5th Congress of Polish Clusters

Paweł J. Nowicki Paweł J. Nowicki, an educated economist of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.

One of the people behind the idea to create the BioTechMed Mazovia Cluster. President of the Board at the BTM Innovations Sp. z o.o, and the cluster’s coordinator. He deals with creating and managing relations with companies, academic and public partners, creating academic-industrial consortiums, and negotiating conditions of contracts. He has carried out the commercialization of the research results of inter alia the Medical University of Warsaw, PAS Institute of Experimental Biology, and the Institute of Cardiology in Anin. He has lead the creation of four technological companies: Simplicardiac Sp. z o.o., Glia Sp. z o.o., IMNTA Sp. z o.o., and Humon Sp. z o.o. with investors, as well as the BM Conulting Sp. z o.o. consulting company. He is one of the founders of the Innowacyjna Polska Foundation (Innovative Poland) www.innowacyjna.pl which goal is to undertake actions related to improving innovativeness and increasing the competitiveness of Polish education and economy. The co-creator and organizer of the Managing Innovation international conferences www.managinginnovation.pl. Since 2010 he is related to the Nencki Institute where he is responsible for the transfer of technology and cooperation with the industry. A graduate of the TOP 500 Investors program at the Stanford University. He is a member of the commission on clusters of innovative enterprises at the Polish-American Innovation Council.

Katarzyna Błachowicz Katarzyna Błachowicz is a coordinator of the Cluster of Waste Management and Recycling - National Key Cluster. Recycling Co-operation Center - non for profit system coordinates, among others actions, Cluster's strategy. The cluster is a platform for cooperation and establishing connections between enterprises, scientific centers, local government, administration and institutions from the business environment in order to implement the policy of innovation and development at both national and regional level.

Katarzyna Błachowicz is a specialist in the field of environmental protection. She has 10 years of experience as an editor-in-chief of the "Recycling" journal, after which she became the editor-in-chief of the "Energy and Recycling. Circular economy" monthly - a result of the fusion of the two magazines. She is currently a member of the monthly Program Council. She participated in contests related to recycling as a member of the jury - among others in the "STREFOWA" project: "Polish food waste hackathon and #reducefoodwaste projects. Moreover, Katarzyna Błachowicz publishes articles in the field of recycling, waste and the circular economy. She also organizes and moderates industry debates, conferences and events.

Małgorzata Darowska acts as the Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Infrastructure for UAS and the Central European Drone Demonstrator Program (CEDD) (as part of the SOR Żwirko i Wigura Program). A lawyer, legal advisor, graduate of the Jagiellonian University, she cooperated with Polish and international law firms, specializing in new technologies, telecommunications, aviation, defense and R&D, recommended in international legal rankings in the fields of IP and TMT. Author of numerous publications in the fields of her professional practice and in the field of industrial policy

Martyna Gatkowska, PhD Student, Project Manager. She has 10 years experience in research and demonstration projects execution and management. Between 2016 – 2019, she was the Project Manager for demonstration project, co-financed by the European Space Agency, which goal was to deliver comprehensive, satellite data based service targeted for Agricultural Sector. She accomplished post-graduate studies in project management and commercialization as well as she obtained the IPMA Project Management Certificate. She was co-author of winnig idea in Space3ac acceleration programme and further she was engaged as an Mentor in two acceleration programmes and many hackathons. Since 2019 she is employed in National Contact Point for Research Programmes of the European Union, where she is coordinating the project targeted to polish medium and small size enterprises as well as she is playing the role of expert in Innovation for SMEs.

Łukasz Górecki – Manager SA&AM Cluster For over 14 years he has been professionally engaged with Katowice Special Economic Zone, where firstly he has been working with domestic and foreign investors. Currently, he is a Manager of Silesia Automotive & Advanced Manufacturing Cluster (SA&AM). Within this role, he is responsible for building a cooperation network between the automotive industry, suppliers of new technology for industry, scientific and research institutions and the education sector. He is a Member of the Council of the Silesian Competence Center of Industry 4.0 and project coordinator of the Sector Council for Automotive Competence. In his free time, Łukasz enjoys motorization and motor sports.

