Polish Market No.5 (272)/2018

PU B LISHED SIncE 199 6 No. 5 (272) /2018 :: www.polishmarket.com.pl

Impact ’18 In KraKow - Industry 4.0 - ElEctromobIlIty - FInancE ...............................

polIsh chemIstry congress In wIelIczKa ...............................

Be smart, Be electrIc – zero-emIssIon transport conference In warsaw ...............................

poland’s Independence centenary year

We became interested in

electromobility before it became the talk of the town”

Jan KuźmińsKi

President of Miejskie Zakłady autobusowe (MZa)

2018

POLSKA FEDERACJA NORDIC WALKING

ONTENT

6. From The President’s Press Office 7. From The Government Information Centre POLAND’S INDEPENDENCE CENTENARY YEAR

8. THE MEETING POINT OF TRADITION AND THE NEW 11. INTELLECT AND AESTHETICS OUR GUEST

12. JADWIGA EMILEWICZ, Minister of Entrepreneurship and

Technology: INDUSTRY OF THE FUTURE

14. JERZY KWIECIŃSKI, Minister of Investment and Economic Development: GRAND PROJECTS AHEAD

16. PIOTR DARDZIŃSKI, Deputy Minister of Science and

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY 29. DACHSER FOR REMBRANDTIN: COLOURS RUNNING THROUGH EUROPE

30. TOMASZ ZIELIŃSKI, PhD, President of the Board,

the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry: THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IS THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLEX SECTOR

32. LOTOS, THE LEADER IN POLISH SPORTS SPONSORSHIP

FINANCE 35. MARCIN HABER: POLISH BANKS RANK FOURTH IN DIGITAL MATURITY

36. PROF. MAŁGORZATA ZALESKA, Director of the

Institute of Banking Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), President of the Committee on Financial Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences: BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY WILL REVOLUTIONISE THE WORLD

38. ANDRZEJ MACIĄŻEK, Vice-President of the

Higher Education: A VAST POTENTIAL TO CHANGE REALITY

Management Board of Polish Insurance Association (PIU): NOT ALL AREAS OF PRIVATE LIFE ARE SUFFICIENTLY PROTECTED

ELECTROMOBILITY 18. MACIEJ CHOROWSKI, Director of the National Centre

RAFAŁ STANKIEWICZ, Vice-President of the Board, Warta: THE CLIENT EXPECTS PRACTICAL INNOVATION

for Research and Development: HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF R&D?

20. AGATA GlERCZAK, expert, Ministry of

39.

40. JANUSZ TURAKIEWICZ: POLAND RATIFIES MLI CONVENTION

42.

Entrepreneurship and Technology: DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS – THE TREND THAT CANNOT BE MISSED OUT

JAN CZEREMCHA, Vice-President of Raiffeisen Polbank: WE SIMPLY HELP FIRMS DEVELOP THEIR BUSINESS

22.

44. THE 7TH GRAND GALA OF BANKING AND

24.

45. MICHAŁ KALATA, legal expert: THE BRIGHT

26. WE SUPPORT INNOVATIONS. AN ELECTRO-MOBILITY

46. IS IT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OR CULTURE? 47. MACIEJ PROLIŃSKI: POLAND CONTINUES TO

JAN KUŹMIŃSKI, President of MZA: CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGIES FOR WARSAW PUBLIC TRANSPORT

PRZEMYSŁAW GORGOL, Acting Director, Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP): THE PREVIOUS PERSPECTIVE HAS MADE US CAUTIOUS CONFERENCE

27. SMART BUILDING CONSTRUCTION OF THE FUTURE

INSURANCE LEADERS

SIDE OF GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION

ATTRACT INVESTMENT

PERŁY POLSKIEJ GOSPODARKI

Prestiżowy ranking polskich przedsiębiorstw

100 YEARS

OF INDEPENDENCE WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO A GALA CONCERT MARKING THE CENTENARY OF THE REGAINING OF INDEPENDENCE BY POLAND, ON NOVEMBER 16, 2018 AT THE ROYAL CASTLE IN WARSAW, WHICH WILL BE COMBINED WITH THE 1666 PEARLS OF THE POLISH ECONOMY AND 1333 HONORARY PEARLS AWARD CEREMONY.

THE ROYAL CASTLE IN WARSAW, NOVEMBER 16, 2018

MEDICINE

EVENTS

49.

PROF. ANDRZEJ KAWECKI, Deputy Director for Clinical Affairs Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Head of the Head and Neck Cancer Department: NEW STANDARDS IN THE TREATMENT OF HEAD AND NECK CANCERS

50. PROF. LESZEK PACHOLSKI: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE IS HUMANITY’S ADVANTAGE 51. PHARMA INDUSTRY’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE INNOVATIVE ECONOMY 52. STREAMLINING THE HEALTH SERVICE CULTURE 54. CULTURAL MONITOR 56. JERZY KĘDZIORA, sculptor: BALANCING AGAINST THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

58. THE 10TH EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CONGRESS 60.

GET INDIA APRIL 2018 A BUSINESS-MEET FOR POLISH BUSINESSES WANTING TO EXPAND IN INDIA

61.“GOLDEN ENGINEERS” FOOD INDUSTRY

62. FAIR TRADE EMPATHY OR SNOBBERY? 63. BLACK IS BACK AS ECO4ME THE EARTH APPLE IS ON THE RISE 65. ECONOMIC MONITOR

Cover: JAN KUŹMIŃSKI, PRESIDENT OF MZA, Photo: RAFAŁ NOWAK Photos on issue: www.shutterstock.com

5(272)/2018 Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza RYNEK POLSKI Sp. z o.o.

(RYNEK POLSKI Publishers Co. Ltd.) President: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek Vice - Presidents: Błażej Grabowski, Grażyna Jaskuła Address: ul. Elektoralna 13, 00-137 Warszawa, Poland Phone (+48 22) 620 31 42, 652 95 77 Fax (+48 22) 620 31 37 E-mail: info@polishmarket.com.pl

Writers/Editors: Maciej Proliński, Jan Sosna, Janusz Korzeń, Jerzy Bojanowicz, Andrzej Kazimierski, Janusz Turakiewicz Translation: Sylwia Wesołowska-Betkier, Agit, Rafał Kiepuszewski Contributors: Agnieszka Turakiewicz Graphic design: Godai Studio Agnieszka Charuba, Joanna Wiktoria Grabowska

Editor-in-Chief: Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek

Sales: Phone (+48 22) 620 38 34, 654 95 77

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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. Unso-licited material will not be returned. The editors reserve the right to edit the material for length and content. The editors accept no responsibility what-soever for the content of advertising material.

Reproduction of any material from this magazine requires prior written permission from the Publisher.

Editorial

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

WHEN LAMARCUS ADNA THOMSON BUILT A MECHANICAL STRUCTURE COMPOSED MAINLY OF HIGH RISES, STEEP DROPS, TIGHT TURNS AND INVERSIONS IN A CONEY ISLAND AMUSEMENT PARK IN NEW YORK IN 1884 ONE COULD HARDLY SUSPECT THAT IN THE 21ST CENTURY HIS ROLLERCOASTER WILL BECOME A MODEL FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. Well, it seems to be nothing new. “Fortune is fickle,” as Stoic philosopher Zeno used to say. Every stock market player knows that a bull run is inevitably followed by a bear run. The only question is “when”. Even the most expert players have recently been surprised by the response to the fresh results published by the biggest companies. More than three fourths of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock market index performed better than projected, recording an increase in profits of around 18%. Despite that, the S&P 500 did not skyrocket and generally stayed at its lower level.

What is more, a substantial proportion of the players decided it was a good moment to sell the assets, despite of them being so strong. This apparently means that good news no longer triggers a wave of optimism.

The disappointment would have been less profound perhaps if it had not been for the excessive expectations still voiced at the beginning of the year. The year 2017 was the best one for the global economy, especially Europe, in several years and in January there were many indications that 2018 would be equally good or even better. Today, the conviction that this year will be weaker than the previous one prevails. Britain’s GDP is growing at the slowest rate in several years. Likewise, GDP data from France are much below expectations. Economic growth is weakening in Belgium and Austria. Poor news has come from Germany: its strong business sentiment has evaporated in the wake of five months of drops and the German government has revised downwards its official GDP growth forecast for 2018. All this means that a slowdown in the eurozone is practically inevitable. There is only no agreement whether it will be temporary or will last for longer. The first reaction of economists commenting on the poorer results was to put the blame on a frosty winter, which had constrained economic activity in February and March. But data released in Paris show that the slower growth rate is largely a consequence of weak foreign trade. This suggests that the eurozone is being slowed down by the euro, which has been excessively strong recently. The pound has slid further down and the surprise in London was even more unpleasant than in Paris. Remarks by the German economy minister also show that the problem is foreign trade and Germany would prefer to avoid the escalation of trade wars and protectionism, a policy the United States has recently tried to apply.

But do not believe that the recently seen wave of optimism has been replaced with a wave of global despair. Thomas Jordan, chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss central bank, said there was no need to do anything about Switzerland’s monetary policy and that the Swiss franc was still playing the role of a “safe haven.” Bulgaria is even more optimistic about the future. In the first half of the year, it wants to enter the ERM II exchange rate mechanism, one of the last steps before the adoption of the euro. The European Commission advises Bulgaria to exercise caution, although the country meets the Maastricht criteria: it has a budget surplus, low debt, and its interest rates and inflation have remained stable for quite a long time.

However, it is Poland that seems to be emerging as a real island of optimism. And there is a good reason. In March, the average gross monthly wage in the Polish business sector was 6.7% higher than a year earlier. The increase was in keeping with what had been expected and virtually the same as in previous months. Also, Polish businesses are constantly raising employment. In March, the number of people employed by firms providing employment to more than nine persons was 3.7% higher than a year earlier. As a growing number of people are earning more and more, consumption should also continue to grow in Poland in coming months and at a quite fast pace. For example, 51,669 passenger cars rolled off Polish showroom floors in March. It was the best result in the 21st century and in stark contrast with car sales elsewhere in the European Union. Therefore, one should not expect an economic slowdown in Poland and this is what foreign partners have increasingly realised. In March, the Polish Ministry of Finance sold new bonds at an auction in the United States, promising investors lower yields than the ones offered by the US government on Fed bonds.

In this situation, the World Bank’s report “The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018” has not stirred up much emotion in us. The report tracks the wealth of 141 countries between 1995 and 2014. Poland’s per-capita wealth is estimated at almost USD155,000 at the 2014 exchange rate. The richest countries are Norway, Qatar, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Kuwait, Australia, Canada and the United States. Poland is in 27th place in the Europe and Central Asia region, which indicates that we are already quite a wealthy nation.

5/2018 polish market

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President

PRESIDENT DUDA HOLDS TALKS WITH CHICAGO MAYOR AND ILLINOIS GOVERNOR Economic relations, including the establishment of an office of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) in Chicago, was among the subjects of the talks Polish President Andrzej Duda held on May 18, the third day of his visit to the United States, with Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and Governor of Illinois Bruce Raumer.

The officials also discussed the situation of the local Polish diaspora.

"We spoke primarily about economic relations, because this element was the most important to me," the president told an evening press conference. "Both the governor and the mayor asked me when PAIH could be expected to launch an office in Chicago." He said he had assured the two American politicians that talks on that subject had already been conducted with PAIH. "I hope that within this year a PAIH office will be opened

in Chicago," Andrzej Duda declared, adding that he was very happy to have been asked about it.

"That question asked here, in Chicago, which is one of the most dynamically developing cities in the United States, in the state of Illinois, which is also one of the richest and most dynamically developing states in the USA, pleased me for obvious reasons," the president stated. "There is a powerful research and development scene here, there are many companies here specialising in high-technology production, and we would also like to have our companies developing it that direction," he explained.

The Polish president went on to express the hope that the presence of PAIH in Chicago "on the one hand will help our entrepreneurs, and one the other will be an incentive for American businesspeople to invest in Poland."

The president stressed the importance of the Polish diaspora in Illinois. "Poles have lived in Chicago almost since the beginning of the city's existence," Andrzej Duda pointed out. "Poles are present here, Polish society is developing here, our countrymen from the whole of Poland come here," he observed.

On the same day President Duda laid flowers at the Katyń Monument at the St. Adalbert cemetery in Niles near Chicago. The monument commemorates the 22,000 Polish POWs mass-executed by the Soviets in April and May 1940 in west Russia's Katyń Forest.

Photos: president.pl

STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND AT A HIGH-LEVEL DEBATE OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL In his address to the United Nations Security Council on May 17, President Andrzej Duda said: "The United Nations has a rich history of envoys and mediators. For decades, they have been sent to hot spots all over the world in order to assist both sides with their expertise and experience.

Their aim was to prevent violations of international law or to stop such violations. In this regard, we remember the late UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, who gave his life to safeguard international order.

It is worth underlining some recent 'success stories' of mediations, in particular, in West African States. For example, Gambia where ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) intervened effectively during a political crisis in 2017.

Furthermore, we cannot forget that peaceful settlements of disputes also happen outside of the scope of the United Nations and regional

6 polish market

organizations. They take place with the involvement of recognized moral authorities. I would like to mention at this point the special role of the Pope and Vatican diplomacy in the process of normalization of international relations and peaceful settlement of many world crises.

Currently, the importance of solving conflicts by diplomatic means is visible in the ongoing efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Poland has been involved in the region for over 60 years, including through participation in the works of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea. We have always stressed that the channels of communication should be kept open, and this is something I personally repeated during my visit to Panmunjom earlier this year. We are fully supportive of the new high-level diplomatic initiatives aimed at reestablishing peace on the Peninsula.

We cannot also forget about one the longest conflicts in the world – the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Poland, as a country having close and good relations both with the Israeli and Palestinian people, has always strongly supported all initiatives aimed at stabilization and strengthening peace and security in the Middle East. Only return to meaningful bilateral negotiations, based on the relevant United Nations resolutions and international law, might bring about a peaceful settlement of this dispute. That is the only path towards a two-state solution and resolving all final-status issues. Today, more than ever we need peace in the Holy Land, which is sacred to all major monotheistic religions. If you want to achieve peace, terrorism and violence is never an answer."

Prime Minister

“The summit in Sofia was very successful for Poland, although the discussed matters were very difficult,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after the meeting of leaders from EU Member States and Western Balkans held in the capital of Bulgaria on May 17.

“One of the topics discussed during the EU summit in Sofia was the accession of Western Balkan states to the European Union in the context of migration and potential destabilisation in the region,” said Mateusz Morawiecki. “If the European Union is not present in that region, other superpowers, such as Russia and China, will be”, he added. “Turkey, too, is certainly interested in that area”, the PM noted.

The Prime Minister said that the Western Balkans could contribute to the pursuit of the EU’s joint interests, such as the protection of the Community’s outer borders. “Just like Poland defends the EU’s external borders by properly controlling the flow of migrants and refugees, we would like the south of Europe to be protected as well”, the PM emphasised.

Mateusz Morawiecki added that during the Visegrád Group meeting on May 17 all heads of government had shown unanimous agreement on the issues of migration and refugees.

The Head of the Polish Government argued that by following its policy of providing onsite assistance to refugees, Poland had contributed to their reduced inflow into the EU. “We are taking part in major programmes, associated, for example, with the European Investment Bank, and the Resilience Initiative in the Middle East and North Africa, and the influx of refugees is decreasing”, said Mr Morawiecki.

PM MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI: POLAND AND HUNGARY SHARE A SIMILAR VIEW ON THE FUTURE EU BUDGET “Our positions are very close, as we’re learning new things about the budget proposed under multi-annual financial frameworks,” said PM Mateusz Morawiecki during a press conference organised after his meeting with Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán in Warsaw on May 14.

“We addressed matters connected with multi-annual financial frameworks in view of the upcoming, or actually ongoing, budget negotiations in the European Union. Our positions on the future EU budget are very similar. When it comes to the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, we fully agree,” said the Head of the Polish Government.

The PMs also talked about the development of the common market and migration policy. “Poland and Hungary have clear views on migration and refugee policy. We agreed further steps to be taken in relation to these issues,” said PM Mateusz Morawiecki. “By imposing migrant quotas, the EU infringes on Member States’ fundamental right to sovereignty”, he emphasised.

The talks also covered issues concerning external relationships and security policy in the context of the European Union's eastern policy.

PRIME MINISTER ON THE US WITHDRAWAL FROM THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL During his visit to Sofia on May 17 Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pointed out the risks associated with Iran’s ballistic-missile development programme. The PM believes the programme continues to be a great unknown.

“The unilateral withdrawal from the deal by the United States is something which needs to be consistently addressed at the EU level”, he added.

The PM said that the EU and the USA should jointly work out a new deal with Iran. “Since the USA has pulled out from the deal, while some other countries continue to respect it, we should try to work out a new arrangement,” said Mr Morawiecki.

POLISH PM MEETS THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

PM Mateusz Morawiecki and President Miloš Zeman met in Warsaw on May 10 to talk about current bilateral and regional issues, as well as topics related to security and cooperation within NATO. Both parties emphasised the importance of intensive bilateral cooperation, with special focus on matters associated with the economy and infrastructural projects. They discussed regional cooperation, including within the Visegrád Group. They acknowledged the need for the Group’s Member States to jointly advance their international interests. Important parts of the discussion were security and cooperation between Poland and the Czech Republic within NATO. President Miloš Zeman was in Poland on an official three-day visit. It was his second international trip since his induction into office, which took place on 8 March.

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Photos: premier.gov.pl

PM MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI IN SOFIA: WE WANT JOINT EFFORTS IN THE EU

7

THE MEETING POINT OF TRADITION AND THE NEW

Tomasz Stańko at ZaiKS Gala Photo: Kinga Karpati & Daniel Zarewicz

Copyright protection is now taken for granted. But it was not always like that. The concept first emerged in the late 19th century. In Poland, the groundwork for it was laid at the initiative of a group of writers, musicians and performers who set up the Polish Society of Authors and Composers (ZAiKS) at a meeting at the Udziałowa café in Warsaw on March 18, 1918. Among them were poets Jan Brzechwa, Antoni Słonimski and Julian Tuwim. Thanks to ZAiKS members, independent Poland’s first copyright law was adopted in 1926 as one of Europe’s first such pieces of legislation. It became a milestone in Polish copyright protection. ZAiKS survived all the upheavals of 20th century Polish history, including WWII, communism and martial law imposed by the communist regime in 1981.

Cultural life came to a standstill at the time and authors were unable to fully benefit from the fruit of their creative powers. On the centenary of Poland’s regaining of independence, ZAiKS also marks its one hundredth birthday.

An honorary patronage over ceremonies marking the anniversary has been assumed by President Andrzej Duda.

T

he Polish Society of Authors and Composers ZAiKS operated under the name Polish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers since 1946. As of 1994 it is known as the Polish Society of Authors ZAiKS. It is one of the world’s first organisations of its kind, dealing with the protection of its members’ copyright.

ZAiKS members represent key professional groups vital for the development of Polish culture: songwriters, composers,

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Maciej Proliński screenwriters, playwrights, novelists, photographers, visual artists, translators, journalists, scientists, architects and choreographers.

ZAiKS carries on European traditions of copyright protection. It cultivates international contacts and takes care of the financial and social security interests of artists whose works they have entrusted into its care. ZAiKS is Poland’s largest organisation of collective copyright management.

It operates as a non-profit organisation. It collects royalties from commissioning parties on artists’ behalf, it deducts administrative expenses and transfers the remainder to the authors.

ZAiKS was founded in Warsaw in 1918 by a group of writers and light music composers. Its first president was the then famous actor and satirist Stanisław Ossorya-Brochocki. Following more than 120 years of subjugation to foreign powers, Poland was re-emerging as an independent state at the time. ZAiKS actively joined in efforts to build solid foundations to secure the interests of Polish artists.

To be able to fulfil its obligations, it had to establish links with corresponding organisations in other countries, such as the Paris-based Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI). On ZAiKS’ initiative, the Confederation Internationale des Societes de Auteurs et Compositeurs (CISAC) was established at an international congress of copyright organisations in Paris in 1926. ZAiKS worked closely together with CISAC right from the start. Polish artists who sat on its board included Kazimierz Wroczyński, Jerzy Boczkowski, Jan Brzechwa, Karol Małcużyński and Walery Jastrzębiec-Rudnicki. In 1929 co-operation was started with the Bureau International des Edition Mecaniques (BIEM) bringing together record companies. ZAiKS’ activities were interrupted by WWII but were resumed in 1946 under the name the Polish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers ZAiKS. In 1952 the Polish Parliament adopted a new copyright law. In 1958 ZAiKS acquired the ruins of the Daniłowiczowski Palace, known as Dom pod Królami after the reliefs of Polish kings which originally adorned its façade. It restored the three hundred year old building at 2 Hipoteczna street where its offices are based by raising contributions from writers and composers. Throughout the 45 years of communist rule, ZAiKS managed to retain its autonomy. It maintained international relations and took care of Polish artists. In fact, it was the only organisation of its kind throughout the entire Eastern Bloc. In 1989, when Poland became democratic again, ZAiKS actively participated in debates on the new copyright and related rights law, which entered into force in 1994. It subsequently took part in discussions on amendments to the law and the streamlining of the copyright market. Under the law, ZAiKS was entrusted with the task of collectively managing proprietary rights of authors and artists. Its successive presidents were Karol Małcużyński, Andrzej Szczypiorski and Antoni Marianowicz. Since 2009 it has been chaired by Janusz Fogler.

“ZAiKS is an organisation set up by authors and managed by them to this day. It is also an organisation of collective copyright management. Among our members you will find eminent composers of classical, pop and dance music, playwrights, poets, writers, songwriters, screenwriters, directors, choreographers, journalists, as well as scientists, photographers, architects and visual artists. (…)

Since the very beginning it has been the place where artists met to work for the benefit of their colleagues from different age groups and representing different arts and crafts.

Its members have included artists of widely different political orientation, financial status, religion and outlook. It remains so to this day and we trust that it will remain so in the future. We are convinced that, given the fresh problems the ever-changing world throws at us,which means

WE ARE CONVINCED THAT, GIVEN THE FRESH PROBLEMS THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD THROWS AT US, WHICH MEANS THAT WE ARE FACED WITH TOUGH HURDLES, ZAIKS HAS REMAINED AN ORGANISATION WHICH KEEPS IMPLEMENTING ITS ORIGINAL IDEALS WHICH GUIDED ITS FOUNDING MEMBERS.

that we are faced with tough hurdles, ZAiKS has remained an organisation which keeps implementing its original ideals which guided its founding members,” the organisation’s web page reads.

ZAiKS celebrated its centenary at a gala ceremony at the Teatr Wielki Polish National Opera in Warsaw on March 18. The two-hour event featured over 250 artists of several generations. On stage were the National Opera Orchestra and Choir, several dozen Polish singers and musicians who performed classical music, pop and jazz. The organisers’ intention was to showcase excerpts of 70 outstanding works written by more than 100 composers and lyricists. The concert consisted of several parts. Each of them was a separate whole, and together they offered a panorama of Polish music spanning several decades.

