| POLISH INFOMATION AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT AGENCY | ||||||||||||
NEWSLETTER December 11th 2008, Number 101 | ||||||||||||
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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS
INVESTMENTS IN POLAND
ANALYSES AND REPORTS
DID YOU KNOW...?
FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, This week a Christmas and New Year meeting with investors organised by PAIiIZ was held. The best investors in 2008 received awards for the Investment of the Year for 2008 in three categories: the largest investment, the investment which created the largest number of workplaces and for effective usage of modern technologies. In the News section you may read a detailed account of the event and also of the award giving ceremony finalising the second edition of “The best Master thesis, regarding the promotion of the Polish economy.” In the Reports and Analyses section we write about the latest report by the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics on investment attractiveness of Polish regions and about the Central Statistical Office research results concerning Internet and advanced technologies usage in Polish enterprises. Pleasant reading! PAIiIZ’s editorial team NEWS Best 2008 investments rewarded Awards for the best investments in Poland were distributed on a Christmas meeting organised, as every year, by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency on December 9th, 2008 at the Polnia Hotel in Warsaw. The meeting was attended by investors, Polish Ministers, representatives of diplomatic posts and other PAIiIZ partners.
Awards for the three most important investments of 2008 were presented by the Deputy Prime Minister Mr Waldemar Pawlak, the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Mr Witold Jurek and the PAIiIZ President Mr Paweł Wojciechowski. The award for the Investment of the Year for 2008, for the investment of a value of 959 million EUR, was presented to Cadbury. The Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Pawlak, presented the distinction which was received by Mr Witold Ziobrowski, Member of the Cadbury Wedel Management Board.
Award for the Investment of the Year for 2008 for the company which created the largest number of workplaces was presented to Lenovo Technology B.V. Sp. z o.o., which declared to generate 1276 jobs. The Minister of Economy Mr Waldemar Pawlak presented the distinction to Mr Sylwester Zdziobłowski, the company’s President. The award for the modern technologies went to MTU Aero Enginess from Rzeszów and was presented by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Mr Witold Jurek. The award was received by the company’s Presidents – Mr Richard Maier and Mr Krzysztof Zuzak. The meeting was also an occasion to present diplomas to companies awarded in the contest for the best product - exhibit presented at the “Designed In Poland” exhibition organised in Karlowe Wary (the Czech Republic). Among the awarded artists there were: Ms Maira Veltuzen - Nagrabecka for artistic glass cretaions, Kross SA for bikes, Ambermoda for amber jewellery, design studio Indespe and Gerlach company for the Orange Moon cutlery collection. A fashion show by Michał Starost and a presentation of Soirée Royale jewellery collection by Daria Jankowska-Byczkowska constituted an artistic complementation of the event. (PAIiIZ) Conference “Outsourcing in Poland- the present condition and development perspectives” The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency organised a conference “Outsourcing in Poland- the present condition and development perspectives”. The event was held on December 4th at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Warsaw.
The aim of the conference consists in promoting Poland as a modern European centre for BPO services as well as in presenting the latest trends in the outsourcing market in the country. Mr Sławomir Majman, Member of the PAIiIZ Management Board remarked that until recently Poland was perceived as a country of cheap labour force. The country successfully managed to attract investors who focused on factory construction and the advantages of low labour costs. Although human potential continues to constitute the biggest advantage of the country, it is the highly qualified and competent cadres that now determine the development of service sector in Poland, the BPO industry included. However, regulatory barriers hampering the dynamic development of the outsourcing processes in Poland may still be encountered. Mr Olgierd ¦wierzewski from Łukowicz Swierzewski & Partners Attorneys at Law presented results of a report on legal barriers faced by business persons in running business activities in the field of outsourcing and offshoring in Poland. Ms Magdalena Cieliczko, Director of Colliers International presented a report on BPO sector development perspectives with the biggest Polish cities' assessment survey regarding issues of starting up and running business in the service sector. Results of surveys provided by consultancy companies were confronted with academic research. Professor Irena Lichniak from the Warsaw School of Economics discussed research of Polish labour market condition in “the sector of services for business” and Mr Andrzej Dyżewski, DiS director focused on results of research concerning the international service centres market in Poland. Mr Marek Wróbel presented the latest trends in outsourcing and the influence of the global economic turmoil on the sector’s condition. Substantial number of participants attracted by the conference topic testifies to a growing interest in the matter of outsorcing industry in Poland. The meeting was attended by regions’ representatives, entrepreneurs, delegates of diplomatic posts and journalists. (PAIiIZ) “The best Master thesis, regarding the promotion of the Polish economy contest” Laureates of the 2nd edition selected. Prizes have been awarded in the 2nd edition of “The best Master thesis, regarding the promotion of the Polish economy contest.” The competition was organised by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency and the Foundation for the Polish Promotional Emblem.
The prize giving ceremony was attended by Mr Rafał Baniak - Under Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Mr Krzysztof Przybył - President of the Foundation for the Polish Promotional Emblem and Paweł Wojciechowski PhD - PAIiIZ President. Grzegorz Kiszluk, editor in chief of Brief for Poland, who chaired the event, presented the idea behind the contest, partners organising the competition, laureates and their academic supervisors as well as representatives of Universities from which the laureates graduated. Paweł Wojciechowski PhD presented PAIiIZ performance in the field of economic promotion of Poland. Mr Krzysztof Przybył discussed the goals of the contest and other programmes realised by the Foundation with the aim of effective support of Poland’s promotion. This year seven prizes were awarded. Three of them were sponsored by PAIiIZ, the other three by the Ministry of Economy while the special award was sponsored by Brief for Poland.