Rafał Jaczyński started in cyber security long before it became hip. As a Chief Information Security Officer he created and led expert teams in companies such as Polkomtel, Orange, Vodafone and Staples Solutions, and as a head of PwC cyber advisory practice in Central and Eastern Europe he advised top international companies in communications, media, energy and financial sectors. Now in Huawei he is responsible for cybersecurity in 28 countries.

Agnieszka Jakubiak – Coordinators' Department Area Coordinators' Section

Agnieszka Jakubiak received her PhD degree from Warsaw University of Technology in 2007. After the PhD sho worked at Merck Poland , a large multnatinal player in the chemical and farmaceutical industry. Later she joined a research institute, where she perfrmed research of the gasificatin of biomasse and waste, biofules and others founded by bth natonal and international programmes. She also dealt with the investment projects in the area ofinnovation technlogy at IDA. At The National Center for Research and Development she is responsible for the area of energy, renewable energy sources and circular economy.

dr Anna Kacprzyk, Innovation and Business Ethics Manager, Employers Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Companies INFARMA Anna Kacprzyk holds a PhD in economics from the Faculty of Management at the University of Lodz. With years of managerial experience in public institutions, she has been responsible for implementing programmes in the field of innovation and business support, investments, cooperation between science and business, and corporate social responsibility. She has cooperated with business environment institutions, research centers, business organizations and the institutional environments. Currently, she is responsible for innovation, clinical research and business ethics at INFARMA.

Marcin Kropidłowski – member of the board of the Bydgoszcz Industrial Cluster. Marcin has over 20 years of hands on experience in the plastics processing industry, metal processing and production of injection moulds (automotive, FMCG, packaging, household, medical, baby products etc.) in large corporations (Gillette / Procter & Gamble, OKT / keeeper) both locally in Poland and abroad. He managed 3 manufacturing plants operating in Poland, Germany and Belgium.

He was responsible for many large projects to reorganize and drive for operational excellence as well as greenfield or facility shutdown projects. He graduated with the engineering and master’s degrees from the Faculty of Organization and Management at Lodz University of Technology. In addition, he graduated with a diploma at Harvard University. He completed coaching trainings at Wszechnica UJ and Erickson College.

Wojciech Moczulski – prof. dr hab., full professor at the Silesian University of Technology, director of the Institute of Fundamentals of Machine Design of the Silesian University of Technology; member of the board of SkyTech Products sp.z o.o. - an innovative company implementing commercial projects in the field of ICT and mechatronics; member of the Federation of Aviation Companies Bielsko managing the Silesian Aviation Cluster. He deals with advanced applications of artificial intelligence and particularly knowledge engineering, sensory and vision systems especially used in mobile robotics, robotic inspection and diagnostics of extensive critical infrastructure objects, development of autonomous systems (vehicles, UAVs) as well as the design and implementation of comprehensive mechatronic systems. Skillfully organizes the cooperation of his university with enterprises. He has developed many European and national projects in which he participated as a manager or main contractor. He promoted 15 doctors of technical sciences. Author of about 300 publications: monographs, articles in magazines and conference papers. Co-author of four patents, including one European. Private: licensed pilot of tourist planes.

Piotr Olesiński – President of the Management Board of ITM Poladna SA - A graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin.

In 2005, he began working with Kwadra as a construction manager

From 2006, he cooperated with Vantage Development S.A. as a Project Manager - He supervised the construction of investments, including Parkowa Ostoja and Centauris in Wrocław.

In 2008 he started taking the first steps in building his own businesses. He focused on creating innovative products and their patent protection.

With the company ITM Poland S.A. has been associated since 2008 as a Managing Manager and Management Board Proxy. In November 2012, he was appointed the Vice President of the Management Board, and since October 2013 he has been the President of the Management Board of ITM Poland SA.

Initiator and originator of many innovative programs - in 2014 he was the coordinator of the project - implemented by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development Department of Competitiveness and Innovation - Under Protection - Innovations for You.

A fan of motorization - riding a motorcycle - and everything related to IT.

