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About the programme
How it works
Business Partners
International Partners
Mentors
Our startups
Why Poland&Wroclaw?
Terms, regulations and important information
About us
FAQ
Contact

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why1

Why Poland?

The largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe

38 million consumers

Talent on tap
401 thousand software developers

The most VC investments in start-ups in the region as of 2013

The sixth largest economy in Europe

Strategically located at the heart of Europe

Some of the best programmers in the world

A diversified economy rooted in numerous sectors, including business services, the aviation and automotive industries and gaming

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Why Wrocław?

Zasób 10

The No. 1 start-up hub in Central and Eastern Europe

630 thousand inhabitants;
over 110 thousand of them are students

A major centre of technological development driven by Polish brands and international corporations

A high quality of life

The Polish city with the fastest economic development

Excellent car, plane and train transport links

A city open to the world, host of the UEFA Euro 2012, European Capital of Culture 2016, European Best Destination 2018

Listed as one of the world’s 100 smartest cities by the 2020 Cities in Motion Index

Contact us

accelerator@concordiadesign.pl

Concordia Design Accelerator
Supporting the development of companies and the economy in a post-COVID economy
Project objective: Acceleration of innovative technological startups in the area of Smart City/ AI/ Cybersecurity, supporting the economy and society in the realities of the "post-COVID economy".
Planned results: Number of innovations introduced - 20
Project value: 11 247 231.74 PLN
European Funds contribution: 10 606 010.17 PLN

About the programme
How it works
Business Partners
International Partners
Mentors
Our startups
Why Poland&Wroclaw?
Terms, regulations and important information
About us
FAQ
Contact

2021 © Concordia Design AcceleratorTheme by SiteOrigin

About the programme
How it works
Business Partners
International Partners
Mentors
Our startups
Why Poland&Wroclaw?
Terms, regulations and important information
About us
FAQ
Contact

Wojciech Mazur Elephate

Wojciech Mazur, Elephate

Wojtek is a founder and CEO of Elephate, a digital marketing agency that specialises in
increasing website traffic through SEO, content marketing and digital PR. He has been working in digital marketing since 2011. His primary fields of expertise include SEO, content strategy, business development, ecommerce.

Lech Kaniuk, Sunroof

An experienced manager, serial entrepreneur and business scaling expert. In recent years, he has managed or supervised a portfolio of companies that operate in the fields of modern technology, finance, real estate, photovoltaics and energy. He has co-authored the success of brands such as Delivery Hero, PizzaPortal, iTaxi, Bean & Buddies, ePark, Heimdal, Nidavellir, JLS Property, Dropbybox.com, Prowly.com and Migam.org. Speaker, mentor, lecturer. Author of the book “The Power of Motion” [Polish: “Siła Pędu”]. Winner of the ranking of 50 most creative people in business by the “Brief” magazine. Currently the President of the Management Board and the main shareholder in SunRoof.

Marek Zmysłowski, Sunroof

Marek Zmysłowski is a Polish-born entrepreneur and executive, focused on Online Business and Renewable Energy, passionate about Emerging Markets. He co-founded Sunroof.se – a 2-in-1 Solar Roofs producer, HotelOnline.co – a Travel Technology Company, and Jumia Travel – Africa’s Biggest Hotel Booking Portal listed on NYSE as part of Jumia Group. In 2014, he was chosen as one of the Ten Most Important People in Tech by IT News Africa Magazine. He is a Lead Mentor at Google’s Launchpad and World Bank’s XL Africa Program. Marek is a bestselling author of “Chasing Black Unicorns”, a former snowboard instructor, and a bartender, but his real life goal is simply to leave this World in slightly better shape than what it was when he arrived.

Dr Carlos Ferreira, Coventry University

Dr Carlos Ferreira is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University. Carlos’ research explores how data and humans come together in business environments; and how moral and ethical concerns are translated into action in complex institutional environments. His interests focus specifically on users' relationship with AI. Carlos has researched how digital business models and applications can be affected by users' perceptions about their usefulness and trustworthiness, most recently in the case of the NHS COVID-19 app.

Alexis Perez_192_192

Dr Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Coventry University

Dr Alexeis Garcia-Perez is Professor of Management Information Systems at the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University (UK) and Visiting Research Scholar at Georgetown University (USA). A PhD in Information Systems from Cranfield University complemented his original background in Computer Science. This sociotechnical background has informed Alexeis’s works on Digital Resilience in business and society. This has translated into projects with organisations from the public and private sectors, addressing their cybersecurity challenges from a management-led perspective. In this views, digital resilience means more than the technology dimension of the cybersecurity problem, which also includes organisational, legal and knowledge-based measures.

