I (Izabela Kowalczuk, a Warsaw University law student and ACT’s Polish intern) just came back to Washington, DC from the Economic Forum in Krynica, Poland
the largest economic conference in Central and Eastern Europe. The
Association for Competitive Technology, represented by Mike Sax, Braden Cox
and me, created an entire daylong track of IT panels on IP and competition
issues, titled: “Innovation and Public Policy“. 

We can observe the growing importance of IT in
everyday economic life. Poland should seize the opportunity to benefit from
innovation and catch up with the economies of the western world. 

Through 17 years of the Economic Forum, the
conference program has reflected the most current and needed economic issues.
Especially in recent years, as the importance of Information Technology is
growing in the former communist countries, the agenda of the Forum has been
updated to adjust to the needs of local and international business. This year’s
panel discussion on innovation, protection of IP and the Lisbon Agenda was a
specialized subject matter, but it was a significant part of the Conference. 

And innovation is becoming a significant part of
Polish public policy, too. The Polish national government has been taking certain
initiatives, such as: promoting innovation, increasing productivity, and introducing
entrepreneurship classes to the public schools. But the local governments,
especially in the cities of Wroclaw, Krakow and Warsaw, are the most
industrious. 

These cities are aggressively competing to become
the “Silicon Valley” of Poland. EU regional and Polish funds are pouring into
the cities to create innovation centers and recruit IT companies to relocate.
Goggle just recently opened its R&D center in Krakow; LG has had a
technology park in Wroclaw for the last couple of years. Cisco is also planning
to build an R&D center. The flood of international companies results in
development of a stronger venture capitalism sector and SMEs, which are the
real economic power. 

What really attracts these companies the most is the
power of human capital and the creativity of young Polish engineers who are
building the intellectual property assets, so valuable for IT industry. In 2006,
the team from Jagiellonian
University took second place in the International Collegiate Programming
Contest and one year later a team from Warsaw University won. 

There is still a long way to go. Changes do not
happen over night. The problems of high taxes, high welfare costs, stringent
labor law and inefficient road infrastructure still influence the business
ecosystem in Poland. With greater of effort by government authorities and
individuals, the word “innovation” will not only become a slogan, but it will
elevate Polish business to the level of the most creative enterprises in the
World. 

Taxes, labor, infrastructure, venture capital and
other innovation related topics were highlighted at the conference. As the
Polish IT economy is growing, the Forum is becoming a more important place to
convey this message on direction of public policy and innovation in Eastern and
Central Europe. Therefore, we will see more and more high-tech companies,
government authorities and trade groups that will actively participate in
future editions of the Krynica Forum.

-Izabela