TM Poland SA is an IT and technical company from the security industry, it has been implementing innovative ICT systems and solutions for many years. Specializes in receiving, analyzing and transmitting signals from electronic monitoring systems. He designs, implements and supports the latest technical protection and Internet of Things solutions. Uses the latest solutions in the field of the broadly understood concept of monitoring.

Thanks to the Intelligent Monitoring Center based on innovative telecommunications and IT technologies, ITM Poland SA offers completely new services on the market in the area of monitoring, security of persons and property, IoT and ensuring the continuity of technical customer infrastructure.

Luk Palmen is partner and manager of InnoCo. He provides strategic management consulting and coaching for companies and research institutes. He is a member of supervisory boards of technology companies. For more than 10 years he has been involved in innovation management, SME management, cluster management and technology commercialization. He organized and provided over 100 conferences, seminars and workshops. He promotes innovative business cooperation models. He is author and co-author of guides on foresight, technology commercialization and clusters. He is innovation and cooperation manager of the Silesia Automotive & Advanced Manufacturing Cluster. In the seed fund Technology Accelerator Gliwice he is responsible for assessing R&D projects in the early growth stage and supports their preparation process towards the appropriate investment readiness level.

Joanna Podgórska
As director of Innovation and Business Development Department of PGNiG SA her responsibilities comprise development of collaboration with startups, management of innovation projects in the company as well as in the PGNiG Capital Group. She is in charge of energy efficiency policy. Joanna Podgórska is a graduate of Cracow University of Economics. She has completed, among others, postgraduate studies Academy of Companies at Warsaw School of Economics, Academy of Leadership Psychology at Jacek Santorski's Institute of Business Psychology and postgraduate studies of Project Management at Kozminski University.

Between 2003 – 2018 while working in The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development she was responsible, between others, for a creation and implementation of development activities among students, entrepreneurs and in the public sector as well as for the development of business environment institutions and clusters.

Daniyar Seidaliyev - Counselor, Embassy of Kazakhstan to Poland
Daniyar Seidaliyev graduated from the University of Warsaw (Poland), Economic Sciences (MA) in 2000 and University of Finance and Management, Warsaw, Poland, (MBA) in 2009.

After graduation, he worked in the private sector. In 2003, Daniyar joined Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as attaché, Department of Europe and Americas. Since then, he has been serving at the diplomatic service, including his work at the Embassies of Kazakhstan to Poland and Canada and central office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on several positions (from attaché to the Deputy Director, Department of the Americas).

In July, 2019 he returned to Warsaw. Now, he serves on the position of counselor at the Embassy of Kazakhstan to Poland and deputy head of the mission.

Marek Szołtysik PhD, Eng – Research Director of Wroclaw Technology Park; didactician and scientific researcher at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences; Manager of Chromatography Laboratory, at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences; consultant/auditor/trainer at food technology, implementation of food safety systems (ISO 22 000, IS0 9001, HACCP, GMP/GHP). Member of Analytical Chemistry Comittee at the Comission of Chromatography and Electromigartion Technioques, Polish Academy of Science; National Dairy Federation (Arbiter of the National Milk Products Evaluation Committee) and Polish Associacion of Food Technologists. His professional interests are focused  on food components exhibiting biological activities. His research is focused on proteins, their hydrolysis and the characteristics of released biopeptides revealing antioxidant, chelating, antihypertensive and antidiabetic activities.

Wojciech Trojanowski Wojciech Trojanowski holds a masters degree in economics. He graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics and is a scholarship holder of the University of Vienna in the field of business economics. He started his professional career at the STRABAG headquarters in Austria in 1996 and since then he has been professionally associated with STRABAG in Poland. He has been a member of the Management Board since 2007, and since 2013 he has been a part of a two-person Management Board managing the activities of the STRABAG Group in Poland. During that time, the company became the second largest construction company in Poland, operating in all sectors of construction - infrastructure, general, bridge, railway and hydrotechnical, employing over 5 thousand employees. During the 32 years of its presence on the Polish market, STRABAG has carried out a number of key road projects, making a significant contribution to the construction and development of infrastructure in Poland.

