Healthcare and its transformation towards new technologies depend heavily on the currently negotiated new EU budget perspective and funds earmarked for digitisation, social measures and healthcare. A portion of EUR 9 bn under the “Digital Europe” programme is likely to be invested in the healthcare sector. Reinier Schlatmann, Philips CEO for Central & Eastern Europe, emphasised that in order to meet the challenges faced by healthcare, it is essential to develop eHealth services, make decisions supporting their development and establish cooperation between entities from the healthcare sector.

“Digital transformation in healthcare is a must. This is one of the key directions if you think about the global healthcare trends as aging population, rise of chronic diseases and limited healthcare funds. Hence, there is a need to connect data within a system and make them easily accessible and transferable between various users, from the GP to the hospital or from patient homes to doctors at remote locations,” Reinier Schlatmann, Philips CEO for Central & Eastern Europe, told the Newseria Biznes agency.

As demonstrated in the “Patient in the digital world” report by PwC, digitisation and new technologies such as telediagnostics, artificial intelligence, dedicated applications and mobile devices will play an increasingly important role. As many as 60 percent of patients from Central and Eastern Europe are ready to use telemedicine already now.

“First of all, digitisation by providing data will enable improving treatment outcomes and quality of care. Secondly, it will improve access to healthcare – for instance, through telecare solutions connecting doctors and patients beyond geographical barriers. Last but not least, it will provide better data for the healthcare professionals, but also for the patients themselves, giving them more control over their own health,” said Reinier Schlatmann.

One of the solutions giving patients greater control over their medical data and the treatment process in Poland will be the Online Patient Account (OPA), due to be launched next year. The OPA will be a free-of-charge online app providing access to examination results, future appointments, patient history and medical leave certificates, all in one place. This is one of the governmental projects concerning healthcare digitisation. This year, a pilot e-prescription project was also carried out. From January 2020 electronic prescriptions are to be issued by all physicians in Poland. The next pilot project will concern electronic referrals and medical leave certificates, due to be launched on 1 December 2018. Eventually, these new electronic documents will  completely replace the traditional L4 forms.

Jan Olbrycht, MEP thinks that healthcare and its transformation towards new technologies will depend heavily on the currently negotiated new EU budget perspective and funds earmarked for digitisation, social measures and healthcare.

“We hope that the new perspective will provide funds to actually strengthen this sector. On the one hand, this is about supporting various social programmes, based on the new pillar passed in Gothenburg which the European Social Fund focuses on. This time it will be extended to include elements typical for social measures and those related to healthcare,” said Jan Olbrycht.

In line with EC’s proposal, the new perspective will include the launch of the “Digital Europe” programme, the first such programme in history which will provide EUR 9.2 bn for digitisation projects in the years 2021-2027. A portion of the funds is to be spend on healthcare digitisation.

“The programme is still in design. On the one hand, support will be provided for basic scientific research, which is a continuation of Horizon 2020. On the other, we are talking about measures related to the so-called InvestEU investments, which are guarantees for various types of companies. I think that in the next perspective the healthcare sector will receive more considerable support than in the current perspective for 2014-2020,” said Jan Olbrycht.

Reinier Schlatmann, Philips CEO for Central & Eastern Europe, makes it clear that the digitisation of healthcare poses a number of challenges, e.g., in relation to data privacy and security, as well as reimbursement of telemedicine services. He explains that cooperation between different stakeholders in this sector is crucial for the successful digitisation of healthcare.

“The challenges faced by the healthcare sector are so serious, that no entity alone can meet them on their own. This is why we are partnering with government authorities, academic society and other healthcare stakeholders, to make sure that we consider all aspects and develop the best possible solutions,” said Reinier Schlatmann.

Professor Marek Gzik, Dean, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, adds that EU funds have also helped further cooperation between science and business, resulting in some collaborative projects.

“The projects we are now after at the University are mostly implemented in partnership with business entities. Our next milestone undertaking is an EU-funded project we’ll be working on together with Philips. This project will help us build over a dozen superbly equipped laboratories to significantly enhance our scientific capabilities,” Professor Marek Gzik said.

Simona Curpan, Promotion Expert, Bucharest Ilfov Regional Development Agency, was excited to tell that in Romania, too, collaboration between public and private healthcare providers has translated into improved quality of life for patients, as it has generated innovative healthcare solutions. The Ilfov County that surrounds Bucharest also has many healthcare investment projects supported from Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013. These include projects to modernise and provide equipment for a district hospital in Ilfov, and to build several social centres within the County and in Bucharest itself, and new medical centres set up by microbusinesses which have bought the necessary equipment using EU subsidies.

“The new technologies such as the ones funded by EU funds – for example the projects financed by Regio for development of healthcare infrastructure – have a strong health impact for providing access to innovative healthcare for the European citizens and new jobs in the research area,” said Simona Curpan, Promotion Expert, Bucharest Ilfov Regional Development Agency.

As assessed by Krzysztof Krystowski, Deputy President of the Board of Leonardo Helicopters, the company which owns PZL-Świdnik, the Polish army and defence industry should undergo simultaneous modernisation. The participation of domestic entities in the army equipment tenders announced by the Ministry of National Defence (MON) is a huge opportunity. Given the scale and complexity of such contracts, their implementation will be based on strict cooperation between various Polish companies, with the potential cooperation between PZL-Świdnik and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (Polish Armaments Group) in building a combat helicopter being an accurate example.

“The Polish army and defence industry should undergo simultaneous modernisation, as they constitute two parallel pillars of Poland&HASH39;s defence system. On the one hand, we are dealing with the army and its potential and, on the other hand, with the potential offered by the Polish defence industry. Most countries, including Poland, which seek to attain a position of a major player, must not neglect the development of their own industrial, intellectual and technological potential,” stressed Krzysztof Krystowski, Deputy President of the Board of Leonardo Helicopters, the company which owns PZL-Świdnik, in an interview with the Newseria Biznes news agency.

Plants producing military equipment fuel the economy. Developed countries consider the armament industry as a priority area and one of the state&HASH39;s defence pillars. The need to strengthen the armament sector is also stressed in Poland. Based on MON data, in the last two years, out of the two hundred fifty armed forces modernisation contracts (with a total value of approx. PLN 20 bn), one hundred sixty contracts (valued PLN 13 bn) have been concluded with entities operating in the Polish industry.

“It‘s essential that complex armament systems be developed in Poland and endorsed by Polish plants, as this is directly connected with national security,” stressed Krzysztof Krystowski.

As pointed out by the Deputy President of Leonardo Helicopters, Polish enterprises offer much potential, both in the context of land and air equipment. There are several entities operating on the market, which can compete against leading global companies in terms of technologies and innovations.

“The issue is how this potential could be used once the funds for arms development are provided. The idea should be not only to tap it but also foster its development, for instance, with the aim of offering jobs to talented engineers. If we purchase the entire military equipment from foreign businesses, Polish defence sector entities will be reduced to intermediaries. This will hardly make any room for domestic engineers and technologists, or foster the development of Polish technological thought. The above can be ensured only when Poland has a large-scale industry working for Polish army, thus becoming stronger and expanding its exports potential,” Krystowski explained.

PZL-Świdnik has been taking part in two MON tenders for the supply of sixteen helicopters in total, including eight for special forces capable of conducting search and rescue missions, and eight aircraft for the Navy, intended to fight down submarines and conduct offshore rescue missions. However, the Ministry has announced that work on changing the assumptions to both tenders is currently in progress.

For six years the customer satisfaction index in Poland has grown by over 17 percentage points to nearly 78 percent, and it currently exceeds the customer satisfaction levels recorded in the USA and the United Kingdom. Service quality and its growing significance among businesses have had a tremendous impact on customer satisfaction. For the eleventh time the Customer Service Quality Star titles have been awarded to entrepreneurs recording the best results in this field.

Customer satisfaction is an extremely important element of building a brand image and gaining a competitive edge on the market. Every year, awareness among Polish consumers increases. Although prices are still the most significant criterion when choosing a store or service provider, more and more importance is attached to quality. This concerns both the product or service quality, and the quality of customer service.

“Currently assessed at 77.9%, customer satisfaction in Poland is growing year by year. This figure appears rather impressive, considering that the same index among Americans has reached 76% (as has the British one), which suggests that Poland does outperform the USA in this respect,” said Mirosław Bartoń, President of the Polish Customer Service Quality Programme, in an interview with the Newseria Biznes news agency.

Consumers are continuously assessing companies whose services they use, especially that the Internet gives them ample opportunity to do so. Enterprises should benefit from the willingness of Polish consumers to make such assessments by constantly monitoring their customer satisfaction levels. To this end, they can use consumer surveys, including such indices as the Net Promoter Score and the Customer Satisfaction Index, as well as mystery shopping surveys and ongoing analyses of customers&HASH39; opinions shared through social networking sites or contact centres.

“We conduct extensive customer satisfaction surveys, based on which we develop ideas as to what should be changed in our processes and tools in order to meet customer expectations and fully accommodate their needs. By analysing survey information, we work on ideas that are then converted into specific process improvements,” said Zuzanna Chodyra-Piast, Manager of the Customer Experience Management Department at Play ‒ a company awarded with the Customer Service Quality Star.

A good strategy is to promptly respond to any crisis situations and display positive opinions regarding the company. As part of the Polish Customer Service Quality Programme, the jakoscobslugi.pl portal was launched, forming a platform through which customers can share their opinions on service providers and allowing the exchange of information between enterprises and consumers. Enterprises engaged in the programme can additionally learn about the opinions expressed by their customers, and practically use their suggestions and recommendations.

