-15%, could be of fundamental importance to avoiding allegations and accusations of project selection and implementation being entangled in a web of political intrigues. Banks would add objectivity to such decisions as they must take special care throughout the process.

We do not attempt to obscure the image of bankers – “they are merchants and tradesmen, too, and follow the rules of the business they do,” as put by some poet centuries ago. The poet also described public administration, which “is to ensure that no one speeds too fast ahead.” We are dealing with a peculiar game indeed, in which all the competences of private and public institutions must be used to make the country run on the right track and with proper speed, especially during such troubled times.

We may not be an awfully-rich country but we exhibit great creative powers. It is imperative that we do not waste this potential, energy and opportunities. We must not make the crisis go to waste. The recession undoubtedly carries certain threats but we have managed to overcome many of them. It also carries some challenges – we have faced many of these. But it carries opportunities as well, and they must be seized. Not many European states have healthy banking systems or their debt or public deficit under control. It could have been even better, some would say - and it will be, if we reach agreement on the key strategic objectives. ::

Finance

Unstaffed banking facilities, virtual card payments – a revolution in banking Bohdan Wójcicki

Currently there are several stateof-the-art solutions with the potential to revolutionise the banking sector in the years to come. The first one involves the automation of some basic banking processes, fully relying on the interaction between the client and the automated electronic support,

About Xerox Approaching USD 23 billion, the Xerox Corporation is a leading company in business-process and document management.

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, the company provides stateof-the-art technology solutions for documents, services, software and also consumables and equipment for all types of offices. Moreover, through ACS (A Xerox Company), acquired in February 2010, Xerox provides BPO and IT services, including data processing, and also HR processes, outsourcing, financial counselling and customer relations support both for businesses and public-institutions worldwide. With 140,000 employees, Xerox serves its clients in more than 160 countries. ::

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without the involvement of the staff of the given institution. Small bank kiosks will facilitate the application of this solution in practice. Properly equipped, they will enable clients to meet their basic personal banking needs such as opening an account or applying for a loan. The solution integrates back-office operations, such as document processing, with front-office operations, involving direct client support, and ensures the automatic handling of these operations.

Used on a mass scale in the future, these advanced banking systems will help to eliminate the need to get direct support from bank employees, and streamline document processing.

Clients will feed the banking kiosk with some basic information, receiving directions from it in their native languages. The mechanism will then automatically verify the completeness and correctness of the information and save it in the database.

Automated banking solutions will have a particularly groundbreaking impact on banking in the emerging countries and sparsely-populated areas, where the operation of traditional banking venues is too costly. Based on safe technology, they will help to overcome the problems involving the unrestricted transmission of data. Xerox is currently running trials of this solution in India.

Mobile payments are yet another solution that is already changing the face of banking. This year, Polish banks launched SIM-card-based proximity payments. Currently, this technology is available only to those who use the latest smartphones. However, financial institutions are developing a solution for mobile payments that will not require NFC-equipped phones (Near Field Communication).

In the future, mobile payments will help to reduce the use of traditional payment cards.

Another trend at work in the banking sector involves the gradual

shift towards electronic documents.

The document-digitisation process starts when the incoming bank’s correspondence, whether delivered by post, courier, e-mail or fax, undergoes immediate electronic conversion and categorisation based on a specific key. The shift towards the electronic processing and archiving of documents streamlines the operations of the entire institution, improving effectiveness and customer relations.

With this solution in place, the costs of processing, finding and storing documents will be reduced. The bank staff gains easy access to the necessary data, and also can easily check the status of a given case, who is responsible for the case, and when it is scheduled for completion.

The shift towards the electronic processing and archiving of data will also improve labour efficiency.

Instead of losing their time on copying data or transferring paper documents, employees can focus on performing their core duties. The result is better quality and efficiency of inhouse communication.

Another advantage of this model is the security of confidential data – the production of electronic copies helps to avoid the loss of information which is sometimes of crucial importance to the company. It also makes it possible to monitor who gets to see the documents, which is much harder to do when paper documents are used.

Other tools which are undergoing trials or being implemented in banking include biometric customer identification and bank-account integrated with social-media profile. All these solutions stand a good chance of becoming popular, not only in the major cities, but also in smaller towns, where access to modern banking services is usually limited. ::

The author is Business Process Consultant, Xerox Polska

Finance

A good platform to exchange opinions President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Amicus Europae Foundation, and Beata Radomska, President of the Executive Club

Former President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski Amicus Europae Foundation

Beata Radomska President of the Executive Club

What is the reason behind the idea of creating the European Executive Forum? In what way is this congress going to stand out from among other economic initiatives in Poland?

AK: The primary feature of the congress is that the first President of Poland democratically elected for two terms got engaged in its organization.

But seriously speaking, the economic crisis, which hit Europe two years ago, forced a number of political and business leaders to rethink their strategies for the near future: some of them have not managed to adapt to the new, highly variable circumstances, while the other have been more or less successful. During my meetings with politicians I constantly heard that it is worth exchanging comments and observations in this respect at an international level, the focus being not only on politics but also on business.

That is how the impetus came to join forces and create a platform for exchange of experience. The European Executive Forum is supposed to be such a platform.

We want that both panelists and participants represent the equivalent and, at the same time, the highest world level, so you will be able to exchange their unique experiences.

There is no one single star, one leading figure at the congress. Participants of the European Executive Forum are all distinguished individuals.

BR: The aim of the congress is to answer the question what management concept is needed in Europe today. We will introduce and develop ideas to help today’s leaders address challenges facing organizations in unpredictable market conditions.

We have started to cooperate with the best business schools and MBA programmes in Europe, as well as the leading business practitioners. The inspiration came with my personal experience that knowledge gained from an MBA course becomes obsolete

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quickly. Also, managers and presidents of major companies often complain that they lack time to get it updated. The Forum is set to be a source of the most uo-to-date knowledge on management issues.

How did it happen that Amicus Europae and the Executive Club have come to cooperate?

AK: The first project to which I was invited by the Executive Club was a conference on private equity in May 2012. It was already then that participants representing the world of finance emphasized the role of leaders and visionaries in increasing the value of companies that they have in their portfolios. It turned out that I have similar observations on the role of leaders in today’s world in the broadly understood field of politics. And because there were more such similarities, the idea was born to make a joint effort to organize a congress with the participation of international business executives, political leaders and experts in the field of management from the best Polish and European universities.

