‘Top 500 Innovators’ is the largest in the history of the training program for those involved in research and commercialization of the research results in Poland.

Piotr Wołejsza, PhD, Witold Kazimierz, PhD, of the Faculty of Navigation, Leszek Chybowski, PhD, of the Faculty of Marine Engineering and Dorota. Idziaszczyk of Marine Technology Transfer Center will leave for 2 months for the USA to study at the best universities in the world (Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley)!

Due to classes conducted by eminent practitioners, study visits and internships in the most innovative companies they will learn how to successfully commercialize research results. A very important part of the course is to develop soft skills such as teamwork and work in a multidisciplinary research team, creative thinking, effective decision-making, conflict resolution. Program participants will observe the work of foreign companies, which plays an important role in commercialization of research results, will meet with entrepreneurs and representatives of venture capital.

376 candidates from universities, research institutes, institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences and technology transfer centers from all over Poland have competed in the edition of the government program. After the formal evaluation interviews were held, in which the research applicability, projects innovation, existing successful commercialization results, motivation to participate in the program, communication skills and ability to work in a team as well as the knowledge of English were assessed. Finally, 116 finalists were selected in the third edition of ‘Top 500 Innovators’, representing 63 academic institutions from Poland. P. Wołejsza and W. Kazimierz occupied the 5th and 6th positions on the list of finalists!

In June further recruitment for the program is planned so that in 2013 a total of 160 employees of the Polish R & D sector could undergo internship-training programs at the best universities of the world.
Wśród tych osób jest mgr Konrad Frontczak, pracownik Centrum Transferu Technologii Morskich.

By the end of 2015, up to 500 Polish scientists and workers of technology transfer centers are expected to go for internships and training abroad to research centers, the leaders according to the Shanghai ranking (Academic Ranking of World Universities). 160 participants in the two previous editions of the program attended the training at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, USA, the Silicon Valley. Having returned to Poland, they established an association to promote innovative solutions in education and academic support in successful implementations of research results.

One of them is Konrad Frontczak, MSc, an employee of Marine Technology Transfer Centre.