“Companies can familiarise themselves with numerous opinions expressed by consumers who provide advice on what should be done to improve service quality and to make consumers more satisfied. Businesses awarded with the &HASH39;Stars&HASH39; enjoy the greatest recognition among consumers, and can use this exceptional mark in all their actions and materials,” Mirosław Bartoń said.

As good customer service is hardly possible without employee satisfaction, emphasis is put on recruiting and maintaining adequate workforce.

“Both last and this year we substantially upped the wages. We are shaping the entire incentive system so that it rewards not only sales performance but also customer service quality,” said Adam Pawłowicz, Deputy President of the Management Board for Trade at LOTOS Paliwa ‒ a company awarded with the Customer Service Quality Star.

In addition to good wages, there’s another important element – the training system.

“We attach great importance to employee training and to the continuous monitoring of how well our customers are served. We have introduced a permanent recurrent training model, along with e-learning and e-tutoring systems. So, we are now using a variety of training tools, both traditional and Internet-based, and we are doing our best to continually increase the abilities displayed by our staff,” Adam Pawłowicz said.

LOTOS seeks to put customers at the centre and built its service quality through such elements as sales assistants&HASH39; approach to customers, customer service speed (which is of key importance in petrol stations), petrol station appearance, the adequate display of products to make them easily identifiable by customers, logo visibility at the entrance, and appropriate customer service on the driveway.

On the occasion of the International Consumer Day, held on 15 March, those businesses that are the most favourably assessed through the portal receive the Customer Service Quality Star. These year&HASH39;s awardees included 5.10.15, Allegro.pl, Allianz, Avon, Bank Millennium, Bank Zachodni WBK, BGŻ BNP Paribas, Ceneo.pl, Circle K, CityFit, Costa Coffee, Deichmann, DHL Parcel, Drogerie Natura, Enel-Med, ERGO Hestia, Gothaer, Hebe, ING Bank Śląski, Inmedio, Intersport. Jula, Kaufland, Kazar, Lidl, Link4, Lotos, Lux Med, mBank, Media Expert, NEONET, Net Credit, NJU Mobile, OBI, Oriflame, Pepco, Piekarnie Hert, PKN Orlen, PLAY, RTV EURO AGD, Samsung, Santander Consumer Bank, Selgros, Serwis Fabryczny Sprzętu Gospodarstwa Domowego Bosch Siemens Gaggenau Zelmer, Shell, Smyk, SPAR, T-Mobile, UPC, Vivus.pl, Warta, Wonga.pl.

“The Customer Service Quality Star is an exceptional award as it is granted by consumers. It is independent of any jury decisions and reflects consumers&HASH39; opinions, giving us a proof that our everyday work is appreciated and positively assessed by customers,” Zuzanna Chodyra-Piast said.

“The Customer Service Quality Star gives evidence that our efforts to provide customers with top-quality service actually pay off. We continually monitor the satisfaction levels of our customers and the quality of customer service, attaching much importance to these issues,” Adam Pawłowicz assured.

More and more devices are becoming part of the ‘smart home’ concept. No longer limited to TVs or tablets, they now also include laundry machines, vacuum cleaners and even refrigerators. New ways to communicate with household appliances connected to the Internet are currently being brought to us by voice assistants. Now all that it takes to turn on the TV or switch between channels is a single voice command. A group of secondary-school students from Poland have decided to try and merge the ‘smart home’ concept with voice controllability. ‘DAREK’, the project they’re working on, is addressed to disabled users to help them move around the house. Using voice control, not only will they be able to open the door or roll the blinds down but even stock up the fridge.

“With smart homes being such a hot topic at the moment, everyone would like to live in one. We don’t want to copycat what has already been done in this field. Besides, we wouldn’t be able to compete with systems from top-market brands anyway. But we want to fill in a niche which has become apparent in these systems, namely voice controllability. ‘Asystent DAREK’ (DAREK Assistant), an app designed to ‘mimic’ a smart home, has been developed with disabled users in mind. Its embedded system can, e.g. open the door for you or roll the blinds up or down. Such systems are yet to find their way into smart homes,” Bartosz Dudek, coordinator of the DAREK project, told Newseria Innowacje information agency.

The potential behind artificial intelligence has not escaped the attention of both large corporations and independent innovators, as they see its ability to make many routine, daily tasks easier, faster and more automated. Along with the progress of natural-language processing systems, computers have started to ‘listen’ to their human operators. The latest AI algorithms are no longer limited to responding to pre-programmed commands and are now starting to utilise machine learning solutions in order to better understand our expectations.

One very interesting example of such a system is Google Assistant Kids, a virtual encyclopaedia-assistant developed by the students of the School of Visual Arts. This software, analysing the style of oral utterances, determines the speaker&HASH39;s age and then goes on to provide an answer tailored to his or her cognitive abilities. Accordingly, the system will be more elaborate when talking to an adult, while a younger speaker will receive more graspable answers.

The DAREK project also aims to remove the communication barriers still lingering between humans and artificial intelligence. However, it was mainly the disabled users that the students from the Kazimierz Wielki Secondary School in Koło had in mind when working on this project.

“Just one voice command sent to a phone with the app activated, and the assistant will respond right away, telling you the weather outside or opening the door. This should prove useful especially for those who find it difficult to move around their home. In the future, this technology will surely aim to lift all kinds of barriers for the disabled,” says Bartosz Dudek.

DAREK has been designed primarily to prevent disabled communities from becoming digitally excluded. As compared to standard smart-home systems, this Android app should help the users communicate better and have greater control over their surroundings.

As declared by Bartosz Paliński, a team member: “Our assistant module is halfway finished, with most voice-controlled functionalities already there, but we want to add some more, e.g. a calendar for medical appointments, a fridge stock-up feature, and computer accessibility for armless and legless users.”

A similar solution is being worked on by the students of the Warsaw University of Technology, as part of the Farma Dobrej Woli project involving the construction of a smart-home estate for people with disabilities. The project, utilising the latest smart systems, is to facilitate the use of everyday items and allow an all-day round care of the estate&HASH39;s residents.

The majority of commercial smart-home systems are based on voice recognition and analysis solutions from Google, Apple or Amazon, which, however, are still unable to communicate in Polish. A Polish-speaking assistant is to be launched by Google by the end of this year. The introduction of proprietary solutions adapted to Polish users’ needs may prompt a faster deployment of commercial ones.

According to a Zion Market Research report, in 2018, the smart-home market will reach the value of USD 31 bn and grow up to USD 53.5 bn by 2022.

Medicine is one of the fields recording the fastest technological development. Virtual reality unravels new possibilities, enabling the performance of telemedical procedures and advanced training courses without experimenting on actual patients. Physicians specialising in plastic dermatology and clinical dermatology will soon have an opportunity to undergo training using a VR simulator. The equipment is to ensure a high level of realism thanks to double immersion. The market launch of the simulator is planned for 2020.

VR simulators are used not only in the entertainment industry and video games. They are increasingly often applied by train drivers, pilots and production line operatives. The group of professions for which training with the application of VR solutions is available also includes aesthetic medicine specialists.

“The TutorDerm project consists of implementing a simulator based on virtual reality which can be used for simulating aesthetic and clinical dermatology procedures. This is not a typical VR solution used in gaming and entertainment, because it uses double immersion. A physician wearing VR goggles and touching the control lever with sensors, which simulates the tip of a dermatological device, is seeing and touching a patient’s head in VR and feeling resistance on the control lever as if it was a real patient&HASH39;s head,” explained Tomasz Kierul, CEO of InventionMed, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje agency.

This is not the first solution connecting virtual reality with medical practice. The NOViSE project is a simulator for training surgeons in experimental procedures carried out through the natural orifices in the human body. Physicians working at the Cardiology Institute in Anin use Google Glass for coronary angioplasty procedures. The solution makes it possible to monitor the patient&HASH39;s vital parameters and test results during the procedure. Furthermore, mobile apps are being created to enable inspecting through HoloLens or AR goggles the patient’s internal organs in four dimensions with the use of diagnostic imaging. The VR technology is a natural direction in the development of medicine.

“Simulators are penetrating every domain of life and economy. Previously it was aviation and communication, and today it is industry. It is only natural for simulators to be present in medicine. We believe that these solutions are the future of medicine. Prospective physicians, who in the future will work with patients, will move from theory to our devices, and then to actual patients. It seems that these solutions are an indispensable element of medicine which determines its future. Today it&HASH39;s dermatology, but tomorrow it may be surgery. As a target, our plans include creating a whole virtual hospital,” Tomasz Kierul stated.

VR simulators in the physician training process may improve patient safety. Before a new or complicated medical procedure is carried out on a person, it will be possible to test it out on a simulator, applying various scenarios. This may be of key importance especially for developing innovative treatment methods.

The market launch of TutorDerm has been planned for 2020, and producers are intending to make its prototype available to medical establishments in Poland and abroad. In the first phase the simulator will enable conducting a virtual head surgery, but further versions are planned.

“We wish to expand the simulator to include the thorax, arms and back, to be able to simulate dermatological conditions in these areas, and the third version will feature the whole human body with various dermatological disorders. The head is a conscious choice because it is the most visible and the majority of dermatological procedures are performed in this area,” the CEO of InventionMed concluded.

According to the Markets and Markets forecasts, by 2022 the world medical simulator market is to exceed 2.5 bn dollars in value with the average annual growth rate of nearly 15 percent.

Inventiveness is not the exclusive domain of start-ups or large corporations - more and more frequently, innovative projects are devised even by secondary school students. They construct equipment and design applications not only for fun – often, they are inspired by higher objectives, such as removing barriers. It is upper-secondary school students who invented such objects as a smart GPS vest which recognises objects in the way of a visually impaired person, a Braille reader with a speech synthesizer, or an inductive loop for people with hearing impairment. An increasing number of brilliant inventions in the service of mankind are introduced by the youngest generations.

