Enterprise Europe Network

10th jubilee edition of the Innovator of Silesia 2017 competition

For the tenth time, the Upper Silesian Agency for Entrepreneurship and Development has the honor to invite you to participate in the Innovator of the Śląskie Voivodeship competition under the project “Enterprise Europe Network”! Idea of the Competition is to improve the image of the region by showing good practices and encouraging search for new technological solutions. It is an initiative promoting innovations introduced by entities from the Śląskie Voivodeship. This competition fulfills the mission of supporting, developing and promoting the most valuable companies.

“Inventions change our reality. They raise the standard of everyday life, affect economies of regions and countries, as well as technological and production processes, from food, through everyday products, to highly specialized tools. We are convinced about the fact that Poles and residents of our region are inventive and very creative people thanks to such initiatives as the Innovator of Silesia competition! Feel free to participate! The Katowice Special Economic Zone, as partner of the competition, will also award laureates with an honorary membership in our elite Innovator Club. Good luck and see you there.”

Barbara Piontek, Prof. Ph.D., deputy president of The Katowice Special Economic Zone Co. and leader of the KSEZ Innovator Club, Partner in the Innovator of Silesia 2017 competition.

For whom?

The competition is addressed to Silesian entrepreneurs and institutions which:
offer innovative products, services or modern technological solutions;
demonstrate evidence of market launch of submitted solution in the last three years or solution which is ready for demonstration (institutions from the research and development sector);
did not submit a given solution in earlier editions of the competition.

Subject of the submitted solution may be incremental innovations or radical innovations.

You can apply for the title of Innovator of Silesia in four categories:

micro-entrepreneur;
small entrepreneur;
medium entrepreneur;
institution of the research and development sector.

How does it work?

The Competition Commission will select four Winners for the title “Innovator of Silesia 2017”, one from each category and may award Distinctions. Results of the final of the competition will be presented to the public at a specially organized Awards Gala with participation of the media, business representatives, local government, business organizations, participants of the competition and other invited guests in September 2018. All Winners and Distinguished ones in the Competition will be presented at the Gala and numerous prizes will be awarded.

The following prizes are foreseen for the best-rated participants:

package of material and cash prizes, including special prizes;
ppromotional package on a regional, national and international scale;
and additional prizes funded by the Competition Partners.

Registration and participation costs:

There are no fees for participation in the competition – the initiative is financed entirely from funds of the Enterprise Europe Network project and GAPR own funds. Detailed information on the rules of the Competition, Regulations and Declaration of Participation are available on the website in the INNOVATOR OF SILESIA 2017 tab.

Signed Declarations of Participation with annotation “Innovator of Silesia 2017” Competition – can be submitted in person or by post to the following address:

Upper Silesian Agency for Entrepreneurship and Development Ltd.
44-100 Gliwice, ul. Wincentego Pola 16

(the secretariat is open until 3 pm) and additionally they should be sent in an editable version (text document doc/docx), to the following address: een@gapr.pl. Deadline for submission of applications expires on 13.04.2018. The date of receipt of the application together with all necessary attachments is counted. In case of documentation sent by post, the date of postmark is considered to be the date of receipt.

The Innovator of Silesia 2017 competition is under the honorary patronage of the Chairman of the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis Board.

The competition is organized under the patronage of the President of Gliwice, Rector of the Silesian University of Technology and the Katowice Special Economic Zone Co.

Do not hesitate and fight for the prize and prestige as soon as possible.
Send us your competition application, you can really gain a lot!
We would like to invite everyone interested to actively participate in the Competition!

OFFER OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (Partnership Opportunities Database)

The POD database (Partnership Opportunities Database) is the base of international cooperation offers conducted in English by the European Commission through the Enterprise Europe Network. It contains profiles of companies from over 60 countries in which Enterprise Europe Network centers operate.

Entrepreneurs looking for business partners have the opportunity to make contacts, among others, with foreign manufacturers, distributors, sales representatives and subcontractors. The database also contains technological offers. It allows searching for a cooperation partner in the field of technology transfer (e.g. sale/purchase of modern machines and devices, licenses), knowledge (know-how) and R&D (e.g. research and implementation works on new technologies/products).

Thanks to the search engine, an entrepreneur can find cooperation offers addressed to all countries in the Enterprise Europe Network.

International cooperation database is available Here !

Please send additional questions to een@gapr.pl

Documents to download:

Demand for technology

Technology offer

Enterprise Europe Network is the world’s largest network supporting SMEs in the internationalization process. It consists of more than 600 points located in almost 60 countries in Europe and the world, it employs almost 3,000 experienced experts providing their knowledge and services for business and science.

Linking international experience with knowledge about local markets.

In Poland, network centers are concentrated in four consortia (30 centers) covering the entire territory of the country. The consortium operating in Southern Poland includes nine partners from four voivodeships: Śląskie, Małopolskie, Świętokrzyskie, and Podkarpackie, which ensures recognition of the needs of local entrepreneurship and cooperation with a global network supporting SMEs.

The network’s offer includes in particular:

Advisory and training services in the field of business opportunities abroad and cooperation with EU markets, CE marking of goods, protection of intellectual property, taxation in the EU and financing of innovation;

International business meetings and economic missions. These are pre-arranged bilateral meetings of representatives of international companies based on profiles of their activities taking place during international fairs or conferences;

Support in searching for international business, technological and scientific partners. Unique value and capabilities of the Enterprise Europe Network result from the close cooperation of centers, which consists of an exchange of business or technological information needed by the Customer;

Services in the field of technology transfer, including technology audits, exchange of technology offers, assistance in finding technological partners, and associating entrepreneurs with scientific units from abroad;

Access to the largest database (Partnership Opportunities Database) containing profiles of companies and institutes seeking foreign partners for business and project cooperation;

Information on forms of public financial support – regional and national measures, consultations under the Horizon 2020 program.

The Enterprise Europe Network is a very important tool of the European Commission supporting international trade and technology exchange between companies, contributing to the innovative development of countries, an increase in revenues, employment, and competitiveness of enterprises.

Valuable links:

The European website of the Enterprise Europe Network click Here!