The Minister of Science signed a letter of intent on innovation with the State of Nevada

The signing of the letter was one of the launching points of the 7th European Congress of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises in Katowice. It followed the official opening of the congress by Deputy Prime Minister Gowin and the speech of Governor Sandoval.

According to the information from the Ministry of Science, conveyed to PAP by the organizers of the Katowice congress, the letter of intent concerns the creation of a program that will enable the cooperation between companies and institutions in Poland and Nevada in the broadly understood area of innovation. This includes commercialisation of offered technological solutions and support for cooperative forms of research and development activities of Nevada and Poland.

"Thanks to the program, young technology companies registered in Poland, selected in a competitive procedure, could participate in the acceleration program in the US, using institutions and associated mentors from Nevada" - explained the Ministry of Science and emphasised that the letter on this issue is a pioneering example of cooperation between the Polish administration and the state administration.

"Nevada, due to its experience in changing the economy development strategy towards innovation, is one of the states with which Poland intends to intensify its cooperation. Particularly interesting are the achievements of Nevada companies that make autonomous systems for unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, innovative water technologies including water management and innovative solutions for competitive electronic games. More similar projects are being planned" - the ministry pointed out.

On Wednesday, the initiator of the Katowice congress, head of the Katowice Regional Chamber of Commerce Tadeusz Donocik pointed out that it was another step in strengthening the cooperation between Poland and Nevada. During the last year\'s edition of the Katowice Congress, an agreement on cooperation and development of friendly relations between this state and the Silesian Voivodship was signed.

As Governor Sandoval accented Wednesday, Nevada has achieved considerable economic growth in recent years, significantly reducing once largest unemployment rate in the United States, which today does not exceed 9 percent. He reminded that since 2011 230 thousand new jobs had been created in the state, including more than 100 thousand in small and medium enterprises.

According to Sandoval, today Nevada is one of the most competitive business environments in the world. He emphasised that his administration was making efforts to reduce growth barriers for SMEs.

The Governor of Nevada is in Poland with the second trade mission of this state. On Monday, Sandoval met with President Andrzej Duda, with whom he discussed cooperation between entrepreneurs and trade exchange between Nevada and Poland.

On Tuesday, Sandoval told PAP that Nevada could be an attractive region for Polish investments, due to low taxes and small cost of living compared, for example, with neighbouring California. He also emphasised the dynamic development of the state in terms of technology, renewable energy, advanced production (including the Tesla battery factory).

At the Katowice congress, Sandoval said that besides the development of new technologies, such as computer science, electronics (including autonomous systems), the state makes efforts to develop and modernize industries that are its heritage, including mining, aerospace and defence industries, or water supply technologies.

These industries were listed in last year\'s agreement on cooperation and development of friendly relations between the Silesia province and Nevada (economic cooperation within the framework of this agreement is supported by the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice). The governor said on Wednesday that business partnerships of this kind were a trademark of his administration.

He reminded that Polish companies were already operating in Nevada- for example, KGHM was the owner of the Robinson mine in that state. He declared that Nevada was looking for new partners and said that he was impressed by how hard Polish people work and noticed very strong links between Poland and Nevada in that regard. He invited Polish businesses to cooperate. (PAP)

authors: Mateusz Babak, Krzysztof Konopka

editor: Anna Mackiewicz

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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