“Playing is no longer the only purpose for which young people use state-of-the-art technologies, and because they have the knowledge and possibilities, they have started asking themselves much more profound questions – „What can we do to make modern technology serve others and change the world for the better? This attitude results from the need to be needed and the desire to transform the world,” says Małgorzata Jankowska from the Nowa Era publishing house, “Projekt z klasą” Project Manager.

Students with disabilities have to overcome architectural, social and technological barriers almost everywhere they go, which isolate them from their peers. Apparently, their classmates can be of assistance. More and more students around the world carry out projects aimed at solving the problems of the handicapped. With sufficient assistance from teachers such projects can become widely used by the society at large.

“Young people know how to counteract the social exclusion of people with disabilities, they enjoy doing it – and they have an opportunity to do so. It turns out that the school environment can offer possibilities of coming up with solutions which will help others, even on a greater scale,” says Małgorzata Jankowska.

The greatest wave of innovations to be introduced by students is still ahead. Owing to adding computer programming to school curricula, younger and younger generations are having a go at writing apps and software. Alexander Knoll, a twelve-year-old boy, developed the Ability App - software which helps people with disabilities navigate public spaces. It tells them where to find lifts and platforms for wheelchairs, or restaurants with Braille menus.

Alexander’s project aroused the interest of Ellen DeGeneres, a US actress hosting “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, who gave him a cheque for 25 thousand US dollars to cover the costs of finishing the app and making it accessible to the general public. Polish students are also given grants and financial assistance to help them implement their projects.

“We believe that thanks to Nowa Era’s grants students will have a chance to proceed from planning to implementation, as the awarded funds are the first step towards buying the required components. We also assume that our certification will pave the way for students to local sponsors, who could provide financial assistance at later stages,” Jankowska says.

In the seventh edition of the “Projekt z klasą” competition, 55 awards have been granted, totalling PLN 60 thousand. This edition was the first to admit not only secondary- but also elementary school students.

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology is planning to create a technological campus to cluster all Polish cybersecurity specialists in one place. This autumn, the project’s operator is going to be selected. The business accelerator is based on solutions applied in Israel and its role is to reinforce Poland&HASH39;s security and attract investors from the IT sector to our country.

“We would like to increase the number of Polish companies dealing with cybersecurity. Moreover, we would like them to provide Polish administration bodies with their services and also to popularise their operations and showcase them abroad. This is why soon we will announce a competition for a cybersecurity accelerator, and we hope that by autumn we will be able to select the operator to cluster all cybersecurity companies and talents in one place on the basis of the acceleration programme,” Jadwiga Emilewicz, the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology, told the Newseria Innowacje news agency.

The Ministry invited public administration bodies, which should be the most interested in projects focusing on improving data security, to cooperate and co-create the accelerator. The Minister also admitted that Polish specialists responsible for implementing the Cybersecurity Doctrine of the Republic of Poland are strongly inspired by the solutions developed by Israeli authorities in the last few years.

As early as in 2014, Israel announced the plans of constructing the CyberSpark Israeli Cybernetic Park where scientists, businesspeople and start-up owners cooperate on implementing new cybersecurity mechanisms. The campus in Beersheba is now one of the major technology and business centres in Israel, gathering the major companies and experts from around the world.

“We are learning from the best. Today the main question is how to make all cybersecurity instruments in Poland work together. Here Israel also sets a good example for us,” the Minister argued.

If Polish authorities recreate the solutions applied by Israel, companies and start-ups cooperating within the accelerator will be able to take advantage of tax reliefs, pay subsidies for employees and training in cybersecurity. The Ministry is also counting on close knowledge-based cooperation between experts from the Polish and Israeli technological campus.

“We expect that as a result of joint acceleration programmes we are working on together with the Israeli Start-up Nation, Polish-Israeli companies will be established to develop interesting shared solutions appealing not only to Poland and Israel but to the whole world,” Jadwiga Emilewicz said.

According to the report developed by Cybersecurity Ventures from 2017 to 2021 expenditures on cybersecurity will increase by more than a trillion dollars. The report’s authors project that by 2021 the market will have grown at a rate of 12-15 percent annually.

The Cybersecurity Doctrine of the Republic of Poland was published in response to the growing threat of organised cybercrime.

More than 80 percent of investment in the development of Polish start-ups is state-funded. The reason for this is the still underdeveloped private-funds market. The Polish market for high-risk start-ups is slowly catching up with the world in professionalism. About 10-20 percent of venture-capital funds in Poland can already be considered as top-performing funds. However, the percentage of those that aren’t working well is still too high.

“The venture-capital business in Poland is now made up 10-20 percent of best-of-class funds that excel at breeding start-ups, maintain international relations and can help start-ups secure clients, recruit management, etc., while a third of funds perform very poorly,” said Julia Krysztofiak-Szopa, CEO of the Startup Poland foundation, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje news agency.

Venture-capital funds invest primarily in new businesses. Such investments run a high risk of failure in the mid- and long-term. But they can also turn out very successful – VC funds provided funding to such powerhouses of today&HASH39;s business as Snapchat, SpaceX, Uber and Xiaomi. The Polish VC funds market is still in its infancy, but it is getting more and more professional. There are a growing number of businesses that provide start-ups with services of ever-growing quality, although these services haven’t become comprehensive yet and continue to focus only on financial support.

“Start-ups have noticed that the VC funds market is getting more professional and more approachable, but there is still a certain incompatibility between what start-ups expect apart from capital and what VC funds can provide them with apart from capital. This is especially true of the need among start-ups to have the assistance of VC funds in preparing for investment rounds; for instance, to help go public,” the expert pointed out.

As shown by a Startup Poland report entitled “The Golden Book of Venture Capital in Poland 2018”, a whopping 81 percent of investment transactions among the surveyed start-ups were state-funded. In contrast, only 20 percent of investors stated that they had not made any state-funded investments. It is also important to note that the costs of investing in Poland are much lower than abroad.

“So far, a whopping four fifths of all investment transactions in Poland have been leveraged with state funds. To get private capital on board, which is more difficult than getting a grant from, say, the National Centre for Research and Development – which, by the way, was our survey partner – you need to have extensive business contacts with investors that are capable of investing in VC funds,” Julia Krysztofiak-Szopa argued.

The leading state investor was the National Capital Fund, whose funding was involved in 37 percent of the surveyed transactions. With a nearly 25-percent contribution, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development came second, and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCiBR), whose funding was involved in one in tenth transactions, came third.

However, start-ups are increasingly setting their sights on drawing in venture capital funding. Last year, 40 percent of start-ups invested in by external investors were venture-capital funded. Polish investors have been particularly interested in big data, Internet of Things and marketing technology start-ups. However, venture investment in Poland is still too low, prompting a considerable 44 percent of Polish start-ups to look for investors abroad.

In 2017 Polish VC funds had a total of 700 businesses in their portfolios. In early 2018 the European Commission announced that it would invest EUR 410 m in the most innovative start-ups in the EU as part of the VentureEU programme.

When compared to the European market, the Polish market for fairs and exhibitions is rather small but well-developed, and it has been steadily growing for several years. More and more events organised in Poland are congresses and fairs with a global reach, attracting foreign exhibitors and guests. This drives business tourism and commercial real property market. Additionally, the fairs and conferences contribute to the development of companies and the entire economic sectors, which become popular thanks to such events. The base of trade fair and conference centres, however, requires extension and modernisation with a view to ensuring the further growth of this market.

“The market for fairs and exhibitions in Poland is growing, as confirmed by the studies and reports of the Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry. There are more and more new fairs and exhibitions. The number of visitors, exhibitors and organisers is also growing. They come from all over the world, even from places as far away as Asia, to present their companies at exhibitions. Nonetheless, we still play a relatively small role in this respect. The trade fair and exhibition industry will be developing thanks to our strategic location in Europe,” Bartosz Sosnowski, Vice-President of the Management Board of the Trade Fair Convention Centre, told the Newseria Biznes information agency.

7.2% more visitors year-on-year (up to 1.54 million people), 1.7% more exhibitors (28.9 thousand companies) and 9.6% more rented area – these are the results of two hundred and eleven fairs and exhibitions held in Poland in 2016, monitored by the Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry. The Polish market for trade fairs and exhibitions has been steadily growing for several years. When compared to Europe’s largest markets, it is rather small but well-developed. The last PIPT report for 2016 shows that most trade fairs held in Poland attract foreign exhibitors, partly because the Polish market is a bridge between the east and the west of Europe.

Thanks to the investments made over the last dozen or so years in transport and trade fair infrastructure, as well as technological solutions, Polish facilities host not only regular trade fairs with related conferences and events, but also large-scale global conventions and congresses.

The Vice-President of the Management Board of the Trade Fair and Convention Centre also saw Polish exhibition centres as much smaller than in Germany, France, Spain, not to mention the USA or Asia. He further stressed that such facilities must meet a number of conditions to attract trade fair, conference and event organisers.

“In addition to outstanding architecture and good-quality transport infrastructure, the design must meet a set of technical requirements regarding the weight of hanging objects, power connections, sewerage, floor load and vehicle manoeuvre areas for loading and unloading before and after the event,” Bartosz Sosnowski enumerated.

