| POLISH INFOMATION AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT AGENCY | |||||||||||||||
NEWSLETTER November 13th 2008, Number 97 | |||||||||||||||
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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS
INVESTMENTS IN POLAND
FROM THE REGIONS
FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, The 3rd edition of the Golden Sites contest came to an end. The voivodships’ Marshals and the PAIiIZ President distributed prizes to the 16 best laureates who submitted the offers of the best prospective investment lots from a given voivodship. We encourage you to read an account of the prize giving ceremony in the News section of the Newsletter. In the From the Regions section we inform about the latest IKEA investment in Poland and about the inception of an innovation incubator in the ¦l±sk Technology Park and the Entrepreneurship Day organised in the Cracow Technology Park. Moreover, we invite for business meetings, seminars and fairs organised in co-operation with PAIiIZ. Pleasant reading! PAIiIZ’s editorial team NEWS Final stage of “The Golden Sites 2008” contest  The ceremony ended the 3rd edition of the Contest. The former editions took place in the years 2005 and 2007. While the competition was organised by the PAIiIZ, the Marshals’ Offices, Investor Assistance Centres, the event also enjoyed the honorary patronage of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Waldemar Pawlak. The daily “Puls Biznesu” acted as a media partner of the campaign. The idea behind the contest consists in the identification of attractive investment areas. The submitted lots’ assessment focused on the extent of preparation for future investment projects and the location of prospective business properties and buildings. 220 communities submitted 332 offers for the 3rd edition of the contest, 175 of the applications were sent for the first time ever to the Contest. From among the regions it was the Wielkopolska, Opole and ¦l±sk voivodships that sent the greatest number of offers. Thanks to the contests, the participating communes deepen their knowledge about investors preferences and also promote their lots, what increases their chances to attract investment projects. From among the 16 best lots that won the 2005 edition of the contest, 12 successfully managed to attract investors and from among the 2007 winners half of the laureates found investors interested in the selected areas. As a result of the contest also the Agency supplements its database of attractive and well prepared investment lots. Thanks to this foreign investors have access to a wider range of potentially interesting project destinations. (PAIiIZ)
For more information go to www.paiz.gov.pl. Conference - “OECD guidelines as a tool for CSR implementation in enterprise” The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in co-operation with the Det Norske Veritas foundation organizes a meeting on “OECD Guidelines as a Tool for CSR Implementation in Enterprise”.
The OECD guidelines form a set of recommendations considering CSR. The guidelines are geared towards multinational enterprises active in 33 countries which declared the willingness to apply the Guidelines. The states share common values supported by the governing bodies of the countries, where the majority of the world direct investment and the multinational companies originate. The seminar is addressed to managers responsible for the CSR in business on a daily basis in their companies and also to managers who are on the point of initiating the CSR rules implementation and seek ways to get effectively acquainted with the concept. The invitation is also issued to HR managers, internal and external communication specialists and marketing managers. The seminar may prove useful information also to SME owners and managers. The meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss issues concerning the workings of the Poland's OECD National Contact Point (NCP) and the possibilities of the Guidelines application as a tool in company management processes. The seminar will be attended by experts who will share their experiences in OECD guidelines application in practice and also in the field of corporate social responsibility strategies implementation. Speeches are to be delivered by, among others, representatives of Det Norske Veritas, the Polsih Directors’ Institute and the Bank Zachodni WBK. The meeting will take place on November 25th 2008 at the Radisson Hotel (24 Grzybowskiej Str. ) at 10.30 a.m. in Warsaw. For more information contact Danuta Łożyńska, Tel.: (022) 334 99 83, e-mail: danuta.lozynska@paiz.gov.pl (PAIiIZ) INVESTMENTS IN POLAND ŁódĽ: the biggest IKEA investment in Poland Construction of he “Port ŁódĽ” commercial centre and the biggest IKEA showroom in Poland has just began in ŁódĽ. At the crossroads of the Pabianicka and Chocianowska Str., where at the moment a huge building site has been organised, over 200 commercial facilities are expected to be opened by spring 2010.