BR: President A lek sa nder Kwaśniewski was invited to take over the Honorary Presidency of the Jury of Private Equity Awards 2012, which we awarded to the best equity funds operating on the Polish market. President Kwaśniewski kindly accepted our invitation and that is when we realized how great his force of attraction is. His speech during the gala met with an enthusiastic reception from the distinguished private equity experts, even though he said he had no particular expertise in this field. That is what inspired us to envisage a new joint project. As a result, the concept emerged of creating a leadership-dedicated congress - the European Executive Forum.

What inspired the idea of bringing together in one forum politicians,

businessmen and academics? Why is the Forum dominated by former political leaders?

AK: As I mentioned earlier, the cooperation between the Amicus Europae Foundation and the Executive Club led to bringing together the world of business and that of politics. Leadership is rooted in politics, and a number of our guests suggested such an important event cannot do without people who create policies, management systems, as well as administrative and political frameworks, which business is then supposed to find its way through. As for the presence of former politicians, we strived to choose the unquestioned authorities, the leaders who have a proven record of achievements and merits. A very important feature of such persons is independent views and impartial opinions that are not subject to the ongoing partisan configuration. However, the borderline between the former and the present politician is often quite vague.

BR: In joining forces with the foundation of President Kwaśniewski, we have somewhat naturally combined business, science and politics in the search for the roots of leadership. We managed to get involved prof. Manfred Kets de Vries from Insead, the greatest scientific authority in the field of leadership in Europe. Inspired by the original get-together of science, politics and business, professor de Vries fitted it into his very busy schedule to be our special guest. The combination of theory and practice is the best platform for exchange of experience.

Is the time of the economic crisis in Europe a good time to create a leadership-dedicated platform?

AK: The best. The time is right now to reflect on the role of leadership and redefine it. The crisis requires, but also creates outstanding leaders. We want to show how hardships - and the economic crisis is certainly one - make the real leaders succeed, and not fail.

Finance In my opinion, the time is now for the leaders who create new trends rather than go with the flow.

BR: The year 2013 is expected to be a turning point in the sense of recovery, but also a moment of truth for the economy and business. The economic crisis requires hard work and verifies who is the real leader, and who is only an administrator. Our Forum is going to be an ideal platform for exchange of views in this respect.

you cannot create around yourself an image of someone unavailable and infallible. Sometimes you have to admit to mistakes. The ability to keep a healthy distance to yourself and a sense of humor is what makes the maturity of leaders. I never strive to put myself on a pedestal. I think that what I have achieved gives me, whether I like it or not, a place in history. From a certain point it is modesty and directness that benefit leaders.

To what extent was your name, well-known in the European political and economic arena, helpful in attracting other big names, and how far was Poland as a dynamic country with high aspirations - able to strongly mark its presence in the European Union?

AK: There is no doubt that the good economic situation of Poland, with several years of uninterrupted economic growth as well as our determination to catch up with the European leaders, contributed to the fact that many distinguished personalities accepted invitations, perhaps also seeking inspiration for themselves. We have great Polish academics, business leaders and politicians. The Forum is a unique opportunity to meet such respectable individuals. The recognisability of my name did certainly make it easier to reach out to some people, but what prompted them to participate was the high profile of the conference.

How far has a Polish manager come up during the last 20 years? How do Polish leaders, after the economic transition, find their way in the European context?

BR: Beginnings, as we recall, were difficult. Many of us acted quite intuitively. The establishment of higher schools and study courses devoted to management, as well as frequent meetings with managers from all over the world have broadened our knowledge and horizons. Polish managers proved to be ambitious, persistent and receptive to knowledge. The ability to operate under a permanent crisis, improvisation and constant changes has proven to be very useful nowadays.

Polish managers are faring increasingly well in the global business and political structures.

How is it that you naturally inspire trust and enjoy great popularity?

Although you do not hold a highprofile political position any more, many people still consider you the natural leader.

AK: It is very nice to hear that. For centuries, controversy has continued over whether a person is born a leader or he or she gradually acquires such aptitudes. Well, it is an interesting question that I will be happy to ask our honorable guests from the world of science. One thing is certain: either in politics or in business you cannot do much without support from your followers. And to have followers, you should be able to win their hearts, minds, and souls. Both in politics and in business, you need to find ways to attract people and to make them committed to a specific action. Therefore,

Will the initiative be continued? Is your goal to get the congress permanently fitted into the calendar of the most important business events in Europe?

AK: The long-term effect is our main goal. We put a lot of effort in organizing the Forum. Our guests and participants expect the highest level that we are determined to provide. During the preparations so many interesting issues regarding leadership were brought up that they cannot be possibly tackled during one conference. Certainly the organizational and intellectual potential will contribute to the organization of the next edition.

BR: Absolutely. The great interest and enthusiasm from our guests and participants led us to build a formula that we want to repeat in the coming years. Our hallmark will be the highest level of panel discussions and presentations and the creation of a platform for an enhanced exchange of ideas between business, politics and science. ::

Piotr Ploszajski, Michał Kleiber, Andrzej Koźmiński Beata Stelmach

Witold Orłowski, Jacek Santorski

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Dariusz Rosati

Zbigniew Dworzecki, Witold Bielecki

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Cultural Monitor Compiled by Maciej Proliński

“The Quartet”, “In-Formation”, “Private Ballet Music”, “Sławomir Kulpowicz & Shujaat Khan in 2006”

Polskie Radio - a 4-CD set No history of Polish jazz could be written without mentioning the name of Sławek Kulpowicz, who died in 2008. A 4-CD set released by Polskie Radio (a Polish radio station) is an important musical release which reminds us that Sławek was an extremely diverse composer and pianist, gifted with huge sensitivity, great intuition and a unique voice, whose tracks are still considered original. He co-formed the Quartet, which was the first Polish band to perform at the legendary Village Vanguard club in New York. By the end of the 1980s the band performed on all major stages in Europe. Although it existed only for two years, it became one of the most significant Polish jazz groups. Having split up, the musicians formed different bands under the common name of In-Formation Trio (accompanying, e.g., Tomasz Stańko). Sławek’s long-standing friendship with Alice Coltrane, combined with his fascination with John Coltrane’s music, which resulted in a thesis devoted to his work, directed his interests towards oriental music. This finds reflection in the recorded concert that took place in the National Concert Hall in Warsaw in 2006, performed by Sławek Kulpowicz, Shujaat Khan (a sitar virtuoso), Arunangshu Choudchury (a tabla player) and Krzysztof Ścierański (a bass player). ::

Tomasz Stańko – “Wisława” ECM – a 2-CD set Tomasz Stańko belongs to an exclusive group of artists who have never ceased to be themselves, and whose works are recognised immediately.