The organisation of congresses, conferences and trade fairs has a wide impact on the economy because it drives business tourism and commercial real property market (investments in congress centres and hotels). According to the “Poland Meetings and Events Industry” report drawn up by the Poland Convention Bureau of the Polish Tourist Organisation, the meetings industry brings more than PLN 1.57 bn worth of revenues to the Polish economy and creates over 30,000 jobs in the whole country. The MICE industry also brings economic benefits in the form of 13.9 m nights in hotels sold, PLN 122 m spent on cultural and recreational services, and costs of transport services, as well as over PLN 1 bn spent on catering services.

The Polish priority National Space Programme, to be implemented over the coming 2-3 years, is going to be ready in the second half of the year. Poland is also in talks regarding the accession to the European SST Consortium which performs space surveillance and tracking. “The domestic sector has an opportunity to participate in the new financing perspective after 2021,” the President of the Polish Space Agency said. The Agency itself is also due to undergo major changes in the upcoming months. These events might elevate the use of satellite technologies in the country to a new level.

“For the Polish Space Agency, 2018 is going to be a major milestone. This year the priority National Space Programme is going to appear, defining the objectives and development directions for the aerospace sector in the coming 2-3 years,” Grzegorz Brona, PhD, President of the Polish Space Agency, told the Newseria Biznes press agency.

The draft version of the National Space Programme was presented in December 2017, and then submitted for consultation which ended in April this year. The consultations resulted in a decision to reformulate the programme and divide it into two documents regarding different timeframes. The priority Space Programme covers activities that will improve the technological readiness of the domestic aerospace sector, while simultaneously supporting the key projects, as well as maintaining and developing the existing potential of this sector&HASH39;s entities within a 2-3 year period. The overall programme will define a number of projects to be implemented within the next 10-15 years.

“It is an extremely important year also in the context of Poland&HASH39;s accession to the EUSST, a European consortium aimed at tracking objects in space and recognising threats to other space objects or to us, here on Earth,”  Grzegorz Brona explained. “We have been in talks with the consortium, which is composed of large European countries, for one year. I hope that we will soon be able to join it as a country and take part in the new financing perspective after 2021. 

Another issue of vital importance to the sector is the adaptation of the Polish Space Agency&HASH39;s structure to facilitate a more effective use of EU funds in the aerospace industry and more intensive participation in its projects, as well as for the purposes of Polish aerospace businesses.

“I hope that by the end of this year we will be able to introduce a thorough reform at the Agency,” President of POLSA said.

The Polish Space Agency was established in 2014. It contributes to achieving Poland&HASH39;s strategic goals by implementing actions supporting the use of satellite systems and increasing the rate of space technology development for the benefit of  national administration, science, economic and defence sectors. Since 2012 Poland has been a member of the European Space Agency, participating in its projects.

“Throughout the last year, the Agency&HASH39;s work was largely focused on surveying the European market. I have only led the Agency for two months now, so I can&HASH39;t really make a detailed summary of all its activities in the previous year, but it seems that this market has been surveyed and we now know what path we are going to follow,” Grzegorz Brona said. "Feasibility studies have been completed on certain space projects that will find reflection in the priority National Space Programme and relations with specific actors on the Polish and global markets have been established.”

“The activity of foreign investors on the Polish real property market is still growing. In their view, Polish cities stand for stability and guaranteed profit, especially when compared with Western Europe. On the Polish investment market, and more specifically in the commercial property sector, Q1 2018 ended with a record-breaking volume of transactions, reaching EUR 2 bn. The demand is, however, much greater than the supply of good-quality structures, which causes a price hike. When coupled with the increasing construction costs and the shortage of qualified staff, this can slow down investors’ activity,” said Beata Latoszek from Deutsche Hypo.

“When analysing data from Q1 2018, the situation on the real property market in Poland looks stable. Since December investors have been interested in the real property market. Rather than weakening, this interest has actually become stronger. All the indicators taken into account on the real property market, such as interest rates, risk trends and climate, look very promising, which is why the real property market, following the Q1 analysis, looks more stable than other Western European markets, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain,” Beata Latoszek, Managing Director at Deutsche Hypo in Poland, highlighted in an interview with Newseria Biznes.

The European Investment Briefing by Savills indicates that the 2017 turnover volume in Poland exceeded EUR 5.1 bn, which was a record-breaking figure. 2018 may bring even better outcomes when it comes to investments in the commercial real property sector, as indicated by Q1 results, with the transaction volume surpassing EUR 2 bn. As analysed by Deutsche Hypo, the activity of foreign investors, mainly from the USA, Canada, Asia and South Africa, has been on the rise. Investors are being attracted by the stable situation and good profitability, which is higher than in Western Europe.

“A stable situation on the real property market results from five parameters which we presented in our REECOX index, drawn up for Q1 of the real property market in Europe,” Beata Latoszek stated. “This index is composed of inputs, such as WIG20, WIG Real estate, investment climate and interest rates, the base rate for Euro and 10-year treasury note,” the expert explained.

According to the REECOX report, the economic situation on the real property market is in a slight decline, reaching the lowest levels since May 2017 (a Euro-Score of 241.6 compared to 249.8 in the previous quarter). Having scored 189, Poland ranks much lower than the remaining countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the Netherlands); however, while the situation in Poland is stable (an unnoticeable decrease of 0.1 percent), other countries record sharp drops.

“In Q1 the stock exchanges throughout Western Europe, as well as in Poland, displayed downward trends. As regards WIG Real estate, all countries show downward trends, with this indicator being stable in Poland,” the director of Deutsche Hypo in Poland noted.

At the end of Q1, WIG 20 dropped by 6.5 percent in Poland, when compared with the previous month, and by slightly more than 10 percent in quarterly terms. Nonetheless, the Economic Sentiment Indicator is on the rise (a 3.1 percent increase), and the WIG index of the real estate sector is stable (a slight increase of 0.2–0.3 percent).

“Looking at the volume of the transactions made in Q1, we can see investors’ appetite for investing in Poland. The REECOX index shows a growing trend, because the profitability of projects implemented on the Polish market is higher than that in Western Europe, and thus outputs indicate that the Polish market is stable, the exchange rates for Euro remain the same, and the situation regarding and Polish bonds is also relatively stable,” Latoszek underline.

A stable situation on the real property market results from five parameters which we presented in our REECOX index, drawn up for Q1 of the real property market in Europe.

Looking back, Q1 the stock exchanges in Poland and throughout Western Poland, i.e. in the countries included in the index calculations, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain, displayed downward trends. The same was observed in Poland. As regards WIG Real estate, all countries but Poland have shown downward trends. The indicator is stable in Poland. Looking at the volume of transactions made in Q1, we can see investors’ appetite for investing in Poland. The REECOX index shows a growing trend because the profitability of projects implemented on the Polish market is higher than that in Western Europe. The outputs, therefore, indicate that the Polish market is stable, the exchange rates for Euro remain the same, and the situation regarding and Polish bonds is also relatively solid. To conclude, these 5 indicators provide us with an image of the REECOX for Poland, and tell us that it is a stable market, or at least this is what Q1 showed us.

We are obviously going to closely monitor the market in the subsequent quarters, with data collected on a monthly basis. We will also publish REECOX figures for every quarter. The index is primarily used by market players and shows them the current trends, sentiment and the possible directions of those trends in the quarters to come.

Nearly 40 percent of Poles read at least one book per year. Although the reading level is low, we buy books increasingly often. The number of published titles is also growing, and since 1991 it has seen an almost threefold increase.  For the printing industry this is a favourable situation, especially on the market of hardcover books, which guarantee the highest mark-ups. At the same time, the average circulation of the published titles is decreasing, which is why more and more companies choose digital publishing, which is much less expensive than traditional printing.

“A low reading rate is the problem of professors at Polish language departments, and what matters for us is the amount of books sold. The number of books and the reading rate are separate issues. For instance, libraries buying books now have much more possibilities. We also print books which are not designed for reading, e.g. manuals or similar items, which are released in hundreds of thousands copies,” emphasised Waldemar Lipka, President of Kompap, in an interview with the Newseria Biznes news agency.

The number of titles on bookstore shelves is growing. As shown in the publication "Ruch Wydawniczy w Liczbach (Polish publishing in figures), in 2017 there were more than 36.2 thousand titles available. This corresponds to a threefold increase as compared to 1991. The most recent reading survey results in Poland demonstrate that, following substantial drops in 2004-2008, the reading rate in Poland has stabilised at approx. 40 percent. Nearly every tenth Pole reads 7 or more books per year. Importantly enough, the data of the National Library show that in the recent years Poles have been more willing to read the books that they bought than those which they already had at home.

“We all have several dozen books at home that we intend to read some day. If somebody asked me how much I read, this would not be the same as the number of books I have bought. A similar case is with albums – people buy them in order for them to look good on shelves, so that we could look at the pictures of the Bieszczady and Tatra Mountains, or the beautiful birds on the Narew River. This is why the market situation is quite favourable for us,” Waldemar Lipka argued.

The challenge for the printing industry, however, is the declining circulation of published titles. Although in 2010 the average circulation exceeded 5,700 copies, in 2014 it was 3,200, and currently around 2,500. As the expert emphasised, the vast majority of titles have a much lower circulation – around thousand or less. Only a small portion exceeds the circulation of 100,000 – these are books by popular authors which are expected to become best-sellers.

“Circulation below one thousand, and certainly that around 200-300, 500 copies, is best suited for digital publishing. In my opinion, this is an addition whose quality is beginning to match offset print. This is why we are taking a closer look at digital publishing. All the more so that the book delivery model has changed – someone orders 1000 books in the first print run, and then 100-300 in order to avoid storage costs,” Lipka said.

