The end of the year is rapidly approaching. How was this year for you? For our dedicated US-Polish Trade Council’s team, it was another eventful and captivating year. We are full of energy and hope to make this coming New Year 2016 even more prosperous and promising. However, without our friends’ and partners’ energetic involvement and collaboration, the achievements of USPTC would not have been possible. During this year’s holiday season, more than ever, we wish you the miracle of this special time filled with hope, love and joy be always present with you.

From the USPTC team, to you and your family, with warmest thanks and best wishes: Happy Holidays and Prosperous New Year!

In this holiday issue we will reflect on the recent USPTC events.

Eleventh Edition of Poland’s Top 500 Innovators Program at Stanford University

We all know the simple and true saying “All good things must come to an end,” since things we enjoy and nurture, things we support and embrace eventually come to an end. On November 20, 2015, the eleventh edition (the Top 40.11 Group) of the Poland’s Top 500 InnovatorsScience Management Commercialization Program (the Program), instituted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland and co-organized by the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD) with the assistance of US-Polish Trade Council (USPTC), concluded at Stanford University. During a memorable commencement ceremony and a farewell gala dinner, the graduates were presented with Stanford certificates. There were many heartfelt speeches made e.g. by prof. Piotr D. Moncarz, Chairman of USPTC, prof. Michael Lepech, Stanford Academic Director of the Top 500 Innovators Program, and Carissa Little, Managing Director of Programs at SCPD. There were words of gratitude and tokens of appreciation offered by the dedicated and talented Top 40.11 Group’s leaders, Michał Maciejewski and Katarzyna Kwaśny. And finally, there were gratifying moments of overlapping feelings of pride, achievement, happiness and tears.

Because of a big and strong vision of few, this prestigious program was possible. In this case, we should bend our heads to prof. Barbara Kudrycka, the Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland, who initiated the Program in 2011, and prof. Piotr D. Moncarz, who linked virtuosically together with Mr. Paul Marca, Director at SCPD, the Polish Ministry’s objectives with Stanford University’s great academic capabilities. As a result of that effort, the Polish Ministry selected Stanford University for seven of the thirteen editions of the Program for the implementation of the Program. Thus, 270 top Polish R&D professionals completed a nine-week academic and training program at Stanford University raising their qualifications in technology transfer, broadening their business horizons and sparking their innovation-driven perspectives.

The stimulating and interesting course work delivered by the Stanford faculty, focused on innovation, execution, leadership, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, technology, business creating and design thinking, reflected the unique innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Silicon Valley. Throughout the program, the participants were engaged in numerous interactive workshops, research, hands-on team projects and meetings with well-known Silicon Valley executives. Additionally, the Top 40.11 Group had an opportunity to experience research and innovation in practice by visiting many leading technology companies based in Silicon Valley such as Digicom Electronics, Cisco Systems, Cutera, Exponent, GoDaddy, Google, Keysight and Qualcomm. By meeting with partners of Artiman Ventures in Palo Alto, the members of the Top 40.11 Group had a firsthand advantage to get familiar with the Silicon Valley’s vital venture capital ecosystem. The group had also a rare opportunity to visit the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in San Francisco, where CIRM’s leadership presented its objectives for prospective cooperation between CIRM and Polish scientists and researchers. Besides all the hard work, the Top 40.11 Group had time to integrate and enjoy the cultural and social aspects of California’s living by attending San Francisco Giant’s baseball game at the AT&T Park, the Stanford Cardinal football’s game at the Stanford Arena and, finally, the Golden State Warriors’ NBA basketball game at the Oracle Arena. On top of that, they had few unforgettable sightseeing trips to most attractive places across California, such as San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, Napa Valley and Muir Woods, to name a few.

At the end of this last edition of the Program, the participants of Top 40.11 Group presented in front of the Stanford faculty their knowledge and hands-on experience in applied project posters and interdisciplinary term-projects gained as a result of the Program. One of the final projects was a movie “Sky is the Limit” made by the Top 500 group. Please watch the magic of this program and its last edition in this short movie. 

We, at USPTC, dear Top 500 alumni, hope that these nine weeks were a successful, interesting and unforgettable journey of your life, which changed your way of thinking and unleashed your exceptional potential and talents in relation to business creation and innovation.

We thank you for being a well-integrated, open-minded and engaged group of individualists, who showed us that, despite ups and downs, your group prevailed as one united and brilliant team. You just proved that team is everything! 

We wish you to be inspired Polish science and science-to-business leaders who will fearlessly change the Polish and world scenes for the better, following prof. Piotr D. Moncarz’s encouraging words: The future is in your hands! Sky is your limit!! Just do it!!! 

Please take time to watch the presentation "That’s it or what’s next," in which prof. Piotr D. Moncarz talks about the genesis of the Program, its administration at Stanford University as well as the future and new initiatives of the alumni of the Program.