Marcos Bravo, Waterlemon

Marcos is veteran marketing and brand expert with over 20 years of experience in many industries. Skilled in Customer engagement, Marketing Management, Brand Building, Content Strategy, and CMO. He worked for such companies like: LiveChat or Techland. Now he is the owner of Waterlemon Branding Agency

Sławomir Borkowski, Fidiasz EVC

Expert in finance, strategy and business management with 20+ years of business experience. Investment Director in Fidiasz VC Fund investing in start-up projects (robotics, fintech, industry 4.0, biotech). Experienced in supporting small and medium businesses in their development. Electronics engineer by education with financial audit and business consulting experience.

Tomasz Karwatka, Catch the Tornado

Co-Founder at Catch the Tornado (eCommerce Software Startup Studio), serial entrepreneur. He started building software while he was still a teenager. He sold his first company to one of the biggest media companies in Poland in 2007. In 2008 he started his second company - Divante. He built it from just the 2 of us sitting in a small office, doing teleconferences in a kitchen, to the 250+ ppl strong company that Divante is now. Top employer in Poland, working on R&D projects for clients like SAP, T-Mobile, ING Bank. Double-digit growth, double-digit EBITDA.In 2020 he finalized his succession process. He moved to the Advisory Board. He started Catch the Tornado to help entrepreneurs and software companies grow their businesses. Focus of his eCommerce Software Startup Studio Catch is on Enterprise Software. Especially in the eCommerce field.

Maciej Adamczyk, Trudo, PL

The CFO at Trudo Sp. z o.o., a company working in the property sector, Maciej Adamczyk is a financial manager with twenty years of experience in various spheres relating to finance and to strategic and operational management. For five years, he held the position of financial director at Mostosal Wrocław S.A., where his work included revenue and cost restructuring. As CFO and a board member at FAM S.A., he was responsible for building the listed capital group on the basis of acquisitions and organic growth. From 2013 to 2014, he led the merger of Próchnik and Rage Age. He managed the implementation of an electronic tagging system commissioned by the Ministry of Justice. Between 2016 and 2020, he co-ran a Polish start-up, XTPL S.A.. As the COO/CFO, he was engaged in raising capital and taking the company onto NewConnect and then onto the Warsaw Stock Exchange. His responsibilities also encompassed financial management and corporate governance. He has been the CFO at Trudo sp. z o.o. since 2020.

Kamil Bromski, AKAT Consulting

Funds and Innovation Director at AKAT Consulting, Vice President at Lantan Capital VC. PhD degree at Wroclaw University. Experienced R&D Manager with a demonstrated history of working with technology startups and SME companies in Poland. Qualified in building long-term organizational strategies, conducting research and analyses of operational effectiveness, planning and managing business through 'new market development'. Certified Technology Auditor. Skilled in navigating the funding process (from the perspective of both an entrepreneur and investor), R&D project management and startup development. Passionate about enabling disruptive technology companies and their emerging market founders to achieve expected growth

Agnieszka-Mróz_300_300

Agnieszka Mróz, Concordia Design

Service designer, quality researcher, design thinking moderator. Using the service design and design thinking methodology, carried out processes for more than 70 different companies and organizations including such brands as Metro Properties, Lufthansa System Poland, Play, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Digital Archives. Author of educational materials about the design thinking method. During the last 2 years she conducted more than 1800 hours of workshops. Lecturer at SWPS University at Design Management and Service Design postgraduates studies.

Krzysztof Peliński, LAB 150

Specialist in the field of furniture construction and technology, material engineering, development and implementation of technology for products made of wood and wood-based materials, 3D modeling in CAx systems and FEM expertise. R&D expert for Lab150, and in the past for Meble Vox and TRE Design brands. In Lab150, I take care of project management and scheduling using Agile tools. We try to respond to the dynamic needs of business, process improvement of products and services, for their further market implementation.

Marcin Dudarski, JP Weber

Co-founder and Managing Partner of JP Weber consulting company. For 20 years he has been managing the legal practice of the firm. Specialist in investment processes and restructuring of enterprises in Poland. He advises clients on various aspects of investment, restructuring, corporate disputes, contracting and regulatory issues.
He specializes in assisting companies from the manufacturing sector, in particular in the area of electromobility, as well as the energy sector and real estate.