This is because they form part of their art (their career and history). This CD is even more special. The Polish trumpeter and composer, referred to by The New York Times and by Down Beat as one of the best jazz improvisers worldwide, dedicated this CD to the late poet Wisława Szymborska. He recorded this 2-CD set in cooperation with three New York jazzmen, i.e. David Virelles (grand piano), Thomas Morgan (double bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums). His “Wisława” captivates the listener with great precision and its inimitable atmosphere. It mainly serves us a delicate and moving – truly poetic – music, which is intriguing because of the creative interpretation of the works of the Polish Nobel Prize winner. It is fascinating not only to the generation of the jazz master but also to other generations... Summing up, our maestro had a beautiful ear for poetry, and now all musicians beautifully listen to one another in this set. Jazz is like poetry. Everything, or at least a great deal, is between the lines.

And this is what you will find on these CDs! ::

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Stan Getz / Andrzej Trzaskowski Trio

Polskie Radio – CD

This is the first album from the new jazz series prepared by Polish Radio, entitled “Polish Radio Jazz Archives”. It features nine pr e v io usl y - unr ele a s e d tracks, recorded live during a concert in the National Concert Hall in Warsaw on 27 October 1960 at the Jazz Jamboree Festival. It also comprises three studio tracks recorded in the same concert hall but without the audience. Stan Getz, the famous American saxophonist, performing together with the outstanding Polish trio, comes off excellently. The CD is a delicacy for all jazz fans, giving pleasant relaxation to all listeners who fancy quality music. ::

Krzysztof Herdzin – “Jesteś światłem” (You are the Light) Universal Music Polska – CD This is already the 12th original album of Krzysztof Her­dzin, one of the most interesting Polish jazz pianists, who travel in various musical dimensions, even to 20th-Century classical music. This time we are dealing with songs. All were composed by Herdzin to the beautiful poems of Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński and Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, and sung by Anna Maria Jopek, Dorota Miśkiewicz, and Grzegorz Turnau, and also – for the first time – by the composer himself, who also plays most of the instruments (the grand piano, the drums, the flute, the tenor saxophone, and the bass clarinet). These are, however, no ordinary songs. They are complex stories, which capture your imagination, full of improvisation, ethereal atmosphere, and intense rhythms. The one-of-a-kind atmosphere evoked by these songs, together with performance excellence, are the most important virtues of this release. The whole package is a set of mature creations, thanks to its organisation of various musical currents, and you can draw joy from finding something alluring just for yourself in it. ::

Cultural Monitor Kasia Zawieracz – “To, co lubię” (The Things I Like)

Universal Music Polska – CD This debut of a Kraków guitarist, Kasia Zawieracz, features mainly original compositions inspired by the Latino feel of Bossa Nova, and especially by the works of Antonio Carlos Jobim and swinging jazz and blues standards. Ten musicians were invited by Kasia to join her in this project, including several female vocalists, which keep inspiring her and with whom she had previous musical experiences.

Karen Edwards, an excellent American jazz vocalist, appears on the CD as a special guest. The whole has been meticulously and richly arranged, and also maintained in a harmonious and singing atmosphere. I am sure that I will return to it on many occasions. The compilation is very warm and, at the same time, varied enough, with well-balanced dynamics. ::

Chris Rafael Wnuk “A Touch of Light”

The Munk Studio – a 3 DVD set

Universal Music Polska – CD

The 6th edition of this publication showcasing short films of young Polish artists within the framework of the “30 Minutes,” “First Documentary,” and “Young Animation” programmes.

This is, first and foremost, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquaint oneself with numerous presentations of art shaping the image of the young Polish cinema. This collection of three DVD’s features thematically and formally-varied films. How can we characterise young Polish cinema? It is, undoubtedly, more and more skilful when it comes to the technical and formal aspects.

However, can meticulous and perfect direction, sophisticated acting, and precise postproduction impress the audience? Well... not exactly. “Perfect plots, which work really well, have one serious flaw – they are too good for the audience to interact with the film. While it is true that a film that is lacking a plot is not likely to win over its audience, a film with a plot has to have some holes, empty spaces – just like in crosswords – to be filled in by the viewers. While watching a film, the viewer turns into a private detective, and – like in a whodunit – slowly unveils the truth. I believe in the cinema, that gives the audience more time and opportunities, the cinema that is unfinished, that has to be completed in the viewer’s mind,” said Abbas Kiarostami, one of the contemporary cinema’s finest, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the cinema.

It appears to me, young Polish artists have taken these words to their hearts. To my mind, what we have here is probably the first time in the history of these publications that we see a message that is both complete and yet leaving much space for interpretation, if not co-creation. Having seen what has been “formed” out of this matter in recent years brings joy to my eyes. The bitter-sweet, and somewhat socially-involved “Amigos Forever” (Koleżanki) directed by Sylwester Jakimow, the side-splitting “The Hamster” (Chomik) directed by Bartek Ignaciuk, the documentary “The Whistle” directed by Grzegorz Zari­czny (Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2013), and the animated “The Railway Watchman” directed by Piotr Szczepanowicz are excellent examples of the above. ::

Classical-music composers are nowadays rarely able to play their own compositions. In the case of Chris Rafael, who represents the middle generation of 20thCentury classical music, this turns out not to be true. He performs his own compositions with true virtuosity. He started acquiring musical education in the Józef Elsner National Music School in Warsaw; next he went to the Fryderyk Chopin Music School (graduated in 1992). His musical talent was later developed by, among others, Anna Żurawlewowa. “A Touch of Light” features nearly 20 piano miniatures, which simply ooze with artistry, passion, and feelings. The artist’s thorough education and untamed imagination can also be heard throughout this compilation. Yes, the artist’s, because one has to be an artist, and not merely a pianist, to create such jewels. The whole reminds me of the former Leszek Możdzer’s take on Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s compositions – “Kaczmarek by Możdżer.” It is also worth highlighting that the listener not only gets a CD of excellent musical quality, but also a product of audiophile characteristics. ::

“Polish Debuts 2012”

“Życia Mała Garść” (A Small Handful of Life) It was years ago when I lost my hope that we will see, at the Festival of Polish Song in Opole, the kind of musical event that had been previously directed by, e.g. Magda Umer. And there it was, such a pleasant surprise. The concert dedicated to Jarosław Kukulski, one of the most important melodists of our stage, and to his wife, the phenomenal Polish singer Anna Jantar, directed by Bartek Prokopowicz, which took place at that festival in 2012.