The problems faced by the printing industry are mainly connected with payment delays and a poor condition of publishers. The analysis conducted by Bisnode Poland has revealed that within a year the percentage of book publishing and selling companies with a poor financial standing has increased from 44 to 53 percent. In turn, the BIG InfoMonitor report indicates that 5.4 percent of book publishers, and 3.7 percent of bookstore owners, have liabilities towards their business partners and banks. The total debt of publishers and bookstore owners, which is overdue by at least 30 days and regards the amounts of at least PLN 500, has reached PLN 35.3 m.

Business angels are increasingly active in Poland. According to the Startup Poland foundation, 33 percent of Polish start-ups took advantage of the services of domestic and foreign business angels. The EBAN data shows that the three most frequently chosen industries are technology, ICT and healthcare. The Vice-President of the largest European organisation of business angels believes that the next five years will be promising for the whole CEE region, and Poland will be the first choice among investment locations.

“We have a lot of interesting sectors to choose from on the Central and Eastern European market. The most popular, which comes as no surprise, is the ICT sector. It guarantees a quick return on investment, which is very important in the risky world of investment. An average investor needs to wait 7 to 10 years before the invested money comes back. This is a long time, so everybody looks for investments that bring quick revenues and mutual benefits for the business and the investor,” Prof. Panos Ketikidis, Vice-President of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN).

For start-ups and fledgling companies one of the methods of obtaining capital for development is the support of business angels (or angel investors). These are private investors who provide their own funds to projects, usually at their very early (seed-up and start-up) stages of development, taking over a specific number of shares in return. These are usually experienced entrepreneurs who have made profits on previous projects. In addition to money, they also provide their experience, business contacts, technical assistance and advice.

Business angels once helped such companies as Apple and Amazon. Such investors operate independently or as part of the Business Angels Network. Usually, they operate in less formal ways, making investment decisions based on their own experience and intuition, rather than by reading pages of analyses, reports and business plans. This also makes it easier to negotiate the conditions of supporting and leaving the investment later on, as business angels are much more flexible than ‒ let&HASH39;s say ‒ investment funds which follow strict rules.

“The prospects on the Central and Eastern European market for the next five years are very promising and this stimulates investment. To operate and achieve their goals, investors need appropriate infrastructure, an ecosystem of sorts. We need entrepreneurs, government support and good-quality higher education institutions providing young people with skills needed to achieve success in business,” Prof. Panos Ketikidis emphasised.

In Poland – as seen in the recent report by the Start-up Poland Foundation – business angels are more and more active. Last year 33 percent of Polish start-ups took advantage of the services of domestic and foreign business angels. The study by Startup Poland indicates that this percentage should remain unchanged, with every third start-up in need of external capital resorting to business angels.

“I believe that the strength of the Polish market is in the innovative nature of Poles, their readiness to take risks and their entrepreneurial skills. It is also a large country which is the first to be considered as a potential investment location. It is extremely important to make well-thought-off choices of investments, so that they do not bring losses,” Prof. Panos Ketikidis stressed.

In mid-2017 the Polish Development Fund established Biznest FIZ, under which projects will be financed through agents (co-investment funds) cooperating with business angels. Investments will be made in the 50:50 proportion, with half of the funds being provided from PFR Biznest FIZ, and the other half from the private funds of business angels.

“In Poland there is a need for providing financing not only to small start-ups but also to larger projects, which require the involvement of greater sums of money,” said Krzysztof Domarecki, Founder of the Fidiasz investment fund. According to one of the richest Poles and the man behind the success of the Selena group, investors should apply more stringent criteria to the projects they support. One should search for the first Polish unicorn among fintech or e-commerce companies; however, in the longer term, it can also be found in industry or biotechnology.

“When it comes to the dream Polish unicorn, in my opinion, there are at least a few prospects on the market. You should remember, however, that even in the USA, where companies become unicorns, on average, within around 8 years following their establishment, in Europe this usually takes more time. Companies which become worth one billion dollars in a short time are a rare sight,” Krzysztof Domarecki, founder of the Fidiasz investment fund, told Newseria Biznes. “Where should we look for them? One of the first industries to have unicorns is the broadly understood IT sector, as well as e-commerce and fintech companies. This is because scaling is the easiest there; however, in the longer term, we can expect unicorns to appear also in industry and biotechnology.”

According to a report by KPMG International, in Q1 2018 venture capital funds invested 49.3 bn dollars in start-ups worldwide (over 70 percent more than in the previous quarter). Investors are primarily interested in digital innovation – nearly half (43 percent) of all transaction concern investments in enterprises which develop cutting-edge specialised software. Investors from Europe are interested mainly in fintech companies and AI-based solutions. Unfortunately, as noted by KPMG experts, the venture capital market in Poland is still in its initial stages of development.

“Most funds involved in Polish start-ups are associated with EU grants. On the one hand, this is very good news, as EU funds, including those managed by the Polish Development Fund and the National Centre for Research and Development, support entrepreneurship and innovativeness. On the other hand, there are few independent funds, such as Fidiasz, which do not use European resources. This means that we can invest in much larger teams and more complex projects. We can support ambitious start-ups in several rounds of financing, eventually reaching to projects which require amounts ranging from PLN 10 to 40 m, which are not available to most Polish VC funds,” Krzysztof Domarecki said.

As he highlighted, VC funds are now mainly used to finance small start-ups, which require PLN 2-4 m of investment. In Poland, we need larger endeavours to be financed, which also requires involving greater capital.

“The largest Polish fintech start-up, FinAi, has obtained PLN 12 m in the seed round, and it has employed 50 people, even before the market launch. Their solutions can be extrapolated onto most European markets. For this reason, in my opinion, big and ambitious projects have a chance to attract more private funds. We, at Fidiasz, locate the biggest, most ambitious projects characterised by a chance of long-term development and scaling,” Krzysztof Domarecki explained.

FinAi is the first company in which Fidiasz has invested (PLN 4.6 m). This start-up, operating in the fintech industry, has created a platform which makes the process of raising a bank loan faster and quicker. Ultimately, the fund would like to create and invest in a group of 5-6 fintech companies, which will complement one another when it comes to the developed solutions, and which will have great potential for conquering the European market. 

Piracy is on the decline, but in Poland still nearly half of all the software in use is illegal. Private users use pirated software, as well as music and films from illegal sources, even more frequently, being oblivious of the associated risks. Combating piracy has many forms, which include tightening up the anti-piracy regulations. The examples of imposing greater restrictions show that piracy is growing even more quickly. 

“The scale of use of illegal software is bigger among private users. This poses greater threats, including identity theft, electronic banking data capture and many other risks,” argued Bartłomiej Witucki, a representative of Business Software Alliance in Poland, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje agency.

Currently, downloading pirated content for your own use is not considered a crime in Poland unless you simultaneously make it available for other users (e.g. in the p2p model). Downloading illegal software and multimedia from unsafe sources poses a threat of cybercriminals’ hiding malicious software in the code, through which they can access the victim’s computer, and hence very sensitive data. While the scale of illegal software use is slightly decreasing worldwide, a reverse trend can still be observed in Poland. A report drawn up by The Software Alliance indicates that last year the percentage of illegal software use decreased, in global terms, by 2 percent to 37 percent. In Poland, it is markedly higher and amounts to 46 percent. 

According to a report prepared by the Netherlands-based Ecorys, as ordered by the European Commission, as many as 51 percent of adults, and 72 percent of under-age Internet users, resort to illegal content. The report covered citizens of six European countries (France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom), and the four most-often pirated types of content: films, music, games and books. During the survey, it was estimated that, due to internet piracy, the sales of films has decreased by 5 percent, and the respondents agreed that they would buy films and music from legal sources if their prices were 80 percent lower.  

“The problem of illegal software use most often results from the desire to save money, which is in many cases associated with demanding attitudes, and seeing access to technological novelties as the constitutionally guaranteed access to culture. This interpretation appears too broad. It appears that awareness-raising activities should be undertaken to illustrate the significance of intellectual property in the contemporary world and the negative effects of the lack of its protection,” stated the expert.

Introducing tighter anti-piracy regulations may not solve the problem of illegal software use. A report prepared jointly by the ALPA anti-piracy group, the Mediametrie and the National Film Board indicates that, following the tightening up of the anti-piracy law by France, in 2017 the percentage of illegally streamed content increased by 15 percent and smartphone piracy by as much as 50 percent. 

Popularising affordable streaming services can be a much more effective solution to the piracy problem. Nowadays, for several dozen zlotys you can get unlimited access to the rich library of films on Netflix, music on Spotify, games on PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold or Storytell audio books. Otherwise, piracy can have serious consequences for both the State and individual people.

Publico24 has created a model for the digital distribution of the press, based on subscriptions, resembling Netflix. Thanks to small transmitters installed in public places, readers with an app installed on their mobile phones can have unlimited access to their favourite papers or individual articles The service is free for readers, and the subscription cost is covered by businesspeople or owners of venues, for whom this is an opportunity to expand their range of services. The company is already working on providing access to the digital press for individual users based on monthly subscriptions.

For several years the press market has been going through a crisis, manifesting itself in the decreasing circulation of magazines and revenues from advertising. Publico24, one of the start-ups selected in Microsoft&HASH39;s acceleration programme, has an opportunity to address this issue.

“In the case of other media, such as film and music, the revolution of their distribution model has already taken place. Now it&HASH39;s time for the press. Customers have become enthusiasts of subscriptions and of the way they can access content within this model. I think the same will apply to the press,” Jarosław Sokolnicki from Microsoft Poland told the Newseria Biznes news agency.

The new Publico24 company has created a model for the digital distribution of the press, based on subscriptions, resembling Netflix. The solution is based on an app using beacons – small radio signal transmitters communicating with smartphones and other devices with Internet access. The app connects with them through Bluetooth or WiFi and receives free access to more than 50 press titles from the digital newsstand&HASH39;s range. Everyone who is close to the beacon (and up to 2 hours after disconnecting) can read a selected paper on their phones or tablets; the HTML5 technology ensures adjustment of the content to the specific format and device. In turn, the Microsoft Azure technology ensures user data security.

