On the 29.01.2013 upon the invitation of the President Janusz Cieślak, Michał Kleiber the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences was the guest of the Association. The meeting took place in the welcoming hotel-restaurant „Czarny Kot – My Warsaw Residence”.
The speech of Professor Michał Kleiber was given on the current situation in the area of co-operation of research and business environment looping from the perspective of its development with particular interest in the issue of innovation and creativity as important elements of the development of Polish economy.
According to our speaker the last 20 years, are the years of Polish success maybe not complete and far from our expectations but still inevitably a success. It was based on cheap labour force, privatization, foreign investment, foreign interest in Poland and the interest of Poland in foreign co-operation. This stage of Poland’s development is coming to an end and as a country we still don’t have a good idea for the future. We should therefore think about how to change our education system so as to be more competitive which would ensure further development of our country, how to improve the system of science research, what model of energy development to accept which will link security with the cost as well as requirements concerning environment, which technologies should be developed in Poland and which ones should be purchased abroad. In other words we have to answer the question how our future should look like which relies a great deal on currently made decisions.
The speaker has given a lot of concern to “New innovation culture”. Members of the Club especially those who run their own companies with great satisfaction have welcomed the fact that currently in the era of development of networking society it is necessary for science and business to co-operate.
Innovation should be the synergy of knowledge, entrepreneurship, thought through legal regulations and common faith in human creativity. According to Professor Michał Kleiber currently we can observe a very low culture of innovation seen as the respect for human creativity, for challenges of contemporary times and promotion of people of success in Poland. We have many Polish companies which present thorough , innovative and international success and which can be shown as an example to follow. In our country we have many scholars of worldwide success but in Poland they are little known.
Therefore the change in supporting strategy is inevitable. The state should conduct anticipative and not reactive policy, it should inspire the development of culture, respect for innovation, introduce contemporary regulations and offer public aid for innovative activities. According to Professor our effort should concentrate on the analysis of the situation on world markets followed by finding the market niche in already existing economic links and looking for the partners for who we would have something innovative to offer. We should also promote our intellectual and manufacturing potential. Currently one can set the production almost everywhere but creating a new product or service is a true challenge. Therefore priorities for education connected with entrepreneurship support are so important – it is the only way for real economic successes. The speaker emphasizes that we are one of the few countries in the world that does not have a well functioning centre for strategic studies which would give the decision-makers key current information and long-term solutions.
Particularly interesting for the gathered entrepreneurs were the comments of Professor Michał Kleiber on the need of possessing the awareness of global challenges and knowledge on methods of financing innovations. The current system of financing is not optimal. The main element of the current system are grants, so they are means dedicated to specific research and development work. However these grants are awarded without an in-depth knowledge about the market reality. More effects would be seen if those means were given awarded as financial incentives for companies undertaking innovative activities because it is the entrepreneurs that know the best what has a real chance on the market. The state must send clear signals to the world economy that the most effective way of building an innovative country is to support research and development. The signal should be constant, even a small increase in the budget of science and introducing fiscal benefits enhancing entrepreneurs to invest in research. Innovation gives a chance for permanent success.
In his speech Professor Michał Kleiber also talked about the role of banks in the development of innovations. According to him banks should have better possibilities of financing investments and also higher capability of valuation of existing risk.
To summarize, the speaker stated that Poland is not innovative and unfortunately is seen as such in the world. In order to change this situation a cross-sector development strategy is needed. Creative thinking and innovative activities based on a wide social support are the only chance for a stable economic growth of 5%.
The presentation of professor Michał Kleiber has been given a lot interest and applause by the Members of the European Business Club Poland. It also created and interesting discussion in which the practicing people in business affirmed the statements said.