This artistically-interesting project moved me during its first screening on TV, and has invariably kept moving and delighting me since then. With what? With an intriguing unison of historical values that refuse to age (deft wording and hit music) and an unpretentious modern reading.

EMI – DVD and CD From the formal point of view, the collected interpretations don’t have much in common with the original versions, but, and what is really important, they consist of all the features of old, i.e. the melody, the wisdom, and the emotional content of the first water. Another co-author of this project’s success, aside from the performers, is Adam Sztaba, the concert’s arranger, who skilfully conducts the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. It is he who decided about the new and artistic – often swinging – sound of these, probably the best known, Polish songs. The performers include Dorota Miśkiewicz, Kasia Groniec, Halina Frąckowiak, Marika, Piotr Cugowski, and Czesław Mozil. The DVD also features a “Jak powstawał koncert?” (The making of the concert) film and an over-2-hour-long story of Jantar and Kukulski’s friends (i.a. artists and journalists), who share their memories with the camera and draw a very intimate picture of the artists. :: 3-4/2013 :: polish market :: 97

Culture

An important role can be played here by the much needed private art sponsors. How does it look like today?

It was not bad. But today the word crisis affects in some magical way also those who were for years our donors and sponsors. Everyone is kind of “infected” with the word crisis... It is a Polish problem that there are still few entrepreneurs that participate in such long-term investments. Here again, much depends on people making decisions in these institutions, on their understanding of the importance of culture. For years, I have insisted that the most powerful and internationally recognizable Polish brand is culture.

Since its inception, Syrena Theatre has been strongly oriented at cabaret and comedy shows. Currently, its repertoire is being extended.

What path is this stage going to follow under your direction?

There still is room for widely understood entertainment. I think entertainment is somehow inherent in the definition of theatre, because entertainment is not just laughter and fun, but also reflection and meditation, discussing current issues. My theater is supposed to be an invitation to a dialogue. And we are just talking here indeed: with children - by staging tales and family stories, like for example “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian

Photo: Krzysztof Bieliński

that we take the money from the city and squander it on our artistic dreams.

The grant from the city accounts for below 50% of our costs, and it is entirely spent on fixed expenses. We have to earn the rest by ourselves. And it may soon turn out that, with only one stage, we are not able to do so.

Yes, but the general opinion is that spending on culture generates costs rather than makes for a good investment. It is often neglected that culture is part of the economy, and the one that does not satisfy needs, but creates them. Why do so few people in Poland understand that?

I have recently come across the motto, authored by Andrzej Sapkowski, of the letter that the creators of Polish culture sent to the Prime Minister. It goes: “We can wear Chinese clothes, drive Czech cars, look at Japanese TV sets, cook in German pots Spanish tomatoes and Norwegian salmon. But we would rather have our own culture.” There is something extremely important in what you say. The first victim of financial cuts is intellectual output, and the latter is our strongest asset in foreign dealings. If something is innovative, it will most likely be the work of an artist.

When deciding that the United Kingdom should enter the Second World War, Winston Churchill said: “If we do not fight for culture, there is no point in waging this war.” It is so easy today to make a shameful decision as taking TV Theatre off the programme.

It is done so easily, and it will have devastating consequences. This is something that many people cannot understand. I am burning when talking about this. When I come to discuss it with the people on whom it depends, I know that their minds are somehow resistant to the whole area of culture.

And the smallest indivisible unit of time in culture is 3 years. Not a financial year, not an election calendar - a minimum of 3 years!

Theatre – an invitation to a discussion Wojciech Malajkat, an outstanding Polish actor, director of Warsaw’s Syrena theatre, talks to Maciej Proliński.

We are meeting at a time of conflict between the local theatre directors and the local authorities. The reason for tensions are declining subsidies and a poorly evaluated amendment to the Act on Organizing and Running Cultural Activity. “I accuse Polish authorities of the lack of commitment to Polish theatre,” grumbles Krystian Lupa. What is the situation like in your theatre?

We are a city theatre under the tutelage of the Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. There are quite a lot of such theatres. It means that support funds are divided among various theatres. It also means that this is done according to a certain ratio. The crisis, which has become a buzzword these days, is caused by there being not enough money for Polish theater.

I have to reset my dreams and artistic ambitions all the time, which means abandoning some of my plans. It may be that one day we will no longer be able to run the theatre with what we get from the city. And I do not mean

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Culture

Andersen; with young people (“Life Coach” by Nick Reed); with people from the middle class (“Spider Web” by Agatha Christie or “Rumor” by Francis Veber). There is only one condition, namely to keep up the highest professional and artistic level. It always must be art of the first water!

What new will spectators be able to see in the near future?

In mid-December last year, we celebrated the 65th anniversary of the theatre by staging a premiere of the musical comedy “Hallo Szpicbródka”, the great Polish movie from before more than 30 years. Our theatrical version – paying the tribute to the scenario by Ludwik Starski – was adapted to the requirements of today’s theater machine both in artistic and technical terms. It was directed by a real virtuoso of the musical theatre in Poland, Wojciech Kościelniak. The show enjoyed great popularity among the audience, while also receiving acclaim from critics. This year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest Polish song composers, Jerzy Wasowski. On this special occasion we are planning a premiere of “The Songbook of Mr W” with Justyna Steczkowska, Artur Andrus, the Chamber Choir of the Collegium Musicum of the University of Warsaw, and my humble person. It is going to be directed by Krzysztof Jaślar whose “Attempt on MoCarta” is one of the favourite performances of Syrena’s audience. After the summer holidays we want to try a Warsaw-oriented

title, but I cannot reveal details at the moment.

