The National Centre for Research and Development

It is hard to believe that the next year, 2021, is behind us. It was a year of limitations caused by the ongoing SARS CoV-2 pandemic, but also the opportunities brought by e.g. digital transformation in many aspects of our lives. In retrospect, the National Center for Research and Development responded to new circumstances and needs - while effectively implementing its basic tasks. We present the first, still incomplete, summary of the past year from the NCBR perspective, encouraging you to learn about the milestones of our activity in the field of supporting innovation.

First a handful of statistics. So far, in the end of 2021, experts cooperating with the National Center for Research and Development have assessed over 3,200 applications for co-financing, as a result of which nearly 750 contracts worth PLN 4 billion have been signed. At that time, PLN 6.7 billion was paid out for projects already in progress. As announced, the NCBR has maintained a wide range of support for entrepreneurs and scientists. In 2021, a total of 10 competitions financed by European Funds under the Smart Growth Operational Programme (SG OP) and 2 under the Knowledge Education Development Operational Programme (KED OP), 25 international competitions, 7 national competitions and 3 competitions in the field of defense and security were announced.

In November 2020, the NCBR strategy was adopted. Its realization is based on the implementation of four priorities, and at the operational level, on the implementation of a number of initiatives and partial strategies. In each of the four priorities adopted: high operational efficiency, a wide range of support, a strong international position and the role of a key knowledge and competence center - the NCBR can already boast of concrete achievements. All this to better respond to the needs of entrepreneurs and scientists and the challenges facing the Polish market of innovators.

The Center proved to be a flexible entity and able to adapt to unexpected situations. Despite the challenges that have accompanied us since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of beneficiaries who are definitely satisfied with the cooperation with the NCBR in 2021 increased to 67%, against 58% a year before. The clients of the Center appreciated, among others, by shortening the time of verification of the payment claim and replies to correspondence. The process of building an effective customer ecosystem in the NCBR, which consists of a number of communication elements and tools - from the launch of the Contact Center, through the new website gov.pl/ncbr, the appointment of the Customer Service Director's Representative and to the change of the role of Information Point.

Using the knowledge and competences gained over a decade of operation, NCBR actively participates in setting and implementing the goals of the state's innovation policy. In the area of ​​digital transformation, three editions of the INFOSTRATEG programme were launched. Thanks to them, projects supporting the development of the Polish potential of artificial intelligence (AI) are implemented. The budget of the competitions implemented so far has reached PLN 160 million.

IDEAS NCBR, established this year, launched the first two working groups. They deal with issues such as intelligent algorithms and data structures, blockchain and smart contracts. Ultimately, IDEAS NCBR will gather scientists in the field of AI, who will then be supported in the commercialization of the results of their research. The activity of IDEAS NCBR will increase the role of the Poland in the global digital economy.

- Technologies related to the implementation of research results on artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly used in various areas of life and economy. The use of artificial intelligence algorithms creates the prospect of breakthrough solutions, among others in energy, transport, agriculture, telecommunications, IT industry, finance, in the area of ​​national security and defense, but also in medicine and education. Undoubtedly, digital technologies, the development of which accelerated during the pandemic, will continue to develop dynamically and enter new areas of our lives. Already in the last months of 2021, we have heard more and more often about the announcements of works on the development of the metaverse as the successor of the Internet. The metaverse, using virtual reality, will create completely new opportunities, e.g. for e-commerce markets, but you also need to remember about the dangers of transferring various spheres of activity to the virtual world. Building the metaverse will probably be accompanied by the development of technologies in the area of ​​cybersecurity - believes Wojciech Kamieniecki, Director of the National Center for Research and Development.