For additional information on the Program, picture galleries and description of certain events attended by the participants of the Program, you may visit www.usptc.org and www.top500innovators.org.

Please read the reflections of the participants of the eleventh edition of the Program:

• I think, that in general the stay was an amazing opportunity to meet great people from Poland as well as Silicon Valley. Network of contacts established this way would definitely be helpful in the future through collaboration while approaching new challenges. Personally, I learned plenty of methods on presentation, communications, and innovation, which I will surely apply in my research.

Michał Maciejewski, Doctoral Student at Lodz University of Technology, Leader of the Top 500 Innovators’ group

• The Top 500 Innovators Program was an experience and adventure of a lifetime. It was a chance to meet outstanding people from our dream group, Stanford as well as USPTC.  I strongly believe that the opportunity of sharing knowledge and cooperation with those wonderful people make me feel that it's not the end it's the beginning of better future.

Dr Edyta Krzystała, Silesian University of Technology

 Alumnus Jerzy Orkiszewski awarded the Golden Book Diploma for his achievements by the Warsaw University of Technology

On November 16, 2015, during the celebrations of 100 Years of Revival of the Warsaw University of Technology, the first Polish technical university, Mr. Jerzy Orkiszewski, has been awarded the Golden Book Diploma for his achievements and inducted into the prestigious Alumni Hall of Fame.

In an interview with PAP – Science & Scholarship in Poland, News of Polish Science – the featured alumnus, Mr. Jerzy Orkiszewski, offered his readiness and support for the mentorship program involving the most talented students from the Warsaw University of Technology. Mr. Orkiszewski, as a co-founder of a Silicon Valley-based company, Cutera, Inc., and president of US- Polish Trade Council, brings to the mentorship program over 30 years of experience in conducting research related to the use of industrial lasers and design of medical equipment as well as his passion for aviation as a pilot and music as a guitar player. In his address to the Warsaw University of Technology’s students, Mr. Jerzy Orkiszewski said that he did not only expect academic knowledge from them but also their versatility and awareness that they need to grow and learn throughout their whole careers.

View a photo gallery from the ceremony and read the interview with PAP.

The Warsaw University of Technology acknowledged Mr. Jerzy Orkiszewski and prof. Piotr D. Moncarz

In November 2015, during the symposium organized by the Warsaw University of Technology Alumni Association Mr. Jerzy Orkiszewski and prof. Piotr D. Moncarz, in acknowledgement of their cooperation with the Warsaw University of Technology, were presented respectively with silver and gold medal commemorating 100-Year Anniversary of teaching in the Polish language at the university. 

Celebration of Poland's National Independence Day

What a festive day! On November 11, 2015, the eleventh edition of the Top 500 Innovators, together with US-Polish Trade Council and Stanford University’s faculty, celebrated Poland’s National Independence Day in Santa Clara, California.

National Independence Day (Polish: Narodowe Święto Niepodległości) is the most important Polish national holiday celebrated on November 11th to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s statehood in 1918, after 123 years of subjugation by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Poland has restored its sovereignty as a result of collective multinational effort done by great patriots with exceptional leadership skills. Among them, we should mention Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who is acknowledged as the father of independent Poland, President Woodrow Wilson, who insisted on “free and independent Poland” in the Versailles treaty document, and, of course, Ignacy Paderewski, President Wilson’s friend, who became the first prime minister of the newly re-established Poland.

Poland’s Top 500 Innovators prepared a short staging about Polish and American heroes who made the dream of Poland’s independence a reality. The talented and ambitious group also prepared and served numerous skill-requiring and time-consuming dishes of deliciously looking and tasting Polish cuisine. All of that, paired with jubilant atmosphere, stimulated reflection on Poland’s history, great and happy moments of conversations, and feelings of national pride and patriotic sentiment that, at this moment, all of us shared.

View a photo gallery from this event.

A book promotion event "The Talent Olympics in Silicon Valley"

On November 5, 2015, US-Polish Trade Council’ s offices were buzzing with guests’ lively discussions about a new book The Talent Olympics in Silicon Valley written by Marta Zucker in cooperation with Magdalena Bryzek. Prof. Piotr D. Moncarz moderated the book promotion meeting filled with the compelling stories of the authors and Polish entrepreneurs presented in this book, Marek Sadowski, CEO of Robotics Inventions, and Kamil Kuchta, CEO of Spray. We, at USPTC, hope that their inspiring success stories will lay foundation for other aspiring Polish entrepreneurs. Welcome to Silicon Valley – a land of limitless possibilities!

View a photo gallery from that event.

 US-Poland Innovation HUB and Go Global Fifth Edition

We would like to announce that on August 4, 2015, upon US-Polish Trade Council’s application therefor, the United States Patent and Trademark Office registered USPTC’s “US-POLAND INNOVATION HUB” mark (Registration No.: 4,785,109) and listed USPTC as the mark’s exclusive owner.