For several decades, you were, as an actor, strongly involved with the theatre of Jerzy Grzegorzewski. He passed away 8 years ago. Every year since then I have realized how great creator of the unique art of imagination he was. Perhaps his numerous performances are not so much different worlds, but different types of dreams about the same world. I did not understand them in the past, and I still do not fully understand them, but I miss them.

Yes... His long-lasting presence in my life caused that I am so terribly watchful about keeping a certain level. Art dies when the audience dictates rules, decides whether and when to you laugh. Also, when someone wants so much to “understand”, it kills all the huge sphere of sensations that makes art what it is. Artistic attempts should be like the Dunajec river, pushing its way through unspoiled nature, and not like a lazy stream that dries up immediately after the rain.

she would be at the age of 60. And you should not get yourself focused on that ability, because it is not achievable. I have reached now the point in which I can play anything whatsoever with great self-awareness. I have so much work outside Syrena that I choose only the most interesting proposals – interesting not only for the audience but also for myself.

But Polish cinema has not been gracious with you in recent years.

The last decade only brought a few roles...

I get few proposals. And if I do, they rarely interest me. Perhaps Polish cinema does not need me today. It certainly likes telling stories about criminals...

But I do not feel angry or something with our cinema... ::

You have recently turned 50. It is an interesting age for an actor. What turned out to be the most stable value in this profession for you?

This profession is about constantly looking for something, constantly observing the world and yourself. The older you are, the more observations you have. In this job you get matured like cheese or wine. Someone who is 23 years old cannot possibly be as he or 3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 99

Culture

The underwater sob A long-awaited opera by Paweł Szymański, one of the greatest contemporary Polish composers, will finally have its premiere at the Grand Theater National Opera. On April 20, 2013 “Qudsja Zaher” will be staged at the Warsaw opera. Directed by the famous Lithuanian artist Eimuntas Nekrošius, it will feature an outstanding Polish soprano singer, Olga Pasiecznik, for whom the part was written. With Wojciech Michniewski as the conductor, it promises to be an important event both musical and metaphysical...

Maciej Proliński “Caring for the Polish composers - from Stanisław Moniuszko to Paweł Mykietyn - is for me a natural duty of the Polish National Opera. It is a tribute to the accomplishments of our opera, which are not too impressive, but also to our contemporary musical, theater and choreographical creativity, which is also our duty,” admitted Waldemar Dąbrowski, Director General of National Opera in Warsaw, in a conversation with me a few years ago. It is good that, after nearly a decade of waiting, we finally have a chance to commune with an unusual, a relatively “young” work of the Polish composer who has been hailed as the discovery of recent years.

Paweł Szymański was born in 1954 in Warsaw. Szymański graduated with honours from the National Higher School of Music in Warsaw, where he studied composition with Włodzimierz Kotoński (1974-78) and Tadeusz Baird (1978). He collaborated with the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio, the Independent Studio of Electroacoustic Music and the Electronic Music Studio of the Cracow Academy of Music. His music is performed all over the world. Many works were commissioned by the European institutions and festivals and have been premiered by world-renowned artists. You can also hear his works in the Polish theater and cinema (suffice it to mention one of the most moving productions in recent years -”Saviour Square”, 2006,

by Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna KosKrauze).

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Szymanski’s work from the time of writing, in 1978, “Partita II” - an MA thesis closing the period of study with Włodzimierz Kotoński - is very uniform in style. Before, he was searching for new inspirations, and since composing “Partita II” he has been revolving around the circle of specific musical ideas. This area can be defined as the creation of some new context based on the elements of the tradition language. The baseline material of Szymański’s works has its roots in the past; for example, the composer often refers to the Baroque. Then, he converts the sound material and gives it a new structure.

Szymański’s original compositional style is perfectly recognizable to anyone who has ever experienced his music. Interestingly, it is also felt in the works of other contemporary Polish composers, such as in Paweł Mykietyn who devoted his MA thesis to Szymański. It is an extremely sophisticated music that obeys to strict technical discipline, while also astonishing with a variety of emotions and moods, ranging from sensory sounds to metaphysical meditation.

Poster for the “Qudsja Zaher” opera

“Qudsja Zaher” is an unusual, poetic tale about memory and death. Set under water, with the multilingual chorus whispers and the waves sound heard in the background, the story is a visual response to the original, oneiric libretto by Maciej J. Drygas, an outstanding Polish documentary films director, who has already worked with Szymański in such films as “Other People’s Letters” and “Hear Us All”. In such an underwater world, pierced through with an atonal sobbing of the dead, Qudsja, an Afghan who gave her life for a group of refugees, is waiting for the promise of eternity to come true. But before obtaining what yearned for, she will discover her fate in the history of a women from a Viking tribe a thousand years ago. Time deprives those who fall victims to atrocities of the history of their identity, changing them in the shadows, in a sobbing choir. And only music is capable of grieving for them... ::

Culure

The primary salon in Warsaw Enthusiasts of the Napoleonic era should visit the Copper-Roof Palace to admire the “Apartment of Prince Józef Poniatowski”, a permanent exhibition of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The place of residence of the last Polish king’s nephew used to be referred to as the primary salon in Warsaw. We recommend visiting it!

Maciej Proliński the Foundation of the Ciechanowiecki Family Collection, the Foundation of Teresa Sahakian, the National Museum in Warsaw and Wrocław, the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw, and the Łazienki Królewskie Museum. A valuable collection of drawings, paintings and documents from the period of the Duchy of Warsaw was offered

by Krystyna Zachwatowicz and Andrzej Wajda. Some souvenirs were also donated by Hubert Andrzej Willman.

