Current issue:
Cracow’s Science on Technological Wave
Professor Karol Musioł, Rector of the Jagiellonian University and President of the Council of Rectors of Cracow’s Schools of Higher Education, talks to Welcome
- Professor Musioł, what, in your opinion, is the biggest asset of Cracow as a scientific centre?
- The most important thing is that our schools produce top-class graduates in many fields, and the fact that global companies have located research centres here is the best evidence of this. The Motorola research centre in Cracow, for instance, has been operating for some years now, and is among the best of its kind in the world.
The people, their skills and their innovation are values which cannot be overestimated, but there is also another aspect which is extremely significant. We have developed what is in my opinion a coherent concept of business in a scientific environment. The Cracow Technology Park, which was set up by the Jagiellonian University, the AGH University of Science and Technology and Cracow Technological University, is a good example of this. The part of the Park located in Czyżyny is dedicated to information technology and the other, situated next to the new campus which is being constructed in Pychowice, to life sciences. The Park comes under a special economic zone, which guarantees tax privileges until at least 2017 to companies which locate there.
New buildings for several University departments are being constructed at the campus. Biotechnology and most of the biology department are already located there. This year it will be mathematics, information technology, management and social communication. Zoology, physics and chemistry will be next. Inside the Park, in the immediate vicinity of the campus, Onet is constructing a server centre and ITI is building new TV studios. And several biotechnology companies are also setting up in the Park. We think that, as the case has been with tourism, the presence of high technology industries will have a long-term impact on the economy of Cracow and the whole region.
- How can the integration of science and business be taken a step further in Cracow?
- Research and technology transfer centres are to serve this purpose. We have already received considerable means from the EU for the opening of a technology incubator in Pychowice. Ideas generated in the academic part of the campus will be developed there. They will mature in the centre and then in the form of products will be sent to the businesses located in the Park. A Centre of Technology Transfer and University Development has also been created.
Cracow Technological University, the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Agricultural University of Cracow and the Jagiellonian University have decided to apply for European funds together. The first signs of success in this respect are already in evidence, in the form of €25m obtained for building a biotechnology centre and a centre for nanotechnology and new materials, which will be created within two years. We would also like to open a national centre of cyclotron radiation. This would be a universal tool for structural research in biology, biotechnology, crystallography, physics and chemistry, and would provide Polish researchers with modern working conditions and opportunities for joint research with groups from other countries.
- What role should the Cracow scientific centre play in the European scientific space?
- We are fully aware that the nationality of scientific centres is of secondary importance. The Schengen Agreement has put an end to the problem of crossing borders, and soon young people in Europe will forget the notion of border almost completely, as they look for a good education all over the continent.
Cracow is obliged to take its place in the structure of Europe and the project I have mentioned makes it possible. I think that thanks to a series of historic circumstances we will be able to leap over several stages of development which took western countries many years to complete, and we will jump to the very front of the current technological wave and be active at a European level. I realise that this can be done only by the strongest centres, and I am absolutely positive that Cracow is one of them.
- Professor Musioł, what, in your opinion, is the biggest asset of Cracow as a scientific centre?
- The most important thing is that our schools produce top-class graduates in many fields, and the fact that global companies have located research centres here is the best evidence of this. The Motorola research centre in Cracow, for instance, has been operating for some years now, and is among the best of its kind in the world.
The people, their skills and their innovation are values which cannot be overestimated, but there is also another aspect which is extremely significant. We have developed what is in my opinion a coherent concept of business in a scientific environment. The Cracow Technology Park, which was set up by the Jagiellonian University, the AGH University of Science and Technology and Cracow Technological University, is a good example of this. The part of the Park located in Czyżyny is dedicated to information technology and the other, situated next to the new campus which is being constructed in Pychowice, to life sciences. The Park comes under a special economic zone, which guarantees tax privileges until at least 2017 to companies which locate there.
New buildings for several University departments are being constructed at the campus. Biotechnology and most of the biology department are already located there. This year it will be mathematics, information technology, management and social communication. Zoology, physics and chemistry will be next. Inside the Park, in the immediate vicinity of the campus, Onet is constructing a server centre and ITI is building new TV studios. And several biotechnology companies are also setting up in the Park. We think that, as the case has been with tourism, the presence of high technology industries will have a long-term impact on the economy of Cracow and the whole region.
- How can the integration of science and business be taken a step further in Cracow?
- Research and technology transfer centres are to serve this purpose. We have already received considerable means from the EU for the opening of a technology incubator in Pychowice. Ideas generated in the academic part of the campus will be developed there. They will mature in the centre and then in the form of products will be sent to the businesses located in the Park. A Centre of Technology Transfer and University Development has also been created.
Cracow Technological University, the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Agricultural University of Cracow and the Jagiellonian University have decided to apply for European funds together. The first signs of success in this respect are already in evidence, in the form of €25m obtained for building a biotechnology centre and a centre for nanotechnology and new materials, which will be created within two years. We would also like to open a national centre of cyclotron radiation. This would be a universal tool for structural research in biology, biotechnology, crystallography, physics and chemistry, and would provide Polish researchers with modern working conditions and opportunities for joint research with groups from other countries.
- What role should the Cracow scientific centre play in the European scientific space?
- We are fully aware that the nationality of scientific centres is of secondary importance. The Schengen Agreement has put an end to the problem of crossing borders, and soon young people in Europe will forget the notion of border almost completely, as they look for a good education all over the continent.
Cracow is obliged to take its place in the structure of Europe and the project I have mentioned makes it possible. I think that thanks to a series of historic circumstances we will be able to leap over several stages of development which took western countries many years to complete, and we will jump to the very front of the current technological wave and be active at a European level. I realise that this can be done only by the strongest centres, and I am absolutely positive that Cracow is one of them.
Information published at 26 May 2008