The centenary concert kicked off with a pre-WWII retrospective medley by pianist Marcin Masecki, followed by a medley of 1960s and 1970s pop and rock hits performed

by Kayah, Kuba Badach and Katarzyna Cerekwicka. In tribute to some of the greatest artists: songwriter Agnieszka Osiecka, songwriters and singers Wojciech Młynarski and Jeremi Przybora, composer and performer Jerzy Wasowski, satirist Jonasz Kofta and singer and multi-instrumentalist Zbigniew Wodecki, a selection of songs compiled by ballad singer Magda Umer was performed by Maryla Rodowicz, Hanna Banaszak and Stanisław Soyka. This was followed by a 1980s rock collage featuring Katarzyna Nosowska, Tomasz Organek, Krzysztof Zalewski and Natalia Sikora accompanied by the Tytani Gitary. A tribute to Polish jazz, and notably to its most famous composer Krzysztof Komeda, was paid by a super group led by Tomasz Stańko and featuring such leading jazzmen as Leszek Możdżer, Michał Urbaniak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Wojciech Karolak, Sławomir Kurkiewicz and Cezary Konrad.

Some of the most memorable film music written by composers Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jerzy “Duduś” Matuszkiewicz, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Krzesimir Dębski and Michał Lorenc, was also performed by the National Opera 5/2018 polish market

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Tomasz Stańko, Michał Urbaniak, Wojciech Karolak at ZAiKS Gala Photo: Kinga Karpati & Daniel Zarewicz Orchestra under Krzesimir Dębski. Another attraction was a song written by Chopin, whose works have inspired generations of Polish composers. His work was performed

by Polish pianist and composer of world renown Włodek Pawlik. Then Igor Herbut, Kaliber 44, Anna Lasota and Katarzyna Wilk accompanied by an orchestra and choir under Aleksander Maliszewski took the audience on a more contemporary music journey – from the 1990s to the latest rock and dance beats. The highlight of the gala was an excerpt from Karol Szymanowski’s signature work “Stabat Mater” performed by opera singers Iwona Hossa, Małgorzata Pańko and Jarosław Bręk, accompanied by an orchestra and choir under Jerzy Maksymiuk.

The centenary gala also saw a ZAiKS award ceremony where prizes were presented to such institutions of Polish culture as composer Krzysztof Penderecki, jazzman Tomasz Stańko, sculptor Mirosław Bałka, filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, photographer Ryszarda Horowitz, songwriter Jacek Cygan, actor Janusz Gajos, conductor Agnieszka Duczmal, painter Leon Tarasewicz and novelist Wiesław Myśliwski. Honorary ZAiKS Membership was awarded to Jean-Michel Jarre, composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, jazzman Adam Makowicz, conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk, choreographer Emil Wesołowski, composer Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, writer Joanna Kulmowa, filmmaker Janusz Majewski and Pen Club Polska.

To mark its one hundredth anniversary, ZAiKS has decided to compile a five-disc album featuring the centenary of Polish light and pop music entitled "One Hundred Years of ZAiKS”. This exclusive compilation presenting the history of Polish popular music focuses entirely on songwriters

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and composers, rather than performers. Among the classics are songs by Henryk Wars, Tadeusz Woźniak, Krzysztof Komeda, Czesław Niemen to lyrics by Andrzej Włast, Marian Hemar, Julian Tuwim, Ludwik Jerzy Kern, Franciszek Walicki and Wojciech Młynarski. There is so much to choose from: ballads, pop numbers, rock, reggae, jazz, electronic music and punk. The oldest recording comes from 1930 and the latest from 2017. All the tracks will soon be available for streaming free of charge. The graphic design of the cover is by internationally acclaimed Polish Rosław Szaybo who has designed covers for albums by Leonard Cohen, Judas Priest, Janis Joplin and the Polish Jazz series, Krzysztof Komeda’s “Kattorna.”

A competition marking the anniversary organised by Polish Radio and ZAiKS has been launched. Its aim is to promote works by contemporary Polish songwriters and composers. Entrants were invited to submit their previously unreleased songs by April 2. As many as 1,000 entries were received. Now it is up to Polish Radio listeners to vote for their favourite song using a text message or directly on the piosenkana100.polskieradio.pl webpage. The results will be announced in June. The prize money of PLN 100,000 before tax will be divided among the winners (2-3 songs), or it can go to the composer, lyrics writer and performer of just one song – a sum of PLN 300,000 gross in each category. The jury includes Marek Kościkiewicz - composer, lyrics writer, producer, founder and leader of the 1990s rock band De Mono, Piotr Metz, Polish Radio 3 Head of Music, Piotr Nagłowski, director of the Polish Radio Music Agency, songwriter and producer Bogdan Olewicz (jury president) and Paweł Sztompke, Polish Radio Head of Music. •

INTELLECT AND AESTHETICS A one-man show devoted to Roman Cieślewicz, a key graphic designer of the second half of the 20th century, a prominent representative of the Polish poster school who won acclaim in France and other countries, is held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris until September 23. The exhibition is organised in conjunction with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. It is part of the Poland 100 cultural project implemented as part of the 20172021 Niepodległa programme marking the centenary of the regaining of independence by Poland.

Maciej Proliński

R

oman Cieślewicz (1930–1996) was one of the founders of what came to be known as the Polish poster school, one of the most distinctive and captivating phenomena in 20th century Polish culture.

The term was coined in the 1960s to denote a group of eminent Polish poster designers who won international recognition. They produced posters advertising movies, theatre productions, festivals and exhibitions. Apart from Cieślewicz, the school also included Jan Młodożeniec, Franciszek Starowieyski and Waldemar Świerzy. Their posters featured a very simple and clear design which involved symbols, poetic metaphors and a wide range of means of artistic expression. Polish poster art won acclaim across the globe and many of its examples won a cult status. It became a veritable trademark of Polish artists’ creativity. In fact, the Polish film school, Polish theatre, jazz and literature of the day were also widely recognised abroad, despite the fact that they came from a communistruled country where censorship prevailed.

However, artists managed to find ways of getting around it. Works from that period are still regarded as intriguing and thoughtprovoking, and are very popular among contemporary audiences and exhibitiongoers at home and abroad.

Born in the city of Lvov, which was part of Poland before WWII, Cieślewicz lived in Paris for much of his life and was naturalised in 1971. He worked as the Elle arts director for which he developed a unique and appealing graphic design. Cieślewicz was also behind the graphic design of the cult 1960s and early 70s Polish magazine "Ty i Ja". The artist also won praise for his design of catalogues which accompanied major shows at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Cieślewicz was an eclectic artist whose works spanned a very broad spectrum: from posters to trick photography to publishing graphics to advertising. His works expressed his views on current developments. In his collages and trick photographs he incorporated images of famous figures and icons of popular culture. He believed his mission was to educate the general public both in intellectual and aesthetic terms.

More than 700 works now on show at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) exhibition illustrate the rich and varied output of one of the best Polish graphic artists whose works continue to influence present-day design artists.

The first exhibition featuring a cross-section of works by Roman Cieślewicz was held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 1972. The Pompidou Centre mounted a retrospective

devoted to him in 1995. A similar show was organised by the Musée de Grenoble in 2001.

According to art critics, the current exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris is a special one because, for the first time, it features items normally kept in the archive of the Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine (IMEC.) Among the exhibits is a collection of 350 boxes containing the artist’s daily press cuttings, which apart from his favourite motifs such as the eye, hand and wheel, also feature the images of Che Guevara and Mona Lisa. At the exhibition entitled “Image Factory,” visitors are plunged into the imaginative world of Cieślewicz’s graphics, including posters, ads and magazine covers. There is also a faithful re-creation of the artist’s studio. The organisers’ intention is to show how the artist’s creative process worked and where his inspiration came from. Apparently, among those whose works influenced him the most were the Dadaists, the Russian avant-garde and the Polish-Jewish artist Bruno Schulz. His friendship with Roland Topor also played a major role.

The exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs - an institution which has one of the richest and oldest collections of graphic art in France - comes with a richly illustrated publication containing articles written by Cieślewicz’s friends and associates.

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Our Guest

JADWIGA EMILEWICZ, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology, talks to “Polish Market.”

INDUSTRY

OF THE FUTURE

You promote a vision of Industry 4.0. What are the pillars of this concept? Which sectors need to make the biggest progress to turn this vision into reality?

Instead of Industry 4.0, we at the ministry often say “industry of the future” or “smart industry.” It is the best term to describe what Polish businesses should aim at. Since the end of the 18th century, when steam machines started to be used in factories, we had to do with Industry 1.0. Industry 2.0 emerged at the end of the 19th century with the advent of electricity. Computers, electronics and industrial robots appeared in PM

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the second half of the 20th century marking the beginning of Industry 3.0. Today, we are surrounded by the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and autonomous robots – this is Industry 4.0. It is difficult to point to individual sectors as being part of the industry of the future because it is present in virtually every sphere of social and economic life.

The idea of Industry 4.0 is based on three pillars. The first one is the use of machine data, thanks to which it is possible to manage production processes more effectively. The second one is the introduction of intelligent

Our Guest and flexible production processes which can be quickly modified to meet the changing needs. The third pillar is the use of technologies for quick communication among market participants. In my view, this has the biggest potential for fast development, judging by the popularity of on-line messaging services. Similar solutions should be used in business as its inherent part rather than serving exclusively as a convenient form of communication with one’s acquaintances.

In which sectors of Industry 4.0 is Poland most advanced at present? Put simply, where do we need to do the least of catching up and which sectors require special attention?

I do not think we need to do a lot of “catching up” right now in any of the Industry 4.0 areas. What we should especially emphasise now, as an element of Industry 4.0 and Poland’s flagship export, is Polish people’s programming and IT skills. We are in third place in a prestigious HackerRank league table. We have fantastic IT specialists. We also have excellent physicians. This is our advantage which will help us become a centre of new medical technologies. Although this may not be obvious to everyone, the industry of the future comprises not only manufacturing, but also the use of key horizontal technologies in other sectors as well. We believe the biggest potential is in such fields as biotechnology and medicine. In the Strategy for Responsible Development we focus on three areas: telemedicine, biotechnology and advanced medical products.

Telemedicine is “medicine from a distance.” It will enable delivering faster diagnoses to patients and help them more effectively. Developing solutions enabling this – like for example applications based on the Internet of Things for contact between a physician and patient – is an excellent idea for a start-up. In turn, an excellent example of biotechnology may be artificial bees, of which there has been talk for quite a long time. Start-ups may focus on technological solutions which will help the biosphere, which means all of us, to function.

I want to tell young talented IT specialists that the government has really done a lot to make running their own business a pleasant alternative to working for a corporation.

I also hope that the public sector will be investing more in modern technologies. It is public offices that should place orders for innovations so that technological start-ups can develop. I see my role here as a person bringing this to the attention of other government members.

PM

Cooperation with start-ups is a prominent part of the ministry’s mission. In the United States, start-up incubators operate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the world’s most famous technical university. They generate billions of dollars in budget revenue. Are you thinking about establishing similar solutions in Poland?

Such a system is already in place. I mean Start in Poland, the biggest programme of this kind in Central and Eastern Europe. Worth almost PLN3 billion, the programme is designed to support the development of start-ups in Poland.

They receive assistance not only at the stage of incubation and growth acceleration but also at the stage of further development and international expansion. It is thanks to Start in Poland that 1,500 businesses developing high-quality innovative technologies have a chance to be set up in the country.

PM

In many areas, the programme has already been successful. One example is acceleration programmes, or “schools for entrepreneurs.” They are funded from public sources, but private institutions contribute more and more to the financing. Under the Scale Up pilot programme, which has just been completed, 10 accelerators have provided training to almost 300 small companies. Large public and private organisations observed them and benefited from their solutions. It is a huge success. The programme will be continued on a larger scale.

Another interesting element of Start in Poland is the programme for innovators called Good Idea. It offers a huge opportunity for those who develop inventions and innovations but their projects are shelved. Those who want to change this state of affairs may ask to have the marketability of their project examined, and for support for its development, setting up a company and acquiring funding. It is worth stressing that an application for the evaluation of the project is submitted without the need to leave home by means of the website www.dobrypomysl.pfr.pl.

Also, we want to attract to Poland start-ups from other countries. The Poland Prize pilot programme is designed to serve this purpose. Its goal is to choose three operators experienced in cooperating with foreign start-ups. The operators’ task will be to look around foreign markets and accelerate talent development. The operators will help young firms take the decision to come to Poland, settle here and run their business in the country. Start-ups can also count on grants of up to PLN200,000 and cooperation with Polish partners.

We are still waiting for the operators to be selected because we would very much like the choice to be really good and well-thought-out. However, they should be known by the end of the year.

On a final note, what places in Katowice would you recommend to guests who come here for the ECSME? The cityscape of Katowice, which has metamorphosed from an industrial town into a dynamic hub of a metropolitan area, amazes everyone who hasn’t seen it for some time. We’re in a completely different place than 10 years ago. The Culture Zone established in the area of a former hard coal mine features the impressive buildings of the Silesian Museum and the historic “Warszawa” pit shaft, which affords a scenic view of Katowice, and also the building of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Right next to it, near the Spodek arena, there is the International Conference Centre (MCK), a meeting place for business, science, culture and sports. MCK’s green roof with a viewing terrace has become a new meeting place for Katowice residents and the favourite place for wedding photo shoots. Katowice attracts numerous tourists with its events, both in the Culture Zone and the renovated Market Square, where they can take a rest under the Sztuczna Rawa fountain and its palm trees. The whole city has something extraordinary about it. On the one hand, it’s a very modern place which has changed a lot in recent years, on the other it is a green haven in the heart of Silesia. Not everyone knows that nearly half of its area is covered by green areas – forests, parks, squares. This is an excellent way to spend time with your family. That’s why I encourage you to come • here not only for the conferences, but also as tourists.

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Our Guest

GRAND PROJECTS AHEAD JERZY KWIECIŃSKI, Minister of Investment and Economic Development, talks to “Polish Market.”

The government looks set to encourage the development of an innovative economy instead of the former model of an imitative economy. In your view, can such projects be introduced through administrative decisions or should this be a grassroots process?

There is no denying that Facebook and Apple, which are now recognised as the most successful innovation-based companies in the world, were set up by a bunch of IT enthusiasts who used their own garage as a base.

Of course, grassroots innovation is one way of getting there. That’s how start-ups come into being. But it would be an illusion to expect that it is easy to make your way up from scratch. The government is keen to join in the seemingly straightforward process in order to make things easier for firms, and not to do their job for them. The point is not to force company A to work together with company B but to develop a legal and administrative framework without which their partnership wouldn’t make sense.

Electro-mobility, which Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been championing PM

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ever since he joined the cabinet, is to become the face of Polish innovation. Innovation in electro-mobility begins not at the product stage but at the stage of environmental studies which show that without electric buses some cities will be unable to cope with their smog problem. The results of the studies generate demand for the product which is developed through co-operation schemes between firms which otherwise would most likely have nothing in common. That’s the first step in thinking about product innovation.

In what way do you create an environment conducive to the development of innovation?

Poland is keen to shift its competitive edge away from low labour costs. It needs to bet on innovation and digitisation. There is no other way forward. That’s why we are boosting public investment and we encourage private capital, including foreign capital, to invest in Poland. We support the foreign expansion of Polish companies, not just in terms of exports of Polish products and services, but also through Polish investment PM

overseas. We are conducting a bold re-industrialisation programme.

There is a lot of talk about re-industrialisation, but what exactly does it involve?

The answer is simple. The idea is to transform Poland’s present image as an amber, apple and furniture exporter into one of a producer of technologically advanced equipment.

To make it happen, the government does its best to attract those foreign investors who do not build nuts and bolts factories but who want to make advanced aircraft engines. Another way is to invest EU funding in R&D. In the process of re-industrialisation, the point is not to follow one way or the other but to proceed down both paths at an equal pace.

Studies show that EU funds earmarked for R&D in Poland generate an influx of foreign investment. EY has singled Poland out as one of the most popular places to invest in.

In 2016 the "Financial Times" placed Poland among Europe’s leaders in terms of the value of FDIs. One in five euro invested in Poland came from Germany, one in ten from France, and Italian and Scandinavian companies did PM

Our Guest

not trail far behind. According to estimates the value of foreign direct investment amounted to USD 13 billion.

Polish exports rose dynamically: to developing countries by 11.3% and to developed countries by 9.6%. The proportion of advanced products among overall exports was also on the way up. Machinery, mechanical and electric appliances accounted for 25% of exports. The exports of optical equipment grew by 24% year-on-year. Vehicles, watercraft, aircraft and parts accounted for another 15% of Polish exports, while the automotive industry generated 13% of Polish exports. It comes as no surprise that this sector in particular encourages markets to increase R&D spending.

It all comes down to this: the more effort and resources an investor puts into the construction of a factory in Poland, the harder it is to give it up. So who are the investors?

JP Morgan is setting up a centre of competence in Warsaw. Daimler is building a Mercedes Benz engine factory in Jawor. No carbon dioxide will be produced in the manufacturing process there. LG Chem has decided to build Europe’s biggest factory to manufacture electric car batteries in Kobierzyce.

INVESTMENT GIVES LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS WINGS AS THEY EXPERIENCE HIGHER DEMAND FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO GROW.

But this doesn’t seem to be one of Poland’s strengths, does it?

Well, can we ever reach a stage where nothing can be improved any further? That’s why I emphasise the role of the cohesion policy in the Polish path toward re-industrialisation. The number of R&D institutes, labs and R&D departments run by individual firms went up from 1,144 active units in 2007 to 2,733 in 2012. One in three euro invested in R&D by Polish companies in the 2010-2015 period came from EU cohesion funds.

PM

In what way will the Kobierzyce investment project affect the operation of a small Polish firm which is planning to enter, say, the German market?

We don’t appreciate how important Polish industry is for Germany and the rest of the EU. Actually, not just Polish industry, but also the industries of Central and East European, and notably Visegrad Group countries. Between them, Poland and the Czech Republic are more important than China. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary carry more weight in terms of two-way trade than the US. It is worth noting that one in five Polish start-ups grows by 50% a month. Interestingly, instead of implementing public procurement contracts, start-ups co-operate mostly with SMEs, changing the way they perceive development opportunities and innovation. Not surprisingly, last year Polish companies invested a sum of EUR 15 billion abroad.

It is estimated that in 2017 most Polish capital ended up in the Czech Republic, followed by Hungary, France, Romania, Ireland and Croatia.

Polish banks are currently experiencing considerable demand for long-term financing for SMEs. It is worth bearing in mind that SMEs make investment decisions based on available EU funding. The cohesion policy is of even greater significance for plans made by family firms, which employ up to a half of the Polish workforce. In this way, an efficient system is created, of which Poland is a part. It doesn’t matter whether a Polish firm is large or small. All that matters is what products and services it can offer.

Let me say it once again: the cohesion policy drives investment. Investment gives local entrepreneurs wings as they experience higher demand for products and services, which allows them to grow. A natural consequence of growth is a decision to venture into foreign markets. That’s how the mechanism is built. But what sets it in motion and drives it forward is a combined effect of market conditions and R&D. PM

Several months on, how do you assess the split of the former Ministry of Economic Development into two separate ministries?

Poland’s development path is defined in the government Strategy for Responsible Development known as the Morawiecki Plan after the name of the Polish Prime Minister. The idea behind the creation of the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, whose responsibility is to implement the Morawiecki Plan, is not to change the strategy but to implement it in an even better way. In fact, there is not much difference between the way the cabinet functions now, encompassing the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development and the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, and the way it functioned in the past when the responsibilities of the two present ministries were discharged by the former Ministry of Economic Development. True, the former bigger ministry is no more but the time for grand projects is by no means over.

Since the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development was set up, I’ve been particularly happy to read incoming figures concerning Polish industry. In terms of the number of workers, Polish industry is actually ahead of France. Eurostat data show that Poland accounts for 25% of jobs created in industry in EU countries. This means that employment in Polish industry last year grew over 120 times faster than in Germany.

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Economy

A VAST POTENTIAL TO CHANGE REALITY In the following statement written for „Polish Market”, PIOTR DARDZIŃSKI, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, addresses participants in the Impact ’18 Congress in Krakow June 13-14.

I

am very pleased that yet another time scientists, business people and public administration officials meet at the Impact Congress to talk about the challenges of the modern economy and the development of entrepreneurship and innovative technologies.

I am proud that, this year too, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has assumed patronage over this important event.

The economy and society are becoming more and more dependent on digital technologies. Aware of this, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education pursues wide-ranging activities for the benefit of the digital economy in Poland: from direct support for projects to creating conditions for the broader application of digital technologies.

Beginning with what is most essential, we are creating a favourable environment to develop the digital competences of cadres essential for the modern economy. Through solutions introduced under a reform of the academia and higher education, known as the Constitution for Science, we are bringing the education process at Polish universities closer to the needs of the economy to develop key competences. The Competence Development Programme will not only help to inject large numbers of graduates with practical skills into the economy but will also strengthen links between universities and entrepreneurs in the field of educating students for the needs of the labour market.

At the same time, we would like to encourage ambitious scientists who have left Poland to pursue their careers, to return home. A pilot programme entitled “Polish Comebacks” was inaugurated in March. It enables scientists returning home to take employment in Polish

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universities and research institutions where they are offered attractive pay conditions and the ability to build design teams.

Thanks to their participation in the programme, Polish universities will gain access to a pool of specialists with international experience and knowledge in the field of the latest research trends in their area of activity. This will undoubtedly offer considerable support for Polish research institutions. It is worth tapping this potential.

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education also focuses on measures to develop distance education. A sum of PLN 10 million has been earmarked for the implementation of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) Competition. On the one hand, digital materials for students enabling them to improve the skills needed on the labour market will be compiled. On the other hand, free access online courses will be made available to an unlimited number of subscribers within a system of lifelong education.

However, the digital economy does not just offer benefits but it also poses some threats.

That is why, a vital part of our activities encompasses instruments geared toward cybersecurity. On the one hand, through the National Centre for Research and Development we implement the SECIDENT Cybersecurity and Identity programme whose aim is to improve the quality and innovative edge of Polish products and services when it comes to the protection of data and systems.

As part of the government Plan for Responsible Development, together with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology we intend to set up the Enigma Cyberpark, which will implement the Polish secure chip

programme and which can provide a link between science and business in the development of artificial intelligence solutions. This area can also be explored by the Łukasiewicz Research Network which will include 38 research institutes which possess advanced high tech and digital knowhow.

In terms of artificial intelligence, the competences of the Information Processing Centre (OPI) should be strengthened in this respect. We want the OPI Research Institute to co-ordinate an AI development programme in Poland. We are also joining in European AI development programmes. We have signed a declaration which provides for the intensification of work on this topic and the earmarking of more resources for this purpose.

Our approach is similar regarding the need to ensure advanced computing capabilities for Polish science and the business sector. We will shortly join in European programmes to develop petascale computing which means systems capable of reaching performance in excess of one quadrillion floating point operations per second, as well as exascale computing with a thousand petaflops or a quintillion, 1018, floating point operations per second.

We are also intensively developing Polish supercomputers which is a vital part of work carried out by European consortia such as PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe.)

I am convinced that this year’s Impact will turn out to be an exceptional event not just because of its subject matter, but above all because since its first edition it has been a venue of fruitful exchanges among experts in various fields. Such meetings have a vast potential to change reality.

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Electromobility

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF R&D? MACIEJ CHOROWSKI, Director of the National Centre for Research and Development, talks to "Polish Market" about ways in which state support for R&D is evolving.

Right now electromobility is one of the buzzwords in the Polish economy. What’s the approach of the National Centre for Research and Development to this issue?

Do you finance projects linked with the development of this sector?