In response to the challenges posed by the implementation of the European Green Deal, the NCBR implements 9 innovative, "green" projects. The funds for these initiatives come from the European Funds (SG OP), and the total budget will amount to PLN 210 million. The projects are conducted on the basis of the innovative procurement strategy "Innovation Sapper" created at the National Center for Research and Development. It was recognized with the international European Innovation Procurement Award (EUIPA) in the competition of the European Innovation Council. Contrary to classic competitions, "Innovation Sapper" assumes that it is a public institution that introduces significant changes to the market through the requirements for future contractors in the research agenda. Thanks to the implementation of the best projects, solutions will be created in areas so necessary from the point of view of socio-economic development, such as: energy and process-efficient construction, sawage treatment plant, innovative biogas plant, home retention technologies, ventilation for schools and homes, electricity storage, heat and cold storage, the heating plant - a RES heating system and a combined heat and power plant in the local energy system.

In addition to innovative ventures, NCBR has also launched the strategic programme "New energy technologies", financed from national funds. Nearly PLN 380 million allocated in the first competition under this programme for the implementation of innovative projects in the field of onshore and offshore wind energy, hydrogen technologies, energy storage as well as energy and heat microgrids will go to industrial and scientific consortia.

The year 2021 also brought the final of the first open technology competition for innovators in Poland, "The Great Challenge: Energy" (WWE), organized by NCBR in the Grand Challenge formula with the support of European Funds (SG OP). The aim of this initiative was to select the best technology for obtaining electricity from wind in domestic conditions. The MMB Team from Gdańsk, led by professor Zbigniew Krzemiński, became the WWE winner and won PLN 1 million for the best prototype.

The energy transition is a challenge that requires extensive cooperation between the public and private sectors. On the initiative of NCBR, in 2021 framework agreements were signed on cooperation in supporting the development of green technologies with a number of public institutions. The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, BOŚ Bank, Polish Fund for Develeopment (PFR) and PFR Ventures, according to the specificity of their activities, will consult each other on their activities in this regard with the Center. The goal is to achieve the synergy effect in the public sector and to create a green technology-friendly ecosystem in Poland at every stage of their development.

- The year 2022 will also be a year of further work on the use of hydrogen technologies in energy, industry and transport. Striving for climate neutrality and the implementation of the assumptions of the European Green Deal, we also place great emphasis on searching for innovative solutions that will allow the use of energy from renewable sources in the economy and in our households to an increasing extent - emphasizes Wojciech Kamieniecki, Director of the National Center for Research and Development.

The National Center for Research and Development is consistently developing its support offer for Polish entities willing to participate in international research and development projects. After the inclusion in its structure of the National Contact Point for Horizon Europe, which plays a key role in the process of supporting Polish participation in the Horizon Europe programme with a budget of EUR 95 billion, there was organized in April the conference "Europe. Horizon of Opportunities". It was attended, among others, by EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel. Throughout 2021, the NPC department organized approx. 80 webinars on international cooperation for 8,000 people.

In January, the director of the Center, Wojciech Kamieniecki, signed the agreement on cooperation between the NCBR and the Ukrainian agency NRFU, opening the possibility of organizing competitions for Polish-Ukrainian research projects.

In June, NCBR was admitted to the group of members of the European TAFTIE network, thus gaining access to the knowledge and experience of similar foreign agencies, as well as the possibility of networking in new initiatives and international projects.

In July, the recruitment for the first competition under the INNOGLOBO Programme was launched. Participation in it will make it easier for Polish entities to establish cooperation with a wide range of foreign partners.

In 2021, NCBR started the implementation of 10 partnerships co-financed under the Horizon Europe and launched the first competitions for international research projects.

As part of the joint advisory and information activities carried out by the National Center for Research and Development in partnership with Business & Science Poland (BSP), 45 events took place in the NCBR Office in Brussels in 2021, and the first networking meeting „Back2Business: Research and Innovation” was held in November. The Center also joined the Science Business network.

In line with the adopted strategy of the NCBR, Think Tank NCBR was established in June 2021. The main area of ​​its activity is the support of the Director of the Center and the Minister supervising the Center in the process of making strategic decisions, setting directions of activities and programmes in the broadly understood sphere of innovation. The NCBR Think Tank includes outstanding representatives of the world of science and business.

The role of a key knowledge and competence center obliges the Center to initiate and conduct a debate on the challenges related to innovation policy. Therefore, in November 2021, the first NCBR conference "Horizon of Innovation" was held. It was attended by leaders of the scientific community, public administration and business. Conference participants present during the event, participants of the discussion and people participating in the on-line conference are almost 5,000 people.