The IKEA showroom in ŁódĽ will be the biggest investment realized in Poland by the company. The facility will host 60 lots for interior design arrangements, restaurants, a shop with Swedish food, a room for kids. The plan of the building is in the shape of a triangle and will occupy a total of 333 thousand sq m. Beside the IKEA facilities the mall will host the market Leroy Merlin, Alma delicatessen and 200 other smaller shops and customer service points, restaurants and an over and under-ground and car park for 4500 vehicles. On the 7 thousand sq m lot also walking paths, wooden terraces, tables and benches together with bushes, flowers and trees are to be arranged. The total area of the planned commercial centre will reach 120 thousand sq m. During the opening of the building’s construction the ŁódĽ President, Jerzy Kropiwnicki said- I am very pleased with the investment plans, especially because of the fact that the city’s residents will also find employment during the construction stage of the investment. We are also aware of the fact that products offered by IKEA are popular among the city’s population. The commercial centre Port ŁódĽ will offer employment to 2 thousand people and in the IKEA facility round 200 employees are needed. Recruitment process for the most important posts has already started. The rest of the staff will be recruited beginning spring next year. The cost of the investment project includes not only the building of the centre as such. The project entrails also financial participation in the surrounding infrastructure adjustment which is to reach 11 million EUR. The part covered by the investor includes, among other things, rebuilding of the adjacent streets and crossroads. Inter IKEA Centre Polska S.A is the main investor and developer of the project. The company belongs to the IKEA Group and has been active on the Polish market since 1998. To date the company is and owner and manages six commercial centres in Poznań, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Katowice and of two facilities in Warsaw. (the City of ŁódĽ Office) MACROECONOMIC POLAND
Source: www.nbp.pl FROM THE REGIONS First project to be realised within Operational Programme - Development of Eastern Poland The first agreement on financial support from the OP Development of Eastern Poland has been signed by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the University of Rzeszów. The funds will enable the university to construct a new research and didactic institute Zalesie.
The investment which is estimated to cost 112 million PLN is planned to be finished within to years’ time so that students may use it in the academic year 2010/2011. The venture will get financial support from the OP Development of Eastern Poland which is geared towards the least developed regions of the country. The recently signed agreement is the first contract concluded within the programme. Yet further contracts accounting for a total of 350 million PLN are planned to be concluded by the end of the year. The Minister of Regional Development, Ms Elżbieta Bieńkowska, who attended the agreement signing ceremony, said- Universities managed to prepare themselves very quickly and are now ready to realize projects. By the end of this year it is probable that further 10 agreements may be concluded. The rector of the University of Rzeszów, Mr Stanisław Uliasz admitted that Today the preparatory stage has come to an end, we have been organizing ourselves for two years and now it is time we started the realization phase of the project. Mr Uliasz emphasized also that the works for the construction has already been in progress, We have already organized and completed tenders. We decided not to wait for the very moment of contract signing. The contractor has already been operating on the building site and we have also selected the company which will provide equipment and laboratory apparatus. The project embraces construction of a centre for innovation research and industrial development in the field of food industry and a centre for waste and biomass processing into energy. The new R&D institutes will form part of the didactic centre of the Faculty of Biology and Agriculture of the University. The investment is estimated to exert a positive influence on the development of the University and the region’s economy. The Rzeszów-based university has been benefiting form EU financial support, thanks to which the university managed to refurbish and adjust for didactic purposes, among others, a palace in Erynia and a palace and a park of the Załuscy family in Iwonicz where the International Centre of Ecologic Education of the University of Rzeszów is now located. (Ministry for Regional Development, University of Rzeszów) Entrepreneurship Day in the Technology Incubator of the Cracow Technology Park Entrepreneurship Day will take place in the Technology Incubator of the Cracow Technology Park, organised in the frame of the Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Richard Lucas, managing director of PMR, often called the business guru will be a star guest of the Day and will speak about the conditions of managing a company in Cracow. Also a presentation of programmes designed to support persons planning to start business activity will be shown. Ms Agnieszka Sito, director of the Centre of Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Development of the Jagiellonian University will present the latest initiative “Entrepreneurship School”. Anna Florczyk from the Małopolska Agency for Regional Development will discuss the project “Entrepreneurship and self-employment - support and promotion”. At the end of the meeting representatives of the Technology Park will discuss activities undertaken by the Technology Incubatror. Moreover, a tour on companies located within the park will also be available for the interested ones. Entrepreneurship Day is, above all, geared towards students, Ph.D. students and graduates interested in career development connected with running a private business as well as to all persons interested in gaining more insight into private business management. Meetings with the young entrepreneurs will be an opportunity for informal discussions concerning the benefits resulting from private economic activity, costs connected with running such a business as well as problems entrepreneurs usually encounter in the first stage of business activation. For more information contact Łukasz Frydrych, e-mail lfrydrych@sse.krakow.pl), Tel. 012 640 19 52 or Barbara Wityńska-Sł±cz, Tel. 012 640 19 46. Incubator for innovation located in former Silesian mine The former “Wawel” mine in Ruda ¦l±ska is to host an incubator for innovation in technology. The facility will give the graduates of the Department of Architecture a possibility to develop their first professional projects. Official opening ceremony took place on November 7th.
The ¦l±sk Industrial Park (¦PP) was created in 2004 pursuant to an understanding concluded by the city of Ruda ¦l±ska, ¦więtochłowice and private shareholders. The Park’s main tasks consists in the construction and modernization of the basic technical infrastructure indispensable for the development of industrial areas and, in consequence, to the generation of new workplaces. In fact, the Park has been using EU funds and has already managed to obtain a 28.3 million PLN subsidy granted by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP). The funding was allocated to the modernisation of the organization’s seat with a hall, social back, a sewage treatment plant and an Incubator for Technology and Services “Architecture and Building”. The refurbished buildings will host modern commercial office space. Yet some space will also be devoted to conference and fairs premises as well as to rooms where presentations of projects developed at the centre may be organised.
The development concept for the former “Wawel” mine’s space and buildings, where the incubator is located, is an effect of a contest organised by the authorities of the ¦l±sk Industrial Park and directed to students of architecture. The project was called “Silasianeum” and was created by two students Aneta Wiatr and Aleksandra Postawa. The authors decided to unite the educational and promotional purposes of the region. It was materials symbolizing the cultural heritage of Silesia like coal, brick, concrete, wood and sand that inspired the students and served as the main material for the design. The idea behind the Incubator for Technology and Services “Architecture and Building” is to make it easier for the young architects and building specialists to start an independent business and economic activity. The project has been realized in co-operation with the Department of Architecture and Urbanization at the University of Technology in Gliwice. Future graduates of the university may now take advantage of preferential conditions to set up a new businesses. In the field of geodesy a co-operation with the Cracow University of Science and Technology Department in Ruda ¦l±ska-Kochłowice was established. There are plans to create a Service Cluster for Architecture - Building - Geodesy i.e. a new economic form gathering companies active in related sectors of industry. The companies associated in the cluster will have an opportunity to exchange experiences, take part in training courses and get to learn about newest technologies which the cluster will have on its disposal. All this should improve the companies’ competitiveness and the quality of their services. The cluster will also enable the business entities to get into a direct contact with universities and R&D centres. (¦PP) 
Editorial office: Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, 00-585 Warsaw, Bagatela Street 12 Economic Promotion Department, tel: (+48 22) 334 99 49, fax: (+48 22) 334 99 98, e-mail: redakcja@paiz.gov.pl | |||||||||||||||
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