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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS
INVESTMENTS IN POLAND
FROM THE REGIONS
ANALYSES AND REPORTS
DID YOU KNOW...?
FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, This week we report on another of the series of exhibitions “Designed in Poland” opened in the Czech town of Karlowe Wary and on an upcoming seminar organized by PAIiIZ and the Ministry of Regional Development geared towards investors interested in applying for EU funds earmarked for innovation projects. In this Newsletter we also present the latest foreign investment initiatives i.e. a Kimball factory which is to produce electronic systems in Tarnowo Podgórne and a recently developed Nivea plant in Poznań. Moreover, we encourage you to read about a report confirming a dynamic development of the Polish labour market. Finally we inform that the Polish pavilion model prepared for the EXPO 2010 World Exhibition in Shanghai was included in the list of top 12 pavilion models. Pleasant reading! PAIiIZ’s editorial team NEWS “Subsidies for innovations” a seminar for investors The Ministry of Regional Development and the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency organise a seminar for investors dedicated to application criteria for subsidies in the frame of the Operational Programme - Innovative Economy.
The seminar will take place on October 29th from 9 a.m to 3.30 p.m. at the Radisson SAS Centrum Hotel in Warsaw, 24 Grzybowska Str. The aim of the meeting is to familiarize investors already active or considering starting a business in the field of innovative technologies with the possibilities of applying for EU funds in the frame of the Operational Programme - Innovative Economy. The meeting will be attended by experts from the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Economy and from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development who will discuss the procedures and criteria of subsidy granting in the frame of the measures 1.4-4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 5.1 of the Operational Programme - Innovative Economy. Please confirm your participation by October 20th by sending an e-mail to: For more information contact: Polish products and industrial design promoted in the Czech Republic Modern industrial design and articles of everyday use designed by Polish creators were presented between October 11th-17th in the frame of "Designed in Poland” exhibition at the Thermal Hotel in Karlowe Wary.
The idea behind the event was to attract the visitors’ attention to the specific features of the Polish industrial design and to encourage consumers to reach for Polish products. Among the exhibits presented on the exhibition there were interior decorative accessories, artistic and functional glass creations, porcelain, jewelry, bikes and toys. High quality and extraordinary patterns combining traditional and modern designs constituted the most characteristic feature of all the exhibits. Visitors were presented with an illustrated catalogue containing information on the displayed objects and photos. There was also a possibility to take part in a contest for the most interesting objects of the exhibition and win a prize sponsored by the exhibitors.
During the opening of the exhibition, which took place on October 10th, the visitors could enjoy a fashion show presenting an Amber Gardens collection by Michał Starost combined with a presentation of amber jewelry designed by Daria Jankowska. The event was prepared by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency and forms part of the celebrations of Polish Days in Karlowe Wary. (PAIiIZ) Prime Minister: the Polish banking system is stable Against the general situation of the developed European countries Poland is a sable island, Prime Minister Tusk said commenting the crisis in world financial markets.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the Polish banking system does not provide any reason for concern - “Against the general situation of the developed countries in Europe and in the whole world Poland is a sable island.”, Mr Tusk said. Polish finance minister, Mr Jacek Rostowski commented that banks in Poland are in a very good condition and added that the government is on the point of proposing an amendment to a bill on the Bank Guarantee Fund. The change in regulations would enable the Council of Ministers to guarantee all deposits of natural persons to the level of around 175 thousand PLN. The finance minister ensured that the government will monitor actions taken by other countries in the attempt to fight the financial markets crisis. It is now very important for the countries to undertake coordinated decisions to avoid harmful competition amongst various countries. (the Chancellery of the Prime Minister) INVESTMENTS IN POLAND Electronic systems plant in Tarnowo Podgórne Polish division of American Kimball began construction of a new electronic systems plant in Sady, situated in the Tarnowo Podgórne commune (Wielkopolska voivodship).
The investment is estimated to cost 21 million EUR. The new factory will manufacture electronic systems which may find application in the automotive, telecommunication and electronic sectors. A foundation stone- laying ceremony marked the official start of the enterprise realisation. The investment is scheduled for completion by May next year. The Kimball Electronics Poland forms part of an American Kimball Electronics Group and specialises in electronic systems production. The Tarnowo Podgórne commune belongs to the most investment attractive locations in the region of Wielkopolska. The local government officials do emphasise that the successful investment development of the community has much to do with the attractive location and also with the well-developed transport infrastructure. Not only is the biggest city in the region, i.e. Poznań, situated fairy close to the commune but also the international route No 2 facilitates substantially access to the Western border of the country. That is why the local authorities consider the support of investor friendly environment generation consisting, among other things, in good investment lots and infrastructure preparation for potential projects tp be among their key responsibilities and tasks for the future. Since the beginning of the 90s over 450 million USD has been invested in the Tarnowo Podgórne commune what effectively slashed unemployment which accounts for 4.23% and belongs to the lowest unemployment rates in Poland. (Tarnowo Podgórne) Beiersdorf develops Nivea plant in Poznań Beiersdorf, forming part of a Germann group producing cosmetics, enlarged its plant in Poznań. Now the Nivea Polska factory ranks among the most modern Beiersdorf plants.