As an arm of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, we support pioneering solutions. We ourselves blaze trails within public administration by introducing new programmes addressed to entrepreneurs and research institutions. We operate for the benefit of the market, and bearing market realities in mind, also by presenting concrete technological challenges. Once they are met, it will be possible to develop breakthrough technologies in Poland and then to scale these solutions globally.

Adhering to targets set within the government Strategy for Responsible Development, we have launched several new programmes modelled on the Problem-Driven Research formula developed by the US DARPA agency. The first one, entitled “Emission-free public transport,” which was inaugurated in January 2017, concerns PM

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electromobility. Its aim is to introduce innovative solutions in public transport – emission-free buses – as part of a partnership for innovation scheme. It is a new formula provided for in the public procurement act, whereby the state acts as a smart commissioning party, creating a new market for innovative products tailored to the needs of endusers,that is Polish local government bodies.

Within this programme we are creating a market for innovation in the field of public transport. The National Centre for Research and Development has allocated a sum of PLN 100 million for R&D work, which is part of the project. Thanks to institutional co-operation with twenty five cities, the Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia and Dąbrowa Basin and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, which will co-finance the purchases of new generation buses developed as part of the programme to the tune of PLN 2.2 billion, funding will go toward the best manufacturers selected in the process of innovative partnership. The initial commission provides for a batch of some 1,000 buses to be delivered by

2023. At the same time, we are earmarking about PLN 60 million for R&D work dedicated to the development of the vehicles’ charging infrastructure.

In terms of challenges posed for the power supply system by the development of electromobility, one must mention another of our programmes within the new formula, namely the Power Units 200+ programme. The aim of the programme, which was launched last autumn, is to develop new solutions which will make it possible to adjust power units to changing operating conditions and fresh challenges connected with the work of the national power generation and distribution system. A parallel programme we have started concerns hydrogen storage. Its aim is to design an innovative mobile hydrogen storage facility for fuel cells. Both programmes are implemented in the pre-commercial procurement (PCP) formula. The final stages of work will cover on-site validation of particular developed solutions.

This is not to say, though, that the National Centre for Research and Development has neglected support for electromobility projects

Electromobility BUSINESS, AND LARGE COMPANIES IN PARTICULAR, MUST INCREASINGLY INTRODUCE R&DBASED STRATEGIC PLANNING. THEY MUST BE OPEN TO CO-OPERATION WITH ENTITIES WHICH REPRESENT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF KNOWHOW, CORPORATE CULTURE AND FEATURE DIFFERENT OPERATING DYNAMICS.

before. Within the INNOMOTO automotive industry programme, among fifty projects selected in the first stage of the competition for the Centre’s grants out of a total pool of over PLN 250 million, there are as many as seventeen projects concerning electromobility. Grants allocated to them amount to over PLN 100 million. We have also backed electromobility projects from other programmes as well, for instance within the flagship Fast Track for Entrepreneurs programme. One example is a prototype of Triggo, an electric urban vehicle to be used in car sharing schemes. The project is still being developed with the use of INNOMOTO funding, which goes to show that we have come up with an effective system of supporting innovative projects at various stages of development.

Who benefits from electromobility projects? Are you approached by public transport companies?

We are market-oriented, so each entity, whether it is a firm from the SME sector, a large company or a scienceindustry consortium, which is able to demonstrate that it has the idea and the means to implement it, stands a chance of receiving National Centre for Research and Development funding. In the new-type programmes, we initially invited a wide circle of entities to apply for funding. They will implement projects in stages. At each stage, the Centre will cut the number of contractors, bringing just one or two best projects to the final prototype stage. The method, known as the funnel, promotes the best solutions, while cutting funding for work carried out by those who stand no chance of reaching market success. In the formal sense, within the new programmes, the beneficiaries will be those entities that implement R&D work whose solutions will be applied by local government bodies and public transport operators.

Ultimately, local inhabitants stand to gain in the process.

In classic programmes, including Fast Track and INNOMOTO, SMEs accounted for most beneficiaries implementing electromobility projects.

PM

Electromobility is part of the Industry 4.0 project. What forms of support does the National Centre for Research and Development envisage for projects whose aim is to reach the fourth stage of the industrial revolution?

I wouldn’t use a simplification like that. The development of electromobility is not inseparably linked with interactions between the real world of production machinery and the virtual world of the internet and IT technologies.

However, it is beyond doubt that what is known as Industry 4.0 is bound to dominate all sectors of the economy.

Projects in this area receive support within all our programmes: horizontal and sectoral programmes, e-Pionier and BRIdge Alfa, which is meant to back R&D projects in the early stages of development. The latter programme is particularly interesting because it allows risk mitigation to a large extent when it comes to the most innovative, and thus risky projects. At the same time, in relation to strategic goals defined in the Strategy for Responsible Development, we monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our operations in search of even more effective solutions. However, one should bear it in mind that innovation cannot be ordered by decree, and that the transformation of the Polish economy toward Industry 4.0 will not be automatic. It PM

can be achieved through the simple saturation of the market with new technologies and their broader use. Business, and large companies in particular, must increasingly introduce R&D-based strategic planning. They must be open to co-operation with entities which represent different levels of knowhow, corporate culture and feature different operating dynamics. After all, Industry 4.0 is not just about technology but also about work methods.

Which sectors of the economy, would you say, are the most interested in this topic?

Naturally, science and the ICT sector are the most interested because the fourth industrial revolution is driven by the development of big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things and AI. The latter encompasses a whole group of often technologically disparate solutions in various areas, evolutionary algorithms, artificial neural networks and robotics. In this sphere, the manufacturing and energy sectors are increasingly active. I’m pleased to note that the latter sector more and more often ventures into partnerships with small tech companies to test new solutions, for instance regarding data management and predictive analytics.

PM

Which of the National Centre for Research and Development programmes meets with particular interest right now?

We have developed a rich and varied programme offer adjusted to the needs of entities of different sizes and representing different sectors. Our flagship Fast Track programme for entrepreneurs invariably generates much interest. I guess there will be even more interest in it in the coming months because, as of this year, under the newly introduced legislation meant to streamline the use of EU funding, entrepreneurs are allowed to update their applications once during the assessment stage. The second edition of the BRIdge Alfa programme was a definite success.

During the programme we selected more than fifty management teams whose aim is to search for and back the development of the most innovative projects. We have allocated a sum of over PLN 2 billion for this purpose. This will lead to the emergence and development of young tech companies which could well change the face of the Polish economy.

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Electromobility

DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS THE TREND THAT CANNOT BE MISSED OUT AGATA GIERCZAK, expert, Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology

A

s part of the implementation of the Digitising European Industry strategy, in 2016 the European Commission launched an industry-related initiative of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs). The crucial part of this strategy is the investment of EUR500 million over the scope of 5 years from the Horizon 2020 budget to support the development of the pan-European network of entities operating in the form of one-stopshops. The aim of these entities is to help companies to enter and go through a digital transformation path. The current state of the game regarding the number of DIHs in Europe can be seen in the Digital Innovation Hubs Catalogue (located at the European Commission website) that has been created to give any SME or industry access to the exact competence fitting its needs.

WHAT ARE DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS? According to the European Commission model, Digital Innovation Hubs are one-stop shops providing companies with services that make

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the latter more competitive with regard to their business/production processes, products or services using digital technologies.

The key resources of DIHs are technology infrastructure as well as knowledge, expertise and competences necessary to accompany enterprises (SME most of all) in their digital transformation. The main asset of DIHs is their expertise in local market needs and ability to fulfil this demand by providing services themselves or indicating adequate service providers.

In practice, Digital Innovation Hubs enable regional multi-partner cooperation of such entities as universities, industry associations, technology parks, chambers of commerce, incubators/accelerators, regional development agencies as well as local governments and special economic zones, strongly cooperating with digital solutions providers. The function of DIHs is to act as a first local point of contact and their eventual goal is to create a local ecosystems as a base for national, regional and European ecosystem of digital industry.

WHAT KIND OF SERVICES SHOULD DIH OFFER? On the very basic level Digital Innovation Hubs should be capable of building awareness of the opportunities and benefits carried by new digital solutions. Lack of awareness of the latest technology trends is the first barrier to digital transformation. Therefore, any digital transformation must start from helping a company to identify and understand its own needs in relation to digitization.

Once a company decides to enter the digitization path there is a role for DIHs to diagnose the company’s digital maturity level, in other words the readiness to adopt digital technologies. The next steps involve help to develop a coherent strategy. At this stage a company should receive both technical and management support in terms of implementation of digital solutions and adequate business models.

The core of DIHs is always a competence centre equipped with infrastructure and competences, where entrepreneurs can see and understand how particular solutions work in reality as well as test and pilot digital

Electromobility

innovations in a lab environment before implementing them in real processes. At the same time, DIHs should provide business and financing support to implement these innovations. This is why DIHs should involve such entities as regional development agencies and local governments to be able to advise both entrepreneurs on how to get access to funding that can cover their digital innovation investments and local governments on how to adjust existing funding programmes to answer the needs of SMEs in terms of digitization.

Digital Innovation Hubs should also play an active role in building and spreading new competences in the local economy by providing companies with training, both technical and management.

FUNDING SOURCES FOR DIHS Digital Innovation Hubs should eventually be financially independent thanks to services they provide commercially. Nevertheless, due to still insufficient demand for their services, which stems from a lack of awareness among SMEs (which can be described as market failure) DIHs are to be co-funded by public money in order to build necessary market readiness.

Possible funding sources are European Structural and Investment Funds, European Fund for Strategic Investments and other national, regional or private funds. According to the European Commission, EU money (coming mostly from Horizon 2020) is to cover international activities of DIHs in terms of transborder projects (transborder experiments). Other necessary support for DIHs should come from national and local programmes, including money flowing from EU operational programmes.

DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS IN OUR REGION Although the Digital Innovation Hubs initiative is a very recent project, the idea of stimulating economy towards establishment of local innovative ecosystems is nothing new.

The most advanced economies know the concept under different names though. In Germany industrial cooperatives connecting industry with academia and R&D facilities have already existed for decades. Also other industrial countries in Europe have had networks of competence centres for quite a time. For such countries the implementation of the new EU initiative is not as challenging as for less developed regions of Europe. Therefore, in some

EU member states, especially in Central Europe, there is a strong need to set up a new Digital Innovation Hubs network.

To answer these challenges the European Commission has launched the Smart Factories project, a training programme for DIHs from 13 new member states, including Poland.

The programme is run by Poland’s branch of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Oxford’s Global Innovation Consultancy (Oxentia). There are 34 DIHs participating in the training, including 8 candidates from Poland.

DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS IN POLAND Looking at the map of Poland in the DIHs Catalogue we can see 15 entities at different stages of maturity (compered to dozens in Germany). A few of them are officially operational and others are still in the preparation phase or candidates. The scarcity of Digital Innovation Hubs in Poland results from the lack of demand for their services on the market.

Therefore, supporting DIHs means also to build market potential, which Poland’s government plans to do through a series of activities designed and coordinated by a new institutional body – Future Industry Platform.

Its official establishment is planned by the end of this year.

The Platform will also provide a comprehensive support for DIHs themselves. The support will involve promotion, training (trainthe-trainer), funding support measures and certification.

At present the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology is working on new support measures for Digital Innovation Hubs to help them make better use of accessible funding programmes.

IN PRACTICE DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS ENABLE REGIONAL MULTI-PARTNER COOPERATION OF SUCH ENTITIES AS UNIVERSITIES, INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS, TECHNOLOGY PARKS, CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE, INCUBATORS/ ACCELERATORS, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES AS WELL AS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES, STRONGLY COOPERATING WITH DIGITAL SOLUTIONS PROVIDERS.

EUROPEAN DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS DAYS IN WARSAW In November this year the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology will host the European Digital Innovation Hubs meeting organised by the European Commission. The event will gather not only top Digital Innovation Hubs from all over Europe that will share their experiences but also will be a great opportunity to attract varied domestic stakeholders, including technology providers, start-ups, small and medium industrial enterprises and any entities that would like to become a part of the national digital eco• system.

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Photo: Rafał Nowak

Electromobility

JAN KUŹMIŃSKI, President of MZA , talks to "Polish Market".

CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGIES FOR

WARSAW PUBLIC TRANSPORT 22 polish market

Electromobility

Electromobility is currently a hot trend in public transport. What’s the approach of the Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe (MZA) company to this issue?

We became interested in electromobility a few years ago, in fact even before it became the talk of the town. Over that period we have tested electric buses manufactured by various producers, both from Poland and other countries.

Now we have twenty twelve-metre long electric buses in our fleet. Another ten are waiting to join it. At the former Ministry of Economic Development we signed a contract with the Centre for EU Transport Projects on the financing of another batch of 130 eighteen-metre long buses. Right now we are getting ready to issue a tender for that order.

We expect the first batch of seventy buses to roll down the streets of Warsaw before end-2019, and another sixty in 2020. Under that order we will have about 160 electric buses at our disposal, which will account for over 10 percent of the MZA fleet. When it comes to electromobility, it is also worth mentioning another trend, that is lowemission transport, namely buses that run on LNG (liquid natural gas.) Three years ago we purchased 35 LNG-powered buses. Now we examine bids for a contract providing for the purchase of 80 CNG (compressed natural gas)-powered buses, with an option for a further 30. We are building a CNG filling station in Kleszczowa Street. Buses purchased under this contract will go into service in Warsaw in the first half of 2019.

PM

Is the introduction of electric buses posing any problems?

The snag is to secure buses which could go some 300 kilometres on one charge. It is the distance our buses travel on an average day. To reach this target, a 450 kHh battery should be mounted on a twelve-metre long bus. A battery like this weighs 4.5-8 tonnes, depending on the technology. It is easy to calculate that for this bus to be certified for service, it would practically need to run without any passengers. Given available technology, a minimum 12 kilogram battery is need for a bus to travel one kilometre. To cover the same distance using a diesel-powered bus, all you need is less than half a litre of diesel fuel, which weighs just 400 grams. The battery needed for a 200 kilometre drive is actually more expensive than the bus itself. For such investments to make sense, the technology of battery design must be developed.

PM

How does the weight of the battery mounted on an electric bus translate into the number of passengers it can carry?

Using currently available batteries, electric twelve-metre long buses are authorised to carry up to 85 passengers, while in the case of buses powered with conventional fuels, the number is 110. This is due to the maximum allowed weight of the vehicle. The difference is significant, considering that Warsaw public transport is under a lot of strain, especially during peak time.

PM

PM

You have mentioned gas-powered buses. It is a transition stage between conventional and electric propulsion.

Why is so little said about them? Don’t they offer emission levels that are insignificantly lower than standard

WE EXPECT THE FIRST BATCH OF SEVENTY BUSES TO ROLL DOWN THE STREETS OF WARSAW BEFORE END2019, AND ANOTHER SIXTY IN 2020.

buses? Are they too expensive or does extra infrastructure need to be built?

The LPG (liquid petroleum gas) network is developed in Poland. For the most part, motor cars run on LNG. This fuel is relatively inexpensive. LNG which is used to power buses is practically pure methane. Poland lacks the infrastructure to make this fuel more widely available. If it were developed, the number of LNG-powered buses and motor cars would grow significantly. The cost of an LNG-powered car is 10-15% higher than that of a diesel car but the cost of LNG itself is much lower. That is why the idea to use CNG and LNG-powered buses has caught on in public transport.

In this case it is justified to build a network of filling stations. A number of vehicles can use a single station, after all.

So just like in the case of electric buses, here too, infrastructure seems to be the bottleneck?

You could say that. But it is possible to overcome these problems. In the case of the 130 electric buses I have mentioned, we will use street pantograph chargers. The bus will be able to recharge its battery during a several-minute-long stopover between runs. It will be able to keep going for much longer. We estimate that the 130 buses will require about 50 mWh of electricity a day. That is why we are thinking of using power banks which would prove useful in places where, say, three 400 kW chargers could be installed.

PM

When it comes to new technologies, are there any solutions you use on a daily basis which passengers are not aware of?

One such solution are photovoltaic panels mounted on the roofs of the Woronicza depot. They produce more than 60 kW of energy. Another technological change which passengers benefit from is free Wi-Fi on most buses. Mobile and laptop USB chargers are also being introduced on MZA buses. Another novelty are photovoltaic panels on the roofs of over 200 buses. To generate electricity using diesel fuel has proved several times more expensive than using mains electricity. More than 30% of fuel has been used for purposes other than driving. Even a few kWh of energy coming from a solar panel on top of the bus allows you to make savings, as well as being environment-friendly. • PM

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Electromobility

THE PREVIOUS PERSPECTIVE HAS MADE US CAUTIOUS PRZEMYSŁAW GORGOL, Acting Director, Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP), in conversation with “Polish Market’s” Marcin Haber.

I would like to start by asking you about the current EU financial perspective. When it comes to the infrastrucure, the development of railway infrastructure has been a priority. What is the current stage of the implementation of the projects?

We are half way through the current 2014-2020 EU financial perspective. I would say we are also roughly half way through its implementation. We have assigned more than 60% of EU funds at our disposal to individual projects. The present perspective is extremely beneficial and promising for the railway sector. It has provided the biggest financial support for Polish railways in history. The total amount of EU funding exceeds PLN 40 billion, divided among various programmes. Some of the programmes are supervised by regional authorities, but the funds available for this purpose are fairly limited. Most of the funding is channelled PM

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via the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP). It can be obtained from three sources: the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Operational Programme Eastern Poland. It should be noted that the total amount of funding which is now available is more than double the amount which the sector had at its disposal in the previous EU financial perspective. On top of that, one can also apply for extra EU funds coming from separate programmes to purchase new rolling stock or to develop intermodal transport.

Then there is also a pool of funds, which are part of other programmes that seemingly have nothing to do with rail transport. One example is the maritime part of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment which provides for improved access of railway infrastructure to sea ports.

Electromobility

You have mentioned that 60% of the funding has already been absorbed. Do you expect that the rest of the available funding can be absorbed as well?

I reckon it can. I am optimistic. Naturally, it won’t be easy. But the previous EU perspective has made us more cautious. Our plans envisage implementation of more projects than available EU funding. This is mainly possible thanks to the involvement and determination of the Ministry of Finance which assists us out of the state budget. This will enable to finance investment projects which are not covered by EU funding. Toward the end of the financial perspective, it may happen that some earlier financed investment projects fail to pass the control stage and are excluded from further financing – either entirely or in part. As a consequence, some funding is freed up, making room for projects which were launched earlier thanks to funding by the Ministry of Finance. This formula has proved successful over the past few years.

PM

Electromobility is a hot topic in Poland right now, it is a focus of the political discourse. Does the current EU perspective allocates any funds for the development of this sector?

When it comes to the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment, electromobility is nothing new. In the areas we finance which are geared toward the development and modernisation of public transport, there are projects involving purchases of vehicles, equipment and installations to provide low-emission transport. It is mostly to do with electric buses. We thus have funds allocated to electromoblity projects. This is closely linked with one of the main concepts of the government Strategy for Responsible Development.

PM

Do you think that the next financial perspective will be based mainly on electromobility?

We are looking forward to the announcement (planned on 29th of May 2018) by the European Commission of proposals concerning future cohesion policies. At the moment we are only familiar with the Commission’s general proposal concerning the future 2021-27 EU perspective, which only marks the beginning of the negotiation process. We will know more as soon as proposed legislation sees the light of day. Of course, this will only be the starting point of very tough negotiations. There’s a long way from the proposals to the final wording of the documents.

PM

Since funding for electromobility is already available, are individual companies keen to apply for it? Are those in charge of public transport companies ready to seek such funding?

Firstly, virtually all the EU funding earmarked for electromobility projects has already been PM

WE PROVIDE FINANCING FOR SIX ELECTROMOBILITY PROJECTS TO THE TUNE OF JUST OVER PLN 700 MILLION IN TOTAL. THESE PROJECTS ARE AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION. SOME ARE AT A STAGE WHEN TENDER DOCUMENTATION IS BEING PREPARED. IN OTHER CASES, TENDER RESULTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANNOUNCED AND CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN SIGNED FOR THE SUPPLIES OF ELECTRIC BUSES, E.G. IN THE CITY OF ZIELONA GÓRA. allocated. Public transport companies, and cities which are beneficiaries of EU funding in this respect, now have the time to use the money in line with accepted timetables. We provide financing for six electromobility projects to the tune of just over PLN 700 million in total. These projects are at different stages of implementation. Some are at a stage when tender documentation is being prepared. In other cases, tender results have already been announced and contracts have been signed for the supplies of electric buses, e.g. in the city of Zielona Góra.

Before the end of the year, a tender for the purchase of electric vehicles will be announced as part of Measure 6.1 The development of public transport in cities of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2014-2020. The Ministry of Investment and Development is planning to earmark a sum of PLN 300 million for the purpose. A public notice regarding the tender is to be • published soon.

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Electromobility

WE SUPPORT INNOVATIONS. AN ELECTRO-MOBILITY CONFERENCE. “Be smart, be electric – zero-emission transport – evolution or revolution in transport?” This is the motto of the conference organised by the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP) in Warsaw on 18 April.

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Photo: CUPT

T

he conference, held at the Radisson Blu Sobieski Hotel in Warsaw, was an opportunity for Polish and foreign transport operators to exchange experiences. Its main aim was to promote the idea of zero-emission transport in Poland, and to point to new trends in the field of urban transport.

“In the current EU budget period, the Infrastructure and Environment Programme alone will provide nearly EUR 2.3 billion in funding to support the development of low-emission schemes in urban areas,” said Przemysław Gorgol, Acting Director of the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP). “We have the pleasure of being a party to the agreements. Our partners are the beneficiaries who implement these projects. We can see how important these projects are on the Polish transport market. We are already co-financing 215 new electric buses.

The purchase of these 215 buses under the Infrastructure and Environment Programme is not a thing of the future. It is reality, happening here and now. Tenders have been invited and contracts have been signed.”

The CEUTP Acting Director added that, in view of the Responsible Development Strategy adopted by the Government, he saw a great need for continued support for low-emission, mostly electric, transport.

Jarosław Orliński, Director of the Infrastructural Programme Department at the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, announced a planned competition for local governments and operators, designed to promote zero-emission transport, and with an EU-funded budget of around PLN 300 million. He also stressed that, starting from the standard level of urban transport, Poland had climbed the ladder to a level at which innovations were being supported.

The conference audience could see these modern solutions right on site, as three electric vehicles were presented. A bus travelling the streets of Warsaw was shown by the Municipal Bus Company (Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe). The Łódź Solar Team, made up of students from the Lodz University of Technology, were proud to present Eagle One, a solar-powered vehicle of their own design, with flexible mono-crystal photovoltaic cells in the roof.

From left: Michał Wolański, Paweł Silbert, Jan Kuźmiński, Jan Barchánek, Waldemar Rumiński, Stefan Baguette

The power stored in its lithium-ion modules allows the vehicle to cover a distance of nearly 1500 km (with the batteries fully charged and in sunny weather), and, with two electric 5 kW engines, it can reach speeds of up to 120 km/h. This solar car has been designed to run in road traffic. An electric motorbike weighing 115 kg was presented by students of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. Their vehicle features an 8 kW engine installed in the rear wheel. Batteries with a capacity of 3.2 kWh allow distances of 100 km on hard-surfaced roads (around an hourlong journey). The battery charges up in 5 to 7 hours, and the motorbike can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h.

The participants in the meeting attempted to answer the question included in the title of the conference.

