The National Centre for Research and Development

The NCBR-NAP acceleration activity aims to enable the commencement of a long-term cooperation between companies and institutions from Poland and the State of Nevada in various areas of innovation, such as medicine, education, and innovative agriculture. This is to contribute to the commercialization of technological solutions offered and supporting cooperative forms of R&D activity.

A solid dose of knowledge

February 2022 has seen the key stage in the activity, immediately preceding the selection of startups that will take part in the acceleration in Nevada. A 4-day-long Bootcamp Warsaw took place in mid-February. It consisted of intense workshops and groupwork for startups, consultations with experts as well as plenty of less formal discussions. While working with experts from Poland and the USA, the companies also got to know the offer and specificity of the State of Nevada.

This dose of knowledge was to be used by startups to prepare their pitches during the Demo Day which took place on February 24.

- Ten entities represented by you will have the opportunity to participate in the acceleration program in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada. But today's pitches and presentations will decide who it will be. – said Agnieszka Ratajczak, Director of the International Cooperation Office at NCBR at the opening ceremony of Demo Day – During Bootcamp Warsaw, you learned how  best to promote and sell your innovative product or service on the American market. How to find a foreign investor, how to register a company in the U.S.. Now is the time to put your skills to the test and try your luck in the Silver State, as Nevada is called. Good luck to you all – she added.

The fact that NCBR recognizes the challenges facing science and business was also mentioned by Adam Kostrzewa, CEO of Akces NCBR, a company that is a new initiative of NCBR, intended to support commercialization and supplement NCBR portfolio with previously unavailable activities.

– The project "NCBR Accelerator" was created for projects related to advanced technologies, with a significant contribution of R&D, building the competitiveness of the Polish economy. This way, we want to fill the gap in the formula of supporting research and development activities aimed at commercialization - among the tools and programs available so far, NCBR clients have not found an instrument that, apart from financing opportunities, would offer support through knowledge and mentoring necessary to prepare an effective business model for a given project.  We are working on launching, still this year, the first acceleration programs based on transparent rules of participation and effective support instruments. – said Adam Kostrzewa– At the same time, we will use  NCBR's long-standing expertise in R&D , combining it with business and market experience, activating the supply of valuable Polish R&D projects for commercialization. In addition, NCBR Akces will refer to the best practices of international R&D and innovation support centers, striving to provide Polish scientists and entrepreneurs with the best knowledge and opportunities to internationalize the solutions and projects developed. – he added.

Time for a good pitch

During the Demo Day, each entity had a few minutes for an elevator pitch presentation, in a concise but convincing format, followed by a Q&A session. Those who performed were: GAW Sp. z o.o., Prime Bit Games SA, Expansio Sp. z.o.o., Flex and Robust Systems Sp. z.o.o., Ideal Bistro Sp. z.o.o., Flyzone Sp. z.o.o., Veo Sp. z o.o., SOLHOTAIR Sp. z o.o., Nanoo Printers Sp. z o.o., Weartech Solutions Sp. z o.o., and Salesbook Sp. z o. o. The above companies offer a variety of solutions and products such as: computer games, coding for children, services for the vending industry, smartwatches for the HoReCa industry, sales applications, navigation goggles, nanoprinting technology, solar collectors, an incubator for seeds and plants, hydrogen storage technologies, innovations for the construction industry.

Presentations and pitches will now be subject to assessment. The Evaluation Committee, in consultation with the Nevada Governor's Office for Economic Development, will award each entity points in accordance with the program regulations. The ten top-rated startups will be invited to participate in the acceleration process conducted in the State of Nevada.

The acceleration process itself will take almost a week, and its framework program will be tailored to the profile of startups selected. The acceleration will include the support of mentors tailored to the stage of development of startups, organization of meetings with companies and economic institutions, and study visits to global corporations located in the State of Nevada.

The phenomenon of Polish-Nevada cooperation

The Nevada Governor's Office for Economic Development (GOED) is responsible for the acceleration process and was represented during the Demo Day by. Paweł Pietrasieński PhD Hab., Professor at  SGH Warsaw School of Economics who is Director for International Trade at GOED.

- NCBR-Nevada Acceleration Program is the first project of this type implemented on the basis of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Poland and Nevada. It is also the only acceleration program between the Republic of Poland and the USA, which is addressed to companies from all over Poland. – said Professor Pietrasieński - The special value of this project is the carefully selected mentoring support for Polish companies which is to help them successfully enter the American, and what we are counting on together with NCBR, also  global market. – he added.

Demo Day participants also learned that the concept of this multi-phase acceleration program is based on the one developed at the Warsaw School of Economics by Professor Pietrasieński, the so-called the "4C" model. – This model includes: the competitive nature of the recruitment process (Competitive admission); grouping participants in the so-called Cohorts of scaleups, the cyclical nature of the project (Cyclical program), and the fourth "C" stands for Customer development – this term, well known in the San Francisco Bay, means developing or even creating a market for promoted products or solutions – explained Prof. Pietrasieński.

The phenomenon of Nevada's cooperation with Poland is an example of success not only in the regional dimension. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, only in 2022 and only in organized groups over 200 Polish companies will visit Nevada. Joint research projects are being carried out, inter alia, between the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Nevada in Reno, and thanks to the active support on the part of NCBR, they are to invoke the exchange of nearly a hundred researchers and students on both sides.

More about the NCBR-NAP acceleration activity at: https://www.gov.pl/web/ncbr/inne-inicjatywy

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The pilot edition of the NCBR-NAP program was launched by NCBR in 2020. The aim of this acceleration activity is to connect the innovative ecosystems of Poland and the State of Nevada through the acceleration of young technology companies registered in Poland on the American market, selected in a competitive procedure, using the experience of mentors from the State of Nevada and related institutions.