The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency chose a thesis entitled “National branding. National brand communication.” by Ms Agnieszka Majchrzak from the University of Warsaw ( first prize and the possibility to publish the thesis in a scientific magazine “Economia”). The second position was taken by Mr Łukasz Biel from the University of Economics in Katowice for his thesis “European policy of cluster support at the example of European funds use in the Silesia voivodship. The prize for the third position went to Ms Agnieszka Osińska from the Warsaw School of Economics whose thesis focused on “Regional image and promotion. The case of the city of Warsaw.” During the ceremony also Ms Agnieszka Ostrowska from the Poznań University of Economics received a special mention. Prizes awarded by the Ministry of Economy went to Ms Eliza Zawada from the Warsaw School of Economics, Ms Małgorzata Adamiec from the University of Warsaw and Ms Justyna Nowakowska from the Warsaw School of Economics. The idea behind the Competition is to popularize the theme of promoting the Polish economy and thus to beef up the young cadre recruitment process for the needs of Polish national marketing. The competition’s objective is to spread information concerning the development of the Polish economy, the problems of national marketing, the topic of a brand for Poland and the basis-creation for the Poland’s systematic and dynamic development. The competition is organised under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Economy. The contest partners include: the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; the Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw; the Institute for Economic Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences; the Warsaw School of Economics; the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank PBC and Brief for Poland. (PAIiIZ) INVESTMENTS IN POLAND New investment in the Cracow SEZ The Management of the Cracow Technology Park issued its 66th ever and 8th this year - permission for business activity within the Cracow Special Economic Zone (KSSE).
The permission was granted to Unipress Poligrafia, a company from Tarnów which has already been present in the Cracow Zone. The first project successfully realised by the company consisted in building and fitting of a print shop. This time the company investing in printing service development wants to allocate 2.5 million PLN to new machines acquisition what, in turn, is bound to result in new workplaces. Unipress Poligrafia constitutes an example of a small local company which is able to effectively benefit from a development opportunity resulting from investing within a Special Economic Zone. (Cracow Technology Park) MACROECONOMIC POLAND
Source: www.nbp.pl ANALYSES AND REPORTS The Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics reports on investment attractiveness of Polish regions The Ministry of Regional Development presented a report prepared in co-operation with the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics (IBnGR) on „Investment attractiveness of voivodships and regions in Poland 2008”.
“The report that we are presenting today has, as every year, been awaited by the representatives of the Polish regions who analyse it in detail.” - said Mr Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Minister of Regional Development on a press conference announcing publication of the report’s results. The conference was attended also by the President of the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics, Mr Jan Szomburg and Tomasz Kalinowski, an IBnGR expert who co-ordinated the survey. Investment attractiveness consists in the region’s capability of drawing investment projects thanks to an optimal mixture of factors vital for investors from different sectors. This year’s IBnGR study, similarly to the ones from the years 2005-2007, focused on assessing voivodships’ investment attractiveness and their sub regions in three categories i.e. in industrial activity, services and advanced technologies. Elements taken into account in the evaluation process included, among other things, access to transport infrastructure, human resouces, size and absorption of the market, level of economic development, labour costs and public security level. It is the ¦l±sk voivodship that results to have the highest investment attractiveness. The leader is followed by the Mazowsze, Lower ¦l±sk and Wielkopolska regions. All the voivodships have a well developed economic and transport infrastructure, large and absorbent trade areas, substantial resources of highly qualified cadre active on the labour market. Among the regions deemed especially attractive for industrial activity there are mainly regions located in the South and East of Poland: the Katowice, Rybnik, Tarnobrzeg, Rzeszów and Lublin regions. Undoubtedly sub regions situated in the vicinity of strongly industrialised and big cities with good transport infrastructure stand a good chance of attracting investment, regions like the ŁódĽ, Poznań and Bydgoszcz-Toruń sub regions. As for investment projects concerning the service sector and activities in the field of highly advanced technologies it is the zones of more metropolitan character and situated close to big cities like Warsaw, ŁódĽ, Cracow, Warsaw, Poznań or the Tri-city region that result most attractive. Favourable conditions for investment exist also in centres of highly specialised mass production which also offer additional benefits e.g investment incentives or tax exemptions for entrepreneurs investing in special economic zones. (Ministry of Regional Development) Central Statistical Office reports on Internet usage in enterprises The Central Statistical Office (GUS) published results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies usage in enterprises, households and legal persons.
According to data on ICT usage in enterprises in 2008, 95% of enterprises in Poland use computers and 93% have access to Internet connections. Over half of the companies has a broadband Internet access at its disposal and almost 70% of the surveyed does use the Internet to communicate with public administration. Companies tend to make use of advanced IT tools to boost sales management: 12% uses Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems i.e. an enterprise-wide information system designed to coordinate resources; 20% of the companies result to be equipped with the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system i.e. software applied to support process of a company’s customer handling. GUS examined also enterprises’ IT connected activity outlays for the years 2006-2007. Last year this type of expenditure rose by 21.7% in comparison to 2006 and accounted for 20.2 billion PLN. Costs incurred per enterprise in the field were on the rise and tended to reach 7 thousand PLN in 2007 while neared 5 thousand in 2006. (GUS) DID YOU KNOW...? Polish preparations for EXPO 2010  A meeting summing up Polish preparations for Shanghai EXPO 2010 was held on Thursday, December 11th 2008 in Warsaw.
During the meeting at the Marriott hotel guests saw a 3D visualization of the Polish pavilion. Moreover, participants could enjoy a presentation of outfits prepared for the staff of the Polish section for EXPO. The outfits were selected from among numerous projects. Awards were presented to authors of the best projects. The cocktail served also as an occasion to present the 15-minute suite created by Piotr Rubik especially for the Polish participation in the exhibition in Shanghai. The World Exhibition EXPO 2010 is to be held in Shanghai. 
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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