"In my view, if you compare it with the past, this is revolution,” said Włodzimierz Hrymniak, Director of the Sectoral Programmes Department at Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. “Of course we now perceive it as evolution, but, looking at the automotive industry and public transport, and how this change has transpired over just a few years, I'd definitely say its character is revolutionary.”

To illustrate his words, Włodzimierz Hrymniak quoted some statistics. In 2016, five cities in Poland had more than 20 electric buses. A year later, the number of such

vehicles there reached 90, and by the end of 2019 there will be around 420.

Poland's first electric bus was launched in Jaworzno. Paweł Silbert, Mayor of Jaworzno, acknowledged during a panel discussion that this first vehicle was purchased for test purposes. It was only later that a decision was made to add more electric buses to the city's fleet.

The conference also offered an opportunity to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the first electric tram in Warsaw. It made its debut on the streets of the capital city on 26 March 1908, at 9.35 am.

“110 years of electric tram transport is something to be proud of. When it comes to this type of transport, this is one of longer histories in Europe,” said Przemysław Gorgol on handing over a statuette to Robert Kościelny, a member of the Management Board of Tramwaje Warszawskie Sp. z o.o.

The three conference panel discussions centred on electro-mobility and the concept of Smart City, electric transport in cities, and dedicated charging infrastructures.

“We need smart solutions for vehicles to charge quickly and easily,” said Dawid Kmiecik, Director for Business Development at Heliox Automotive / E. URBAN. Also discussed were the legal and institutional solutions and development trends in transport.

• Source: www.cupt.gov.pl

Electromobility

SMART BUILDING CONSTRUCTION OF THE FUTURE

The production cost of buildings constructed with prefabricated wooden composite elements is 30% lower than the cost of traditional construction. Implementation time is 50% shorter, while energy efficiency increases by 60%. The first prefabricated building in Poland characterized by such values has been built in the Targówek district of Warsaw at 13 Remiszewska Street by the Smart Technology Group under its Smart Building Programme.

O

n 19 April in the Targówek district the first project of prefabricated wooden building was presented. It was constructed by the Smart Technology Capital Group (http://www.smarteu.pl/) under its Smart Building Programme. It has 17 apartments for rent with areas ranging from 42 sq.m. to 67 sq.m., retail space of 250 sq.m., 16 underground garages and 3 external parking spaces. The total area of the building amounts to 2099,45 sq.m., whilst the usable area of the building is 1121 sq.m..

In Poland there is a shortfall of three milion apartments for sale and lease. The construction technology of the Smart Building Programme allows for a 50% faster project implementation, which in turn eares the shortfall. In the future, the development of complete Smart House housing estates will be possible, both in terms of the newest construction technologies implementation, as well as making use of IT and infrastructural solutions. The programme presented by the Group supports the governmental “Apartment Plus” programme and by bringing together the technical skills of the cooperating entities, it provides the tools needed to quickly implement investment projects.

The Group’s objectives include project realization in cooperation with local governments, as well as private individuals.

Composite wooden construction is highly beneficial. It allows for computer-integrated manufacturing, resulting in unlimited possibilities to create ready-made elements tailored to the clients’ individual needs and design expectations. The key advantage of such buildings is their pace of construction. Ready for immediate occupation, prefabricated buildings rise within only a few months.

The building’s elements, such as walls, floors and roofs, are delivered to the construction site. There, over a period of several days, they are founded on a pre-made foundation slab. Covering the building with roof and other installation works last for 3-4 weeks, which allows for the completion of the fit out stage within a couple of months.

Speeding up the construction proces by 50% is, however, not the only advantage. It is connected to the decrease of the labour costs.

Furtherly, construction works can be in progress at all times and in all seasons, irrespective of weather conditions. Mechanisation of the production process warrants the production of buildings in accordance

Mikołaj Tatyński (T-mobile.pl), Andrzej Schleser (Lasy Państowe), Jaromir Tomaszewski (Boś Bank), Juan Davi (Smart Future Home), Wojciech Blacharczyk with appropriate standards and with the Polish construction law, ensuring exceptionally high quality. Additional advantages are: excellent sound and heat insulation and the possibility of installation of photovoltaic systems or solar collectors.

Prominent personalities attended the conference: H.E. Yousif Al. Sabri, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, a representative of the Embassy of Hungary, and Mr. Ahmed Khalil Al-Ani, Consul of Iraq. The Partners and speakers of the event were Andrzej Konieczny from the BOŚ bank and Jaromir Tomaszewski from State Forests.

Among the partners there were also T-Mobile Poland, Ernst & Young, Emirates & Europe Business Development Cluster, Investment Service Center, Smart Future Home, Medlabs and Famor.

Under the Smart Building Programme, we seek partners who are willing to jointly develop composite wooden buildings. In particular, we are searching for: developers, local governments, construction companies and investment firms.

•

More info on our websites: www.smarteu.pl www.photoeu.net 5/2018 polish market

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Electromobility

DACHSER FOR REMBRANDTIN: COLOURS RUNNING THROUGH EUROPE

Dachser, a global logistics company, within a dedicated business area called Dachser Chem-Logistcs, distributes chemical and hazardous goods across the whole of Europe for Rembrandtin, an Austrian manufacturer of varnishes and coating materials. In 2017 alone, the company delivered around 20 thousand shipments on behalf of Rembrandtin. In this particular type of transport, safety and effectiveness are of utmost importance, which is why its logistical aspect has been entrusted with an operator which boasts a long history of cooperation with the chemical industry.

T

he Rembrandtin brand is known for its top-quality varnishes and industrial-galvanic coatings for use when painting road signs or applying anticorrosive and temperature-resistant coatings. Thanks to Dachser, Rembrandtin‘s products can reach customers all over Europe. From the company's central warehouse in Vienna (Himberg), they are distributed into the Austrian market and further on to Eastern (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Poland) and Western Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany, and other countries). In 2017 alone, Dachser processed around 20,000 shipments for Rembrandtin, covering the entire continent.

“Since most of our shipments for Rembrandtin involve hazardous goods, we pay special attention to ensuring safety to people and the natural environment throughout the supply chain. Our drivers are specifically trained in this area, just as all people working with these products. Harmonised transport and quality standards in place build mutual trust and guarantee the required level of safety,” says Patrick Kuba, Project Manager at Dachser Chem-Logistics, the company's logistics centre in Vienna.

To ensure compliance with the highest safety standards, Dachser uses specially programmed systems and innovative IT tools which provide access to information on

transports at every stage of the supply chain.

These include software with functionalities such as the management of hazardous goods and the tracking of container loading processes, in addition to computer-aided analyses of capacity limits and the strict observance of bans on mixed storage.

In order to achieve the highest level of safety, not only the right technical conditions must be in place, but also the ‘human factor’ in the form of specialist knowledge. Dachser has a specifically assigned team of professionals whose expertise in the realities and requirements of this industry allow them to deliver top-quality consultancy on the transport of chemical products.

The Dachser personnel in charge of the processing of hazardous materials (the warehouse staff), truck drivers, and regional advisors on hazardous goods have been trained in handling all types of products in line with the chemical industry standards and the regulations in force. Their duty is also to adequately secure every load and keep in good order and condition the sites where hazardous goods are stored. The smooth delivery of hazardous goods is supervised by more than 180 ADR-certified experts, some of whom are also present in Poland.

With the solutions it uses and a skilled team at hand, Dachser can complete all

deliveries in a fast and efficient manner. This is especially important in the case of the logistics services provided to Rembrandtin, where an express delivery is a must for instance when road signs are to be painted. In such situations, Dachser delivers materials directly to a specified site on a motorway, and then emptied containers are taken off the site by the drivers in accordance with the regulations on the handling of hazardous goods.

Such a procedure is very advantageous also in terms of ecology and environment protection.

This is because safe, efficient and sustainable logistics is where the future of the chemical industry lies, including construction chemicals market, and it is of key importance for this industry and its public image to duly observe natural environment protection laws.

The upturn at the construction chemicals market affords favourable conditions for the manufacturers from this sector to continue their business growth. By handing over the management of logistics processes to a reliable partner such as Dachser, they can effectively expand into the world's major markets.

Such cooperation also allows them to achieve substantial savings, and the operator's extensive experience guarantees that their products will be delivered safely to their recipients and in compliance with the strictest safety standards.

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Chemical Industry

THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IS THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLEX SECTOR TOMASZ ZIELIŃSKI, PhD, President of the Board, the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry, talks to "Polish Market".

We are approaching the 5th Congress of the Polish Chemical Sector. Can we say that it has become a highly-anticipated event for the chemical industry? How important is it to align the expectations of public administration and business for the sector?

The Congress of the Polish Chemical Sector in Wieliczka on 13-14 June is the chemical industry’s largest and most important event, which has become a fixture in the calendar of the sector’s representatives, administration and media. We, as the Polish Chamber of the Chemical Industry, have seen a rising interest in the Congress each year. The key themes and discussions conducted by the participants are very often the starting point and inspiration for the agendas of future editions of the Congress. We recognise the importance of this event for Poland’s chemical industry. We have created an extraordinary platform for exchanging views, highlighting key issues, and discussing the strategy of the whole industry, not just for the Polish PM

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market, but also at least the European market. There are significant inputs from across the globe, as Polish products are present on virtually all continents. The chemical industry is the world’s most complex sector when it comes to products, processing, and the influence it has continually exerted on other sectors and the economies of numerous countries. For this reason, the Congress agenda is packed with diverse subjects relating to the sector’s functioning, from the analysis of the influence of trends, development plans, regulations, and investments to competitiveness and socio-environmental responsibility, which falls within the sphere of interest of public administration. After all, this is the sector with the most influence on the Polish economy. Public officers can listen to and take part in discussions about the most pressing of our problems, and also learn about the industry’s plans and challenges ahead, including those related to the regulations, both national and EU-wide, which can significantly affect those plans. From our point of view,

a joint discussion between representatives of public administration, business and science, will be an essential component in the industry’s further development.

These days the most-discussed trend in the economy is Industry 4.0. What is the standpoint of the Polish chemical industry on this subject? What are the greatest opportunities and threats to the development of the Polish chemical sector?

The pace of development globally, especially in technological terms, is quickly rendering the use of the future tense inadequate when referring to certain trends. The objectives of Industry 4.0 have become particularly close to us, so close, in fact, that it’s impossible to speak about “what would happen if.” This is already happening. For example, when speaking of the development opportunities connected with the implementation of Economy 4.0 objectives, we should also talk about what we can lose if we don’t take at least rudimentary action. The trend PM

Chemical Industry that is Industry 4.0 is developing as rapidly and efficiently as new technologies, and processes and product solutions are being rolled out and put to practical use. The chemical industry itself affords an ocean of possible implementations of Economy 4.0 solutions. The multidimensional nature of this industry, which we’ve already alluded to, is not only seen in the multitude of applications, but also the numerous benefits emanating from the sector, as well as its related sectors. The existence of dozens of industries relies on the chemical industry, which directly translates into a great many benefits for the country’s wider economy. The simplest example derived straight from Economy 4.0 assumptions is seen in the IT systems supporting production and the digitisation of industries. Perhaps it would seem that digitisation is the domain of IT, not the chemical industry. But the chemical industry can also reap huge benefits from it. The design, modelling and testing of installations using digital applications on the scale of a large chemical-sector investment saves an enormous amount of time and money, while providing nearly unlimited possibilities for increasing process efficiency. Furthermore, all digital systems for process monitoring, even if only aimed at increasing the efficiency of utility consumption, bring not only higher process efficiency and savings, but also reduce the environmental footprint.

We should also speak about artificial intelligence, which only a few years ago was seen as an incredible and largely undiscovered field, although obviously there’s still a lot of new ground to cover. Today we make use of AI-based analyses for the chemical sector, for example in connection with the support of resource-seeking processes. Industry 4.0 has become a necessity, not one of the available options. Of course, it’s a global trend and will undoubtedly manifest itself in a variety of ways across the world. For the Polish chemical industry it is an opportunity, a challenge, and a threat, all at the same time. Clearly, it’s an opportunity, as it can considerably boost the sector’s potential, especially in its relatively over-regulated environment.

If taken advantage of, it can make our processes more efficient and advanced, while introducing new possibilities.

This involves a large number of interconnected elements.

To put it simply, the savings arising from boosting the efficiency of processes through the use of modern systems can be used for research and development, and seeking, developing and implementing innovative solutions. If we decide to use this potential we will have to look again at the arising benefits, regardless of the size of a given enterprise. But if we miss this opportunity, we might be looking at significant risks and threats, such as the weakening or complete loss of our competitive position within just a few years. Industry 4.0 is clearly a challenge, especially in the context of the over-regulated European business environment. This environment requires chemical industry enterprises to follow highly specific obligations, which often limits their potential for generating new ideas and solutions.

Today’s industry can’t be separated from the ever-expanding process of digitisation, including cloud-based and big-data solutions. What uses have been found for these technologies in the chemical industry?

The expansion of new technological solutions, such as those from the ICT sector, must be considered from PM

INDUSTRY 4.0 IS CLEARLY A CHALLENGE, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OVER-REGULATED EUROPEAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT. THIS ENVIRONMENT REQUIRES CHEMICAL INDUSTRY ENTERPRISES TO FOLLOW HIGHLY SPECIFIC OBLIGATIONS, WHICH OFTEN LIMITS THEIR POTENTIAL FOR GENERATING NEW IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS.

a number of perspectives. Firstly, such solutions are being implemented at a faster pace, and more eagerly, by less complex industries, especially in locations where the development of such technologies has been particularly strong. Cloud-based solutions are now the bread and butter of banking, for example, particularly in the US. This sector has switched to the new solutions quickly and efficiently. It was also much easier for telecommunications companies, when compared to the chemical industry, to move a large part of their business into the cloud. In the context of such solutions, the question of data security – in relation to both the business and its customers – always comes up. Another perspective focuses on the scale of activities, such as in terms of location. Large global chemical companies operating in many countries on several continents find it easier to manage their activities in the cloud and perform their data analyses there. We see a number of uses for cloud-based solutions in the chemical industry when the business is distributed around several locations, which can facilitate information flow, and allow constant access to data. Big data in the chemical industry can become an important part of designing and developing such solutions as marketing intelligence in the implementation of capital projects and innovations.

Can such activities stimulate innovation within the sector?

Yes, definitely. Each and every action connected with the implementation of Economy 4.0 objectives, and the search for and use of state-of-the-art solutions, is an opportunity to stimulate the sector’s innovativeness. Innovation is an inextricable aspect of the chemical industry. Every new product can lead to the development of other sectors and spur the whole economy. That’s why boosting competitiveness, including by taking advantage of Economy 4.0 solutions, is so important.

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Chemical Industry

LOTOS THE LEADER IN POLISH SPORTS SPONSORSHIP All of Poland will soon be glued to TV sets to cheer on the Poland White-and-Red football team during the FIFA World Cup. LOTOS Group has been supporting Polish footballers as the Main Sponsor of the Poland Football team. Since the brand’s market debut, it has been an active sports sponsor. Among the ambassadors of the LOTOS brand are such international stars as rally driver Robert Kubica, tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska, footballer Kuba Błaszczykowski and rally driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH THE POLISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (PZPN) UNTIL 2022 Since 2015 LOTOS has been the Main Sponsor of the Poland National Football Team. Last January, the agreement between the LOTOS Group and the Polish Football Association was extended until the end of 2022.

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Under its terms, the Group will also become involved in a series of other activities to support the development of Poland’s No.1 sport. The sponsorship contract marks an expansion of the existing agreement to include new advertising and sponsorship services. As part of the partnership deal, LOTOS will still enjoy the right to use the footballers’ images in its advertising campaigns.

Chemical Industry TOP SKI JUMPERS

It may come as a surprise to some that there is a sport in Poland which is followed more keenly than football. According to the latest Sponsoring Monitor report compiled by ARC Rynek i Opinia, in 2017 ski jumping events attracted the biggest interest, followed closely by football events. The popularity of the winter sport was clearly boosted by the successes of medallist Kamil Stoch and his colleagues Stefan Hula, Maciej Kot and Piotr Żyła.

As part of its sponsorship activities LOTOS Group supports the ski jumpers’ team, too. Since 2002 it has been the General Sponsor of Polish Skiing, including the national and youth ski jumping, crosscountry and Nordic combined teams. Partnership with the Polish Ski Association also covers sponsorship of two World Cup ski competitions organised in Poland.

Among the most spectacular successes of skiers supported by LOTOS are Olympic and World Cup gold medals and the Crystal Ball, the World Cup ski jumping trophy won by Kamil Stoch, medals won by Justyna Kowalczyk and Adam Małysz, as well as World Cup gold and Olympic bronze medals won by the national team.

FLYING HIGH

The four-year agreement between LOTOS and the Polish Football Association is the biggest sponsorship deal in Polish sports, covering the period when the Poland team will compete for the finals of the UEFA Cup 2020 and the FIFA World Cup 2022. It will also compete in the new UEFA Nations League formula which commences in the autumn. Besides, LOTOS will remain the Main Sponsor of the U-21 Poland Team, and for the first time it will act as the Main Sponsor of the Poland Women’s Team.

The current LOTOS media advertising campaign features Poland Football Team players Kuba Błaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski, Kamil Grosicki, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Łukasz Piszczek and Kamil Glik.

A commercial making a clever use of mirros shows how the support of fans is reflected in footballers’ performance. To help Polish fans cheer on the team, the Group has made a step further. As of May 23, white-andred T-shirts can be won at LOTOS filling stations. Each of them bears one of four slogans: “I always cheer on the Poland team,” “Super Fan,” “Here beats the heart of Poland,” and “Header champion.” To win one of them, all you need to do is collect stickers you receive when you buy petrol and LOTOS brand products: Cafe Punkt, LOTOS and Dynamic.

HOTBED OF FOOTBALL TALENT

As the Poland team goes from strength to strength, fans’ expectations grow. Can they rest assured that Polish football will remain at its present high level? With an eye to the future, LOTOS Group has been investing in young footballers’ professional training for the past few years to make sure that there is enough talent to make the national team sparkle.

Football Future with LOTOS is an innovative undertaking carried out in partnership with the LG Football Academy in fourteen sports centres set up in the 2012-2015 period, in conjunction with local clubs in the Pomerania region. This year the programme has also been launched in one of the centres in the Podlasie region.

The aim of the programme is to train as many footballers as possible for the regional and national youth teams, for the best players to ultimately end up in Poland’s best football clubs. As of 2016 the initiative has been sponsored by the Polish Football Association. It is meant to enable thousands of young footballers to follow in Robert Lewandowski’s and Kuba Błaszczykowski’s footsteps. Currently more than 3,500 young kids undergo step-by-step training under the watchful eye of a team of professional coaches.

Following Adam Małysz’s successes, the Group launched the programme Searching for the Champion’s Successors. The initiative, which got started 14 years ago can be safely regarded as one of the largest programmes promoting sports activity in Polish society in history. Its main aim is to help Polish ski jumpers embark on their careers. In 2005 the LOTOS Cup series of events was launched, during which young ski jumpers competed in several age categories. The undertaking came to be regarded by coaches and observers as one of the world’s best organised competitions for the youngest ski jumpers.

The Searching for the Champion’s Successors National Development Programme of Ski Jumping, is addressed to the youngest jumpers for whom the Group each year funds the necessary equipment and sports scholarships. Between 2004 and 2016 LOTOS Group presented programme participants coming from 19 clubs across Poland with 287 skis together with bindings, 220 ski suits, 100 helmets and 236 pairs of jumping boots. In 2010 the programme won the DEMES 2010 sports business competition in the children and young people’s category.

In the third year of the programme, the first jumper, Maciej Kot, became part of the national team. This season, another participant, Dawid Kubacki, proved the best among the Polish jumpers in the World Cup qualifying events in Planica. By now most of those who took part in the Searching for the Champion’s Successors programme have joined the ski jumping team of the Polish Ski Association. One of LOTOS scholarship holders is this year’s best Polish sportsman and Olympic champion Kamil Stoch.

RALLY DRIVING, TENNIS AND CYCLING

A link between sports for children and young people and fully professional sports is provided by this year’s partnership with the Academic Sports Association, thanks to which the student community becomes aware of the LOTOS brand.

Motorsport is clearly one of LOTOS’ priorities. LOTOS ambassadors Robert Kubica (the fastest Polish rally driver, the only one in Formula 1, WRC2 champion) and Kajetan Kajetanowicz (triple European Rally Champion and fourfold Polish Champion in general classification of Polish Rally Championships, now proving his skills in WRC2), not only overcome successive hurdles but also perfectly boost the professional image of the LOTOS brand, building confidence in its products.

LOTOS sponsors Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska, who has become a household name all over the world. It is also present at the country’s most important cycling event - Tour de Pologne.

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POLISH BANKS RANK FOURTH IN DIGITAL MATURITY

Electromobility

Poland ranks fourth in the Digital Banking Maturity 2018 league table compiled by the professional services company Deloitte. The report was made public at the company’s Warsaw headquarters on April 23. The leading banks in Poland are ING Bank Śląski, mBank and Bank Millennium. Apart from Poland, places on the podium were taken by Russia, Turkey and Switzerland. Low positions of Scandinavian countries came as a surprise.

Marcin Haber

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ecause of systemic changes taking place in Poland in the early 1990s, the country became a “guinea pig” for the financial sector. Today, Polish people are among the European nations which lead the pack when it comes to cashless and contactless transactions. The findings of the Digital Banking Maturity 2018 report indicate that Polish banks are following the digitization trend. According to the report, banks operating in Poland - Polish banks and Polish branches of international banks – rank fourth in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in terms of digital maturity after Russia, Turkey and Switzerland, which are in first, second and third place respectively, and ahead of Spain in fifth place. The top five countries are called Digital Champions. They are followed by a group of another five countries called Smart Followers: Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic, France and the Republic of South Africa. Countries with the least digitally mature banks are called Latecomers, or Laggards, and include Lithuania, Ireland, Israel and Iceland.

Market pressure on the banking sector from clients and the competition was identified by Deloitte experts as the main driver of digital maturity. Customer pressure is understood as expectations regarding the level of services which should be available through digital channels. Competitor pressure is reflected in a “digital arms race” started by banks which have decided to leverage their digital channels as their key competitive advantage.

A FLY IN THE OINTMENT

To avoid overoptimism, one should look into detailed data. Poland occupies a high position as a country, but the picture is less bright when one looks at individual banks. The highest ranking Polish bank is in 9th place among the 238 EMEA banks taken into account in the research, including 15 Polish institutions. The top Polish banks are ING Bank Śląski, mBank and Bank Millennium [alphabetical order – Deloitte has reserved the right to keep detailed data confidential - ed.].

However, three Polish banks were ranked in the group of Laggards.

“Polish banks have achieved a higher score than the average for Europe and the Middle East in all of the six areas of interaction with the client we have analysed: information gathering, account opening, customer onboarding, day-to-day banking, expanding relationship and

ending relationship,” says Grzegorz Cimochowski, a partner at Deloitte. “Their performance is the weakest in two areas: account opening and closing. Account opening through digital channels is a challenge because of regulatory considerations, but some banks already offer this possibility.”

Historical considerations are important in understanding Poland’s high position in the league table. Because of the change of its political and economic system in 1989, Poland skipped cheques, a banking development stage popular in Western countries. This forced Polish banks and Polish branches of foreign banks to apply electronic solutions earlier and often in a pioneering way. “Customer pressure and competitor pressure is much more important in this race. Hence the strong position of such countries as Poland, Russia and Turkey where banks decided to make significant investments in the transition period so as not to stay behind the competition,” says Daniel A. Majewski, a manager at Deloitte. Polish people eagerly used cashless payments, which encouraged banks to introduce further technologies. The trend has continued until today. According to 2017 data published by the Visa company, more than 86% of Polish people said they made at least one contactless payment while one in four said they did so every day.

