The Globe Forum Innovation Summit in Gdansk has just started. Over 1200 people will attend the two days of knowledge exchange and networking. The main aim is to find out how to keep hold on our future and to prevent our children from having to solve the issues we passed on to them.
The President of the Globe Forum explained they chose Gdansk, Poland because of the innovative character of this country. Poland is supposed to take the lead in sustainable innovation. It creates business opportunities for entrepreneurs and the Globe Forum aims to support this business development in Poland.
The President of the Pomerania region and the Major of Gdansk just introduced this area as a very innovative one. The current innovation is partly inspired by the Solidarity Movement which led to the current freedom after long years of Socialism.
Demographic problems, the current economic crisis and climate changes are our main challenges according to the President of the EU Parliament, Mr. Buzek. Due to their complexity solving these issues requires worldwide cooperation. Europe on its own won’t manage.
Mr. Buzek requests we no longer discuss whether humans are responsible for the climate change. We should just do something about it. In Copenhagen an agreement should lead to dramatic reduction of emissions. This cannot be achieved without innovation. The demand for energy will only increase, probably by 50%. Can we increase our energy efficiency? Because that would be the cheapest solution.
The current crisis means less demand and it needs research & innovation which are also required if we want to change the climate. The EU funds research hopes this will be paid back as a result of successful innovations by the business. The knowledge exchange from universities to the business sector is his main concern. In Europe we don’t manage this too well. We can learn a lot from the US in this matter.
The Grupa Lotos CEO Mr. Olechnowicz, representing the Gdansk based refinery, warns the audience of the dramatic energy usage increase and the related emission issues. The availability of crude oil is quickly decreasing. This makes securing energy a basic challenge. Scientists and business representatives have to develop a new worldwide energy security system. This system needs many innovations. Unfortunately, due to the crisis investments in innovations dropped recently. But there is no time to waste we have to act now!