Wojciech Trojanowski is the Vice-President of Pracodawcy RP [The Employers of the Republic of Poland], Chairman of PlatformaBudowlana [The Construction Platform], member of the Board of the Polish-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as member of the Board of the Railway Business Forum. Winner of numerous industry awards. He is also an auditor, constantly improving his qualifications in the area of financial audits.

Wojciech Trojanowski has been actively engaged in activities aimed at the stable development of the construction sector in Poland for many years within industry organisations and the Construction Platform of Employers of the Republic of Poland. He participates in providing opinions on legislative projects aimed at normalising mutual relations between the public sector and general contractors, who are among the largest employers in Poland. He is involved in projects/activities aimed at preparing the Polish construction market for functioning in the years to come, especially in the new EU perspective, when EU funds for infrastructural investments will be limited. He participates in works aimed at the development of vocational education in Poland.

Wojciech Trojanowski is involved in helping the Centre for Blind Children in Laski through the company’s permanent presence in construction projects at the Centre and granting patronage to the Music School in Laski. This is also a form of personal commitment, because of the voluntary work in which the management of the company participates. He also supports social foundations which help terminally ill children.

Przemysław Wojdyła
Vice President and Member of the Board of the West Pomeranian Chemical Cluster Green Chemistry in Szczecin.
A manager with almost thirty years of experience running a business and managing large teams.
Przemysław Wojdyła in the West Pomeranian Chemical Cluster "Green Chemistry" in Szczecin in the period from April 2013 is responsible coordinating international and national projects including building teams in organization.

He use his extensive experience by: implementing, in cooperation with SME sector, activities related to management consulting, restructuring and implementation of project management. Starting from 2015, he is responsible in the Cluster for the implementation of technological audits in companies that are members of the cluster.

Actively involved in the work of many international biotechnology teams. He actively promotes his commitment and experience in this sector in Poland, trying to create a new approach to bioeconomy using innovative technologies that have an impact on significant and forecasted development in the coming years.

For over 8 years, he has been actively involved in all activities for Polish clusters and general whole cluster environment.

As a vice president co-managing the West Pomeranian Chemical Cluster Green Chemistry, which has the status of a National Key Cluster since 2015, he works for all members of cluster representing the chemical industry in Poland.

Sylwester Wyka was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of Aviation on January 1, 2018. Earlier, from May 2016, he was Director of the Center for Transport and Energy Conversion at the Institute of Aviation. He has many years of experience in both design and team management in science and research units and manufacturing companies in the aviation and automotive industries, acquired, among others, in GE Company Poland - GE Aviation Engineering Design Center and in Gerda Hydomat S.A.

He combines technical and managerial skills supported by extensive professional experience in many areas. In his professional career he worked, among others, as a sales engineer, mechanical engineer, reaching the position of production department manager or engineering team manager on the design of the trailing edge of the Airbus A350. Director Wyka is the representative of the Institute of Aviation in the Working Group of the Żwirko i Wigura Program and a member of the Association of Unmanned Aerial Systems. He is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Production Engineering, in the field of Automatics and Robotics. Recently he is interested in the subject of cooperation between science and business entities with special focus on entry barriers for such cooperation.

Krzysztof Żarnotal
Proxy of the Board for Circular Economy, Synthos S.A.
Krzysztof Żarnotal graduated from Faculty of Law and Administration of Jagiellonian University , International Center of Management of Warsaw University (Management and Marketing) and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (MBA). Kościuszko Foundation scholar at Alliance College Cambridge Springs. He has profound experience in management and strategic communication - both gained in Polish and international companies. He has deep knowledge of public and private sector. He was CEO of PIT Radwar S.A., PWPW S.A., Kaprinż Ltd Company, Wydawnictwo Przekrój sp. z o.o., Synergi Ltd Company, Nida Gips sp. z o.o., among others. He counseled for the banking, IT and energy sectors (PGNiG Serwis sp. z o.o. ., PKO BP S.A., BOŚ S.A., OKI Systems Polska Ltd., among others).