The document signed on Friday 27 January, 2012, by Jan Smela, Executive President of Ericpol and , prof. Stanisław Bielecki rector of the Technical University of Lodz opens new opportunities for joint R&D projects, studies and surveys, organizing student internships, conferences, seminars, trainings, and many other activities.

‘We are all part of one organism, dependent on the Polish education system and part of the Polish economy. To catch up and even overtake the world we must create our own value, to become a very attractive product in the global market. The only way to achieve this goal is to encourage young people to be innovative’, says Jan Smela.

Celebration of the agreement on mutual cooperation will take place in a seminar hall of B2 building at Technical University of Lodz at Ks. Skorupki 6 / 8 Street. This event is a consequence of Ericpol’s awareness of the need for synergy of business and science. In order to extend knowledge and exchange experience the company has created Ericpol Ecosystem Science – a platform for cooperation with universities and scientific environment, aiming to combine in a practical way scientific theories and practice of production and software development.

‘We take a number of initiatives to use the innovative potential of academic staff and to improve educational opportunities for our students. Joint projects of universities and innovative business are essential to develop Polish economy and meet the challenges of the modern world. Such cooperation can bring particular benefits to the educational process. Joining it with the industy needs and an awareness of these needs is extremely valuable for the university’, stresses professor Stanisław Bielecki.

Ericpol regularly cooperates with the Technical University of Łódź, the Jagiellonian University, the University of Łódź and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. The company actively participates in the didactic process of the students of telecommunications, applied mathematics and computer science through lectures and seminars conducted by Ericpol’s specialists.

Ericpol Telecom Sp. z o.o. is an engineering company that has been operating on international ICT market since 1991. The company provides outsourcing and consulting services as well as dedicated solutions in telecommunications, M2M (Machine to Machine) communications, UX (User experience), healthcare and business solutions area. The Ericpol Group consists of three offices in Poland and three production centres in Ukraine, Belarus and Sweden, employing over 1100 highly qualified engineers. Ericpol provides highly qualified and experienced staff working on complex projects that require fast and precise measures. Ericpol offers the best quality services, taking up full responsibility for the software lifecycles.

See the video report.

The purpose of the event was to bring together innovative Polish companies, the scientific milieu and social institutions. During individual workshop sessions, the following issues were discussed: ideas, money, promotion, patents, problems, R&D operations, teamwork, process and chance. Patronage over the event was taken by the Polish Ministry of Economy. Knowledge and experience were shared by the guests invited from the most innovative companies and holdings from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the USA. The workshop was attended by more than fifty Polish managers willing to learn how to become competitive in the international market by introducing new and interesting products and solutions. Representatives from scientific institutions, local governments and technology parks also took part in the meeting.

‘In order to catch up with, or perhaps even outrun the rest of the world, we cannot stay focused on what the others are doing and how they are doing it. We must create our own value and thus become an attractive product in the global market. The only means to reaching this end is to encourage people to become more innovative’, said Jan Smela, Executive President of Ericpol Telecom.

People know exactly what they need. All we have to do is watch and listen to them, argued Doug Solomon, Chief Technology Officer at IDEO. ‘Go out and observe the people. Those who create products never go out to the Customers, only the salespeople do it. As a result, designers have no idea who they are actually designing for. They end up designing for themselves. We need to go out’, he continued.

An interesting point of view with respect to innovation in Sweden was presented by Tomas Qvist, Vice President of Ericsson. According to him, even though technological education in his country is not very popular, Swedish companies continue to occupy top positions on global lists when it comes to innovation. During his speech, Mr Qvist told the audience about Ericsson’s experience in generating the right approach towards innovation.

‘Innovation should always provide value. It does not have to be a new product, it may be a new process, or an improvement, he stated. According to Qvist, the key aspect of the innovation process is the creation of the right atmosphere within the organization: All employees should feel that they have actual influence on the course of events and know that the work they do is valuable to their company. Another important aspect is the freedom which comes from the leaders’ trust in their teams – a rigid, hierarchical structure does not foster innovative solutions. The third aspect is motivation. Leaders who assume that their teams are motivated by the same things which motivate them are simply wrong. Finally, there is also the issue of supporting new ideas, readiness to take risk and understanding for diversity. Innovation is generated when diversity of thought comes easily’, he highlighted.

May innovation be with you!

The Ericpol Innovation Pathway business workshop was the first event of the entire series of workshops planned by Ericpol. The next meeting will be held next year. In the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all the companies, organizations and associations who participated in this year’s workshop. Thank you very much for your involvement in the search for innovation.

We hope to see you all again next year! Let’s meet at the top!