The reconstructed house of Prince Józef Poniatowski consists of six rooms, situated around the central staircase on the first floor. These are: the Adjutant Room - a reference to the first period of the Prince’s military career in Poland, the Living Room - the reminder of the rich social life going on around the Prince, the Staff Chancellery - dedicated to the period of the Duchy of

Warsaw and the role of Napoleon in its creation, the Sleeping Room - faithfully reflecting its former function, War Chancellery - depicting Prince Józef as the minister of war. The last room the Prince’s Corridor - is a parlor from the end of the 19th century associated with the cult of the Prince. Its fittings including classical gilt furniture, English piano table from the late 18th century, the bust of Napoleon, a German mahogany bed from about 1815-1820, a Hungarian desk from around 1800, an English cabinet library, images by Jan Piotr Norblin, January Suchodolski and Marcell Bacciarelli - gained an original architectural setting thanks to a careful redecoration of walls, reconstruction of fireplaces, mirrors and the furnace. Adding charm to the interiors are stylishly made curtains and drapes. ::

Apartment of Prince Józef, Bedroom

Photos by P. Kubiak

Conducted in 2005-2008, the renovation of the Copper-Roof Palace, which adjusted the building for modern exhibition and educational requirements, did not cover the reconstruction and restoration of some facilities making part of the building and important for its use. The Royal Library was opened in a new arrangement in June 2010, and the Apartment of Jacek Ogrodzki, Grand Secretary of the Crown and the head of the King Stanisław August’s chancelarry, was turned into a meeting and catering point - the CopperRoof Club - in August 2010.

The restoration of the royal nephew’s apartment, with whom the Copper-Roof Palace is primarily associated, not only closed the building’s renovation, but also ended the long-lasting recovery process of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The ceremonial opening of the new exhibition, attended by President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, shortly after Poland took over the EU Presidency, was a Royal Castle’s special contribution to the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the EU. Prince Józef Poniatowski (17631813), Polish general, minister of war and commander in chief of the Warsaw Duchy’s army received the Copper-Roof Palace from his uncle, King Stanisław August in December 1794, but it was only 4 years later that he moved in together with his sister, Maria Teresa Tyszkiewicz, and his French friend Henrietta de Vauban.

The house of the last Polish king’s nephew used to be called the primary salon in Warsaw. The original equipment of the Prince’s apartment being sold after his death at auctions all over Europe, the basis for its current design were the works of art characteristic for the era and collected at the Royal Castle in Warsaw for many years. They were purchased, donated or lent by

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Events

CeBIT Hannover – “Poland TalentIT People” ”Poland TalentIT People” is the motto under which achievements of the Polish IT industry have been presented for the first time on such a large scale in the international arena. During CeBIT 2013 in Hannover, the IT industry’s leading trade fair, whose Poland was the partner country this year, 183 Polish companies showcased their services and latest technological solutions on an area of 3000 sq. m. Co-organizers of the event were the Ministry of Economy and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP). The keynote theme of the fair was shareconomy, an increasingly popular trend in the business world that means common usage of intellectual resources and the real-time sharing of infrastructure and services as provided for under the so-called “prosumer” model, one of its main tools being the cloud computing technology.

Agnieszka Turakiewicz, Berlin The exhibition was opened jointly

by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The latter was accompanied by the Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński, the Minister of Administration and Digitization Michał Boni, the Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka and Ambassador Jerzy Margański.

Polish universities, under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, presented a rich offer. The interdisciplinary team from the Gdańsk University of Technology presented a project titled “Home assistance for the elderly and disabled”, processing data collected by various sensors that monitor the patient’s vital signs (pulse, respiration) and household appliances (water temperature in the bath) in order to ensure safe existence in the home environment; if necessary, the system can also call the emergency services. The Institute of Marine Technology under the Maritime University of Szczecin presented Navdec –Navigational decision support system for sea-going ships. It is innovative because it provides for the possibility of calculating a no-collision

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course not only according to the parameters recorded by the navigation tools, but also using data entered by the user. However, the audience was the most enthusiastic about FLASH - Flexible LIREC Autonomous Social Helper, a robot created by the scientists from the Wroclaw University of Technology, which not only communicates with the environment both verbally and non-verbally, but also can express emotions through facial expressions and gestures. Thanks to its prehensile hands it may prove, in the future, to be of great assistance in rehabilitation involving performing repetitive movements.

BOSSG Data Security, a company based in Wrocław, presented a revolutionary technology of digital data effective erasing. In the case of the traditional methods used to delete data - software, mechanical or magnetic there is still a good chance of recovering deleted files, even if only a portion has been preserved of software on which the data was saved. The solution applied by BOSSG Data System waives all risk of data recovery thanks to the destruction of platters, i.e. data carriers, by dissolving them

in chemical reactors. The liquid being the product of the process is fully organic. The company has a mobile laboratory in which up to 500 drives per day can be disposed of.

Comprehensive software solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises were presented by Petra, a company from Zielona Góra, providing accounting and CRM software for businesses.

Owing to an innovative combination of cloud computing with desktop applications the system enables users to work freely regardless of having access to Internet and guarantees the security of data. The company directs its services to SMEs for which similar solutions devises by global giants remain unavailable. At the same time, it offers the possibility to adjust software to the client’s individual needs. The company also develops Internet and mobile applications based on the client’s existing software.

Also, specialized equipment producers demonstrated that Polish solutions are in line with the times, and often more interesting, as exemplified by the three-dimensional universal scanner with a single mobile scanning head, devised by TopShow3D, a company from Wrocław. The device showcased at the exhibition was fitted with wide-angle lenses. It is a ground-breaking solution that enjoys great popularity in the domestic market as well as abroad – the company already has permanent representatives in Germany, Russia, Latvia, and in North America.

CeBIT could not be missed by VIGO System, the world leader in photonics.

Infrared sensors produced by the company based in Ożarów Mazowiecki are used in research, medicine, industry and military technology worldwide.

VIGO System’s devices make part of the equipment of the rover Curiosity, which is currently exploring the surface of Mars.

Creators of the website www. ktotomowi.pl, run in collaboration

Events

between Polish and German entrepreneurs. The aim of these meetings will be to assist Polish IT companies that wish to establish or strengthen cooperation with German partners.

They will be organized by the Ministry of Economy and the Department of Trade and Investment Promotion of the Polish Embassy in Berlin. The initiative will be supported by BITKOM, an association of German IT companies.