FINTECHS DRIVE DEVELOPMENT

According to Deloitte experts, one of the reasons behind the constant development of electronic and mobile banking is the entrance onto the market of more and more fintech companies. The appearance of fintechs has been possible thanks to the significant lowering of high market entry barriers. The presence of fintechs forces well-established financial companies to develop constantly and offer modern solutions to their clients. One reason why such services as N26 and Revolut fare so well on the market is their cooperation with partner companies which have operated on the market for years.

FROM THE INTERNET TO SMARTPHONES

Analysis of bank clients’ behaviour reveals a clear shift from online banking services to dedicated mobile applications. The development of mobile banking is considered to be the direction in which banks should be moving to be at the top of the league table in the next years.

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Finance

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY WILL REVOLUTIONISE THE WORLD PROF. MAŁGORZATA ZALESKA, Director of the Institute of Banking Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), President of the Committee on Financial Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences, talks to Marcin Haber.

How do the current political situation in Poland and the shift to greater economic interventionism impact on the sentiment of prospective investors?

Economic matters seem to be a priority for the ruling government. The idea of increased involvement in the economy on the part of the state, as a creator of the changes that the invisible hand of the market is unable to make on its own, has been present in many highly developed countries. Actually, putting this concept into practice may be necessary in order to reconcile sustainable economic development with the need to meet people’s key expectations in terms of social policy and security in a broad sense. Defence spending is now on the rise after a thaw of almost 25 years, which means that the state has to become a creator of change in the economy. Of course, an efficiently operating financial market continues to be an element indispensable in carrying out economic projects. For many years the situation of the Polish banking sector has been favourable and the sector has enough financial means to finance the development of the Polish economy. The banks acquire funding mainly through deposits, which is very characteristic of our market. Polish people still like to keep their savings in banks, even though interest rates are relatively low. One should also remember that a key issue for the banking sector is return on investment. Banks want to finance projects which bring them a decent rate of return. One should be aware that undertakings which do not generate a high rate of return often require looking for alternative sources of funding.

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What are the alternatives?

An alternative source of funding is the capital market.

It should not be associated exclusively with stock issues, of which some entrepreneurs are afraid, but also with bonds.

One should remember, however, that there is risk involved in these instruments.

PM

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What projects use this source of funding most often?

Innovative businesses and start-ups. In their case, it is often not easy to acquire funding from a bank. The reason is the investment risk associated with such projects and their unpredictable rate of return – not every start-up achieves success and not every innovation is applied in practice. Many of these projects stand no chance of surviving the first year of operation. As a result, less conventional methods of financing are sought in these cases. Certainly, the most important thing is identifying the most valuable projects. What is more, one should remember that innovation, a typical feature of start-ups, is important but does not guarantee economic success - it is not enough for the idea to be innovative, it has to result in a technology put into practice. This requires not only financing the innovation, but also providing funding, usually incomparably bigger, for developing the technology. Hence we need not only to talk about the idea of innovation and support it, but also make it a permanent part of Polish people’s mindset, which requires changes to elementary education and linking the education system, both vocational and university education, with business. A good example of permanent relations between science and business is the Institute of Banking Warsaw School of Economics. Virtually all of its research staff members also work in the financial sector. The research we conduct is associated with the existing and real needs of the Polish banking sector. Remember that university education is the last link between the education system and business. For this chain of relationships to be durable and effective it is necessary to strengthen its previous links, which means developing the financial knowledge of Poles at each stage of their education.

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Investors often stress that one of the most important aspects of the market is its economic and legal predictability. Is Poland a predictable market today?

Finance The global level of predictability is now much lower than before. This is so not because of a new, previously unknown, risk but mainly because of the change dynamics and international ties which mean that a development taking place at the other end of the world may change the situation on local markets in distant countries within a few seconds. But leaving global unpredictability aside, Poland in itself is a predictable market. It rarely happens for a central bank president in other countries to outline monetary policy directions so clearly and long term. At a recent press conference, President [of the National Bank of Poland– ed.] Adam Glapiński said no interest rate changes should be expected in the near future. He added that the first changes could take place in two years’ time at the earliest if, of course, nothing extraordinary happens in the meantime. Speaking about market predictability, it should be stressed that ratings agencies are now upgrading their forecasts for the Polish economy, despite their very cautious initial predictions. The projections which are presented and submitted to the European Commission indicate that economic stability should be maintained. It is worth adding that in external research the instability of the legal system is often indicated as a negative factor. The growing number and complexity of laws is a great problem for businesses. I am aware that efforts are being made at present to simplify business legislation, but at the same time new laws are being adopted, for example in an attempt to clamp down on the use of VAT loopholes.

Speaking about unclear regulations and taxes, a controversial issue recently has been a lack of an unambiguous position of the Ministry of Finance on cryptocurrencies.

What do you think about it?

Cryptocurrencies are a very interesting topic because they are based on blockchain technology or, to put it simply, distributed ledger technology. It is often believed that the technology is applied exclusively to cryptocurrencies, which is a big mistake. In this context, I think that to some extent cryptocurrencies do harm to this technology. I will risk saying that blockchain technology will revolutionise the world – not only the world of finance but also our daily lives. Think about the vehicle register and the method of voting in general elections, for instance. As regards cryptocurrencies, they are very risky investments. I think we should not be afraid of new technologies. But in the case of investment in cryptocurrencies we should be aware that we can lose in a very short time virtually all of the money invested.

only several per cent of their income. Meanwhile, even 10% would not be enough to give them security for the future.

If nothing of substance is done about pensions they will be too small to allow Poles to have a decent life in old age because it has been calculated that we can count on pensions not higher than 10-30% of our present incomes. Considering that Polish people have got accustomed to consuming, the prospect of living on 10%, 20% or 30% of their current income may pose a threat of social dissatisfaction or even revolt. I am convinced that no governmental programme is able to ensure that retired people have the same standard of life as they had when being economically active. Neither can these fundamental problems be solved by the recently proposed Employee Capital Plans (PPK). They can only help to reduce shortages after retirement. What is more, under the PPK bill, the additional money would be paid out only for 10 years, when the person is aged between 60 and 70. And as people live longer and longer, there are further challenges ahead. Another risk involved in this project is the assumption that the money would be transferred to investment and pension funds. From the point of view of investment fund companies, the capital market and the Warsaw Stock Exchange, this is excellent news because these would be additional billions of zlotys injected into the market. But one should ask about the investment policy because the capital market is risky and cyclical. It would be a challenge to protect the money collected through Employee Capital Plans so that pensioners do not lose them.

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The president of one of the banks present on the Polish market has told me recently that Poland’s current GDP growth will be very shortlived because it is driven by consumption boosted by new social programmes. Do you think the growth trend may continue for longer?

Consumption has been at a high level in Poland for many years now. It was one of the factors which protected Poland against the crisis which broke out in early 2008. As the crisis was beginning in the world Polish people consumed. This trend has continued and the government’s 500+ child-benefit programme is additionally supporting consumption as households have received an additional injection of cash.

But in the long run it is very important for Polish people to start saving. Recent data indicate that Polish people save PM

One of the basic parameters taken into account in research on a country’s poverty level is the percentage share of household spending on food. The higher the share, the poorer the nation. You have stressed that Polish households have for years increased their consumption. Is this a reason for optimism or worry?

Statistics indicate that the poorer part of society can now afford more than only basic food products, which means that the poverty level is on the decrease. Consumption is generally perceived as a positive thing because it boosts profits of producers of food and basic necessities. But there is a reason for concern when everything is earmarked for consumption and nothing left aside. Let me repeat it: we have to start saving. Savings are important not only for us as individuals but also for the economy. The more domestic savings there are, the smaller dependence on foreign capital. It is typical of foreign capital that it may flow out of a country as quickly as it has flown in. If conditions in Poland deteriorate it will be natural for foreign capital to look for other markets – safer and more profitable.

To conclude, I think it is worth pointing to a common denominator behind all the issues I have mentioned, such as innovation, public expectations for the pension system, consumption and a desirable form of foreign capital. The common denominator is education, thanks to which society will not only be taking decisions which are right from the point of view of individual people, but will also be able to assess and choose the right political programme to ensure a stable and secure development of the economy. Educating the public, including in the area of finance, is the most important thing, although its results will not come sooner than • after more than 10 years. Let’s not waste this time.

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Finance

NOT ALL AREAS OF PRIVATE LIFE ARE SUFFICIENTLY PROTECTED ANDRZEJ MACIĄŻEK, Vice-President of the Management Board of Polish Insurance Association (PIU), talks to Marcin Haber.

Banking tax, contrary to its popular name, has also affected insurers. What has been the impact of the new tax on the sector?

It is worth remembering about the tax on assets, especially now when work is underway on a new long-term savings product.

I mean Employee Capital Programmes. In order to ensure widespread participation, it would be advisable to involve insurance companies in the accumulation phase. One of the reasons why this would be worthwhile is that insurers have experience in managing large groups of people. Insurance companies run almost two thirds of Employee Pension Programmes, which are similar to some extent to Employee Capital Programmes, and over 60% of Individual Pension Accounts and IKE and IKZE schemes under the third pillar of the pension system.

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What is the level of Polish people’s awareness when it comes to taking out insurance?

Insurance products are closely associated with people’s affluence. The wealthier a country’s population, the more ready it is to spend money on insurance. But we have to be aware that not all areas of our private life are protected as well as they should. An excellent example is healthcare. In theory, free healthcare is guaranteed to everyone by the state. It turns PM

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out, however, that you have to wait one and a half years for an artificial joint or even longer for an eye surgery. Although private health insurance is absent from the Polish legal framework, more than 2 million Poles already have this kind of insurance. Unfortunately, healthcare insurance in Poland works as a supplementary system, which means that the insured pay again for the services they have already paid for in the public health insurance system. It is the worst and most expensive system you can have.

And what about the insurance awareness of the business sector?

We insure business assets worth a total of PLN1.8 trillion, or 60% of the assets owned

by Polish businesses. It is a huge amount, of course. Large companies are the most prudent businesses. Almost all of them have insurance against fire and other disasters. But the array of dangers is much broader. Property insurance covers the cost of replacing the damaged property, but does not compensate for the financial losses caused by the interruption of business activity. In this case, you need lossof-profit insurance. This kind of insurance provides coverage for losses resulting from the need to pay fixed costs, despite stopping or reducing business activity. Additionally, PM

it covers losses resulting from an increase in production costs incurred to resume the activity after the damage.

How can the insurance sector influence economic development?

First of all, insurers reduce uncertainty, protect property, health and provide financial support in difficult situations. These activities mean an improvement in people’s living standards. Even the most extensive system of prevention is unable to remove risk, which would block social development if not for the presence of insurance activity. However, the activity of insurers goes beyond providing protection. The influence of the sector on the economy is best reflected in these most important indicators: PLN1.6 billion in taxes paid in 2016, 225,000 jobs in the insurance business and related sectors, and a 2% contribution to Poland’s GDP. Thanks to insurance, there are more goods and services generated in the Polish economy. Insurers are the third biggest institutional investor in Poland.

They have invested as much as PLN60 billion in bonds and PLN17.4 billion in equities, providing not only capital for the development of enterprises, but also financing public spending on infrastructure, education and health• care.

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Finance

THE CLIENT EXPECTS PRACTICAL INNOVATION The digital revolution in the insurance sector is now underway. New technologies allow insurers to keep improving the quality of customer services. For the client, this means comfortable use of the insurance cover they buy. “Polish Market” discusses the practical approach to digitisation with RAFAŁ STANKIEWICZ, Warta Vice-President of the Board.

Customer services and loss adjustment are areas in which Warta increasingly applies new technologies. Why did you decide to invest more strongly in this particular field?

Insurers have a specific form of contact with their clients. In most cases, direct contact is only made at the time the client buys insurance. But most clients form an opinion about the product and the insurance company when some form of damage has occurred, for instance when they have had a car accident, something has gone badly wrong in their house or when they experience health problems while on holiday. At moments like these, the client finds out whether the policy offers good value and how the claim is handled by the insurance company. In our opinion, the loss adjustment process is a crucial moment which largely builds the company’s reputation. That is why we devote so much attention to the implementation of successive practical technologies and solutions whose main aim is to improve client satisfaction by making the process smooth and friendly.

In the past few years we have introduced a number of changes in this respect. The result is top-quality customer service, which has been confirmed in a report by the Financial Ombudsman. The Ombudsman pinpoints companies which are the most effective in handling insurance claims. In terms of both motor vehicle insurance and property insurance, we rank at the No.1 position in the report with the fewest customer complaints in relation to market share. We have also won the friendliest insurance company PM

award at the Banking and Insurance World Leaders gala. I am convinced that the rational use of new technologies has helped us in achieving these awards.

Which solutions have boosted the company’s image in particular?

The loss adjustment process is very complex. It encompasses a number of solutions the client is not even aware of. Nevertheless, these solutions do make the claim handling process quicker and more comfortable for claimants. A high-tech insurance claim handling process and apps for loss adjusters greatly contribute to client satisfaction. But of key importance for the client is the use of new communication channels, for example smartphones. The Warta Mobile app is currently used by about 25% of clients who contact Warta to file an insurance claim. It is a very comprehensive tool designed for the handling of claims which keeps getting thumbs up from its users.

PM

How does your company benefit from the app?

My assumption is that the introduction of practical and client-friendly solutions translates into higher satisfaction and loyalty. Warta Mobile has revolutionised relations between the client and the insurer.

Thanks to the app, filing documents by the client has become as simple as taking a picture with your smartphone. Information is obtained during a chat using one of the messaging services. We have made an innovative use of Facebook Messenger, which millions PM

of Poles use on a daily basis. In fact, for many of us it is becoming the main communication channel. That is why we have offered the option to report losses through this channel.

Thanks to these solutions we make it easier for clients to use our insurance services, while at the same time improving the efficiency of our team members who, with the help of automation, have more time to deal with complicated cases.

Where and how do you search for inspiration to find new solutions?

I reckon that the success in implementing new technologies is largely owed to our team’s strengths. They are open to new ideas.

They actively look for new, interesting solutions. Our approach is very practical. We do not brag about how much we want to invest in innovative solutions. We are constantly on the lookout for gems which promise to prove genuinely profitable. We assess the potential of individual projects. We ask whether, once they are introduced, they can change anything in relations with our clients. Whether it is going to significantly improve the entire process.

Then we analyse and plan work in great detail, aware that each investment poses risks.

We put a lot of effort, energy and money into building the app to thoroughly assess clients’ needs. We learnt from our clients that the app should be simple and target-oriented: to make communication with the loss adjuster fast and easy and to allow quick filing of documents. We approach other projects in a similar way.

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Finance

POLAND RATIFIES MLI CONVENTION Janusz Turakiewicz

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n January 23, 2018, Poland became the fourth country of the 78 signatories to submit to the Secretary General of OECD an act of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Multilateral Instrument, or MLI). Austria, the Isle of Man and Jersey are the three jurisdictions to have ratified the Convention before Poland. On March 22, 2018, the ratification document was submitted by Slovenia. As a result, the Convention will come into force for the five countries on July 1, 2018. It will apply since January 1, 2019 to double tax treaties signed by Poland and submitted to be covered by the MLI.

Dokument podpisany przez Marek Głuch Data: 2017.11.14 16:02:20 CET

DZIENNIK USTAW RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ Warszawa, dnia 14 listopada 2017 r.

Poz. 2104

USTAWA z dnia 29 września 2017 r. o ratyfikacji Konwencji wielostronnej implementującej środki traktatowego prawa podatkowego mające na celu zapobieganie erozji podstawy opodatkowania i przenoszeniu zysku, sporządzonej w Paryżu dnia 24 listopada 2016 r.

Art. 1. Wyraża się zgodę na dokonanie przez Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ratyfikacji Konwencji wielostronnej implementującej środki traktatowego prawa podatkowego mające na celu zapobieganie erozji podstawy opodatkowania i przenoszeniu zysku, sporządzonej w Paryżu dnia 24 listopada 2016 r.

Art. 2. Ustawa wchodzi w życie po upływie 14 dni od dnia ogłoszenia.

Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: A. Duda

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The MLI Convention was signed in an official ceremony in Paris on June 7, 2017. It marked the completion of one stage in the project initiated in 2014 by OECD and G20 countries to tighten up the international tax system and prevent the artificial shifting of incomes to tax jurisdictions where they are subject to tax exemptions or low taxes.

Called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan, the project focused on 15 areas: • addressing the tax challenges of the digital economy (Action 1); • neutralising the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangements (Action 2); • designing effective controlled foreign company (CFC) rules (Action 3); • limiting base erosion involving interest deductions and other financial payments (Action 4); • countering harmful tax practices (Action 5); • preventing the abuse of double tax treaties (Action 6); • preventing the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status (Action 7); • improving the transfer pricing system (Action 8-10 and 13); • establishing instruments to analyse data on BEPS (Action 11); • introducing the mandatory disclosure of aggressive tax planning schemes (Action 12); • making dispute resolution mechanisms more effective (Action 14); • working out a MLI Convention (Action 15).

Under the Convention, the wording of the existing double tax treaties is to be adjusted with respect to income taxes in areas regulated by the Convention without the need to conduct negotiations between states and make individual modifications to their treaties. The MLI provides for a minimum standard for the implementation by each jurisdiction of specific provisions of Article 6 concerning the wording of the preambles of double tax treaties, Article 7 concerning preventing treaty abuse and Article 16 concerning dispute resolution.

Finance The preliminary positions submitted to the OECD by signatories, published at http:// www.oecd.org/tax/treaties/beps-mli-signatories-and-parties.pdf, make it possible to assess consequences for individual treaties. They are discussed in detail in the Polish parliament’s publication no. 1776 at http://www.sejm.gov. pl/Sejm8.nsf/druk.xsp?nr=1776.

The model preamble text for a double tax treaty included in Article 6 may be regarded as the essence of the MLI. It reads: “Intending to eliminate double taxation with respect to the taxes covered by this agreement without creating opportunities for non-taxation or reduced taxation through tax evasion or avoidance (including through treaty-shopping arrangements aimed at obtaining reliefs provided in this agreement for the indirect benefit of residents of third jurisdictions).”

Poland’s accession to the MLI did not arouse much controversy. All parliamentarians taking part in the discussion on the treaty ratification bill pointed to potentially positive consequences for the Polish economy. The only problem raised was the issue of taxes on the income of Polish people working in the United Kingdom. However, a government official argued that there would be no unfavourable change to existing provisions for these persons. In a September 29, 2017 vote in the lower chamber, 402 deputies were for the ratification and 36 against it. The Senate did not voice any reservations. The bill was signed by the president of Poland and published in the Journal of Laws on November 14, 2017. It came into force on November 29, 2017.

According to Filip Świtała, director of the Tax System Department at the Ministry of Finance, Poland has supported work on the MLI Convention since the beginning because it is a quick and effective instrument for a desirable change to existing double tax treaties. In the course of work on the implementation of the MLI Convention, Poland reported to the OECD a number of legislative problems and doubts as to interpretation, which needed to be explained to enable the practical implementation of the Convention. This included talks with the OECD Secretariat where Poland pointed to many ambiguities which can hardly be covered by a multilateral convention such as the MLI. The Polish-Austrian and Polish-Slovenian treaties on the avoidance of double taxation will be among the first to be modified by the MLI Convention. It is also worth stressing that in order to ensure the clarity of individual double tax treaties government statements containing information about changes resulting from the Convention will be published on the entry into force of the MLI with respect to specific treaties.

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MLI SIGNATORIES AND STATES WITH WHICH POLAND SIGNED DOUBLE TAX TREATIES TO BE COVERED BY THE CONVENTION (STATUS AS OF MARCH 22, 2018) MLI signatories Treaty with Poland covered by MLI

37. Isle of Man 38. Israel yes 39. Italy yes 40. Jamaica 41. Japan yes 42. Jersey

1. Andorra

43. Korea yes

2. Argentina

44. Kuwait

3. Armenia yes

45. Latvia yes

4. Australia yes

46. Liechtenstein

5. Austria yes

47. Lithuania yes

6. Barbados

48. Luxembourg yes

7. Belgium yes

49. Malaysia yes

8. Bulgaria yes

50. Malta yes

9. Burkina Faso

51. Mauritius

10. Cameroon

52. Mexico yes

11. Canada yes

53. Monaco

12. Chile yes

54. Netherlands

13. China yes

55. New Zealand

14. Colombia

56. Nigeria

15. Costa Rica

57. Norway yes

16. Côte d’Ivoire

58. Pakistan yes

17. Croatia yes

59. Panama

18. Curaçao

60. Poland

19. Cyprus yes

61. Portugal yes

20. Czech Republic

yes

yes

62. Romania yes

21. Denmark yes

63. Russia yes

22. Egypt yes

64. San Marino

23. Fiji

65. Senegal

24. Finland yes

66. Serbia yes

25. France yes

67. Seychelles

26. Gabon

68. Singapore yes

27. Georgia

69. Slovak Republic

28. Germany

70. Slovenia yes

29. Greece yes

71. South Africa

30. Guernsey

72. Spain yes

31. Hong Kong

73. Sweden yes

32. Hungary yes

74. Switzerland yes

33. Iceland yes

75. Tunisia yes

34. India yes

76. Turkey yes

35. Indonesia yes

77. United Kingdom

36. Ireland yes

78. Uruguay

yes yes

yes

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Finance

JAN CZEREMCHA, Vice-President of Raiffeisen Polbank responsible for corporate banking, talks to “Polish Market.”

WE SIMPLY HELP FIRMS DEVELOP THEIR BUSINESS Poland is an undisputed economic growth leader in the European Union. Successive institutions are revising upwards their forecasts for our country and ratings agencies are looking on us increasingly favourably. But we still have a shortage of business investment and Statistics Poland (GUS) has recently made a downward revision to its initial optimistic estimates that business investment picked up last year. What is your view of the situation?

The pace of Poland’s economic growth is fast and stable, which is helped by a still-low inflation rate and, consequently, a relaxed monetary policy. Additionally, the central bank has repeatedly declared that there are no signs indicating change, which makes it possible for businesses to plan long-term, for example decide whether to enter into financial commitments. In this context, investment statistics are indeed disappointing. There should be much more investment, given that economic conditions are so good, demand is on the rise and macroeconomic prospects are favourable. Poland lags behind other EU countries in terms of investment. In 2017, the investment rate was less PM

42 polish market

than 18% in Poland compared to the EU average of over 20%.

According to GUS statistics, investment spending by businesses increased by a mere 4.3% last year. What is more, a significant proportion of the PLN136.5 billion was spent on vehicles while spending on machinery has practically remained unchanged, despite record profits generated by the business sector.

And what is it like in your bank?

We have observed a stable growth in demand for financing, but most of this demand is for working capital loans rather than investment loans. You can see investment in segments which, for example, have experienced sharp increases in labour costs. Interestingly, banks invest a lot in their own development. This trend is driven by new regulatory requirements and the ongoing technological revolution. But it is paradoxical that there is no large-scale investment in the automation of industrial processes, although businesses have been signalling for quite a long time problems with finding new employees. The mismatch between PM

Finance business needs and workers’ skills is a great challenge for the economy and the education system. It means the need to retrain people and convince them that they should constantly continue to learn new skills. But this requires changing people’s mindset.