The enlargement process began in 2007 and was completed in September this year. The investment cost 20 million EUR, half of the expanses went into the plant’s building development and technical infrastructure of the facility while the rest of the investment budget was allocated to technology, i.e. new machines and installations purchases. The whole development programme, which is to be financed from cash and bank credit proceeds, is expected to be comlpeted next year. The enlargement process enables the company to expand its production in Poland. In 1997 Beiersdorf bought a majority stake of Pollena-Lechia and in 2006 took the whole of the Poznań-based company over, which is now third-most important, after the Germany - and Spain-based, factory of the concern. The company’s products have been exported to several dozen countries all over the world yet it is the countries from the CEE region like Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary that constitute the core customers. Heine-Jurgen Stuting, the company’s President emphasises that beside the investor friendly climate characteristic of the Wielkopolska region it was also the accessibility to highly-qualified cadre, good transport infrastructure and support on the part of local authorities substantially contributed to the company’s development and expansion. (Beiersdorf Group) MACROECONOMIC POLAND
Source: www.nbp.pl FROM THE REGIONS Design Centre to be created in Cracow On October 10th the Cracow Technology Park hosted the first meeting organised in connection with a Design Centre planned to be built in Cracow. The meeting was attended by people who put forward the idea of the centre, professors from the Academy of Fine Arts, the Cracow University of Technology, city hall officials and representatives of Cracow-based design companies.
The aim of the meeting consisted in presenting the concept of the planned Design Centre to companies interested in the facility and also in establishing the frames of co-operation. An attempt to set out the centre’s location and define requirements it should fulfil resulted to be among of the most contentious issues touched upon on the meeting. The Cracow City Hall will help in finding an appropriate edifice to host the Centre. It has also been arranged that the final project concept, including the aims and forms of activities, will have been developed by the initiative partners and the co-operation agreement will have been signed within a month time from the meeting date. Next meeting is scheduled for November this year. The concept of the project was created in 2007 when the Cracow Technology Park was conducting research in the frame of a pilot project “Industrial Design in the Małopolska Region”. The research was meant to define level of general knowledge concerning industrial design and measuring the rank of design as an element contributing to market brand domination of business entities. The research tried also to define the extend and character of a potential demand and expectations connected with this kind of design facility in the region. The research shows that almost 90% of enterprises perceive such a centre necessary and beneficial to the city. Expectations towards the centre are very concrete. The facility would render services in the field of industrial design and charge less than market prices, promote industrial design and offer contests and training courses as well as would create a data base of designers and companies active in the field. It is worth recalling the quick reaction of the circles interested in the project realisation; both universities and design companies. Among the major project partners there are the Cracow Technology Park, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Cracow University of Technology but the meeting organised on October 10th was also attended by over a dozen companies operating in the field of graphic design, interior decoration, furniture and advertisement sector. (Cracow Technology Park) ANALYSES AND REPORTS PwC: Poland - a dynamic labour market Poland is a dynamically developing labour market - experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) claim. Polish employers are eager to create new workplaces and together with the Romanian and Russian companies are among the most active recruiters in Europe.
The Polish Press Agency informs that on the Tuesday press conference the PwC representatives presented a survey conducted in 37 Polish companies. The study, focused on analysing the aspects of investing in human resources, shows that paybacks resulting from such expenses in Poland are higher than in other Western European countries. According to the survey, Polish złoty every invested in HR pays back 2.37 PLN in Poland while entrepreneurs in Europe and the USA may gain respectively1.17 PLN and 1.57 PLN. Mr Paweł Dziechciarz from PwC says that the survey proves that in comparison with Europe and the USA, more time is devoted in Poland to staff trainings which amount to an average of over 30 hours a year while in the USA the average staff training time accounts for 23.5h a year. Europe, in turn, fares even worse in that aspect with only 20.6h a year devoted to training courses for employees. Moreover, Mr Dziechciarz pointed out, training courses in Poland tend to by over 100% more expensive than in the West of Europe and cost almost 40% more than in the USA. Yet despite considerable investments in human resource, Polish companies’ income tends to be lower when compared with Europe and the USA. While the average annual remuneration in Polish enterprise included in the survey in 2007 reached 66.7 thousand PLN, in Europe a yearly regular pay accounted for 110 thousand PLN and 200 thousand PLN in the USA. The work methodology Human Capital Benchmarking was worked out in the course of a 30 year long practice period of the Saratoga Institute (part of the global PwC structure). To date over 16 thousand enterprises have been taking part in a variety of benchmarking surveys, 2007 was the first year when Poland was included. PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the world's largest professional services firms. In Poland the company employs a team of over 1000 specialists and administration cadre in six major Polish cities .i.e. in Gdańsk, Cracow, Poznań, Wrocław, Katowice and Warsaw. (PAP) DID YOU KNOW...? Polish Pavilion for EXPO 2010 among the top 12 national pavilion designs 12 most interesting EXPO 2010 World Exhibition pavilion models, including the Polish project, were displayed in the Shanghai tube stations to celebrate the October Chinese national holiday.
The Chinese national holiday, celebrated on October 1st, is usually an occasion for attractive street decorative installations to be displayed across the country. This year one of the decorative elements of the city of Shanghai consisted in displaying elements connected with the upcoming EXPO 2010 World Exhibition. Illuminated boards, situated in the city’s major tube stations, presented the 12 most interesting and attractive pavilion models prepared for the Exhibition in 2010. Among the top 12 selected models, the several million Shanghai underground users could see also the architectural design of the Polish Pavilion for EXPO 2010 together with, among other, the Chinese, German, French, Swiss, Brazilian and Australian projects.
It is worth recalling that the first prize in the competition for concept architectural design of the Polish Pavilion for EXPO 2010 in Shanghai went to an architects’ team comprised of Wojciech Kakowski, Natalia Paszkowska and Marcin Mostafa. For more information on the Polish participation in the EXPO 2010 and the Polish Pavilion project details visit the website of the Polish Section of the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai www.expo2010.com.pl (PAIiIZ)  Editorial office: Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, 00-585 Warsaw, Bagatela Street 12 Economic Promotion Department, tel: (+48 22) 334 98 15, fax: (+48 22) 334 99 98, e-mail: redakcja@paiz.gov.pl | ||||||||||||||||
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