The significance of this year’s CeBIT for the Polish IT industry has been best summarized by the President of

PETRA, a company from Zielona Góra, Dariusz Żurek: “Thanks to the participation in the fair we were able to make a number of promising contacts. It added to our conviction that our product meets the needs of the market and we know which way to go further. At the fair you have to be active, make contacts, it always pays off. It is possible that we will soon establish long-term cooperation with a German company. It is undeniably the fruit of our presence at CeBIT.” ::

Polish Ministry of Economy pavilion opening Polish exhibition

Robot FLASH created by the scientists from the Wrocław University of Technology holding “Polish Market” Special Edition for CeBIT 2013

Photos: AAT

with the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Kajetany and addressed to parents of hearing impaired children, discussed how technology can be of help in rehabilitation of the disabled. Thanks to a rich library of sounds and animations, the website allows to pursue a therapy through games at home. The aim of the program is to learn to recognize and interpret sounds, while avoiding logistical problems such as commuting, difficulty in accessing the materials for home exercises or costs of hiring a therapist. As children do the exercises at home, they are not subject to pressure from their peers, which in turn guarantees the enjoyment of learning and gradual progress. The platform is being tested among preschool-aged children.

A separate sector of the fair was devoted to games. In Polish pavilion 200 workstations and tablets were set up for the visitors to try out the greatest hits of a kind of “Juare Call” by the Wrocław’s Techland, as well as items offered by the market’s emerging players. This part of Polish exhibition was led by Lower Silesia, which has steadily strengthened its position as the national leader in games and entertainment. Members of the Robotics Student Interest Group KoNaR from the Wrocław University of Technology, which organizes Poland’s largest robot competition, presented the machines they constructed. Even the Marshal of Lower Silesia Rafał Jurkowlaniec and the Governor Aleksander Skorupa, who participated during CeBIT in the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the partnership between Lower Silesia, Wielkopolska and Lower Saxony, could not help trying their hand at games.

During five days the exhibition halls were visited by more than 285,000 people from 120 countries, including more than 84% of IT professionals. “Poland has set the bar very high for future partners of the event,” said Frank Pörschmann, member the Board of Deutsche Messe AG, at the official closing of CeBIT. “Thanks to its well-prepared presentations Poland proved that it ranks high among the leaders in new technologies,” he concluded.

The first visible result of CeBIT is the decision to hold in the coming months bilateral working meetings

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Gazeta Bankowa Sprawdź nowe interaktywne wydanie Gazety Bankowej na tablecie Interaktywne możliwości na wyciągnięcie ręki, infografiki, wykresy Multimedialne dodatki, filmy animacje, galerie zdjęć Innowacyjne rozwiązania, aktywne linki odsyłające do wartych uwagi treści Przyjemny, szybki i ciekawy odbiór wiadomości

na Twoim tablecie!

Trafne spojrzenie, inspirujÄ…ce komentarze

Food industry

Organic food reveals new horizons The sign of organic farming is a sign of high quality food. Organic food has many advantages: it is produced in accordance with nature, with respect for plants and animals and without chemical additives. Eating organic food brings us closer to nature, raises our consumer awareness and gives a broader view on food production. It is worth to stop for a moment in a daily rush to give some thought to the problems of today’s food market, because what we eat no doubt affects our health and well-being.

Maciej Bartoń The Polish market is flooded by cheap food from around the world. The pursuit of profit and the development of industrial agriculture might cause ecological destruction. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that food products traverse an average of 4000 km to reach the consumer. Research conducted in Germany by Stephanie Böge, PhD, showed that one cup of yogurt contains ingredients derived from 4 countries, which had gone a thousand kilometres overall. When produced food is subject to enormous processing. Refined products such as white flour, rice or sugar lose most of their valuable nutrients because of processing. Many products lose their original flavour and colour, something that producers try to compensate by adding functional additives that help improve the organoleptic properties. In the case of products or semi-finished products imported from remote parts of the world, such as Asia, South America or Africa, these distances extend to tens of thousands of kilometres. The number of food kilometers – the distance that your food travels from the producer to your table – is steadily increasing. This opens way for abuses, as it is difficult to identify the product and to reach the manufacturer.

The locavore is someone who eats local food produced within a radius of about 100 km (or 100 miles) from their place of residence. The term was first used by Jessica Prentice during the World Environment Day in 2005 in San Francisco. In Britain, which has long been campaigning for environmental awareness, local food covers products manufactured no more than 30 miles (48 km) from the place of purchase. The term has been increasingly encountered in other countries, including Poland. When buying locally not only do we protect environment, but we also

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support our region. Therefore, it is worth buying products from local farmers that sell their products at organic food markets. Local products are often best eaten fresh, with no need to use packages and treatments prolonging their usable life.

In addition, it is advisable to eat organic fruit and vegetables.

When talking about local shopping we should mention traditional and regional food. Traditional food includes different categories distinctive for their attributes due to specific nutritive properties, the processing method and the place of origin.

This type of food is often awarded organic farming certificates in acknowledgement of fair production based on traditional recipes, without chemical additives.

Products such as coffee, cocoa or tea can rarely be bought locally. Then, it is worth choosing organic products, which are sometimes marked with the Fairtrade logo. The purpose of the Fairtrade movement is to increase opportunities for small farmers and workers who are the most marginalized groups in the global trading system. Another asset of the Fairtrade system is that it offers producers the so-called Fairtrade premium, a sum of money paid on top of the agreed Fairtrade price. The premium fund is typically invested in education and healthcare, farm improvements to increase yield and quality, or processing facilities to increase income. The Fairtrade certification mark is a development tool for farmers

in developing countries, as it guarantees them good prices and favourable contracts for their products. By using the Fairtrade system you can be sure that people who worked to manufacture the products you buy were treated and paid fairly. Many Fairtrade products are produced as part of the organic farming system.

Another interesting initiative is Slow Food, a social movement that arose as an alternative to fast food, having much in common with the philosophy of organic production. The Slow Food movement promotes food produced from natural ingredients with no artificial additives, often according to traditional and regional recipes. Slow food is meant to be eaten slowly, without haste, savouring the taste, one of the keywords being “the right to taste”.

The number of organic food shops is increasing steadily. In 2012, there were 500 stores featuring the Bio or Eko sign in Poland, which means that there are an average of 8 stores per 1 million inhabitants.

By comparison, in Germany the figure is 194, and in the Czech Republic – 46. An organic food store is for many as a kind of a pharmacy. More and more people struggle with food allergies, for example: allergies to preservatives, lactose and gluten intolerance and diabetes. People are forced to change their diets by introducing to them new products so as to avoid health problems. Such products can be found in organic food stores.