Beacons can be placed in cafés, hairdresser&HASH39;s salons, waiting rooms, and even in municipal transport vehicles. For readers the service is cost-free, and the subscription cost is covered by businesspeople or owners of venues, for whom this is an opportunity to expand their range of services.

“We have introduced a press distribution model based on beacons for commercial facilities, cafés and hospital waiting rooms – every place where people wait for services. Briefly speaking, the venue&HASH39;s owner pays for our access to the press. And the fee is low. This will revolutionise the way we read the press. The same has already been achieved for the distribution of music through Spotify, for films through Netflix, and for books thanks to Amazon Prime and Legimi in Poland. Now it&HASH39;s our turn with papers. The subscription model similar to that for Netflix is what the market has been waiting for. This is the way people want to use the press, the want to have access to several hundred titles for a low subscription fee,” said Piotr Przewrocki from Publico24.

“Restaurant owners will use the service to attract people to their place, and customers have an opportunity to catch up with the latest press news while waiting for their meal. There&HASH39;s a benefit for everyone,” Jarosław Sokolnicki added.

Publico24 is a virtual newsstand and a universal tool for creating digital newspaper issues. It lowers the costs and reduces the time, which is an aid for publishers planning to launch their own digital distribution channels. The platform can also be used by bloggers, who will be able to use it for distributing their content to a broader audience. The app made by the Polish start-up has already seen its first implementations.

“The market&HASH39;s response has been enthusiastic. For three months our beacons have been available in the SoCoffee chain and in the buses belonging to the Flixbus chain (previously Polski Bus). Thanks to this, people can enjoy digital press while they travel,” Piotr Przewrocki said.

The app creators are working on its development on the basis of artificial intelligence and the block-chain technology. In the nearest future Publico24 is also planning to launch access to the digital press for individual users, based on a monthly subscription fee. This will enable users to access a full range of newspapers, magazines and other content without the necessity of subscribing each title individually.

“Poles have become enthusiasts of subscriptions. As in the case of music, where we usually have one or two favourite tracks of a given artist, in papers we usually read only one or two articles from a given title. Now users will be able to choose any of the several dozen titles available on the Publico range. This is a game-changer in the way consumers read the press,” Jarosław Sokolniski emphasised.

This year, Warsaw is planning to spend more than PLN 3.2 bn on investment. A portion of these funds will be allocated to patch up Warsaw’s shortcomings in transport. The efforts will focus on the extension of the municipal transport system, including Line 2 of the Metro. A substantial amount of funds will be allocated for the extension of the educational and social infrastructure, as well as culture – including in particular Sinfonia Varsovia’s concert hall, the Museum of Modern Art and the Teatr Rozmaitości theatre. Warsaw’s authorities will also prioritise the fight against high emissions, including by getting rid of “dirty” stoves.

“It’s no coincidence that two major transport-related items stand out in Warsaw’s investment plans. Warsaw must continue catching up with the rest of the civilised world, since its transport system, including mainly metro and tram lines, is historically severely underinvested. This is our core investment objective and the largest spending item. Our second objective is to develop Warsaw’s road system by constructing new roads, as well as upgrading the existing ones,” Deputy Mayor of Warsaw Michał Olszewski stressed in an interview with the Newseria Biznes news agency.

This year, Warsaw has allocated more than PLN 3.2 bn for investment, of which PLN 2.0 bn will go to city-wide projects and PLN 1.2 bn to district projects. 

“We&HASH39;re investing in the extension of the educational and social infrastructure, as well as in the repurposing of municipal centres, nursing homes and social welfare centres that provide ongoing aid to those in need. There has been a surge in silver-economy programmes addressed to senior citizens. Also, let&HASH39;s not forget about one of our flagship projects aiming to improve the city’s green spaces by redeveloping squares and boulevards,” Deputy Mayor said.

Culture will get its fair share, too. As Mr. Olszewski emphasised, there has been a growing need for expanding Warsaw&HASH39;s cultural resource to boost the city’s image.

“Very soon, we will launch three projects of proportions unprecedented in our city&HASH39;s history – the Museum of Modern Art, the Teatr Rozmaitości Warszawa theatre and Sinfonia Varsovia. This will be a historic breakthrough. These three projects alone will cost more than PLN 1.1 bn. Warsaw has never had a budget this large to be spent on the construction of cultural institutions,” Mr. Olszewski observed.

The city has also announced that it will build local centres in the Mokotów, Ochota, Rembertów, Ursów, Żoliborz and Wawer districts. Multiple regeneration efforts will also be undertaken within Praga Północ and Praga Południe.

But Warsaw is not only about investing in major projects. This year&HASH39;s plan sets aside about PLN 30 m on 257 participatory-budget projects.

“We’ve been seeing a growing number of small-scale projects in recent years as a result of our participatory budgeting programme, in which citizens approach us with their own proposals. We’re starting to improve a range of things, like green spaces, but also pavements, playgrounds and recreational areas. We have several projects in place that are very important for shaping environmentally friendly attitudes, such as the Centre for Environmental Education,” Michał Olszewski stressed.

Warsaw will prioritise the fight against smog, which, in addition to road traffic, is largely generated by “dirty” old stoves. Social activists have estimated that there are nearly 2,000 such stoves in Warsaw. In addition to getting rid of these harmful stoves, some fuels have been completely banned. According to Olszewski, the city expects that all “dirty” stoves will be removed by 2021-2022.

The record-low unemployment results in the consistently growing demand for human resources from behind our eastern border. The new regulations, in force since January of this year, and the new category of simplified seasonal work permit were supposed to assist employers. However, it turned out that employment agencies are not yet ready to embrace the changes. The number of declarations processed every day can sometimes be ten times lower than before. 

“The Polish economy clearly needs employees from abroad. It’s good that the Government is aware of these challenges and that new solutions are being developed in this field. It is necessary to enhance the whole registration process for work permits which are applied for by employers and employment agencies and to strengthen the administration dealing with these matters,” Jacek Piechota, President of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce told the Newseria Biznes press agency.

According to the data from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, over 1.8 million declarations of intention to provide work to a foreigner were issued in 2017 (an increase of 39 percent year-on-year). The vast majority, that is 94 percent of all declarations involved Ukrainian citizens as the demand for them grew by 36 percent year-on-year.

The demand for employees from behind the eastern border is increasing due to the situation on the Polish labour market – the historical low unemployment rate that has lasted a number of months thwarts the development of companies. As seen in the “Economic Immigration Barometer” prepared by Kantar Millward Brown and commissioned by Personnel Service, nearly one in five companies in Poland (19 percent) are planning to recruit Ukrainians in the near future. Among big companies, this percentage is much higher, reaching 42 percent.

Employers were supposed to receive assistance thanks to new regulations which entered into force in January 2018. A new category of a simplified seasonal work permit was introduced (allowing a legal stay and work in Poland not for six, but for nine months during the year), along with a charge for registering a declaration on the intention to provide work to a foreigner. Another change is the employer’s obligation to report, whether a foreigner who received a new, simplified seasonal work permit, actually took on work.

“We’ve introduced certain regulations, which eliminate the black market for employer declarations, but we failed to strengthen the agencies managing the whole process. Unfortunately, the activities of voivodeship offices is also a bottleneck. Civil servants who verify the documents and prepare decisions for temporary stays and work permits are simply flooded with work resulting from the current demand. That is why we need to strengthen the administration in this respect,” stressed Jacek Piechota.

Data from the Personnel Service agency, which specialises in the recruitment of foreigners, show that since the new regulations were introduced, each day there are up to ten times fewer declarations registered than before. The difficulties are caused by, among other things, the extension of the procedure of verifying declarations and an increased number of appendices.

In the previous system, the number of documents was limited to a single page of the declaration for the employment agency and a single page to be filled in by the employer. Now, the employer has to submit eight different documents, including the completed declaration on the intention to provide a job, confirmation of payment of PLN 30 for registration and a photocopy of the foreigner’s passport with all stamped pages. If an error is found in the documentation, the time for registering the declaration is extended to 30 days.

The ferrofluid flywheel will be used for controlling satellites. The invention by Polish scientists will facilitate research measurements on the near-Earth orbit. The scientists from the AGH are working on the design of a satellite orientation control system which will make it possible, for instance, to take more precise satellite images. The new system will be tested on the KRAKsat satellite, which will be launched into the near-Earth orbit in November 2018. The space industry is considered one of the most promising sectors in the world. In 30 years its private section will reach almost 3 trillion dollars.

The KRAKsat is a cubesat satellite, i.e. a cube with sides of 10 cm. Its main task is to test the proprietary concept of the scientists from AGH – the ferrofluid flywheel.

“There is often a need to control the orientation of satellites in the near-Earth orbit. This is because when the satellite is launched from the rocket, its rotary speed is very high and it needs to be slowed down. We need to control research instruments such as a video recorder or antenna,” said Jan Życzkowski from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, the KRAKsat project coordinator, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje news agency.

The solution developed at AGH consists of building a flywheel from ferrofluid, i.e. magnetic fluid. This means that when a magnet is placed close to the fluid, it will pulled towards it. This property is to be used in a device equipped with electromagnets, operating on a similar basis as a stepping motor.