Throughout 2021, the NCBR shared its knowledge and competences through publications in the series: "Innovation Landscape". This year, the Center has published more summaries of important spheres of its activity: “Public Aid. The effects of the implementation of the Aid Program in 2014-2019", "International R&D projects at NCBR - application, implementation, success" and "Closer to the market, closer to modern solutions. Pre-commercial Procurement and Innovative Partnership in the NCBR practice”.

- Everything indicates that 2021 was the best year in the history of the Polish VC market. Next year promises to be at least as fruitful. We are waiting for the official appearance of the first Polish unicorn. There are several Polish technology companies whose valuation is close to a billion dollars, so 2022 may surprise us here. BRIdge Alfa funds will continue to seek investment opportunities. At the same time, we will more and more often witness the exiting of the investments undertaken by them several years ago. I am convinced that we have many successes of these funds and high returns on investment ahead of us - sums up Przemysław Kurczewski, deputy director of the National Center for Research and Development.

- When it comes to BRIdge Alfa funds, the year 2021 in numbers was as follows: approximately PLN 120 million was invested in 145 new portfolio companies from NCBR co-financing. In total, thanks to the functioning of the programme and co-financing with a total value of over PLN 600 million, we have helped nearly 700 startups spread their wings. In turn, thanks to BRIdge VC, investments were made in a total of 31 companies for the amount of another PLN 120 million. The funds, still active in the pilot of the BRIdge VC programme, completed the investment process in 2021. In their case, we can see increasing involvement in the current portfolio companies - he adds.

Whereas for NCBR Investment Fund ASI S.A. (NIF) it was a year of strategic partnerships. The Management Board of NIF has signed agreements with Polish and international Investment Partners, including: Enea Innowacje, BrigdeOne, PGE Ventures, Change Ventures, Aria, Vinci Capital, Fidiasz, EIT InnoEnergy, AKESTO Investment Holding and 4growth VC. NIF also started cooperation with the Industrial Development Agency, the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Centrum Łukasiewicz and Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK). In the near term, NIF and Investment Partners will start joint investments in companies at the stage of growth and expansion.

In the last days of December 2021, a new entity of the NCBR Group was established: Akces NCBR sp. z o.o. It will implement the project "Accelerator NCBR". As part of it, mentoring and financial support will be offered to entities in the early stages of development, assistance in their preparation for further stages of investment and support for the commercialization of the results of scientific research or development works. This action is complementary to other NCBR initiatives, such as IDEAS NCBR or NIF.

In cooperation with the ministries responsible for state defense and security, in 2021 the NCBR conducted three industry competitions. From the moment of identifying the needs formulated by the Ministry of National Defense, it took only two months for the Center to announce the latest competition under the SAPPHIRE programme. The quality of this cooperation is evidenced by the fact that in 2022 the Ministry of National Defense will allocate an additional PLN 100 million to programmes implemented jointly with the NCBR.

- In 2022, we will have a record budget of PLN 7.5 billion to support innovative ideas of entrepreneurs and scientists. 80 percent of this amount will come, as in previous years, from European funds from the previous and new EU financial perspective. The coming year for the Center will therefore be an intensive period of designing and implementing new programmes and initiatives financed from European Funds under the European Funds for Modern Economy, European Funds for Social Development and Horizon Europe. It will also be a time for the Center to use the accumulated expert knowledge and competences to strengthen the Polish innovation ecosystem - assesses Wojciech Kamieniecki, director of the National Center for Research and Development.

- We will launch new programmes financed from European funds. We can reveal that the new edition of the BRIdge Alfa programme will be among them. This time we want to propose financing targeted at specific industries, important from the point of view of economic development, but also characterized by high capital intensity. If we want the Polish economy to develop in a sustainable way, we cannot neglect high-tech sectors, which, unlike the sector e.g. ICT, have difficult access to financing on the private market - adds Przemysław Kurczewski, Deputy Director of the NCBR.