Knowledge
Report from the TechMine Conference: Business, Technology, Management
On 18 October 2017 another TechMine conference took place, whose common denominator was business, technology and management. Nearly a hundred participants took part. Mostly owners and managers of small and medium-sized companies. The conference took place at the very hospitable Hotel Angelo, where, over good coffee, the gathered participants made new contacts and shared knowledge. The strategic partner of the event was the City of Katowice, and the Mayor of Katowice took it under his honorary patronage. The main sponsor of the event was the British company DisplayLink, whose co-founder flew in to us specially from Cambridge to share his experience of developing an innovative enterprise. We also gathered a large group of event partners, whom we thank for the good cooperation and promotional support.
The conference was opened, as always, by Lukasz Zjawinski, who introduced those gathered to TechMine’s activities, now six years old.
Next, Professor Adam Drobniak spoke, presenting research data on the economic conditions of doing business in Katowice, from an international, national, regional and local perspective.
The aim of the talk was to present selected economic trends and phenomena defining the conditions for doing business in Katowice. On numerous tables and maps he illustrated what the distribution of individual industries across different areas of the city looks like. Which industries are growing and which have a downward trend. He also indicated the economic potential of Katowice, how it has changed over the years and how Katowice ranks among neighboring cities.
The second speaker was Jonathan Jeacocke, vice president and co-founder of DisplayLink, a British technology company which also has its R&D branch in Katowice.
Jonathan shared with those gathered his advice on effectively managing teams of creative people working in technology. He talked about the company’s beginnings, motivation, the key moments and the people thanks to whom success was possible. DisplayLink today employs over 150 engineers around the world; they create integrated circuits and software for the leading operating systems. Their technology is also used in VR, and their direct clients are companies such as Dell, Sony, Toshiba and Lenovo.
The next speaker was Aleksandra Monsiol-Szatkowska from the Katowice City Hall, who presented to those gathered how the city supports innovative entrepreneurship. She discussed the development plans of the city of Katowice in this area and talked about the start-up center being created. Next year an office facility will be put into use, which is to be a place bringing together innovative entrepreneurs in Katowice. A place where meetings, conferences and training will take place, aimed at animating the community of technology entrepreneurs in Katowice.
Aleksandra was then joined by Mariusz Tomaka, President of the Polish-American Cooperation Council. Together they talked about how Katowice opened its office in Silicon Valley and how the city can help local entrepreneurs expand to the world capital of start-ups.
After the city’s presentation, Roman Warkocz, facilitator, trainer and HR consultant, took the floor and in a few minutes summed up the morning “Open Space” workshop he had led. He concisely presented the open space method and reported on the projects the participants had worked on.
After the report from the workshop, the conference participants went for a coffee break, where they had the opportunity to sum up the events of the first part, make contacts and regain their strength for what was still to come. It was also a good opportunity to test in practice the virtual reality technology presented by DisplayLink.
Right after the break, Jozef Bodziony, CEO of the listed Introl Group S.A., appeared on stage. His talk entitled “Sharks in business” took the form of a dynamic discussion conducted with him by Lukasz Zjawinski of TechMine. During the conversation our guest talked about his passion for underwater photography and then shared his experience of building a large enterprise.
He talked, among other things, about what managing a capital group looks like, delegating duties, and what the challenges of running an enterprise at such a scale are. We talked about why a capital group instead of consolidation, what the strategic approach looks like and the benefits resulting from it, and why it is better to have many CEOs in the group. We also heard about the dynamics of changes taking place in a large organization and a practical, human approach to cooperation and management.
We then moved on to a conversation about our guest’s approach to innovation, new technologies and business ideas. We learned how he acts when these appear both inside his organization, employing over 600 engineers, and in the external business environment. Which investments are in his area of interest, and what he would not invest in. We also asked about the “secret recipe for success”. According to our interlocutor it lies in good cooperation with people and a personality that can gather them around itself.
Next, Marcin Kawalski, CEO at Snowcookie Sports, took the stage. Marcin told the story of his several-year journey from the idea to the successive steps in realizing it. Being a doctor by education and an athlete by passion, Marcin has always looked for ways to cross the boundaries our physique sets for us. That is why “body hacking” came within his area of interest.
Marcin set himself the goal of contradicting the saying that “it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something”. He took on his beloved skiing and effectively convinced the CEO of Intel Corp. that it was worth investing in his idea that “thanks to technology you can master new skills faster”. He developed innovative sensors which, placed on the skis and the skier’s clothing, are able to monitor the skiing style in real time and suggest what can be done better.
Marcin’s talk intrigued the participants and, like the other excellent talks, provoked an avalanche of questions from the participants gathered in the room.
Then came the time for the final talk by our distinguished guest, Professor Jerzy Bralczyk.
This talk was also conducted in the form of a dynamic discussion, led with the professor by Piotr Fuglewicz. The gentlemen talked about how to manage a conversation.
Professor Bralczyk talked, in bravura style, about how to speak in order to speak well. Numerous examples showed how often we think one thing, say something other than we wanted to say, and our interlocutor understands it in yet another way entirely. Further anecdotes quoted by the professor showed emphatically how often we are poor at speaking our native language and how to do it better. Delivered in a blunt, humorous way, every few moments they caused salvos of laughter from the gathered audience.
The professor also answered questions from the audience, which were further examples of what a demanding interlocutor and teacher Professor Bralczyk is.
After several dozen minutes of an excellent lesson in the Polish language, the gathered participants rewarded Professor Bralczyk’s talk with a thunderous standing ovation.
Thus the official part of the conference came to an end. Put in an excellent mood and full of energy, the participants, speakers and organizers went to the hotel’s Jazz Bar to continue conversations and make contacts in an informal atmosphere.
We thank all our excellent speakers, sponsors, partners and participants!