Edyta Paul, Concordia Design

Designer of learning organizations. Consultant, working with large and medium-sized companies and start-ups. Design Thinking, Service Design and Systematic Thinking practitioner. Entrepreneur (owner and investor of companies in several industries). Lecturer at post-graduate studies at Kozminski University in Warsaw and the University of Economics in Poznań, co-author of books, author of many press articles. Conference speaker. I initiate and coordinate projects related to building learning organizations. I create and develop project teams that create and implement ideas, products, projects and services. Certified FRIS consultant, I show how to use the knowledge of cognitive styles in business. I draw a lot as a fan of Visual Thinking :)

Artur Sawicki, Infor

Artur Sawicki has been working in international IT companies for 20 years; he deals with a sale and implementation of IT solutions that streamline and automate business processes in companies. He is VP & General Manager of Infor in Poland. Infor is a global provider of ERP solutions in the cloud. In Wrocław Artur successfully developed the Infor Center of Excelence. Previously he was a CEO in UNIT4 TETA. He is a graduate of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Management.

Jacek Lewandowski_Coventry University

Jacek Lewandowski, Coventry University

Scholar and lecturer Jacek Lewandowski obtained his PhD in Computer Science from Coventry University Wrocław and has more than ten years of academic experience at that institution, of which he is now director. He completed his MSc at Wrocław University of Science and Technology’s Faculty of Computer Science and Management.
Before being appointed to the position of director at Coventry University Wroclaw, he worked for the institution as an Assistant Lecturer.
His research focuses on business information systems, enterprise resource planning, applied computing using artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, and questions relating to cloud and fog computing. He is a SAP instructor and a member of SAP University Alliances, an Associate Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy and a member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the IEEE Computer Society.

Krzysztof Nawelski_Santander Consumer Bank

Krzysztof Nawelski, Santander Consumer Bank

The Director of Innovation at Santander Consumer Bank, Krzysztof Nawelski is a practitioner in the fields of innovation and human resource management with twenty years of experience in international corporations to his account. From 1998 to 2006, he worked for several international manufacturing companies in the automotive, pharmaceutical and service industries. In 2006, he moved into the banking sector and went on to join Santander Consumer Bank in 2011. In his current role there, he is responsible for implementing a culture of innovation, collaborating with start-ups and fintechs and scouting out financial services and solutions. He has numerous completed projects in the areas of design thinking, service design, lean start-up, new product development and business model innovation to his account and has also run a great many training courses in those areas.

Leszek Pacholski_Wroclaw University

Leszek Pacholski, Wroclaw University

A professor of mathematical sciences, a computer science logician and the rector of the University of Wrocław from 2005 to 2008, Leszek Pacholski’s areas of research are mathematical logic and its applications in computer science, programming in logic and the theory of programming languages. His work involves model theory, set constraints, equations between terms, zero-one laws, two-variable logic and static analysis. He has more than thirty academic works to his name and has supervised thirty doctorates. His former students hold important positions at prestigious HEIs and organisations in Poland and abroad, including MIT, Microsoft Research in Seattle, IBM in Yorktown Heights and Google in Silicon Valley. He himself has spent many years at HEIs in other countries, at Oxford, Princeton Yale and Berkley universities in the UK and USA, respectively, Simon Fraser University in Canada and Radboud University in the Netherlands, as well as in Munich, Trento, Paris, Nancy, Marseille and Clermont-Ferrand.

Leszek Kwieciński_Wroclaw University

Leszek Kwieciński, Wrocław University

A researcher at the Institute of International Studies (Chief of the European and Management Studies Section) of the University of Wrocław. He is the Proxy of the Rector of the University of Wrocław for innovation and knowledge transfer. He is also a member of the Business Centre Club Council of Advisors in the Lower Silesian Lodge and Chair of the Steering Committee for the National Strategic Research and Development Programme “GOSPOSTRATEG” financed by National Centre for Research and Development (main Polish government agency responsible for innovation). He is the founder of the Lower Silesian Academic Entrepreneurship Incubator, which operates within the structures of the Wrocław Technology Park S.A., and a permanent consultant of WPT S.A.

Rafał Pisz_QuantUp

Rafał Pisz, QuantUp

The CEO of Quantup. For over two decades now, Rafał has acted as a managing director, founder, CTO, shareholder, and a consultant at a host of IT companies, including DATAX, AXIT, and SoftGroup Polska. Holding two master’s degrees–in Computer Science and Finance–Rafał successfully led the growth of DATAX into an international entity in Europe and Asia. He was also the man behind AXIT’s R&D centre, which released the first SaaS supply chain management solution. Rafał has also coordinated the European Commission’s FP7 and Horizon 2020 R&D projects.