“Satellites present in the near-Earth orbit for longer periods of time need flywheels in order to change and stabilise their position. Currently all flywheels are mechanical, which means that they have moving parts and that may contribute to their failure rate. KRAKsat has no moving parts but a container with ferrofluid inside which is set in motion and all the other parts are immobile. Ferrofluid is a fluid with tiny iron particles which interact with magnetic fields. This is how the fluid is moved,” said Rafał Janiczak, member of the KRAKsat project.

The satellite will probably be launched into the near-Earth orbit from the International Space Station in the USA in November 2018. According to the project coordinator, the experiences of the scientists from Kraków should inspire other universities to work on solutions for the space industry because its commercialisation prospects are very promising.

“The space industry is very promising and it’s really important that it also develops dynamically in Poland. Polish universities and companies have reasons to be proud of, and their numerous instruments are used in various parts of the solar system. The space industry is moving towards outsourcing certain components. Many companies participate in assembling a whole satellite, but Poland should be able to send its own satellite to space,” Jan Życzkowski claimed.

According to the analysts from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the private space industry, whose value is estimated at around 350 bn dollars, in the next 30 years will grow to almost 3 trillion dollars.

The Chopin Airport is on the rise. About five million people passed through the airport by the end of April alone, with one in four passengers being transfer passengers. The year 2018 might bring a record number of more than 16 million passengers. To handle this growing traffic, the facility has to undergo a number of alterations. Once these alterations and extensions are completed, Chopin Airport might be able to handle a total of more than 50 aircraft operations an hour, a considerable increase from the current capacity of 42. Alterations will also include the terminals and the underground infrastructure.

The first months of 2018 proved to be record months for Warsaw Chopin Airport. From the beginning of January to the end of April, almost five million passengers passed through the airport, a 15 percent increase in one year. Warsaw’s airport has also been gaining popularity as a convenient hub airport in Central and Eastern Europe.

“We&HASH39;re particularly happy to see that our strategy to position the Chopin Airport as a hub airport is working. One in four passengers passing through our airport are transfer passengers. A growing number of people from neighbouring countries has been using our airport. This is a major success for us in that it supports our mission of achieving a critical mass of transfer traffic which could be later taken over by the New Central Polish Airport,” Mariusz Szpikowski, President of the Board at PPL and Director of Warsaw Chopin Airport, said in an interview with the Newseria Biznes news agency.

A total of 15.75 m passengers passed through the Chopin Airport in 2017 (up by 22.7 percent y/y). This put the airport on the “Fast and Furious” list featuring 19 fastest-growing airports since 2012 (according to the ACI). Among the EU airports from the second category, i.e. with 10-25 m passengers a year, the Warsaw Chopin Airport was unmatched in terms of the increase in the number of passengers. It was second among all European airports.

But the passenger traffic will continue to grow rapidly. Even the most pessimistic scenarios expect that at least 24 m passengers a year will pass through the airport ten years from now. So, alterations will be necessary despite the plans to close the Chopin Airport by 2027, with the large New Central Polish Airport taking over.

“Due to the decisions made in the past, we have very limited extension possibilities. We will undertake the extension of the Chopin Airport, but this will be done within the confines of its designated function of a hub airport. There are certain environmental limitations we have to deal with,” Mariusz Szpikowski explained.

The airport has a limited number of operations per hour, which is currently at a maximum of forty-two arrivals and departures and the number of daily operations is nearly six hundred. This is paired with restrictions to flight operations during the night hours (no take-offs and landings between 11:30 pm and 5:30 am) and overlapping runways. Planes fly above the city after take-off and the extension is made difficult by the roads located around the airport.

“We are limited by infrastructure and our urban surroundings which is why we are unable to extend the airport. We are limited by the waves of take-offs and departures as the need for passenger traffic is not evenly distributed during the day. Finding space for more passengers during peak hours would be a major issue. For this reason, on the one hand, we do everything to increase the passenger capacity of the airport, but we have our limits, which cannot be overcome,” the Director of the Warsaw Chopin Airport explained.

According to the announced plans, the extension project will take two years to complete, although the exact beginning date is still unknown.

Warsaw Chopin Airport served a record 5 million passengers during the first four months. Let’s not forget that this is the second part of the low winter season and we’re on the brink of the high summer season. Last year we served 15.75 million passengers, passenger traffic is increasing and, something we can be more satisfied about, our strategy to position Warsaw Chopin Airport as an airline hub is bearing fruit, as one in four passengers served by our airport was a transit passenger. This means that more and more passengers from neighbouring countries are served by our airport and make a stop during their journeys here. This is a very important success for us, as we are following our mission, which is to build the critical mass of transit traffic, which will then be moved to the New Central Polish Airport.

When it comes to financial results, time and time again we’ve observed record performance in the course of the last two years when compared to the previous years. The highest result achieved by Warsaw Chopin Airport to date was PLN 136 million in 2015. Both in 2016 and 2017 we reached net results much higher than PLN 200 million. As at the end of 2017 it was PLN 270 million and in 2016 more than PLN 200 million.

N: What will be your next investments to increase capacity. What do you plan on doing and what funds will be allocated to achieve it?

Those will mainly be investment projects connected with the capacity of runways, to improve it from 42 to 50 operations per hour. They will involve rapid-exit taxiways with associated infrastructure, such as aprons. We will have to create additional positions for code E aircraft, such as Dreamliner and plan the airport layout so as to provide good positioning and an appropriate number of aprons to the most common code C aircraft. We mustn&HASH39;t forget about other segments of traffic which go through our airport. The second important factor is the rearrangement and redevelopment of the terminals. We need to extend the non-Schengen area, as well as increase the capacity of security check-points, passport control booths. We cooperate with the Border Guard in this respect and we are considering automatic border control solutions.

Here, the crucial element is to reach an agreement with the Army to move the helicopter operations to another location, a heliport. This would be closer to the tower of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency on the other side of the airport and would prevent helicopter operations from blocking the runways while enabling us to use the northern part of the airport near the military airfield for parking aprons for code E Dreamliners.

A company from Poland might just know how to improve air quality in cities. Green stops are to clean the air we breathe in while waiting for a tram or bus to arrive. The first stops are to be constructed within three months after an investor is found. Each year, air pollution brings death to several million people.

According to WHO estimates, seven million people died in 2016 due to breathing air of poor quality. The WHO reports that thirty out of fifty most polluted European cities are situated in Poland. This problem aggravates during the heating period when pollutant emissions originating in transport and industry are amplified by emissions resulting from household heating.

The smog problem in Poland has become so severe that increasingly modern solutions are being marketed to protect us from poor quality air. These include air purifiers for household use, air-filtering masks to be worn during walks, as well as innovative anti-smog plants and flowerpots which fight with polluted air with double effectiveness. Degrum, a company based in Poland, have announced large-scale measures to counteract smog.

“We want to turn regular bus and tram stops &HASH39;green&HASH39; so that they can clean the air from smog. They will first appear in Polish cities, and then also in other European countries. The idea is to create a special filtering system to be placed in a technical room at the bus or tram stop. It will draw polluted air in, purify it and then throw it out into the inner part of the stop,” explained Jakub Szymanowicz, co-founder of Degrum, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje news agency.

The aim of the system will not be to remove smog from the entire cities, but to create clean air zones within the bus or tram stop areas where passengers gather and wait for their means of transport.

“Smog is a real problem as it impacts on human health. If it weren&HASH39;t for this impact, no one would pay attention to it. We are, therefore, changing the approach and, rather than eliminating smog from the entire city, will create smog-free zones,” Jakub Szymanowicz said.

The green stop project has just entered the stage of searching for an investor. The producer has assured that, once the investor is found, the first green stop will appear within three months in a Polish city to be selected by way of on-line voting.

“We will set up the first green stop in the city showing the highest interest in this solution. Our plan is to act fast and create smog-free zones as this poses a significant risk for human health. However, we are mindful that this solution is of an interim character and the problem calls for systemic measures, such as eliminating low emissions and shift into electric transport. In addition, our solution promotes public transport,” the Degrum representative assured.

Smog has its source largely in what is called ‘low emissions’, which comprise harmful gases and dust particles from transport, household stoves and furnaces, as well as local boiling rooms, which penetrate the air at a height of up to forty metres. This is why this source of pollution is so dangerous for human health. Suspended dust particles enter the respiratory system and poison the whole body, with the PM 2.5 and MP 10 particles being the most harmful.

According to the TechSci Research report, the value of the global market of air purifiers will exceed USD 19 bn in 2020.

Medicine lags behind the evolution of super-bacteria resistant to many types of drugs. As reported by the WHO, every year these bacteria kill 700,000 people – by 2050, this might be 10 million. Polish scientists want to prevent that by introducing a high-precision diagnostic system to develop complete bacterial resistance profiles.

“To detect an infection is one thing, but to cure a condition induced by a drug-resistant bacterium is a whole different story. This has grown into such a problem now all around the world, that the media have taken interest and many people have heard about it or know it from the experiences of their families or friends. With infections becoming more and more difficult to treat, a simple infection of the upper respiratory tract may confine you to hospital bed for several weeks at best,” said Piotr Garstecki, CEO of Scope Fluidics, in an interview with the Newseria Innowacje information agency.

The incidence of infections from drug-resistant bacteria is on the rise in Poland. Last year, as many as 1,700 patients caught the New Delhi superbacterium, and in January eight people in Pomerania were diagnosed with the OXA-48 type Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacterium immune to even the strongest antibiotics. This is in addition to a tuberculosis epidemic that has broken out behind Poland’s eastern border, in Ukraine. Each day, the bacterium leads to twenty deaths and 120 infected patients. Antibiotics are losing the battle against bacteria.

The expert believes this is largely due to the medical industry which hasn’t had any business incentive to undertake research on a new generation of antibiotics. There has been this misconception that since antibiotic therapies are so effective, there’s no need for research centres to keep on coming up with new medications. Over the last 20-30 years, the pharmaceutical industry failed to promptly respond to the increasing drug resistance among bacteria.