Today, there is more and more talk of the problems involved in ensuring food safety. The desire to make profit at any cost prevails over the moral and ethical side of food production. No wonder that consumers are looking for genuine, honest and healthy food, which is undoubtedly organic food. It is worth visiting organic food fairs. BioFach, the world’s largest trade fair for organic food and agriculture, was held on February 13-16 in Nuremberg.

This year, BioFach will also move to Baltimore, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Bangalore to promote all over the world the idea of organic food. ::

Polska Ekologia Association 00-246 Warsaw 14 Miodowa Street www.polskaekologia.org E-mail: info@polskaekologia.org

Food Indystry

Why horsemeat?

Horsemeat has been generally considered a niche product, stuck in the same rarely-consumed meat group as lamb and venison.

Horsemeat contains a lot of nutritious proteins, vitamins and minerals, as it comes from naturally-fed animals.

As compared to other meat types, it has the lowest amount of fats (only 2.6%, approximately 120 kcal/100 g of meat), including especially saturated fats, which may be harmful when eaten excessively, causing arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, over-excitation, aggression, to name but a few. Due to its low fat content, combined with a high content of well-digestible proteins (a quarter more than in pork), horsemeat is highly recommended for children, overweight people, diabetics and postcarcinoma patients.

:: I ron – horsemeat contains the highest amount of iron among all meat types – nearly four times more than pork and over twice as much as beef. Being an oxygen carrier, iron is extremely important to the proper functioning of the entire human body. It is crucial to increasing immunity, preventing fatigue and fighting down viral and bacterial infections. Its deficiency may lead to anaemia. :: C alcium – horsemeat has a high calcium content of approximately 15.0 mg (compared to 7.0 mg in pork and 9.0 mg in beef). Calcium exerts a specially-favourable

impact on the skeletal system, which makes it highly recommended, particularly for children.

Kynologists also recommend it for puppies. :: Zinc – horsemeat is rich in zinc, which contributes to a healthy look for human skin, hair and nails. :: Vitamin B12 – this vitamin is referred to as meat vitamin, as it is rarely found in plants and even then it is not nearly as well digested as from horsemeat. It is an important nutrient, exerting a positive impact on the nervous system, memory and brain.

Polish horsemeat is obtained from animals least affected by industrial interference. This makes it a high-quality product with a unique taste, which is increasingly popular in Polish homes and restaurants. :: ADVERTISEMENT

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3-4 /2013 :: polish market :: 107 Raw Mexican Sausage

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Events

Russia with a record number of exhibitors at Hannover Messe The biggest Russian participation in an industrial fair than ever before.

Partner Country agreement signed on 21 February in Moscow

Hannover/Moscow. As the Partner Country at Hannover Messe 2013, the Russian Federation will focus on energy, industrial automation and new materials. In addition to an extensive array of products and technology at the central Russian stand in Hall 26, the Partner Country will benefit from the broad range of keynote topics featured at Hannover Messe and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase the strengths of Russia as a business location and as the world’s sixth biggest economy. More than 100 Russian companies will be occupying a total display area of 4,500 square metres at Hannover Messe 2013. The list of participants includes such big players as Gazprom, Rosnano, Russian Railway, Rosneft, Transnest, UralVagonZavod, Rao Ues of Russia, Vnesheconombank, TMKGroup and Metalloinvest. This line-up represents the biggest-ever contingent of exhibitors from the Russian Federation at Hannover Messe. Never before have so many Russian companies taken part in an industrial show outside their own country.

Oliver Frese, Senior Vice-President at Hannover Messe, who signed the Partner Country agreement in Moscow on behalf of Deutsche Messe AG, said: “We are especially pleased to welcome leading companies and high-calibre trade visitors from Russia to our trade show in Hannover.

Hannover Messe will play a significant role in further intensifying economic relations between Germany and Russia.”

Prof. Rainer Lindner, Director of German Industry’s Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, points out: “Bilateral trade between

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Germany and Russia reached a new level in 2012, when it generated record sales of over EUR 80 billion. Russia’s recent admission to the WTO will further boost this trade and open up new business opportunities, especially for SMEs with pronounced capabilities in technology, so now is the ideal time and Russia the ideal Partner Country for Hannover Messe 2013.”

The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations has promoted business between Germany and Russia for the past sixty years and is responsible for the organization of the German-Russian Business Summit on 8 April at Hannover Messe.

It is expected that Russian exhibitors will be represented in every keynote display category at Hannover Messe.

For example, the Russian Ministry for Energy will showcase a diverse array of technology on a display area of approx. 1,000 square metres in Hall 13 at the flagship trade show Energy. The Russian display will focus on energy generation and distribution as well as the modernization of the power supply network.

The Russian Ministry for Education and Science will also be represented with a group stand at the leading trade fair Research and Technology in Hall 2. Furthermore, this display will spotlight cooperation projects in the field of industrial research. The city/ region of Moscow and St. Petersburg will be participating in Metropolitan Solutions, a new event located in Hall 1. Applications and solutions for metropolitan areas – the so-called megacities – have been featured at Hannover Messe before, however for the first time the trade show – specifically dedicated to technological

PARTNER COUNTRY 2013

solutions and forward-looking concepts developed by industry for the cities of the future – is taking place in its own right.

The organizers expect Russian cities and regions such as Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk, Kaluga, Kirov, Tomsk and Tatarstan to be represented with delegations of exhibitors or joint displays. Finally, there will be a strong Russian presence in forums and various high-calibre conferences involving 200 key speakers from politics and business. The major topics will focus on opportunities for investment in Russia, energy efficiency and co-operative ventures in the areas of research, development and production. Russia’s Ministry for Research and Development has also planned a series of informative events during the trade fair. ::

About Hannover Messe (the Hannover Fair) The world’s leading showcase for industrial technology is staged annually in Hannover, Germany. The next Hannover Messe will be held from 8 to 12 April 2013 and feature Russia as its official Partner Country. Hannover Messe 2013 will comprise 11 flagship fairs: Industrial Automation – Motion, Drive & Automation (MDA) – Energy – Wind – MobiliTec – Digital Factory – ComVac – Industrial Supply – IndustrialGreenTec – Surface Technology – Research & Technology.

The upcoming event will place a strong emphasis on industrial automation and IT, energy and environmental technologies, power transmission and control, industrial subcontracting, manufacturing technologies, services and R&D. ::

OF THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF HEARING