Kind Regards,
Event Managers and Coordinators

The purchased property is located on the corner of Sienkiewicza Street and Tymienieckiego Street, – the location of the former Olimpia swimming pool. Ericpol is planning to erect on this site a modern four storey office building with an underground car park. The new division of the company will be filled by 800 employees, mainly engineers and software developers. Because of their investment plans, Ericpol is planning to increase employment by aiming its recruitment policy at graduates of the subjects related to IT, telecommunications, electronics, robotics, mathematics and science.

‘We are very glad that we were successful in purchasing this property. As a resident of Łódź I highly appreciate its value and I assure you that we will retain its character. We have an ambitious plan to execute the investment as soon as possible. We intend to finish construction work in the fourth quarter of 2013. The sooner we build it, the sooner we can hire new employees’ – said Jan Smela, the Executive President of Ericpol during the press conference at the Łódź City Hall, on the 30th of December.

The estimated value of the investment will total over 40 million zlotys. Both the location of the property and the architectural features, located in the west part of the premises have been taken into consideration when planning the development of the site. A garden will be set up in this part of the property, and – according to the guidelines of the monument conservation officer – it will have a historical character.

This is not the first project by this company to reflect the history of the city. In 2005 the investor bought a dilapidated building at no. 8, Dowborczyków Street which, a hundred years ago, used to house a stock of woolen goods. The building was completely renovated in 2007, retaining at the same time its historical character which was so important for the tradition of the city. It is now a comfortable office for over 200 employees developing software for the telecommunications industry. The investment amounted to 15 million zlotys. The converted factory was nominated in the competition for “The Best Interior 2008”, organised by The Piotrkowska Street Foundation in Łódź.

Ericpol Telecom Sp. z o.o. is an engineering company that has been operating on international ICT market since 1991. The company provides outsourcing and consulting services as well as dedicated solutions in telecommunications, M2M (Machine to Machine) communications, UX (User experience), healthcare and business solutions area. The Ericpol Group consists of three offices in Poland and three production centres in Ukraine, Belarus and Sweden, employing over 1100 highly qualified engineers. Ericpol provides highly qualified and experienced staff working on complex projects that require fast and precise measures. Ericpol offers the best quality services, taking up full responsibility for the software lifecycles.

This three-day, free-of-charge workshop on innovation and processes for the implementation of innovative solutions in the IT sector will take place on January 13-15th, 2012, in the Kalatówki mountain hostel. The workshop’s theme is ‘Sharing knowledge and experience’.

The event will be attended by, among others, Tomas Qvist, Vice President of the Swedish Ericsson corporation, Doug Solomon, Chief Technology Officer at IDEO – an American consultancy specializing in the field of innovation, Nicolas Kireeff of Deutsche Telekom AG and several representatives from other successful companies. Lectures and discussion sessions have been designed with a view to covering the so-called 8 P’s: idea, R&D projects, money, promotion, problems, failures, teamwork, process and chance (in Polish: Pomysł, Prace R&D, Pieniądze, Promocja, Problemy, Porażki, Praca zespołowa, Proces i przypadek).

Ericpol Innovation Pathway 2012 will provide an unprecedented amount of time for discussion for both experienced market players from Europe and the United States and technological companies which have the potential to develop attractive and innovative products. The idea behind the workshop is to initiate a dialogue between IT and ICT specialists with many years of expertise and small and medium enterprises representing this sector. Both entrepreneurs and people involved in research and development projects have been invited to take part. Participants in the meeting will try to answer the questions of how Polish companies can contribute to the global process of technological development; how ideas can be turned into fame and fortune; how to plan a good business and marketing strategy for technological products; how to find partners and how to introduce a product to the global market.

The very form of the workshop to be held as part of the first Ericpol Innovation Pathway 2012 seminar is supposed to make it different from other, more traditional business events. ‘Our goal is to provide the participants with a friendly and casual atmosphere, where intelligent discussion can be held by people wearing jeans and sweaters, looking forward to sharing their experiences. It is by no accident that the meeting is scheduled to take place in the Kalatówki mountain hostel, as it is the place where the first Polish school of alpine skiing was founded one hundred years ago. We are taking our backpacks and skiing equipment with us and leaving our business suits at home. We hope that this atmosphere will provide comfortable conditions for discussion. Poland has produced some of the most outstanding engineers, but in order to develop interesting products for international markets, we need to become part of the knowledge and experience exchange process. We hope that Ericpol Innovation Pathway will contribute to the stimulation of technological development and growth in Poland,’ explains Jan Malkiewicz, originator of the seminar.