“The same goes for diagnostic systems – there has been no economic impulse to spur the development of systems that would provide detailed information on bacteria drug-resistance. The systems currently in place only give details on a limited number of antibiotics and this information is incomplete in that it doesn&HASH39;t include the so-called actual MIC levels or the exact concentration of a bacterial growth-inhibiting antibiotic. Instead, it is just a simplified classification into drug-resistant and drug-sensitive bacteria,” Piotr Garstecki notes.

Therefore, when confronted with drug-resistant bacteria, such information is of little use. In order to administer an effective, targeted therapy and make an informed choice as to the antibiotic, the physician must know all about bacteria’s drug-resistance and, consequently, the effectiveness of specific medications. A system to provide an appropriate solution in this regard is being developed by a Polish company.

“In the BacterOMIC project, we have used micro-flows to achieve a tenfold increase in the number of incubation chambers fitted onto a disposable cartridge, as compared to the current market leader. This should be enough to provide the physician with all the required information. The key benefit for the patient would be faster access to an effective therapy – rather than being administered an antibiotic on an empirical or experimental basis, the patient will receive a drug picked specifically to kill the bacteria which caused the infection. It is an element of response to the excessive use of antibiotics,” the expert believes.

According to estimates by Evaluate, by 2022 the value of the global medical technologies market will exceed USD 520 bn.

High energy costs, heating and air conditioning charges are tangible problems for both enterprises and local governments. They often lack funds for investments to increase the energy efficiency of the buildings they use. An alternative solution is investments based on the ESCO formula, where the whole cost and risk are incurred by the company implementing the project. In Poland the value of the market is estimated at EUR 27 m and is constantly growing, as increasingly more emphasis is placed on the significance of energy efficiency for the development of the economy and the competitiveness of enterprises. 

“There are several reasons why we should increase energy efficiency. Firstly, there are legal requirements binding on entrepreneurs. The EU is imposing increasingly stringent requirements as to the energy efficiency levels to be achieved, but there is also very simple reason – energy efficiency is the least expensive source of new energy. Saving one megawatt hour is much cheaper, simpler and quicker than building one megawatt of a new energy source,” Piotr Danielski, Vice President of DB Energy SA, told the Newseria Biznes agency.

Energy efficiency is an issue with a rising priority at the European level. In January 2018 the EU Parliament adopted a draft regulation according to which until 2030 Member States are to increase their energy efficiency by 35 percent. Within EU funds Polish enterprises can claim very high subsidies for projects increasing their energy efficiency. The related legal regulations have also become stricter – the Energy Efficiency Act passed 1.5 years ago imposed a duty on some companies to carry out energy audits; in Poland this requirement applies to around 6,000 enterprises. Also in line with the EU Directive until 2021 in the whole of EU newly constructed buildings must have a high energy efficiency standard and very low energy demand.

 “The leader in implementing energy efficiency solutions is the United States, where the federal government contracts the majority of retrofits and investment projects for buildings to ESCO companies. European enterprises and companies which have a number of locations throughout the world also use the services of professional companies which provide comprehensive services,” Piotr Danielski said.

ESCO companies offer comprehensive services in the field of energy management and provide their customers with a guarantee of savings. Customers do not need to spend their own resources or get into debt to implement investment projects limiting energy consumption. The entire cost and financial risk are incurred by the ESCO company, which joins the project only when there is a guarantee of a satisfactory return from the funds spent. Subsequently, during the contract implementation, the customer and the ESCO company share the financial benefits from the investment. In other words, the cost of the project is paid out from savings in operating costs.

“The market is limited by financial resources and the approach to implementing innovative projects. We should make efforts to encourage entrepreneurs to use new technologies and undertake new investment projects. This can be achieved through transferring investment, technical and economic risks to enterprises dealing only with energy efficiency. In this area it is necessary to promote ESCO solutions and EPC contracts, in which entrepreneurs for whom energy or technical infrastructure is not the focus of their operations are able to cooperate with companies dealing only with technical infrastructure so as not to spend their own resources,” Piotr Danielski emphasised.

ESCO contracts can include both investment projects increasing energy efficiency and the maintenance and repair of equipment, cogeneration and alternative methods of electricity production – provided that the payment for these services is from the savings made.

In the European Union the ESCO contract market is constantly growing (this is resulting from the requirements set by Directive 2012/27/UE). The most attractive markets are Germany, where the value of ESCO contracts reached approx. EUR 2 bn, the United Kingdom (EUR 940 m) and Sweden (EUR 650 m). Poland, with a turnover of EUR 27 m, still ranks low compared to other EU countries.

Globally, there are nearly 5 billion tonnes of plastic waste left unused. A partial solution to the problem could come in the form of a plastic-to-fuel technology. Plastic waste can become a source of fuel as effective as petrol and diesel fuel. A unique technology for its conversion has been developed by a Polish company. As required by a draft EU Directive, large-scale recipients will now have to use biofuels as well, which includes fuels made from plastic.

“The fuel we are producing is basically no different from petrol or diesel fuel. But it does bring some environmental advantages. First because in the manufacturing process we got rid of plastics which pollute the environment, oceans included. If we don’t do something about it, by 2050 we will be seeing more plastics than fish in the oceans. Secondly, as compared to the conventional crude oil, using plastic to produce one litre of fuel reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 12.5 percent, quite as much as mining for crude oil which is also more emission-conducive, because plastics are already there. And thirdly, with plastic waste being produced locally, we don’t have to import crude oil from the Middle East or Russia, which also adds to reduced carbon dioxide emissions,” Susan Kim-Chomicka, CEO of Handerek Technologies, told the Newseria Innowacje information agency.

The technology devised by Handerek Technologies, a finalist at the national stage of the PowerUp contest, makes it possible to convert plastic waste into liquid fuels with a quality matching that of regular petrol or diesel fuel, for use with vehicles and machinery. During a low-pressure process, the technology turns plastic waste which cannot be recycled any further into fully refined fractions of diesel fuel and petrol.

Not only is this technology cost-effective and not requiring any subsidisation, but it is also self-sufficient energetically and does not generate any unusable waste as a by-product. A kilogram of waste can be turned into a litre of liquid fuel such as the EN590 diesel fuel, the EN228 petrol, and jet fuel. However, this recycled fuel will not be available at petrol stations.

“Even if we do convert the entire plastic stock, the resulting fuel will make up a mere three percent of the global petroleum output. That’s just not enough to be offered at petrol stations. However, the draft version of the EU Fuel Directive contains a provision stating that the biofuel category also covers fuels produced from waste, including plastic. In this situation, large-scale recipients will have to collect some of the fuel back from us, so that they can meet the future EU requirements,” Susan Kim-Chomicka notes.

With such laws in force, waste-to-fuel businesses are standing a chance not only to seize the market but also to bring about viable environmental benefits. As reported by Eurostat, each year Poland produces around 180 m tonnes of waste, adding to the total EU waste output of over 2.5 bn tonnes. In 2014, the Member States processed 2.3 bn tonnes of waste, including that imported to the EU. More than 47 percent underwent waste treatment other than combustion, and 36 percent more was allocated for recovery other than energy recovery or land filling. Still, however, much of this waste is left unused.

“There are nearly 5 billion tonnes of plastic lingering on land. Each year, almost eight million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the oceans. If we don&HASH39;t do something about it, our environment will perish. And since we use petroleum anyway, plastic fuels will help us diversify the sources of its origin, helping the environment in the process,” says the expert.

According to analyses by Zion Market Research, with an average annual growth of 4.5 percent, the global biofuel market will reach nearly USD 219 bn in value by 2022.

The earnings of women working in the same positions as men are lower, they are less willing to start their own companies and less often perform managerial roles. This is a global problem faced by the largest world economies. In Poland, despite the fact that managerial positions are in 40% occupied by women, their earnings are much lower than those of men. Together with the spreading popularity and significance of start-ups, it is easier for women to enter the labour market and find their way to sectors which previously were considered to be typically male. This is facilitated by the numerous competitions organised for women’s start-ups and a growing number of women performing the roles of business angels.

“The presence of women on the start-up market is growing, although the rate could still be higher. The critical time for women to take up the challenge is the age between 25 and 35. The major obstacle to be overcome are unequal opportunities in comparison to men, in particular in this crucial period of their lives,” Luigi Amati,  told the Newseria Innowacje news agency during the InfoShare 2018 conference in Gdańsk.

In Iceland the authorities decided to deal with the problem of inequality on the job market in a quite radical way. At the beginning of this year a law was passed prohibiting any discrimination of employees, including with respect to gender. Companies employing more than 25 people are obligated to submit documents confirming that men and women working in the same positions receive equal earnings. If an audit shows that a given company does not have the required certificate, it will be charged with a high fine.

“There are many successful start-ups run by women. The trend is becoming increasingly discernible. The more women become business angels, the more investments will be made in companies managed by women. This is not to say that men who are business angels invest only in companies run by men, but a certain trend can be observed here,” the expert emphasised.

The Economist, the British daily, every year publishes the glass ceiling index, which is a ranking of countries specifying the degree of gender equality on the job market. In Poland 40 percent of managerial positions are taken by women, which makes Poland rank fourth, following the United States, Iceland and Hungary.

Despite that, disproportions in men&HASH39;s and women&HASH39;s earnings are still high. According to the Nationwide Earnings Survey in 2017 women earned by 19 percent less than men working in the same positions. What&HASH39;s more, 70 percent of entrepreneurs are not planning to introduce programmes to mitigate gender-related pay differences.