Meeting “The role of cooperation with Business Environment Institutions (BSE) in the recruitment of SMEs and small mid-cap companies in the CURIOST project”.
On May 16, 2025, the non-profit South Poland Cleantech Cluster (SPCleantech) invited representatives of the most important public institutions and business environment to its Krakow headquarters. The aim of the meeting was, in accordance with the assumptions of the CURIOST project, to raise awareness of the importance of implementing the principles of the Circular Economy (CEO) among companies in Małopolska and to build partnerships that will enable efficient access to the companies most ready for transformation, and consequently, to faster development of the region.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Krakow City Hall, the Malopolska Marshal’s Office, the Krakow Technology Park, SPIN companies operating at AGH and in the Marshal’s Office, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Malopolska Regional Development Agency, the Malopolska Entrepreneurship Center, the Kraków Start-Up Incubator, the Sustainable Infrastructure Cluster, as well as a representative of the Jagiellonian University and the partner acting as an intermediary in applying for EU funds. Janusz Kahl, president of SPCleantech, presented the detailed assumptions of the CURIOST project along with the work schedule.
The project aims to help small and medium-sized companies adopt a strategy for manufacturing sustainable products in line with the assumptions of the circular economy in four sectors: 1. Mechanics and mechatronics 2. Plastics 3. Packaging 4. Construction, while simultaneously working to create a legislative environment that is conducive to entrepreneurs. As part of the preparations for the project, SPCleantech assessed the current state of knowledge and advancement of companies in the implementation of circular economy, in the form of dozens of direct interviews in companies and prepared SWOT analyses for these sectors – these activities were presented by Urszula Kwaśniewska, Project Manager.
Janusz Kahl discussed the analysis of legislative strategies at the regional and national level, and then asked the gathered institutions for joint activities aimed at acquiring specific companies in four sectors. In the case of the CURIOST project, it is about acquiring 20 companies open to project cooperation, by September 2025. Next, representatives of the Krakow Technology Park, Agnieszka Włodarczyk-Gębik, Project Manager, and Urszula Woźniak, Project Coordinator, gave a presentation to familiarize participants with the model of the circular economy based on the 6R principles: Repair, Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Rethink, Refuse.
After the presentations, a discussion ensued on how institutional partners can cooperate with each other to reach specific groups of entrepreneurs with the right information, while not duplicating the same activities within the programs they run. There was a need to improve the common information platform that entrepreneurs could use. The next meeting of the partners is planned for June this year, which will take place thanks to the courtesy of the Krakow Technology Park.