This time, 11 startups from 462 foreign teams were selected for acceleration in Poland. The chosen teams entered the third round of the Startup Hub program: Poland Prize. Qualified startups came from Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Denmark and USA among other countries.

Each of them was not only supposed to present their own project, but also to indicate a vision of development and potential implementation in Poland. Selected innovative solutions include portable fuel cell generator with replaceable refillable hydrogen tanks, photogrammetric software that can support the hydrocarbon exploration process, platforms using AI for Big Data analysis and for controlling the IoT in industrial applications, and new environmentally friendly cooling and freezing technology.

“Another round of Startup Hub: Poland Prize with our participation brings new interesting projects. Particularly promising are those using AI and industrial IoT,” said Łukasz Kroplewski, Vice-President of the PGNiG Management Board for Development. “Thanks to close cooperation with the foundation, we reach increasingly interesting innovative solutions. I must admit that I have high hopes for this last round of the program. Our minimum plan is to establish technological cooperation with at least one team from each round. This is an ambitious plan, both for us and startups, taking into account the short timeframe of the program, the complexity of our technological processes and various restrictions resulting from the need to ensure infrastructure security,” he added.

After the first spring round of the Startup Hub: Poland Prize acceleration program, PGNiG chose to cooperate with the British startup Spottitt. It created a system analyzing satellite imagery of the Earth and facilitating location planning and monitoring energy infrastructure in hard to reach places. A pilot implementation of the solution is currently underway at Polska Spółka Gazownictwa, a company from the PGNiG Capital Group. PGNiG also saw interesting solutions presented by startups that qualified to the second round. Currently analyzed projects include solutions for energy recovery based on turboexpanders, drilling fluid cleaning and optimization of combustion processes.

“The third recruitment round for the Startup Hub program: Poland Prize confirms that Poland is increasingly visible on the international map of new technologies. This time, companies with almost ready prototypes and a prepared company development plan have applied to the program. For most startups, Poland is another point in the implementation of the business strategy. The Poland Prize program and cooperation with partners such as PGNiG encourages foreign entrepreneurs to move their operational centers to Poland,” summed up Vikas Malhotra, strategic director at the Startup Hub Poland Foundation.

PGNiG and the Startup Hub Poland Foundation have been cooperating in implementing the Startup Hub: Poland Prize program since February 2019. Startup Hub Poland is responsible for recruiting startups and coordinating the acceleration program. In total, there will be three rounds under the program. Ultimately, by the end of the year, 26 innovative startup teams will be created in Poland, which will work on projects in the field of energy and modern information and communication technologies (ICT). PGNiG is the strategic partner of the project, looking for interesting, innovative solutions to meet the technological challenges of companies from the PGNiG Group. After establishing their companies in Poland all selected foreign projects will receive financial support of up to EUR 50,000 (non-equity grant) from the funds of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP).

Startup Hub Poland is one of six organizations selected by PARP that can distribute a grant worth PLN 5 million. As part of the Poland Prize, the Foundation attracts teams of scientists and entrepreneurs testing energy and ICT solutions that have not yet been commercialized, as well as existing startups that are already implementing innovative projects abroad, but would also like to develop them in Poland.