From September 11 to 15, a Ukrainian delegation of Industry 4.0 policymakers visited Poland at the invitation of the Polish side. The purpose of the visit was to familiarize with the best practices of implementing Industry 4.0 tools and policies in Poland.
In May 2023, the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance together with the Polish State Agency for Future Industry (FPPP) and the Polish Cluster Association initiated the creation of the committee “Poland – Ukraine: development of a common agenda for cooperation in Smart Industries”.
Studying the best European experience in the creation and implementation of national Industry 4.0-5.0 policies is a challenge for domestic entrepreneurs and government officials.
On the first day, the delegation, which included a member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Business Council, the president of the Ukrainian Federation of Security Industry, a member of the board of the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance, Anatoly Dolynyny, visited the key actors of the innovation ecosystem of Ryashev (Rzeszów), the regional center Subcarpathian Voivodeship, the closest to Ukraine. There were several visits: to the Aeropolis technopark, the Ryashiv Innovation Park (RSI), to the powerful industrial firms Fibrain (a manufacturer of optical fiber and products in this segment) and Europa System (a large engineering company in the field of industrial automation).
Oleksandr Yurchak, director of the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance, pointed out the importance of practical experience and challenges in the process of building innovative networks. Ukrainian actors can take these challenges into account and look for ways to improve the development of innovation centers.
“If we want the Reconstruction of Ukraine to proceed in our interests with the participation of Ukrainian contractors and manufacturers, we should already be at all important international forums and demonstrate our readiness,” Oleksandr Yurchak said.
The visit to Poland for the Ukrainian delegation provided a lot of useful information and insights about the organization of industrial hi-tech ecosystems, the role of the state agency FPPP and other actors at the regional level.
The study tour to Poland for Ukrainian Industry 4.0 policymakers provided a lot of new knowledge and insights about the organization of industrial hi-tech ecosystems, the role of the state agency FPPP and other actors at the regional level. Several preliminary conclusions of the Ukrainian delegation are as follows:
- There is no single or several actors in the development of industrial hi-tech innovation ecosystems in Poland – there are many of them, they are different and play different roles. While the local APP clearly stands out in Ryażew, in Kraków the leadership in the digitization of SMEs and in general in industrial ecosystems belongs to Hub4industry, aka eDIH. But local research institutes, technology parks, and universities are also active.
- In two visits, the members of the Ukrainian delegation also saw how local system integrators of industrial automation take on the role of leaders of 4.0 innovations. In Kraków Hub4Industry, the leadership role of ASTOR is obvious, while in Ryazew, the local integrator Europa System creates complex solutions for large production segments. And although the level of involvement of both in the development of open ecosystems, with a high level of interaction between various participants, is different, both companies have a common denominator – a high orientation and allocated resources for business strategy and development.
- It is likely that there are many actors with leadership ambitions for the development of innovative industrial high-tech ecosystems in Poland. And therefore, there is considerable competition for the right to be drivers of the development of certain sectors and ecosystems. In a number of cases, there are coordination problems in ecosystems at the regional or sectoral level, instead, and this is a big difference with Ukraine, the role of the coordinator has already been taken by the State Industry 4.0 Agency (FPPP). To fulfill this role, the Agency has a separate tool – regional innovation Councils of Industry 4.0, which include the main regional stakeholders: leading universities, agencies, hubs, manufacturers, clusters, etc.
Oleksandr Yurchak and Anatoliy Dolynniy could personally see this during the meeting of the Innovation Council of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in early September.
“Thanks to both teams of UKA and FPP for systematic work in organizing the trip. Cooperation with FPPP is an important factor for building relations both between regions and between the business we are engaged in. The visit was balanced, full of meetings with various institutions and companies that are ready to the implementation of joint projects. Now it is important to qualitatively work out the agreements, in particular, in terms of cooperation between the participants of the construction, robotics production, and intelligent territory management markets,” stressed Anatoliy Dolynny.
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