Raiffeisen Polbank has for years specialised in providing services to the sector of small and medium businesses (SME). What trends are characteristic of this market segment now? Is there anything special that you offer to entrepreneurs?

Given the low interest rates and fierce competition, it is difficult to stand out on the market with the price of credit.

The same is the case with products: all universal banks have a comparable product range. This is why our way to stand out from the competition has for years been high quality advice, treating even the smallest firms with due attention and providing them, just like large corporations, with individualised solutions. A bank adviser becomes, which is often underappreciated, a kind of consultant and someone who checks a firm’s strategy. Having the knowledge of the sector and existing trends, and using the bank’s analytical and forecasting resources, he or she may suggest specific actions and modifications to your business plans. In other words, we simply help firms develop their business. Of course, it all takes place in a technicalised environment – one different from what we had only a few years ago.

PM

Indeed, banking - including corporate banking - has undergone great changes over the past several years, mainly due to technological progress. Polish banks as a whole have managed very well in this respect. And what about the introduction of new technologies at Raiffeisen Polbank?

One can generally say that the expectations of business clients coincide with those of retail clients. It is natural that we want to benefit, in our professional work as well, from the ease and speed offered to us by technology. I mean, for example, any kind of mobile applications and solutions that we use in our daily private life. It is nothing new that virtually all operations, like money transfers, currency exchange and opening deposit accounts, are now performed and ordered automatically. But at the present time, apart from transaction operations, clients expect fully digitised processes: from applying for credit products to post-sales service, like lodging a complaint or applying for documents.

What is more, the bank should provide all this in an omnichannel process, that is on many platforms - mobile, Internet and brick-and-mortar – but always in a single cohesive form. Raiffeisen was the first bank in Poland to offer a mobile application to retail clients. So we have vast experience and knowledge in this sphere. As regards business clients, we have for years offered them mobile banking and the R-Dealer mobile currency exchange platform. Recently, as the first bank on the market, we have also provided them a mobile factoring application called smart factoR. PM

This means a further reduction in the involvement of staff in customer relations. In the near future, are we going to communicate only with machines?

Automation is progressing very quickly, which means greater accuracy, the elimination of errors, lower costs for PM

the bank and, consequently, better prices for the client. But, as I said, we believe that in corporate banking our specialist, as a business adviser to the client, will remain a key element giving us an advantage over the competition. This is confirmed by our clients in annual surveys on service quality. Of course, to support them even better, our advisers also enter the digital era and use mobile tools. The tools give an adviser holding a meeting with the client in their office instant access to data and support by, for example, enabling the adviser to contact bank staff specialised in different fields. When developing guidelines for the digital transformation process we observed the behaviour of our clients and market trends. We set ourselves the goal to have in the near future up to 70% of all orders, apart from simple transactions for the SME segment, placed electronically and processed fully automatically. Importantly, the changes do not involve only our products and services, but also the model in which they are introduced. Two years ago Raiffeisen Polbank became one of the first banks in Poland to start putting into practice new initiatives in the agile model, which makes it possible to deliver high value to the client in a very short time. At present, all projects conducted as part of the bank’s digital transformation programme rely on this method. The number of these projects is in double-digit figures. They concern building a new Internet and mobile banking system based on the latest solutions, process automation, including robotisation, and the introduction of tools supporting clients’ self-service. Two or three years ago such projects were carried out, but only for retail clients. The changes are rapid.

However, technological development brings about new threats. Confidence and security are key in the financial sector. How are you building a sense of security among your clients.

We attach great importance to building a sense of security among our clients because it is a key element of the bank’s image. But first of all we focus on constantly improving the technological and non-technological foundations – the “hard” electronic security of our transaction systems.

Threats are evolving, which means our security systems have to keep up with the pace of change. We want the use of our Internet and mobile banking to be secure while at the same time minimising the discomfort caused by the safeguards because the client would like to have access to everything with a single click. This is why we want the mechanisms we use to operate in a way transparent to the client.

For example, we analyse the users’ activity, including their transactions, to detect possible irregularities because some of the most serious threats today are those which materialise on the client’s side: on his or her computer, smartphone or tablet, and in his or her awareness and the way they use the systems. We check, for example, whether it is the client that has logged into a system or hackers using the client’s malware-infected computer. If an abnormal behaviour is detected we warn the client of the threat and block the fraudulent transfers.

Additionally, we provide clients with information, advice and knowledge about security. At meetings with clients, our experts show them what cyber threats look like in practice and advise them how to effectively protect one• self against the threats.

PM

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Finance

THE 7TH GRAND GALA OF BANKING AND INSURANCE LEADERS providing automated data collection options and mobile-device electronic signature.

THE MOST INNOVATIVE BANK – BANK MILLENNIUM This is the bank that understands how to do banking in the 21st century.

It is a leader in digital banking, exhibiting an innovative approach and boasting the most advanced projects developed in-house by its strong IT team. Bank Millennium's innovative solutions include mobile-app based insurance and public-transport ticket purchase system, as well as shopping tools. The “goodie” shopping platform, an in-house startup of the bank, recorded 150,000 downloads slightly more than a year into its existence. This is a project of the future that goes beyond banking.

THE MOST FRIENDLY BANK – GOSPODARCZY BANK SPÓŁDZIELCZY IN BARLINEK “Join your friends” – this is the GBS Bank's slogan that defines the friendly approach to GBS Bank's clients and staff. It means that clients are treated like friends. The bank’s clients appreciate the close and sustainable relations with the bank and the transparency of its offerings.

THE MOST INTERESTING INSURANCE INNOVATION – AXA UBEZPIECZENIA TUIR in collaboration with ProService Finteco (predicting client decisions on replacement vehicles in the case of third-party liability events).

For the implementation of a pilot project using AI algorithms in the process of loss adjustment. The solution can be used to optimise the costs of replacement vehicles based on predicted client decisions.

THE FRIENDLIEST INSURANCE COMPANY – WARTA

T

he 7th Grand Gala of Banking and Insurance Leaders took place on 10 April 2018 in the Westin Warsaw Hotel. The event was officially opened by Józef Wancer, Jury Chairman / Chairman of the Supervisory Board at BGŻ BNP Paribas Bank Polska. Awards for achievements in 2017 were given in nine categories.

This year's awards went to:

BEST BANK – ING BANK ŚLĄSKI

ING Bank Śląski is one of the biggest banks in Poland, inspiring its clients to make the right financial decisions by providing them with the tools that make banking friendly and transparent. Client needs, service quality, innovative products and services are the main business focus of the bank and its key competitive advantage. One of the innovations launched last year is the multi-currency card.

THE MOST INTERESTING BANKING INNOVATION – mobiRATY It is a mobile solution to digitise traditional off-line sales of loans, developed by Alior Bank. The mobile app allows clients to take out loans off-line on a fully digital, no-paperwork basis. The app makes the loantaking process simple and fast, requiring less than 3 minutes’ time, by

44 polish market

For using advanced and practical technologies to provide clients with greater comfort in the troublesome process of loss adjustment. The innovative solutions make the process faster and more customer-friendly.

THE BEST DIGITAL INSURANCE COMPANY – TU EUROPA For using state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate effective business makeover and set new market trends in digital products and customer service.

FINANCING VISIONARY – FRANZ FUCHS Mr. Franz Fuchs, the CEO of Vienna Insurance Group in Poland and Board Member at VIG, has 15 years’ background on the Polish insurance market.

He is an ardent promoter of the unique multi-branding strategy. Thanks to his personal commitment, Poland has become a leader in innovation within the Group, especially when it comes to digitisation projects.

Partners of the 7th Grand Gala of Banking and Insurance Leaders included: Bank BPH, Atende, Asseco, Visa, Dell EMC, Alfavox, KPMG, ProService, Vivus, Simon-Kucher & Partners, CallPage, Nespresso, Sartorial and Exuma Gym. The Grand Gala took place as part of the Business and Insurance Leaders Meeting 2018. The event was hosted by MMC Polska.

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Events

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION MICHAŁ KALATA, legal expert specialising in personal data protection, information security and intellectual property legislation. He also provides advice on legal aspects of conducting business activity with the use of information technologies and in e-commerce, and advice on consumer protection. He runs a law firm in Warsaw (www.kalata.eu) and the blog ABC RODO (www.abcrodo.pl) with the aim to spread knowledge of the General Data Protection Regulation among Polish businesses.

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olish entrepreneurs associate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of 27 April 2016 - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC - mainly with new obligations and high fines. The latter largely due to alarming media reports.

Meanwhile, there is also a bright side to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In many spheres, the regulation will make it easier to conduct business activity.

As is stated in Paragraph 4 of the GDPR Preamble, the right to the protection of personal data is not an absolute right; it must be considered in relation to its function in society.

The personal data protection model introduced by the Regulation is based on weighing the interests of data controllers against those of the individuals to whom the data belong.

In this article I discuss several aspects of the regulation important to businesses, aspects which have not been touched upon by the media for reasons not fully understood.

MAIN GOALS OF THE DATA PROTECTION REFORM The objective of the reform is to ensure a high level of protection for private individuals and remove barriers to the flow of personal data in the European Union. The latter is often omitted in discussions about the GDPR. Meanwhile, this issue is quite important, especially for firms which operate in more than one EU member country. The harmonisation of regulations and practices in the area of personal data protection across the European Union will benefit such firms and make things easier for them.

Before May 25, 2018, when the GDPR became effective, the European personal data protection system was governed by Directive 95/46/EC. It required member countries to adopt relevant national legislation. The GDPR is a regulation, which means its provisions are applied directly in all member states. New national regulations may only be adopted to make GDPR provisions clearer or supplement them.

The newly-established European Data Protection Board is responsible for ensuring consistency in the application of the new regulation. The Board has the power to issue guidelines and recommendations, and define the best practices.

At present, we are still in a period of increased uncertainty resulting from the novelty of some solutions, but with time there should be more legal certainty. This is, at least, one of the assumptions of the reform.

MORE FREEDOM ON THE PART OF THE CONTROLLER One can hear sometimes that the GDPR is unfriendly to business because it does not contain specific guidelines for documentation and data protection measures.

In my view, it is a positive factor for an efficiently functioning and well-managed organization. When they have freedom to act, competent people are usually able to achieve the goal set to them better, and often quicker, than when they are constrained by a stiff straightjacket of regulations. The GDPR goals are clear, although sometimes badly communicated, so businesses should have no problem with determining what standards of data protection they should be aiming at. They know their field of activity the best and can identify possible problem areas.

From the point of view of a business, the most important thing is to make personal data

protection part of its business processes and give a high priority to it. The firm should first of all ensure that data processing is compliant with the law and transparent for data subjects and that the personal data are adequately protected - as required by the level of risk resulting from their loss or uncontrolled disclosure.

REMOVAL OF SOME BURDENSOME DUTIES The GDPR sets high data protection requirements, which means new duties and formalities for businesses, like for example the need to maintain a record of data processing activity and the obligation to notify the supervisory authority about data protection breaches.

It is worth noting, however, that the obligation to submit personal data sets for registration has been removed. The requirement was burdensome for many firms, especially when sensitive data were to be processed.

Controllers had to wait for the registration of the data sets with GIODO, the Polish personal data protection authority, before they could start processing the data. In practice, the registration process could take a very long time.

Another change to the benefit of businesses is the removal of the formalistic obligation to receive consent for processing sensitive data – like for example data concerning health – in the form of a written declaration.

However, if consent is needed to process such data it should meet the validity requirements set by the GDPR: it has to be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.

The GDPR means not only new obligations but also new opportunities for Polish firms.

They may benefit from the reform. An effort to build a strong reputation as an organisation taking good care of personal data may be a right motivation for firms.

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Regions

IS IT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OR CULTURE? According to Euler Hermes, the average number of days globally that a company takes to collect receivables, as measured by Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), will amount to 67 this year – the longest since 2007. This shows that getting paid by foreign business partners takes longer and longer, meaning a higher risk for exporters and the relaxation of B2B payment discipline.

This news is not good, but does it have a major significance for the Polish economy?

C

urrent analyses and commentaries are mostly optimistic. “The Polish economy is growing the fastest in the region and two times faster than the EU economy,” says President of the Polish Development Fund Paweł Borys. “And Poland’s economic growth is sustainable. We owe it not only to rising consumption, which is stimulated by wage growth, low unemployment and the Family 500+ benefit programme, but also expanding investment and exports.” The Report on the Situation of Micro and Small Businesses in 2017, published this year by Bank Pekao SA, is even more upbeat. It shows that the level of Polish small business owners’ optimism about their firms, development prospects and Poland’s economic situation in general is now the highest in many years. Additionally, they have put access to funding at the bottom of their list of barriers to business.

However, there are different voices in this choir. For example, employers surveyed by the Lewiatan Confederation have put problems with collecting payments from their business customers far down the list of perceived threats to their development prospects. But is the situation really OK if these problems have still been indicated by 70-80% of those surveyed? According to a report published by the Civil Development Forum Foundation (FOR), payment backlogs are a serious problem indeed. More than seven in 10 businesses do not meet their financial obligations to business partners on time because their customers do not pay them. Nearly eight in 10 firms try to solve the problem of late payments on their own. The combined annual cost of payment delays exceeds PLN100 billion. And indeed, a report produced by National Guarantee Fund, “Financing SME Activity in Poland,” claims that distant payment deadlines

46 polish market

and overdue payments are the main reason why micro, small and medium-sized businesses use external financing. Business partners not only demand distant payment deadlines, but then often fail to meet them and pay late. In this situation many micro, small and medium-sized businesses have to borrow money to survive on the market. This often triggers a domino effect – “I have not received my money so I have to defer payments to my suppliers.” The problem spreads.

What do the world’s most reputable professional services companies say? According to research conducted among Polish firms by Coface to find out about their payment situation, all those surveyed conclude written contracts specifying payment deadlines. Despite that, nine in 10 of the businesses are unable to collect their receivables on time. The average delay in payment in Poland is two months. Compared to last year’s report, the average delay in long-overdue payments rose to 62.5 days, although the macroeconomic environment was favourable to businesses. “Late payments have become standard in Polish business,” says Grzegorz Sielewicz, chief economist at Coface Central Europe. “Only 0.7% of the businesses said they had not experienced late payments from their business partners.”

Euler Hermes, a leading global provider of insurance on trade receivables, examined in 2018 the financial situation of one of the key sectors - the food industry - to find out how long Polish food producers wait for their receivables. The conclusions are not positive. Despite Poland’s economic growth driven by a high increase in consumption, food producers now wait on average one week longer to get paid compared to the average of the past five years, which means higher losses for them. The conclusions of another research, conducted in the construction sector, were similar.

BIG InfoMonitor has come up with an interesting hypothesis to explain this riddle: 47% of entrepreneurs think that better economic conditions are not translated into an improvement in payment discipline. This is confirmed by a growing group of firms which do not receive payment for their products or services even as many as 60 days after the due date. “The low payment morality of many businesses, which have the late payment culture in their DNA, irrespective of how much money there is on their account, does not permit an optimistic assessment of the situation,” says President of BIG InfoMonitor Sławomir Grzelczak. “On the market there are quite many firms which do not meet their obligations because their policy is to conserve cash at the expense of others. And economic conditions change nothing in this respect.”

Is there a remedy? There are diametrically different views on this matter. Factoring companies say there is a significant improvement in payment morality when a third party gets involved in the relationship between the supplier and customer. Izabela Kozakiewicz, COO at inviPay, says that nearly 93% of the invoices they finance are paid on time. This is a surprising rate – it seems that behind late payment are not so much real liquidity problems as the practice to pay late and weaknesses, which can be dealt with, in business management. It seems that Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology Jadwiga Emilewicz shares this view at least partly: “We need to know how to identify the reason and entities which fail to settle accounts. But you have to be very cautious in doing so because it is very easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater.” At the same time, she has promised work on developing a mechanism to painfully punish dishonest business partners.

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Finance

POLAND CONTINUES TO ATTRACT INVESTMENT Poland ranks second, after the Czech Republic, as the most attractive investment destination in Europe, according to the 13th Edition of the Economic Survey of the Polish-German Chamber of Commerce carried out in cooperation with 13 bilateral chambers in Poland affiliated with the International Group of Chambers of Commerce. The survey covered 300 foreign companies operating in Poland and a total of 1,700 companies from across Europe. The results were presented at a conference in Warsaw on 11 April.

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he main factor that attracts investors to Poland is its outstanding economic performance, including the 4.6% GDP growth in 2017.

From investors’ perspective, Poland's advantages include EU membership, well-qualified human resources, access to sub-suppliers and ever-improving economic conditions.

However, foreign companies in Poland have noticed that the availability of well-qualified employees is declining. Nonetheless, 90% of investors claimed that they would make another investment in Poland anyway.

One-third of the surveyed businesses (33.8%) thought that Poland had a better economic outlook than a year ago. According to more than half the businesses (54.4%), the outlook would not change. The good economic conditions are also reflected in how the respondents assessed the situation of their own businesses. According to 64.3% of respondents, the situation was good, and 32.5% said it was satisfactory. More than half the respondents (56.6%) expected that the situation of their businesses would improve.

In his comments on the survey, President of the Polish Development Foundation (PFR) Paweł Borys noticed that Poland was a very appealing destination for direct investment.

“Last year was very good in terms of direct investment in Poland.

Investment came from many different directions, including substantially from non-EU countries. Also, we saw growing investment in areas with a higher value added, such as the service industry.

We were the leader in industry job creation, reinforcing Poland’s longstanding image as the go-to place for direct investment, which in Poland comes from many directions. On the one hand, we are seeing considerable interest from Asian – South Korean and Japanese – investors, who view Poland also as a good starting point to expand further into the EU. On the other hand, Poland continues to draw in investment from EU countries. Moreover, we are noticing Brexit-related investment, primarily in the financial sector," said Paweł Borys. Mr. Borys also noted that Poland’s appeal as an investment destination was less and less driven by low labour costs. “While growing wages, which is a welcome development for both employees and the economy, might pose a barrier to investors, this is ultimately a win-win situation due to increasing employee qualifications,” Paweł Borys stressed. In his opinion, both Poland and the EU have good economic outlooks for this year and the next year. This should ensure that the business sector performs well and the wages continue to rise at the current rate.

President of the Polish Investment & Trade Agency Tomasz Pisula added: "As a result of the 335 direct foreign investments announced in 2017, more than 86,000 jobs will be created in Poland. According to fDI Markets studies, this is the best result among all European countries. Also, data show that last year Poland recorded EUR 12.89 billion in foreign direct investment. This puts Poland in second place in the EU in terms of the total value of investment projects. As far as we are concerned, we handle about 20% of the largest investment projects in Poland. American corporations make up most of our portfolio, followed by investors from Germany and the rest of the world.

However, in terms of capital expenditures or the number of projects or jobs, Far Eastern companies, from Japan and Korea, are very likely to supersede German investors. We have also seen some major Chinese investments. Most of the projects involve business services and large accounting centres. Then, there are also massive production projects, mainly in the automotive industry. The economy is clearly thriving and let us hope this continues for as long as possible!

Also, Poland has been clearly experiencing the so-called snowball effect – once a high-profile investor ventures into Poland, the competitors from its industry follow suit.”

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Maciej Proliński

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Medicine

NEW STANDARDS IN THE TREATMENT OF HEAD AND NECK CANCERS PROF. ANDRZEJ KAWECKI, Deputy Director for Clinical Affairs at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Head of the Head and Neck Cancer Department, talks to “Polish Market” about progress in fighting cancer achieved thanks to innovative treatment methods.

Over the past 20 years standards for treating head and neck cancer patients, in particular those in advanced stages of the disease, have changed dramatically. What new methods have you introduced to your clinical practice and how has this translated into an improvement in survival statistics?

The turning point was in the 1990s when concomitant chemoradiotherapy was introduced as standard treatment for advanced head and neck cancers. In 1995, we were the first centre in Poland and one of the first in Europe to start using this method routinely.

Since that time, head and neck oncology has developed a lot, but one would like this progress to be more spectacular. Since the introduction of concomitant chemoradiotherapy the application of this new methods in clinical practice has been quite limited. The only standard therapeutic method is radiotherapy in combination with a therapy targeted at the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) - the signalling pathway responsible for tumour growth. However, this method is only used in patients with contraindications for classical chemoradiotherapy. Palliative chemotherapy for distant metastases and inoperative relapsed tumours has been modified and optimised. Now, the standard treatment method is combining classical chemotherapy with Cetuximab, an EGFR inhibiting drug. Immunotherapy has started to be used in recent years in our discipline, as it has in other cancers. We are placing great hopes on this method. In most cases, immunotherapy is still in the phase of clinical trials, in which we take an active part. But there already are some successes. Two drugs from this group have already found application in treating relapsed head and neck cancers and PM

distant metastases resistant to standard chemotherapy. Another aspect is the development of head and neck surgery. Sophisticated reconstructive techniques are now used routinely. They make it possible to effectively reconstruct large amounts of resected tissue with good functional and aesthetic results, which in turn enables more extensive resections.

Microvascular anastomosis techniques have been used routinely in reconstructive surgeries in our department for many years now.

How do the new treatment methods influence patient survival prognoses?

The introduction of chemoradiotherapy has improved therapeutic results measured by long-term survival by around 10 percentage points. When it comes to new methods, such as immunotherapy, we do not know yet their exact efficacy when combined with radical treatment. We hope, however, that they will significantly improve what has been achieved with chemoradiotherapy.

The past 20 years have seen a technological breakthrough in radiation therapy. The new techniques enable great precision in protecting healthy tissue, which considerably improves treatment tolerance. We have also learned to provide better supportive treatment in the course of aggressive therapies. The role of a proper diet during radiation therapy is now appreciated as is the need to quickly deal with side effects. These changes have revolutionised the results of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Compared to the 1990s, the results of concomitant chemoradiotherapy are now around 20% better in terms of local curability and long-term survival. Therapeutic decisions are taken by interdisciplinary teams. This broader perspective in assessing the patient, for example when it comes to the PM

role of alimentation in the course of aggressive therapies, is based on long-term research and observations.

What is the contribution of your department to the development of oncology in terms of research work?

Several original treatment schemes, which have been adopted in Poland as standard programmes, have been developed at our department. We have taken part in a few dozen large randomised international multicentre clinical trials, including the most important registration trials. We develop surgical techniques, mainly for the skull base. We are a reference centre in this area in Poland.

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How accessible are the latest treatment methods for the average cancer patient in Poland?

There are no restrictions when it comes to what is called golden standard. The patient is treated in the same way in Warsaw, Gliwice, Paris, New York and elsewhere. However, there are some delays in Poland in the case of new-generation drugs used in the palliative treatment of head and neck cancers. We are in the process of launching drug programmes in the treatment of cancers resistant to platinum-based drugs.

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Is it possible for patients from outside Poland to receive treatment at your hospital department?

We treat patients from outside Poland more and more often. Most of them are patients from countries to the east of Poland, but from time to time patients from other countries also appear in our hospital. Commercial activity is not our primary task, but we never • refuse help to anyone.

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SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE IS HUMANITY’S ADVANTAGE PROF. LESZEK PACHOLSKI talks to Marcin Haber about intricacies and doubts concerning artificial intelligence (AI). He provides examples of its application and answers the question whether it is possible to predict its development.

Professor, if we are to talk about artificial intelligence I have to ask you which team you are in: the team of Mark Zuckerberg, who is an advocate of AI, or perhaps the team of Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates, who openly say that this should be stopped because the consequences may be disastrous.

