Smart V4 Strategies

South Poland Cleantech Cluster participates in a newly started Visegrad project together with partners – Czech Smart City Cluster, Slovak Smart City Cluster and Digitalis Jolet nonprofit from Hungary. The project “Smart V4 Strategies” was awarded financing support from the Visegrad Fund.

The aim of the project is to connect relevant partners in the given area of SMART strategies and prepare procedures for classification of SMART strategies in V4 countries into one complex database portal. The project offers V4 partners international cooperation in unifying SMART strategies to GreenDeal/SDG rules. The vision is to strengthen the unity and effectiveness in implementation of SMART strategies in all V4 countries.
More about the project

South Poland Cleantech Cluster

is the initiator of the krk UrbanHub project - a sustainable CEE (Central- and Eastern European) urbanization hub
krakowurbanhub is a partner in the urbanhub europe consortium of European cities consisting of BLOXHUB in Copenhagen, KIRAHub in Helsinki, Munich Urban Colab, FACTORY Hammerbrooklyn Hamburg, FAKTORY Berlin, Urban Resilience Hub Barcelona
krk UrbanHub is a national and international meeting place that engages people in architecture, design and sustainable urban development. This is done through exhibitions, debates, events, business development and new partnerships.
krk UrbaHhub is an ecosystem for creating cities of the future, and at the same time a space to share ideas, skills and strategies for designing buildings and urban development based on a people-centered approach and high standards of sustainable development, and a membership-based community combining urban development, architecture, design, design, construction, circular economy and digitization.
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South Poland Cleantech Cluster

SPCleantech is co-founder of European Alliance for Cross- Industrial Circular Economy Investments (ICEI Alliance) consisting of European clusters and universities. During 2020-2021 there have been held meetings to prepare the establishment of the European Alliance for Cross- Industrial Circular Economy Investments, hosted by the Circular Economy Centre at Digipolis, Kemi, Finland.

The ICEI Alliance has for ambition to make Europe the global industrial circular economy platform to accelerate the deployment of world-class circular economy solutions to industry. It acts as a pipeline of business-led circular economy investment projects. Alliance members support businesses with the structuring of their investment cases as well as with accessing funding and financing streams.
More information on ICEI Alliance

Małopolska is a dynamically developing region with a considerable economic potential that promises reliable economic growth. It provides a friendly, competitive and attractive area of operation for entrepreneurs.

The region is inhabited by 3.33 million people (2011 National Census: 8.7 percent of Poland’s population, 4th place in Poland) and is characterised by a constant high population growth rate. It also attracts people from other regions. Only in 2011, the number of inhabitants increased by 4.3 thousand.

Malopolska1

Małopolska, which covers the area of 15,200 km2, and its capital – Krakow, are one of the most beautiful areas in Central Europe. This is proven by 8–10 million tourists a year who discover the historic sights of the former capital of Poland, the magnificent landscapes of the Tatra Mountains, Podhale and Pieniny, the traditions of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, the tragic events in the 20th century history of Auschwitz, the home of John Paul II in Wadowice, castles, wooden historic architecture, national parks and nature reserves.

Małopolska has the greatest number of objects listed among the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites. As many as 14 Polish objects are located in the Malopolska Region: the Old Town in Krakow, the Royal Salt Mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia (1987, 2013), KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, the monastery in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, wooden churches in southern Małopolska – Binarowa, Blizne, Dębno Podhalańskie, Haczów, Lipnica Murowana, Sękowa and churches within a group of wooden Orthodox church complexes (since 2013).

The region borders the Slovak Republic (982 km of shared border). Next to Krakow, other important cities in Małopolska include: Tarnów (118 thousand), Nowy Sącz (85 thousand), Oświęcim (43 thousand), Chrzanów (40 thousand), Nowy Targ (33 thousand), Zakopane (27 thousand).

Małopolska is one of the best economically developing regions, which is confirmed by its high positions in rankings: „European Cities & Regions of the Future 2012/2013” (fDi Intelligence), „Atrakcyjność inwestycyjna polskich regionów 2012” (Market Economy Research Institute – IBnGR), Top 10 Emerging Outsourcing Cities List (Global Services, 2012), and reliable interest in investments on the part of the world’s largest companies dealing with industry, modern business services, manufacturing, automotive industry, commerce, science and research.

The value of Foreign Direct Investments in the years 1989–2012 amounted to ca. USD 15 billion, and the value of the regional export in the same period was ca. EUR 6 billion.
In the new 2014–2020 European Union Financial Framework, Małopolska will have nearly EUR 3 billion at its disposal allocated to the development of infrastructure, support of entrepreneurship, new technologies and improvement in the quality of the natural environment.

The most valuable assets of the region include:

• a strong academic and R&D centre based on 33 institutions of higher education in the region,
• one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe and in the world (Krakow, Wieliczka, Tatra Mountains, Wadowice, Auschwitz) attracting ca. 8 million tourists a year,
• high quality and availability of qualified human resources,
• convenient location at the transit routes to the East (Ukraine), West (Germany), South (Slovakia, the Czech Republic) and North (northern Poland, the Baltic Sea),
• investment infrastructure (special economic zone, economic activity zones, business environment and investor assistance institutions),
• high business culture, entrepreneurship and openness to international contacts.