The US-Poland Innovation HUB (Innovation HUB), a collaborative effort of USPTC’s team from California and Poland, is in no small way a child of the Top 500 Innovators’ efforts, and today is managed in Poland by its three alumni, Dr. Magdalena Diering, Mr. Mariusz Tomaka, and Dr. Krzysztof Dyczkowski, while in the U.S. the lead coordination is in the hands of Mrs. Ela Kozera and prof. Piotr D. Moncarz. 

The first stage of the fifth edition of the Innovation HUB program took place first on November 13, 2015, and will continue on December 17-18, 2015, in Warsaw. Six Polish companies, APS Energia, Automater, Booke, Circus Digitalis, PolTREG and RTB Tracker, are participating in the intensive workshop sessions led by recognized and experienced U.S. and Polish experts. Soon, the companies will travel to Silicon Valley to explore and expand their opportunities and growth potential during the second stage of the Innovation HUB program.  

The US-Poland Innovation HUB anticipates further great cooperation with many promising Polish companies in their go-global expansion!

Transferring the Silicon Valley Venture Capital Experience to Central-East Europe

By Caroline Safian Krawiec Brownstone, Director of US-Polish Trade Council

As one of the four co-founders of the US-Polish Trade Council (USPTC), I can recollect the dynamic changes within my professional international sphere of economic, trade and investment here in Silicon Valley and in Poland, as my firm is actively involved in Poland, along with almost all Central and Eastern Countries through Eurasia and now Middle East North Africa (MENA). I understand the value of organizations such as USPTC.

As a member of Polish diaspora, my personal allegiance to Poland was committed in the 1980s when the World Affairs Council of Northern California (WAC), where I was serving as a member of the Board of Directors, asked if I could achieve an impossible goal – to organize a high level comparative study mission for the Board of Directors of the WAC into the forbidden and daunting countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia (now there are two separate countries of Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary and East Germany (now there is a united country of Germany). I did, we went, and absorbed, with almost shocking awareness, the over-arching difficult conditions in each of the countries. My passion was sealed to support Poland.

In 2001, when my San Francisco Bay Area friends and I met in Silicon Valley, Piotr D. Moncarz, Clay Bullwinkel, Tony Zukovsky and myself agreed to create USPTC. Each of us committed to provide the initial financial investment and our personal passions to build upon the vast scientific and engineering talent in Poland with our vibrant professional and academic community of Silicon Valley. We legally registered the name of the organization as the US-Polish Trade Council.

Recently, I marveled again at the continued advancement of US-Polish collaboration after I returned from my November trip to Warsaw, Poland, Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria, where I participated in international economic programs. Upon return, I joined an informal celebration of the Independence Day of Poland in Silicon Valley with the last group of Top 500 Innovators from Poland. This was another pleasurable experience stimulated by the level of scientific, research and academic young leaders and USPTC members sharing the values of Poland’s Independence Day together.

At the event, I heard questions about the history of USPTC and we discussed the multitude of depth and breath of programming and service we developed and provided, initially as an educational forum, then fostering definitive collaborative projects. One of our first high level events, was the welcome of the Prime Minister of Poland and press in February 2003. Corporate sponsors included, Lockheed Martin, Lot Polish Airlines, Exponent, Inc. and International Management and Marketing Associates.

As we continued with our mission to advance Polish representatives to participate in programs here in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, we also developed a specific results-driven, agile response to the request of our Polish links to swiftly adapt to the needs of Polish representatives. These two bi-national remarkable events were organized and facilitated within 30 days and sparked the first high-level program we organized in Warsaw.

Photos: January 26, 2007, USPTC event in the Bristol Hotel, Warsaw, Poland.

In 2007, we welcomed key Rectors of Polish Universities representing science, technology and research with programming at Stanford, American corporations and a dinner in my home to meet Silicon Valley venture capitalists to stimulate thoughts on how to expand collaboration across our borders. The Rectors countered with a wish that USPTC would organize such a program in Warsaw. In 30 days we were in Warsaw. IMMA Ltd organized and sponsored “Transferring the Silicon Valley Venture Capital Experience to Central-East Europe” in the Bristol Hotel on January 26, 2007. Our guests included prof. Rektor Weglinski and prof. Rektor Katarzyna Macukow, both of Warsaw University, prof. Rektor Kaminski, Maria Curie-Składowska University, prof. Krzysztof Kurzydlowski, President of Polish Academy of Sciences, prof. Marek Safjan, (Safian) (formerly President of Constitutional Tribunal) and Senate member, Jerzy Szymura.

The results of these earlier activities continued to build the value of trust and shared values for the continued programming building bridges between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, on one side, and Poland, on the other.

As transitions in our countries are occurring as I write this blog, the human aspect of collaboration remains paramount to trade, investment, academics and research. I invite further discussion from you and invitation to participate in cross-national collaboration for the benefit of generations who follow us. There is work to be done.