2020 was full of challenges for everyone. In the Wrocław Technology Park, we continuously work to support various forms of entrepreneurship and business on every scale. How have our last months been? See the summary of this year’s WPT activity.
Our campus, which is located in the center of Wrocław’s business, consists of 9 office and laboratory buildings as well as production and warehouse buildings. Companies from various industries, both startups and companies from the SME sector, can develop there. Today there are over 220 of them! They employ over 2,000 people, and we constantly strive to ensure that our space offers the most comfortable conditions for business development. In 2020, we invested almost PLN 1.6 million in order to improve them even further. Thanks to this and our comprehensive offer, in the past year we have leased over 6.6 thousand m2 of various types of space to Wrocław entrepreneurs.
For various forms of entrepreneurship
In 2020, there were 2 business incubators at WPT – DAIP, i.e. Lower Silesian Academic Entrepreneurship, and IPIT, i.e. Entrepreneurship and Technology Incubator of WPT. 17 new companies have joined the group of over 220 startups that have developed in WPT over the last several years. But that’s not all!
In February 2020, our new project was launched, as part of which we created the Academic Box, i.e. a workshop and concept space where students from Wroclaw universities can develop their projects. On 1000 m2 of our Nowa 7 hall, 8 garage-like boxes have been separated for them. They are used today by scientific circles, among others from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
In the first half of 2020, we also signed an agreement with 3M, the aim of which was to involve Wrocław enterprises in the development of innovative solutions for e.g. industry 4.0. Entrepreneurs associated with WPT had the opportunity to cooperate with 3M on 12 projects from various industries, take advantage of the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience, and engage in local and global projects. We received applications from over 25 companies, most of which were related to engineering, analytics, prototypes and machine building projects.
In September, we officially started work on the creation of an Integrative Business Incubator . It is created as part of a joint, interdisciplinary project of the Wrocław Technology Park and the Wrocław Without Barriers Office, implemented in cooperation with over 30 non-governmental organizations, public institutions, companies and universities. Its goal will be to support entrepreneurs at the beginning of their business path and professional and social activation of people with disabilities.
While helping, we focused on cooperation
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, we decided to join forces with the catering industry and support the medical staff of the Provincial J. Gromkowski Hospital of in Wrocław. In November and December, we delivered several hundred lunches to the facility every day, prepared by the team of Cafe Równik, a unique club-café operating in Wrocław’s Nadodrze, where as waiters and bartenders work people with intellectual disabilities and the catering company KINIA operating at WPT. Thanks to our joint effort, almost 9,000 meals were delivered for the medics! We have not forgotten about the youngest either. Together with Techland, we donated computers to children from orphanages which helped them in the remote learning forced by the pandemic.
We are in touch!
In the passing 2020, we wanted to be in touch with you as often as possible and talk about the potential of Wrocław’s entrepreneurship. Our blog has started, in which we prepare articles on various aspects of business and entrepreneurship. In our case studies we told you the success stories of several Wrocław companies operating in the WPT. We also met you 600 times in the press and on internet portals. We are also glad that more and more people are with us on social media.
In 2020, we were also with you during various types of events. We were also present at Made in Wroclaw, which this year was dedicated to showing that Wrocław’s business is not slowing down. For the 7th time, we were a partner of the E (x) plory Science Competition, which we are especially happy about this year, because the winner was Szymon Perlicki, a student of the Wrocław Primary School No. 28! We have also been involved in events that raise important social issues today, such as modern education, the 10th E(x)plory Congress, and social integration through webinars. We also support the development of innovation and promote new technologies as part of projects such as ScienceITup, Biomarker Commercialization Tools or Level 4.0 Digital Innovation Hub.
We would like to thank everyone for their cooperation and this year’s commitment to supporting Wrocław entrepreneurship. See you in 2021!
