All public universities and one private from the area of the West Pomerania Province took part in the so called business-to-reach exchange. On the other side, the participants in the talks were entrepreneurs both from the area of the Stargard Industrial Park and from outside the zone as well as such business tycoons as Bridgestone or Cargotec.

The Maritime University of Szczecin was represented by the Vice Rector for Science, Artur Bejger, PhD., Eng., Katarzyna Gawdzińska, PhD., Eng., Maciej Kozak, PhD., Eng. and Przemysław Rajewski, PhD., Eng. The support was also provided by the Director of the Marine Technology Transfer Centre and the President of the Maritime University Innovation Centre.

The talks, held at specially prepared tables, concerned a possibility of entering into research and development cooperation between a university and an enterprise. Each meeting took 15 minutes and then the participants changed partners and began a new discussion. Such a format of moderated meetings, commonly called brokering, has many advantages - in a short time it is possible to learn about the expectations of many potential partners, which would not be available at an ordinary, standard conference.

The scientists emphasised the advantages of the event. The Vice Rector for Science, Artur Bejger, PhD., Eng.: This is the first meeting with such a number of entrepreneurs in which we have taken part Short sessions enabled us to get acquainted with the offer and the possibilities for cooperation. Now, we need to continue this. Professor Gawdzińska was satisfied with her participation in the event: I have had several meetings, two of which bode well for the future. I am positively surprised with preparation of the companies for the meetings. They knew quite a lot about us. Maciej Kozak, PhD., Eng.: First of all, we have already known some of these companies, so there was an opportunity to renew contacts. Moreover, I am glad to find out about the potential of others, which, I hope, will be beneficial for the Green Power Engineering Laboratory. Przemysław Rajewski, PhD., Eng. called for return to the roots: Some time ago, there was a constant contact between science and business. I personally performed a whole range of commissioned orders. Unfortunately, we all know what has happened to the maritime industry. Now is the time to restore the relations.

An additional element of the event was the “opening” part of a conference nature. Following the speeches of the West Pomerania Province Marshall, Olgierd Geblewicz, and the officials from Stargard, the Marshall’s Office presented the assumptions of the new Regional Operational Programme for the years 2014-2020. This was a proverbial bull’s eye as the talks held at individual tables could focus on the resources to be obtained from the Regional Operational Programme. Moreover, during the conference, there was a presentation of Cargotec that carries out an international framework project with the scientists of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, which has already brought fantastic results and a guarantee of implementation of the developed technology (!).

The whole event is the first undertaking of this type and scale in Poland where universities offer cooperation to investors. The participants included 13 entrepreneurs (often represented by several people), 38 scientists from 6 universities and more than ten representatives of business environment institutions and regional authorities (altogether about 100 people). 86 B2R meetings were held in 9 sessions at 15 tables. The entity responsible for the methodology was the Regional Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, which deserves special thanks. The Maritime University of Szczecin had 12 official B2R meetings as well as several additional ones behind the scenes.

This is the first approach to changes that we want to introduce in the West Pomerania region not to attract investors only with cheap workforce and tax incentives, but also with the scientific and laboratory potential of the universities (which is supported by our Investor and Exporter Service Centre). Similar events are planned in locations such as Szczecin, Goleniów, Koszalin and the central part of the Province.