Jagoda Tatarczyk_Concordia Design

Jagoda Tatarczyk

Certified coach and trainer, experienced sales and business transformation manager. She has 11 years' experience in managing change-related processes in an international corporation. She supports businesses in building development and sales optimization strategies.

Tomek Popów, VFE.ve

Tomek Popów, VFE.ve

General Partner in the RST Ventures for Earth fund. Experienced entrepreneur and investor. He founded, inter alia, gaming startup XOFTO (later sold to a company listed on the Polish market NewConnect), Sky Storage company in the field of Cloud computing (sold to the Polish giant of the Internet industry - Onet) or Taxi5 (mega failure, a lot of knowledge). He is also an investor in SmartLunch.pl, carly.pl, zeccer.pl, RentingLock.com, SellIntegro.pl, versabox.eu, stethome.com.

Sylwia Hull-Wosiek_Concordia Design

Sylwia Hull-Wosiek, Concordia Design

Head of Consulting Concordia Design. Author of the Creativity Thinking method, certified business coach, trainer and human resource management practitioner. While designing innovative solutions, products, experiences or educational tools, she uses various diagnostic and development tools.

Szymon Sikorski_Publicon

Szymon Sikorski, Publicon

The CEO of Publicon PR Agency, Vice-President of SAPR (the Association of Public Relations Agencies) and a former President of PSPR (the Polish Public Relations Association). Szymon Sikorski has served as an advisor to a number of organisations, including the Association of Business Leaders (ABSL), Agencja Rozwoju Aglomeracji Wrocławskiej (the Wrocław Agglomeration Development Agency) and WKS Śląsk Wrocław football club. He graduated in journalism and social media communication and in philosophy from the University of Wrocław and now teaches not only at his alma mater, but also at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, the Tischner European University in Krakow and a number of other HEIs.

Tomasz Szarek_SDZLEGAL SCHINDHELM

Tomasz Szarek, SDZLEGAL SCHINDHELM

A Managing Partner at international law firm SDZLEGAL SCHINDHELM, Tomasz Szarek heads both the corporate mergers and acquisitions arm of the practice and the intellectual property and IT division. He has been a legal counsellor since 2008 and is not only a member of the Supervisory Board of ITCORNER, a new technology cluster uniting more than one hundred companies from the IT sector, but also its legal coordinator. He chairs the management board of IAG Global International Advisory Group, an association of independent professional law firms with head offices in sixty countries around the world and he supports several dozen IT companies, helping them with issues relating to their operations, providing advice at the start-up and initial financing stage and during the further development of their businesses.

Tomasz Szpikowski_Bergman Engineering

Tomasz Szpikowski, Bergman Engineering

The CEO of Bergman Engineering and of TestArmy.com, Tomasz Szpikowski graduated in Personnel Management from Wrocław University of Economics and Business. He also completed the Executive programme at Stanford University and the Global Law Scholars programme at Georgetown University. A co-founder of Work Service S.A., he headed the company as the CEO for ten years, guiding it along a path to numerous successes, awards, distinctions and the position as leader of the jobs market, with a team of fifteen thousand employees.Bergman Engineering, a company of which he is not only the CEO, but also a co-owner, is involved in hiring more than eight hundred engineers and other experts for large technical projects and R&D centres throughout Europe.TestArmy.com, on the other hand, works in the sphere of cybersecurity and maintaining the quality of web services and has a team of one hundred testers, quality managers and hackers.

Piotr Voelkel_VOX Group

Piotr Voelkel, VOX Group

Entrepreneur, founder of VOX Capital Group, mentor. Polish business visionary who combines science, education and business in an innovative way. Entrepreneur with numerous awards for creativity in developing bold projects. Founder of the VOX Capital Group and VOX-Artis Foundation (among others), main investor in the award-winning Baltyk office tower.

Alain Heureux_Virtuology Academy

Alain Heureux, Concordia Design, PL

Expert in Innovation Strategies and Deployment, expert in Creativity and Entrepreneurship. Serial entrepreneur creating his first startup at the age of 18 and since created over 30 companies but also some 15 non-for-profits in several trade and charity domains. Alain was founder of the first Incubation center in Brussels (The Egg and Pepibru) offering some 15.000m2 to meet, work, collaborate and inspire. He is regularly working with the European Commission on the themes of education and entrepreneurship. Today he’s leading the Virtuology Academy training people all over Europe on Innovation and Creativity. In Poland, he is collaborating with Concordia Design but also teaching in the MBA Program of the Gdansk University of Technology, in the MBA Program of Collegium Da Vinci in Poznan and in the MBA Program of the SWPS University in Warsaw.