KRAKOW, Poland, December 1,
2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Like it or not, tech startups are the
future. President-elect Trump may want to shift the focus on
infrastructure and making America (and it's roads or airports)
great again, but for Europe
further investment in technology is the key. One Central European
city seems to be getting it right.
We've seen it at the WebSummit in Lisbon - there's no way you can (or want to)
miss the breaking point in AI, machine learning, Internet of Things
- particularly for the industry - as well as bio-, fin- or
med-tech. This is where the money is to be made and where the
future of work lays. Scouting and doing all we can to assist tech
startups in their struggle to grow and innovate is a must for
Europe. Poland will realise that and find itself on
the frontline or waste much of its economic advances of the last 25
years.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161201/444645 )
Another Silicon Valley wanted?
Few cities are getting momentum and may win in the game. Kraków,
historical capital and a no. 1 tourist destination in the region is
about to become one of the startup hubs for Central and
Eastern Europe. Not yet there,
though. - We will not have another Silicon Valley here. Ever. We
miss the components needed for replicating that ecosystem. And,
even if we start expanding now, we can't catch-up
with their growth which builds on itself - Wojtek Burkot, previously heading Google
engineering centre in Kraków, made the argument at the Open Eyes
Economy Summit, mid November. - But Kraków's
unique assets can be still used to develop a thriving corporate and
startup environment. Starting with a fast growing number of
multinational corporations operating here. Let's check the data
behind this.
For the past 5 years, in Kraków, corporations grew by 20% each
year - making shared services, outsourcing and IT centres the
biggest industry and the most promising employer ever. Current
headcount - 60 thousand people in a city of just over 800 thousand
(2nd largest in Poland), average
age - 28 and 80% are graduates of local universities (source:
ASPIRE association). It may sound surprising but Kraków tops the
list of European locations for outsourcing, prepared by Tholons
annually, and holds 9th place globally with only Asian mega-cities
above.
A snowball that heats-up the party
Many factors added up to make it happen, including a reasonably
lower cost of running a business compared to the capital, but a
whole generation of people speaking foreign languages and hungry
for a career in an international environment is not to be taken
lightly. - Few corporations, such as Motorola, broke the ice
here in the not-so-wild-East, and over the course of 10 years we
saw a snowball effect. With one brand attracting another, we
witnessed a critical mass and a mature market being built. -
Paula Mazurek has some first-hand
experience as she made her way through several IT/R&D centres
in town and recently headed allegro.tech program run by engineering
centre for one of Polish top internet companies (Naspers group). -
Now over 160 corporates operate centres in Kraków with Google,
IBM, Cisco, ABB, HSBC and other global giants. This - among other
elements including technical universities and EU funds available
for driving R&D, innovation and growth - makes a good
environment for corporate-startup collaboration.
Around 2500 startups in Poland
so far struggled to attract attention (and money) from local or
central government. There are several cities with more or less
active start-up communities, the biggest, unsurprisingly, in
Warsaw (the capital) - where you
can find most of the investors too. Kraków, administrative centre
of Małopolska region and a hub for most of the Southern Poland with some 3 million people
within 100km radius, wants to repeat its corporate success.
Currently 11% of Poland's
start-ups are located in the city, which is again second after
Warsaw.
Boosting start-up talents
With 200 thousand students in Kraków, its start-up community of
some 250 companies and over 3000 people is alive and kicking. -
Last weekend we partnered in Smogathon with 28 teams from 3
continents competing for 25,000 EUR
in cash - a hackathon-style bootcamp to fight air-pollution. 24
hours of non-stop (de-)mentoring was quite a challenge but we loved
some of the projects and are now talking to them about further
support. - Paula Mazurek, who
run Google for Entrepreneurs in the city (4th edition globally) is
currently the CEO of Bitspiration Booster, an accelerator run by a
team of experienced corporate professionals and start-up veterans
- We see all the bits and pieces in the city to create a healthy
ecosystem, with corporates - especially in tech areas - and
start-ups building a win-win relation. We set up the program to
scout and match teams of talented founders with our well-developed
corporate network.
The central government starts sending promising signals too,
with a pilot fund of 15 million EUR
to facilitate corpo/start-up collaboration and more planned. Within
this "ScaleUp" program, Kraków Technology Park (KTP) secured some
1,5 million EUR for its 15-months
project. - This is a good move and we are supporting
KTP's efforts, but what we need now most is to spread
the news in Europe, US and
globally. Looking for start-up investment potential?
Can't miss Kraków's offer! - says
Paula Mazurek.
The recent success stories of CD Project Red (creators of "The
Witcher" computer game), Estimote and Kontakt.io (beacon technology
leaders) or Silvair (about to launch an IoT lighting system based
on their newly established Bluetooth Mesh global standard) support
her argument. Kraków is yet to show that its top European
outsourcing status, mixed with highly educated and motivated talent
pool and a growing interest in high-tech, scalable businesses will
trigger a leap. And when it does, you want to be there first!
Oskar Grzegorczyk |
oskar@bitspirationbooster.com
https://booster.bitspiration.com/