I am on neither side, but I believe that this process is unstoppable. The notion of artificial intelligence has been known for many years.

Thirty years ago Hans Moravec wrote the book “Mind Children,” in which he predicted the development of artificial intelligence for the next 40 years. And the dates given by today’s predictions are equally distant as his. The mythic Singularity, the point in time when artificial intelligence will become more efficient than natural intelligence is like a horizon: we are moving towards it, but it is slipping away.

CEO of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk and Sam Altman have spent USD1 billion to establish the OpenAI company. It builds open-source AI tools. So one can hardly say that Musk is an opponent of artificial intelligence.

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At the same time, however, he clearly points to threats associated with AI. Because there are threats and one should remember about it. The history of humankind shows that everything than man does may pose a threat.

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Could you indicate some spheres where, in your view, artificial intelligence is indispensable?

I have recently talked to the director of a cancer hospital. He told me there is a shortage

of histopathologists in Poland. There are around 60 of them across the country. Sometimes it takes several months to have a tissue specimen examined while the biopsy has taken no longer than 20 minutes. In the case of cancer patients, the waiting time may determine whether effective treatment will be possible. Histopathological examinations could be done by AI programs trained through the machine learning process. The technological progress that has taken place in the past several years already enables this. What is needed to develop such software is access to a large amount of digitised tissue images described by histopathologists.

Several years ago I reviewed a doctoral thesis written in Holland. The author has built a system aiding diagnostics with the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Several Dutch hospitals have used this system for a few years now. If the system has a patient’s earlier images it configures the settings of the MRI scanner and then, if needed, changes them on the basis of the first signals received by the scanner. In the end, it chooses fragments of the image, sometimes very small ones, magnifies them and suggests the physician that they should pay special attention to them.

In the near future, artificial intelligence will probably not find a universal cure for cancer, but it may help us solve many particular problems. However, competent well-educated people are needed for that to happen.

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For the time being, they are still needed.

But for how long? AI will finally reach the Singularity, a point at which it will outstrip man’s capabilities.

Perhaps it will outdistance us in the end. But one should remember that humanity’s strength is something more than merely the intelligence of individual human beings. We have an advantage called “social intelligence.” There are many processes and behaviours which have been imprinted in us by culture and the millennia of our joint fight for survival. The Inuit build excellent ice houses. They do it mechanically, without thinking – they simply know how to do it. Even the wisest outsider would have a problem with building such a good ice shelter.

And certainly, the outsider would not be able to do it in a routine manner, without complicated calculations. In my view, this is the best protection for humankind from the threat of artificial intelligence. There were natural and man-made disasters in the past, but we managed to survive. I am not afraid of artificial intelligence because, apart from intelligence, we also have wisdom, including collective wisdom.

You are involved in the CASUS project. What is it about?

Since June 2017 we have worked with our German colleagues on the project to establish a Polish-German institute dealing with artificial intelligence. To be more exact, research at the institute would focus on problems of cooperation between autonomous smart systems.

The German government is very interested in building such an institute on the Polish-German border – in the “European city” of Goerlitz – Zgorzelec. The project to set up the institute is part of the German plan to build Economy 4.0.

It has been written down into the agreement among partners in Germany’s present ruling coalition.

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PHARMA INDUSTRY’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE INNOVATIVE ECONOMY

Medicine

Innovation is growing in the Polish pharmaceutical industry. Adamed Group, Poland’s leader in new generation pharmaceuticals, has just launched a Pilot Plant, a key link which enables the further streamlining of the company’s entire R&D process. Adamed Group has already spent more than PLN 1 billion on investment and R&D.

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Innovation is the foundation of our organisation. It has a strategic dimension for us. It enables us to implement our mission which is to respond to key challenges of modern medicine. Each day more than 150 scientists work with us on innovative research projects. Together we improve existing therapies and conduct activities promoting preventive care and healthy lifestyles,” Małgorzata Adamkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D., Adamed Group Chief Executive Officer explains.

Innovative R&D projects pursued by Adamed Group have a longstanding history. The Group focuses on two research platforms: oncology, and neuropsychiatry, within which new drugs are developed.

During the Adamed Group Pilot Plant official opening ceremony, ViceMinister of Health Marcin Czech said: “Together with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, we regard the potential of the pharmaceutical industry as a crucial element of the economy. It can become more innovative, develop its export-oriented activities, provide more jobs, and effectively collaborate with universities. We are aware of the role of Polish producers and we do our best to strengthen it.”

The future of the Polish economy lies in science and innovation. Based on Polish knowhow, Adamed Group is able to invest in more and more advanced products which meet the challenges of modern medicine. They more accurately address the needs of patients and also allow the Polish company to compete in world markets using its innovative solutions to its advantage. Adamed Group now produces some 580 new-generation products which are offered to patients in 65 countries from Europe to Asia and the Pacific.

For over a decade now, innovation within Adamed Group has been based on close collaboration with the academic community. The starting point was the inauguration of one of the first science-business consortia with the Jagiellonian University in Poland. Currently the Group’s experts work in partnership with scientists at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Medicum, the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Warsaw University of Technology.

ADAMED GROUP IS A PARTNER OF THE POLISH ECONOMY The pharma industry is one of the engines of the innovative Polish economy. It accounts for 1% of the country’s GDP. The importance of the branch has been appreciated in the government's Strategy for Responsible Development, where healthcare is recognised as one of the key sectors of the innovative economy. Thus the significance of stepped up R&D work in the pharmaceutical industry was underscored.

To reach a higher level of innovation in the Polish economy, it is crucial whether a pharma company conducts all the phases of its R&D process in Poland, notably the first and second phase of clinical trials. For a number of years Adamed Group has been a partner of the Polish economy. In its

The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Adamed Group Pilot Plant in Pabianice. Left to right: Anna Terlecka, Adamed Group R&D Director, Maciej Adamkiewicz, CEO, Adamed Pharma S.A., Marcin Czech, Deputy Minister of Health, Małgorzata Adamkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D., Adamed Group CEO, Krzysztof Habura, Pabianice District Head, Alicja Adamczak, Ph.D., President, Polish Patent Office, Bartłomiej Rodawski, Adamed Group Director of Operations, Board Member, Polfa S.A Pabianice Pharmaceutical Company, Grzegorz Mackiewicz, Pabianice Mayor.

activities it relies on Polish intellectual property thus boosting innovation in the national economy, as well as ensuring health security in terms of the availability of pharmaceuticals in Poland.

Adamed Group has two manufacturing plants in Poland. It provides jobs to an over 2000-strong team. In 2017 it purchased a controlling stake of shares in one of Vietnam’s fastest growing pharmaceutical companies Dat Vi Phu. This has been the biggest Polish FDI in Vietnam to date.

The role of Adamed Group in the Polish economy is best evidenced by facts and figures. In 2016 the company paid a total of PLN 43 million of corporate tax. It has made PLN 45 million of social security contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). A sum of PLN 363 million was paid to companies that act as its Polish subcontractors. The Group owns over 170 patents registered in most countries of the world.

The Adamed Group's growth and its scale of investment has not gone unnoticed by the present Polish government. During the opening of Adamed's R&D centre, which is one of the most modern in Europe, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Mateusz Morawiecki said: “Your firm is a pearl in the crown of the Polish economy. (…) The role of the state is first and foremost not to put obstacles in your path, then to help wherever it can and create conditions for development which will allow you to implement your plans and new technological and medical solutions in the most effective way. It definitely fits into the Plan for Responsible • Development.”

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Medicine

STREAMLINING THE HEALTH SERVICE The government’s promise of a 6% increase in health care spending over the next six years is a step in the right direction but the targets set within the budget should be more clearly defined. That was the main conclusion of the second Health Congress organised in Warsaw on May 24-25 by Employers of Poland.

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It is the state’s responsibility to provide an efficient and effective health service.

More money should be spent on it, but it must be done in a streamlined way.

Health care spending should be treated as an investment and not a cost,” Andrzej Mądrala, Vice President of Employers of Poland, told the congress. Its participants argued that the focus should be shifted from paying for individual procedures to rewarding those units which produce the best treatment results.

Andrzej Mądrala noted that many problems faced by the Polish national health service can be better addressed through fully tapping the potential of both the public and private sectors.

“Together we are responsible for the patient’s well-being and for the population’s health – from prevention to treatment to rehabilitation.

The resources of the public and private sector must be used in a constructive manner,” he said.

Wiktor Janicki, Roche Poland Managing Director, called for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to health care spending, taking into account not just treatment costs but also the cost of sick leave and disability pensions. This requires the active involvement of the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) and the National Health Fund. “The sooner this is taken into account in the making of key decisions in the health care sector, the sooner budget savings can be achieved,” he said.

Other points raised during the congress included the need to invest in digital solutions, to cut red tape to allow health professionals to focus their attention on patients, to develop preventive care, diagnostics and rehabilitation to speed the patients’ recovery.

It was noted that occupational medicine specialists should also monitor diseases of civilisation which - left undiagnosed and untreated - exclude large numbers of workers from

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active employment. Postulates advanced by the participants were passed on to the Ministry of Health.

Addressing issues raised at the congress, Deputy Minister of Health Zbigniew Król said that Poland cannot afford to offer poor quality health care services. “This is something that needs to be changed. Achieving a better use of available resources does require a lot of work. But Polish patients should feel safe,” he argued.

Employers of Poland President Andrzej Malinowski did not beat about the bush when he said that the patient’s welfare seems to have been pushed to the side-lines, while the focus is on spending and pay claims. “Public health affects all sectors of the economy.

Bearing in mind the current labour shortages, many more Poles could be professionally active if the health system were able to help them,” Malinowski said.

Bogna Cichowska-Duma, Director of the Infarma Union of Innovative Employers of Pharmaceutical Companies, remarked that Poland cannot afford to rely on cheap

treatment methods if economic development is to be maintained. “We should use the most advanced forms of therapy which will enable patients to recover within a short period of time. The pharma industry is one of the most innovative industries, and therefore it should have a bigger share in Poland’s GDP,” she noted.

The need to pay more attention to preventive care was underscored by Anna Rulkiewicz, President of the Lux Med group. “Only 1% of health care spending goes toward it. You cannot build a healthy society without prevention,” she said.

Minister of Sports Witold Bańka quoted some worrying statistics, according to which just 39% of the population engages in physical activity, which translates into cardiac and coronary diseases and entails high treatment costs. But on a more reassuring note, National Health Fund President Andrzej Jacyna spoke about some of the latest comprehensive measures being undertaken to improve the treatment of patients suffering from cardiac arrest, including more emphasis on re• habilitation.

Cultural Monitor

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“HUMAN THINGS” – THIS SEEMS TO BE A GOOD MOTTO FOR MAY’S CULTURAL MONITOR. MACIEJ PROLIŃSKI RECOMMENDS NEW RELEASES AND EVENTS.

NEW DISCS “WARSAW PHILHARMONIC & BOMSORI KIM” – WARNER – CD

Maestro Jacek Kaspszyk and the Warsaw Philharmonic have invited Bomsori Kim to take part in recording their latest album in the “Warsaw Philharmonic” series. Successive albums in the series have been released for several years now by Warner Classics. Bomsori Kim is an outstanding young Korean violinist, winner of the Second Prize at the 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. The album, her recording debut, features two different concertos: Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D-minor op. 22 and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A-minor op. 77. Bomsori Kim’s play is characterised by precision and tonal finesse combined with great charisma. The debut album, the recent Sinfonia Varsovia concert in which she has taken part and, interestingly, evidence reflected in her interpretations that she acts on the advice of her professor - “Look at your music with loving eyes” - are already something more than merely a promise for the future. By the way, I would very much like to listen to Bomsori Kim play Shostakovich, or Beethoven, or Bach 20 years from now. I have followed her career with great interest since the Wieniawski Competition.

“HUMAN THINGS” – PIOTR WYLEŻOŁ – POLSKIE NAGRANIA/WARNER – CD

The latest album of Piotr Wyleżoł, an outstanding Polish pianist and composer, has been released as part of the Polish Jazz series (vol. 79). It is a sort of musical essay, a consistent expression of the musician’s artistic road. The compositions, deeply rooted in jazz tradition, contain Polish and Slavic elements in their melodic pattern and atmosphere as well as many allusions to various music genres. Based on advanced harmonies subordinated to the melodic pattern, the pieces certainly go beyond a single style. Wyleżoł has invited reputable musicians to his project: trumpeter Robert Majewski, trombonist Grzegorz Nagórski, bassist Michał Barański and percussionist Michał Miśkiewicz. The artists have enormous output to their credit and an unquestionable position in the music world. And finally, there is a special guest: American saxophonist Dayna Stephens, an exceptional artist who works only with the best. The album begins with a sort of hymn, the only vocal-and-instrumental composition on the disc. The vocal parts are performed by the charismatic duo of iconic Polish jazz vocalist Aga Zaryan and Grzegorz Dowgiałło, a young talented singer.

“SEMI ELECTRIC” – KRZYSZTOF NAPIÓRKOWSKI – UNIVERSAL MUSIC POLSKA – CD

Krzysztof Napiórkowski, a composer, lyricist and singer, who continues the tradition of good Polish song with a lyric that matters, is one of the elite Polish stage artists who combine artistic success with large audiences. The more you listen to his new album, the more you like it. And you need to concentrate to fully enjoy this music. Then, you will discover Napiórkowski as a master of mood and stories about the passage of time and our journey through life.

The album is made up exclusively of Napiórkowski’s own compositions and mostly of his own lyrics. However, it also features three unearthly poems by Dylan Thomas, translated into Polish by Stanisław Barańczak, one poem by Bolesław Leśmian and one by Joanna Kondrat. Napiórkowski, who plays a Fender Rhodes piano and acoustic guitar, is accompanied by young talented musicians, including Kacper Stolarczyk (electric guitars), Mateusz Pliniewicz (violin), Maciej Magnuski (bass) and Daniel Kapustka (percussion). Scottish musicians Claire Campbell (violin), Andre Gibb (violin) and Norman Mackay (bandoneon) appear as special guests.

“LOVING VINCENT,” DIRECTED BY DOROTA KOBIELA AND HUGH WELCHMAN - AGORA – DVD, BLU-RAY

The moving, phenomenal and unique animated film about the life and mysterious death of Vincent van Gogh has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray. In a letter to his brother, quoted at the end of the film, Vincent wrote: “Who am I in the eyes of most people. A nobody, a non-entity, an unpleasant person. Someone who has not, and never will have, any position in society, in short the lowest of the low. Well then, even if that was all absolutely true, one day I would like to show by my work what this non-entity has in his heart.”

I have already written about this Polish film several times in our magazine. Half a year after its cinema premiere, the film still astounds you with its concept and impresses with its form. It moves you deeply because it is a noble artistic attempt at a special kind of initiation into the life of many artists and many people. If you have seen the film in cinema the DVD or Blu-ray version will enable you to watch it again and get an insight into the making of the film. Dorota Kobiela speaks about the several-year-long artistic process in an interview under the tab “Supplements”. And this is where you can also find “Making of,” which shows what work on the film was like.

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Cultural Monitor

WHEN MUSIC, GESTURE AND DANCE = MEANING

The long-awaited premiere of John Neumeier’s “Lady of the Camellias” took place at Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw on April 20. It certainly is the most important event of the ballet season in Poland and an excellent proof that only talented artists can tell us something about man. And then music, a story, gesture and ballet always have a meaning.

John Neumeier, an eminent American choreographer, the director of Hamburg Ballet, has given the Polish National Ballet the right to stage his legendary work. Everyone knows the Lady of the Camellias story from the pages of the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The great love between Parisian courtesan Marguerite Gautier and young bourgeois Armand Duval moves the hearts of all those who have surrendered themselves to its romantic charm. Published in 1948, it has been translated into numerous languages.

There are many ballet adaptations of this touching story, but it was John Neumeier who turned it into a ballet masterpiece. He combined the romantic love between Marguerite and Armand with the musical quintessence of Romanticism – the music of Frederic Chopin. Neumayer’s ballet premiered in Stuttgart in 1978. Then, the choreographer allowed a select number of other ballet companies to stage it. In his work Neumeier used Chopin’s Concerto in F-minor, Fantasia in A-major on Polish Airs, Andante spianato, the Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major and many other pieces. During the first-night performance in Warsaw the compositions were excellently rendered by pianist Krzysztof Jabłoński accompanied by the Orchestra of the Polish National Opera under Grzegorz Nowak. Yuka Ebihara, the first soloist of the Polish National Ballet, gave an amazing performance, showing the whole complexity of the female protagonist.

UNIQUE EXHIBITION

The story of Napoleon Bonaparte is revived at an international exhibition in Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science. Open from April 20 to June 30, it tells about the life and military career of the great tactician and strategist who changed history. The unique exhibition is the largest collection of objects which once belonged to Napoleon ever shown in Poland.

The exhibits are on loan from the vast collection of Fondation Napoléon and Musée de l’Armée in Paris. Multimedia presentations enable the visitors to get familiar with the story behind every item. The exhibition is a journey in time – you meet Napoleon as a soldier, general, consul, emperor and finally an exile. The journey begins with the French Revolution of 1789 and ends with Napoleon’s death. The exhibition also shows Napoleon’s links to Poland and Polish people who strongly believed that an alliance with him would help them regain independence. The Polish links include the emperor’s relationship with Countess Maria Walewska, the mother of Napoleon’s first-born son. The exhibition features more than 100 unique objects from the time of the two empires: Napoleon’s attire, weapons, decorations, furniture and documents related to various aspects of the life of the brilliant commander: from his military strategies and triumphs to personal matters.

INTERNATIONAL JAZZ IN WARSAW Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, a great festival of modern jazz and an original project of Mariusz Adamiak, will be held in Warsaw on July 5-8. While retaining its pioneering character, the festival has grown to become the most important event for the presentation of international jazz in Poland.

This year, the Stodoła club will host the Hudson band composed of jazz legends: John Scofield (guitar), Jack DeJohnette (drums), John Medeski (piano), Scott Colley (bass), Soweto Kinch, a British alto saxophonist and rapper, and Jonathan Finlayson, whom “The New York Times” has called “an incisive and often surprising trumpeter, fascinated with composition.” It seems, however, that the festival will be dominated by piano music. Among the musicians appearing at Warsaw Summer Jazz Days will be Leszek Możdżer, one of the most outstanding Polish jazz musicians, world-class pianist, bold explorer and an original artist with his own distinct music language, and Vijay Iyer, an American Grammy-nominated composer and pianist. He was praised by Pitchfork as “one of the most inventive and vital men in contemporary jazz” while “Los Angeles Weekly” called him a “boundless and deeply important young star.”

“The international position of the Warsaw festival is indisputable. Warsaw is seen as a very bold market for contemporary jazz. Many musicians from around the world know perfectly well what the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days stands for and that you can present here bold art going against the trends,” says Mariusz Adamiak. “The goals of our festival have remained unchanged: to promote contemporary jazz irrespective of the musicians’ nationality and present what is the most creative in contemporary jazz.”

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Construction

BALANCING AGAINST THE LAWS OF PHYSICS An exhibition of stunning and thought-provoking pieces of sculpture by internationally acclaimed artist JERZY KĘDZIORA has just wound up at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida. The artist’s Balancing Sculptures are the only statues in the world which, held in position only in one or two places, positioned, for instance, on a rope, a rod, a peak of the pyramid, still keep their balance defying gravity.

They have been awarded a number of prizes at prestigious exhibitions and competitions (LICC in London, Winter and Spring Salons in Warsaw, Representational Art in Madrid, A Sculpture for the City in Lakeland). His works can be found in museums, galleries and governmental institutions, including the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, as well as in public spaces.

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culptures of balancing figures by Jerzy "Jotka" Kędziora are, within the range of kinetic sculptures, or - in a wider range - of mobile sculptures in contemporary art, a very unique and original chapter. Here, Kędziora is in the forefront of all such types of attempts and activities in the world, and in many of them, he is the only and incomparable one. He has developed many innovative forms of expression and implementation techniques for his works. Using, among others, colloid composites with what is known as cold bronze, he is able to isolate his sculptures from the ground, change their gravitational conditions, and allow them to live by the movement and laws of nature. With his classically modelled sculptures, he neither shocks nor overthrows canons, but makes their expression intriguing and does not allow anyone to walk away from them in peace.

When displayed in bigger sets, they create unforgettable, energizing aerial performances and allow the viewers to approach dreams of rising above everyday life, of levitating.

Kędziora came up with this idea in the 1990s. They were a fragment of the constructed, multithreaded "The Portrait of a Pole in the Times of Political Transformation". They took the shape of forms involved in symbolic attributes of various addictions. They were entwined in combinations created from poles, circles, torn stays or crusted, personified dead objects, died away standing. They were supposed to fall and sag. The first exhibitions of these sculptures were named the "Grotesque of Transformation". The later forms started improving, expanding and enriching the balance and movement aspects of their identity. In the place of the bearers of the symbols of new social phenomena, the artist introduced acrobats, sportspeople, monodrama actors, and the exhibitions turned into aerial shows full of movement and incredible acrobatic skills of their actors. ​In the art history chapter of the human being in movement, there is, once every few hundred years, an incomparable artist who expands this new area with a new, important function, and strengthens it. Historians have thought that the last expression in this chain of activities was created by the great August Rodin and practically ended there.

And now it is expanded by Kędziora with a new, highly original link. ​The artist, based in the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, is often invited with his creations to culturally, socially and geographically diverse regions of the world. His appearances and exhibitions have taken part in important events in Europe. They have played their noticeable part in American Art Shows in Florida, Art Bazel, in California in San Diego, and the biggest exhibitions in New York. The authorities in Miami deemed these appearances as worthy of proclaiming Jerzy Kędziora Day on February 27, and American Poles have decided to honour them with their biggest award - the Gold medal. In the international financial centre in Dubai DIFC and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the balancing materials have challenged Koranic restrictions. In Poland, they have gained street cred. The sculpture entitled "Man Walking over the Brda River", introducing Bydgoszcz to New Europe, has become its pearl and new symbol. The exhibition "Between the Water and the Sky" now on at the Bernatka Footbridge in Krakow has become one of the bigger cultural and tourist attractions in this unique city and is becoming a part of the Network Sculptures artistic activities. The artist is currently initiating new projects. He will be creating the "Polish Public Art Trail" in Singapore and in St. Urban in Switzerland.

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Photo: Bartek Kędziora

www.artbalance.pl www.jerzykedziora.com

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Events

THE 10TH EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CONGRESS A new Europe, committed to cooperation, uniform standards for all, and genuine solidarity, a union of values and actions instead of declarations, and economic growth which respects the needs and dignity of ordinary citizens; the technological evolution and revolution; a strategy for the Polish energy industry; the future of free trade in Europe and around the globe – these were some of the key topics on the first day of the jubilee edition of the European Economic Congress (EEC) held in Katowice on May 14-16. The 10th edition of the biggest business event in Central Europe has once again laid out the path towards the effective tackling of the major challenges of today. This year, the Congress saw a record number of 11,000 guests.

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he Congress was opened by representatives of local authorities: Marshal of the Śląskie Province Wojciech Saługa, Governor of the Śląskie Province Jarosław Wieczorek, Mayor of Katowice Marcin Krupa, and President of the Board of the GórnośląskoZagłębiowska Metropolis Kazimierz Karolczak.

In his opening speech for a series of economic debates, Wojciech Kuśpik – the originator of the ECC and President of the PTWP Group – presented the main strands of this year's Congress discussion, noting that the event was continuing to be a relevant and essential venue for dialogue on Europe’s present and future. “Your presence here proves that the European Economic Congress is continuing to satisfy an authentic need for open debate, and that we are still willing and able to talk,” argued Mr. Kuśpik, pointing out the record-breaking turnout of 11,000 registered guests.

He also addressed the subject of climate protection ahead of the COP24 Climate Summit due in December 2018 in the International Congress Centre, Katowice.

Mayor of Katowice Marcin Krupa made reference to his last year’s welcome speech at the Congress. “In Śląsk, we keep our word. Today, I have the pleasure of welcoming you to a metropolis of two million people, whose dynamic heartland is the city of Katowice,” said Marcin Krupa, mentioning the recent emergence of the GórnośląskoZagłębiowska Metropolis. Participants in the opening session of the European Economic Congress in Katowice, entitled Our New Europe, included the current Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz, the 2009-2011 Prime Minister of Greece George A. Papandreou, the 2010-2012 Prime Minister of Slovakia Iveta Radičová, the retired President of the European Council and 2008-2009 Prime Minister of Belgium Herman Van Rompuy, the 2014-2015 Prime Minister of Finland, 2015-2016 Minister of Finance and Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank Alexander Stubb, and Member of the European Parliament, the 2009-2012 President of the European Parliament, the 1997-2001 Prime Minister of Poland, and President of the EEC Council Jerzy Buzek.

Experts shared their views on the future of the continent. The first part of the debate raised the issue of European solidarity in the face of migration, trade wars, Brexit and climate change.

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Jacek Czaputowicz pointed to the protectionist policies of Western European countries which are in contradiction to basic EU freedoms.

“Before we think about unity in the EU, we should first ask ourselves the question of whether all EU States enjoy the same rights,” stressed Mr. Czaputowicz. He added that “a protectionist democracy” destroys competitiveness. Mr. Czaputowicz also levelled criticism at the different standards applied by some EU States, pointing out that older Community members had been paternalising their younger counterparts.

He stressed that the EU must remain united, as the emergence of a twospeed Europe would lead to its disintegration.

In turn, Herman Van Rompuy observed that Europe had managed to withstand the financial crisis and maintain stability in the face of the migration crisis. In his opinion, however, migration problems will be exacerbated. By 2080 Africa will have a population of four billion people, which is four times more than now. In effect, more and more people will be trying to enter Europe.

Events “Less Europe is not what we need. Rather, we need more Europe and more integration. But this will be impossible without a strong political will. We cannot afford to fall in the trap of a leadership crisis,” argued Herman Van Rompuy.

“10 years ago, we started our Congress debate in a situation of crisis. We have managed to overcome the crisis, but now we are facing challenges which did not even occur to us back then. We are facing the aftermath of Brexit, separatist tendencies within the EU, migration problems, and a different free-market situation, shaped by US policies. The economy remains the point of reference for our thinking about the future,” noted Jerzy Buzek. He also mentioned that the European Economic Congress in Katowice is a place for discussion between businesspeople and the politicians who set the framework for doing business, declaring an honest discussion between the business and political community in Katowice.

During the EEC, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström announced that further bilateral trade agreements would be signed. After Canada and Japan, the EU will enter into agreements with Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. “Being open-minded will pay off for Polish business,” she said.

She also noted that the traditional political lines of division are becoming less relevant today, with the left-right divide being replaced by two opposing attitudes – open-mindedness and close-mindedness.

“Open-mindedness is about not being afraid of what is out there beyond our boundaries, about being willing to embrace change and believing in personal freedoms. It is not only a matter of being open in trade, but also of being open to other people, ideas and innovation. The closed-minded would rather build walls and set boundaries. Now, that is an understandable response. During the crisis, many people lost their jobs to globalisation. These people should be helped, trained and educated, so that they can develop further,” said Ms. Malmström.

She believes that isolation is not a solution. “Remember that 95% of the new economic fabric is emerging outside Europe. Take cars. A car is designed in one place to be manufactured elsewhere. Economic ties are being formed which we should not break up. Let us shape globalisation without letting it shape us,” she said.

Ms. Malmström stressed that the new free-trade agreements would also benefit Polish businesses, both small and medium-sized. “We are implementing an agreement with Canada. About 59,000 jobs have been already created in Poland as a result of trade with Canada. 75% of Polish exporters to Canada are small and medium-sized businesses, which form the foundation of the European economy,” she said.

“I expect the agreement with Japan to be in effect by the end of the year, and I hope that Polish companies will benefit from it. The EU and Japan make up almost a quarter of global GDP,” she added. “These agreements are very important. We are making strategic alliances. Several weeks ago, we closed negotiations on an agreement with Mexico. Singapore and Vietnam will join soon. We also cooperate with Australia and New Zealand. Our circle of partners and friends is expanding,” Ms. Malmström summed up.

Another important subject discussed during the jubilee edition of the Congress was the technological revolution.

The debaters were trying to answer the questions of how the technological revolution would change our lives, what

effects it would have, how to support those who would bear the brunt of these changes, and what would be the role of the state in these transformations. This subject was addressed by former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Justin Yifu Lin, the progenitor of New Structural Economics, which is the theoretical foundation of the so-called Morawiecki Plan, who said: “One of the primary features of a technological revolution, or any revolution for that matter, is radicalism. It is something which usually catches us off guard. A revolution also involves changes in how the goods and services we know are produced and provided,” said Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology Jadwiga Emilewicz. “This has its consequences. 30% of the existing jobs will disappear. This insight should prompt us now to start thinking very actively about a creative approach to education, to make sure there are enough people on the market who can not only use the technologies, but also create them.”

The panellists also discussed the role of the state in these transformations.

According to Yifu Lin, the state should support the incubation of innovative solutions, supply seed capital to fledgling businesses and provide funding for basic research, which businesses reluctantly invest in. He also thinks that the state should focus on education, for example by helping those “made redundant” by technological changes to retrain, as well as on the redistribution of wealth (taxes) to provide relief to those who have borne the brunt of these transformations.

“Pace and speed are important, but the reality today is not that simple. Poland lies at the meeting point of two ‘plates’.

One plate is the highly innovative world which has been investing heavily in research and development for years. The other is the world which also aspires to be innovative, but cannot afford it. Our challenge is to make sure that a larger part of the global population can benefit from the technological revolution,” stated Minister Emilewicz.

President of ING Bank Śląski Brunon Bartkiewicz admitted that he was not particularly fond of the term “technological revolution”. Rather, he would refer to the phenomenon in question as evolution or a wave of changes. Revolution is a finite process. Transformation, though, according to Bartkiewicz, is a perennial process. “Technological changes no longer depend on technology as such, but on our ability to organise and be creative in making use of it. We are at a stage when technology is no longer a challenge. I believe things will simply go forward even faster and better. What we produce is no longer of relevance, since we are able to produce everything,” Bartkiewicz observed. “It is not about finding the answer but about asking the right questions.”

Over the three days, this biggest economic event in Central Europe saw more than 150 sessions and debates featuring more than 900 speakers, and many associated events.

On 15 and 16 May 2018, the Spodek arena hosted a meeting of the Polish start-up scene – the European Start-up Days, featuring visionaries, trail-blazers in innovation, and entrepreneurs from a range of industries. The event aimed to integrate the community of young entrepreneurs with experts, presidents of major companies, investors, and successful businesspeople.

A number of associated events took place as well, including competition galas, informal meetings, presentations, specialist workshops and concerts.

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Events

GET INDIA APRIL 2018

A BUSINESS-MEET FOR POLISH BUSINESSES WANTING TO EXPAND IN INDIA

F

or the first time in Poland, MS Global showcased the current opportunities that the Indian market holds for the Polish businesses through GETINDIA business-meet in the Marriott Hotel, Warsaw on 24 April 2018. The global expansion of a business requires tons of money and contacts- this myth was broken

by MS Global when the solutions and services introduced during the conference made (small and medium enterprises) think that it is possible to get global in a very affordable and realistic way.

The event was inaugurated by the traditional Indian lamp lighting ceremony by the special guests from India Mr. Ran Chakrabarti from the prestigious law firm IndusLaw and Mr. Praveen Kumar from Capgemini. The event started off with its main attraction - an Indian cultural dance performance. Polish companies that have expanded to India later shared their experiences. The panelists included speakers like Dariusz Michalak, the vice-president of Solaris Bus & Coach, and Mr. Jacek Olszewski from ALVO medical furniture.

Various government schemes were introduced during the event to the audience by PARP and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency. Paweł Śliwiński, president of INC S.A., also spoke about various schemes INC corporation offers to SME’s. Taksim Pol sp. z o.o., being the main sponsor of the event, lectured on the current export scenario and how to export globally.

In an interview with Słotki Live who was the television partner, CEO of INK3.DE Mr. Bartosz Kusik said:”I was looking for an opportunity to get into the Indian market. But corruption, politics and other news in the media always scared me. Now that I got introduced to MS Global’s services, I am happy to move forward as it does not involve any risk in terms of money and political corruption. It’s a very good platform for private companies to expand.”

Introducing new markets to the SME’s, MS Global is the only company in Europe to offer outstanding outsourcing services. The major highlights of the services are their affordability and practicality.

Giving office/sales infrastructure, sales-staff speaking the local language and assistance to sell around the world, MS Global offers all the above including three best packages: viz. GET Started 3.0, GET Global 6.0 Get Extra.

Vice-President of MS Global, Mr. Marcin Grzymisławski said in an interview to Słotki Live: “We are convinced about the fact that the world is getting global. If you restrict your business to the region, you will end up closing it soon! Polish products should start selling globally. With the pool of talent in innovation and technology, Poland has so much to offer to the world. It’s the time now to get started….get global!”

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The GETINDIA meet-up helped to bring together companies that were looking for a platform to get global.

This high-end business-meet concluded by introducing GETASIA meet which is planned for 27 September 2018 in the Marriott Hotel, Warsaw. It’s an opportunity for all Polish companies to expand in Asia and grow like never before.

• GETASIA coming soon!

More information - www.msglobal.pl or office@msglobal.pl

Events

“GOLDEN ENGINEERS” O n 28 February 2018, the Polish Federation of Engineering Associations (NOT) hosted at its headquarters in Warsaw the final Gala of the 24th Competition for the title of The Golden Engineer of the "Przegląd Techniczny" magazine.

The originator and organiser of the competition, "Przegląd Techniczny", is one of Europe’s oldest periodicals devoted to general technical knowledge, its first issue dating back to 1866.

In her speech, Ewa Mańkiewicz-Cudny, editor-in-chief of "Przegląd Techniczny", President of the Management Board of FSNT-NOT, reminded everyone that this year they were celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Poland’s Independence: “Independence was regained amidst a number of momentous events, both tragic and highly positive, and Polish engineers played a huge role in the latter of these - the construction of the port in Gdynia, the Central Industrial District, and the rise of the Polish aviation industry. We owe all this, and much more, to the originators of new technologies, who created things nobody had ever seen before. Invented in their minds, the new objects made it onto production lines and found their users. Today, in this digital day and age, we are on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, as we are about to witness the rising role of artificial intelligence. If we want the transition to be conducted wisely and for our benefit, making our lives better, easier and more environment-friendly, we must develop our talents.

Among the outstanding engineers who helped build Poland I’d like to mention Eng. Janusz Tymowski, who worked in Radom’s and Warsaw’s arms factories before WWII. During the occupation, he headed the Arms Department of the Home Army, and after the War, in the 1960s, he was the President of NOT. The 100th Anniversary of Independence is an occasion to remember those who built Poland – both major and minor contributors. We have so much to be grateful for. They include 482 winners of the Przegląd Techniczny Competition.”

Andrzej Dera, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, praising the Competition, which is recognised and esteemed in engineering circles, said that without the contribution of engineers, our economy would not develop, and this will prove vital in the coming years.

“Progress is achieved through the work of engineers, their skills and commitment. I would like to thank the young engineers, who have numerous achievements to their name already when they graduate. The fact that you can achieve success just after you graduate speaks volumes about the level of education at our universities,” he said.

The guests included Alicja Adamczak, President of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, Włodzimierz Lewandowski, President of the Central Office of Measures, Prof. Michał Kleiber, European Commission Ambassador, member of the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2007-15, Robert Nowicki, Deputy Director of the Department of Innovation at the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology, Mariusz Bartosewicz from the Ministry of Investment and Development, Prof. Ryszard Pregiel, President of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for High Technology, Prof. Leszek Rafalski, President of the Main Council of the Research Institutes, President of the Academy of Engineering in Poland, and Prof. Arkadiusz Mężyk, Rector of the Silesian University of Technology, other representatives of the worlds of science and business, and members of Engineering Associations operating under NOT. Congratulatory letters were sent by Adam Struzik,

Left to right: Andrzej Dera, Jerzy Śniadek, Ewa Mańkiewicz-Cudny, Waldemar Siwiński, Prof. Michał Kleiber and Leszek Świdziński.

Marshal of the Mazowieckie Province (the letter was read out by Wiesław Kołodziejski, President of Mazowiecki Fundusz Poręczeń Kredytowych Sp. z o.o.) and Prof. Maciej Chorowski, PhD, Eng., Director of the National Centre for Research and Development, among others.

The winners received their statuettes and diplomas from Andrzej Dera, Prof. Michał Kleiber, and Ewa Mańkiewicz-Cudny. While the “Golden”, “Silver”, “Outstanding” and “Young” Engineer of the Year titles were decided by the readers from among the candidates presented throughout the year in "Przegląd Techniczny", the “Honorary Golden Engineer” title was granted by the editorial board. This title, which has been around since the 10th Competition, is granted to graduates of universities of technology, whose extensive knowledge and pragmatism as engineers has helped them achieve success in other professions. The winners, who included an opera singer, an outstanding physician, a stand-up comedian, a journalist, a banker, and a politician, emphasised that the way of thinking they learned during their technical studies was of great help in achieving success in their respective fields. This year the title went to Waldemar Siwiński, PhD, Eng., honorary doctor of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute", President of the Perspektywy Educational Foundation, graduate of the Faculty of Electronics of the Warsaw University of Technology, co-founder of the "Bajtek" computer magazine (in the 1980s), and the Perspektywy Ranking of general secondary schools, higher education institutions and MBA’s (in the 1990s), and author of the book “Chernobyl” about the 1986 disaster; Janusz Śniadek, MSc, Eng., since 2011 an MP for the Law and Justice (PiS) party, graduate of the Faculty of Naval Architecture of the Gdańsk University of Technology, an architect at the Construction Department of the Gdynia Shipyard, an activist in the Solidarity trade union, President of the company branch of Solidarity, and Deputy President and President (2002-2010) of the National Committee; Leszek Świdziński, a tenor, soloist of Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw, who began his studies at the branch of the Warsaw University of Technology in Płock, but eventually graduated from... the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (and refined his skills in International Master’s Courses at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg); in 1989 he made his debut on the Warsaw Chamber Opera stage, and in 2003 he established, along with his wife Beata Wardak, the European Foundation for the Promotion of Vocal Arts.

The Gala of the 24th Competition for the title of The Golden Engineer of the "Przegląd Techniczny" Magazine was concluded with a mini recit• al of this year's Honorary Engineer.

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Food Industry

FAIR TRADE

EMPATHY OR SNOBBERY?

It has been around for some time, but it is still met with mixed reception. Indeed, Fair Trade evokes various associations.

For merchants, it is just another symbol for a product. For customers, it is something which guides their choice of product – be it coffee, chocolate, cocoa, rice, or clothing.

A

consumer who is familiar with the concept of Fair Trade will be guided by empathy towards farmers and small food or clothing producers somewhere in the southern hemisphere. When reaching for a Fair Trade certified product, there might be a thought back in your head saying: “I will buy this, as this way I am helping someone who is struggling against corporate exploitation, someone who will be paid more for Fair Trade certified products”.

Andrzej Żwawa, President of Fairtrade Polska, a member of the Polska Ekologia (Polish Ecology) Association, explains how it actually works: “Data from a couple of years ago show that Fair Trade producers are paid an average of 19% more than farmers selling their produce on the conventional market. Of course, this figure is expressed in average terms, so it might be unreliable given that agricultural co-operatives and Fair Trade certified production businesses that hire workers are present in more than 70 countries of the so-called global South, where living conditions may vary considerably. It is worth mentioning, however, that the great majority of Fair Trade producers can benefit from the so-called guaranteed minimum price, which protects them against abrupt price drops. This minimum price is updated every couple of years. Notably, if the market price is higher than the guaranteed minimum price, the Fair Trade merchant must pay the former. Aside from that, the system incorporates the Fair Trade premium – extra funds paid to co-operatives or worker committees on plantations. This money is allocated for major community projects involving, for instance,

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healthcare, access to drinking water and the construction and upgrading of schools. Decisions on how to allocate theses extra funds are made jointly by workers or at co-operative General Assemblies through voting. The only task of the committees is to monitor the projects.

Premiums in 2016 were worth more than PLN 600 million globally. Even though this money does not go directly to individual households, it certainly contributes to better living standards for farmers and workers. There is also an interesting trend where an increasing number of projects is dedicated to modernising production or making a transition to environmentally friendly cultivation methods.

In addition to its financial role, the Fair Trade movement actively counteracts discrimination, forced labour, slave child labour and hazardous work. These issues are not easily measurable, but for producers and workers, they hold considerable value.”

For customers, the Fair Trade slogan might be yet another unknown package label or symbol for ECO, BIO or Organic food. But the idea behind these products is to ensure food quality and safety through chemically free growing methods, whereas Fair Trade is about taking social responsibility for the lives of farmers from developing countries, as well as for the environment in which they dwell and work.

So, what are the chances of both these symbols being placed on the product?

“Fair Trade standards are designed with the sustainable development of agricultural communities in mind. Since this would not be possible in a degraded environment, the standards also incorporate a range of regulations on minimising the impact of production on the area in

which the producers live. So, while Fair Trade certificates are not strictly related to environmental production, they have a number of things in common with environmental certificates, such as the prohibition of GMOs, training in the production and use of organic fertilisers, responsible water management and the prohibition of using selected chemicals. This makes it a bit easier for Fair Trade certified producers to obtain environmental certificates. We should remember, though, that we are talking about farmers from developing countries, which are in dire straits economically. In some cases, it is impossible for some farmers to obtain environmental certification because conventional farming sites are located near their farms. Nevertheless, almost half the global Fair Trade coffee has extra environmental certification. Last year, Poland was visited by representatives of ASOGUABO – a banana producers’ co-operative from Ecuador – which invests the lion’s share of its Fair Trade premiums in support for affiliated farmers who are under environmentalcertification review. Ultimately, all the products of the co-operative are meant to have both certificates. This would not be possible, however, without good long-term relations with clients. Fair Trade encourages farmers to engage in environmentally friendly production also by providing a higher minimum price for environmentally friendly products – for instance, the minimum price of coffee is higher by about 25%,” Andrzej Żwawa explains.

This is a beautiful and highly commendable idea worth pursuing in our everyday lives... buying coffee, chocolate and rice with an added value. Added by ourselves!

•

Food Industry

BLACK IS BACK AS ECO4ME

THE EARTH APPLE IS ON THE RISE Black food is back in fashion. This time, it is not only black rolls, waffles, Silesian dumplings and beans, but also black lemonade, burgers, pancakes, cocktails, panna cotta with black sesame, and even black ice cream. After the Oscar gala, banquet guests in Hollywood dined on black truffles as well as black rice, among other black specialities.

T

o achieve the black colour in food, chefs use bamboo or coconut charcoal, and often also Cephalopod ink. The latter is not a preferable option, through, as it has a slightly fishy aftertaste.

“That’s why it is much better to use basketwillow (Salix viminalis) charcoal,” said Marcin Pieczyński from Eco4Me, a member of the "Polska Ekologia" (Polish Ecology) Association.

The key secret behind it is the very rich mineral composition of our green charcoal, achieved through special cultivation methods.”

The basket-willow plantations that provide the company with the material for activated charcoal are located in the fields owned by the Dolina Mogilnicy Co-operative and selected specifically for this purpose. The soil there is rich in highly valuable micro- and macroelements. During their growth, plants take in the nutrients and store them in their tissues. Notably, the processes involved in the production of activated charcoal do not eliminate these nutrients. Actually, the nutrients are condensed in the final product.

Studies have shown that the addition of activated charcoal to food (about 0.3-0.5%; for instance, for human consumption it may be bread with activated charcoal) results in increased food absorption rates, a stronger immune system and thereby better health. Also, this food deactivates the mycotoxins contained in food and bonds heavy metals, as found by the studies conducted at the Department of Poultry Farming, the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, and the Department of Pig Farming, the Poznań University of Life Sciences.

People used to say that black bread is the worse kind. Now, the phrase takes on a whole new meaning, and it is indeed a positive one.

Eco4Me is an innovative company which has its roots (formerly as Jamar-Onion Sp. z o.o.) in the agricultural holding of Stanisław and Anna Grzelak from Fabianów. Once dealing primarily with vegetable farming, now they are an allgreen business providing agricultural produce for Eco4Me. The company sources young barley and wheat, and topinambour from them. Today, the buildings of the former vegetable and fruit storage are home to the green business run by

Marcin Pieczyński, the grandson of the founders. The company deals with the grinding and confectioning of green dried fruit and vegetables from its own plantations and sourced externally.

“We place special emphasis on the quality of sourced materials,” said Marcin Pieczyński, the company’s owner. "We’re trying to stay in close touch with our growers to know their production processes inside out. We know the location of their fields and how they cultivate these fields. We monitor the seeding processes and crops quality at each stage of plant growth on a regular basis.”

Two products from the broad range offered

by Eco4Me are particularly worth mentioning – activated charcoal and topinambour.

Increasingly popular, topinambour (Helianthus tuberosus L.), also called earth apple, the Jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke (due to its beautiful sunflower-like blossoms), has been underappreciated in Poland despite its considerable healing potential and exceptionally easy cultivation. The whole plant can be used for human food or for animal feed, or as a substrate to grow edible mushrooms, such as the oyster mushroom. Also, their stem can be used for the production of high-calorie granulated feed.

“I learned from dieticians that the sunchoke bulb is a universal remedy for many afflictions.

It is recommended for post-chemo patients, as it fortifies the immune system. The inulin in sunchoke supports the development of good bacteria, which improve the absorption of vitamins

and eliminate harmful microorganisms, thus giving the body more strength to deal with a number of diseases.

The bulbs are rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, and E, as well as macro- and microelements, including silicon, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. They also contain pectin (which improves intestinal motility) and amino acids, as well as inulin, which make them a valuable diet addition for people with diabetes, especially in the early stages of the disease.

Inulin is converted into fructose (a simple sugar), which is well-tolerated by people with diabetes. It helps to regulate blood sugar levels, which is highly welcome if you have type 2 diabetes or are insulin-resistant. No wonder that the health benefits of topinambour have been embraced by the pharmaceutical industry.

Topinambour is also known for its detoxicating properties, as well as for supporting the immune system and helping to lose weight. Topinambour is also a good source of silica, which is very good for our skin, hair and nails.

Raw bulbs work perfectly as a refreshing, sweetish addition to salads and cottage cheese.

When boiled or baked, they are a good substitute for potatoes. Topinambour can also be added to tea, which is why it is called the northern citrus,” Marcin Pieczyński said.

So, as we can see, there is ample evidence that cooking has grown to become an art. Indeed, it feeds into the noir trend started by cinema.

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