2nd Polish Economic & Technology Forum in Switzerland

	About Organisers Speakers Programme Registration
	The conference will be held on the 3^rd-4^th of October 2022

The 2^nd Polish Economic & Technology Forum in Switzerland
“Polish business and science in Switzerland”

The 2^nd Polish Economic & Technology Forum to be held in Bern, Switzerland, will gather a wide spectrum of representatives of business, science and technology as well as institutional stakeholders from Poland and Switzerland. The two day event will be full of inspiring panel discussions and networking opportunities. Key topics to be discussed during the Forum will include: the strengthening of investment and export ties between both countries, with particular focus on cooperation on the local level, new technologies, research and development.

A separate area will be provided for business networking.

The panellists will represent leading Polish and Swiss enterprises from various sectors, major universities and research institutions, national and local governments as well as business-facilitating public institutions. Prominent policy makers from both countries will be present.

The conference languages will be Polish and German. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Participation in the event is free of charge, registration to the event can be done using an electronic form until September 28.

The number of participants is limited due to the size of the conference venue. Early registration is therefore encouraged.

The event is being organised by:

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern with generous support of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Tourism Organisation and the Polish Aviation Institute.

The 2^nd Polish Economic & Technology Forum in Switzerland will be live-streamed on the website www.Pepe-tv.eu and on PepeTV YouTube channel.

Registration »

Organisers

Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern

Partners

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland

Ministry of Economic Development and Technology

�ukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Aviation

Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Central Europe (SEC)

Speakers

Opening the economic forum (day 1)

Iwona Koz�owska Ambassador of the Republic
of Poland to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein
Pawe� Jab�o�ski Undersecretary of State for Economic and Development Cooperation, Africa and the Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
Thomas Zimmermann Director of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations, State Secretariat for the Economy of the Swiss Confederation
Piotr Dytko Member of the Board, Polish Investment and Trade Agency

Opening the economic forum - Keynote speech

Peter Gr�nenfelder Director of Avenir Suisse

Panel I - Chances and challenges for the future global socio-economic order

Oliver Bertschinger President and Managing Director, Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Central Europe;
panel moderator
Pawe� Jab�o�ski Undersecretary of State for Economic and Development Cooperation, Africa and the Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
Aleksander Siemaszko Deputy Director of the Department of Trade and International Cooperation
at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
of the Republic of Poland
�ukasz Greinke CEO, Port of Gda�sk Authority
Micha� Pruski Head of DACH, Comarch Group
Martin Brettenthaler CEO, SWISS KRONO Group
Peter Krenn CEO, Bendura Bank AG
Henrique Schneider Deputy CEO of the Swiss federation of small and medium enterprises (SGV)
Herv� Lohr Head Americas, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Berne

Panel II - Vision and strategy for future development of Polish-Swiss economic cooperation

Ulrich Schwendimann Managing Director, Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce;
panel moderator
Christoph Buser Director of the Baselland Chamber of Commerce
Julie B�chtold Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) - the Swiss export promotion agency
Piotr Dytko Member of the Board, Polish Investment and Trade Agency
Dominka Wieczorek Head of Norway Grants Unit, Department of Innovation Implementation in Enterprises, Polish Agency for Enterprises Development (PARP)
Daniel Pfirter Board Member of Handel Schweiz, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in Basel
Dani Duttweiler Head of the Vocational Training Policy Department at SERI
Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter National Councilor, President of the Basel Chamber of Commerce

Panel III - The communal dimension of Polish-Swiss economic cooperation. From assistance to partnership

Bartosz Wieli�ski Secretary of the �roda Wielkopolska County;
panel moderator
Roland Mayer Secretary General, Head
of Foreign Relations, Conference of Cantonal Governments
Grzegorz Pi�tkowski Director of International Affairs at the Ombudsman for SME
Maciej Kozik President of Wielkopolska Centre for Education and Local Government Studies Association (WOKiSS)
Andreas Sutter Mayor of Tolochenaz
Franziska Stadelmann-Meyer Mayor of Muttenz
W�odzimierz Hibner Mayor of Nowy Tomy�l

Opening the technology forum (day 2)

Iwona Koz�owska Ambassador of the Republic
of Poland to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein
Martina Hirayama State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation
Kamila Kr�l Undersecretary of State
in the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
of the Republic of Poland

Panel IV - Polish-Swiss cooperation models, challenges and possibilities in the new technology sector

Jolanta Janczak-Rusch Group Leader at Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories
for Materials Science and Technology;
panel moderator
Kamila Kr�l Undersecretary of State
in the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
of the Republic of Poland
Filliez Fabrice Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation in the Republic
of Poland
Sebastian Wyka Deputy Director of the �ukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Aviation for Research
Danuta Cichocka CEO of Resistell
Hanna Sroczy�ska Project Coordinator at the Department of International Cooperation of National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR)
Bas Gouverneur Chief Technology Officer, RUAG

Panel V - Prof. Joanna Cygler - How technological innovation serves humankind

Joanna Cygler Plenipotentiary of the Director, Institute of Aviation for the Organization of Scientific Research, Professor of the Warsaw School of Economics;
panel moderator
Pawe� St�ycki Director of �ukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Aviation
Andrzej Dybczy�ski Director of �ukasiewicz Research Network - PORT Polish Centre
for Technology Development
Hugues Abriel Vice Rector for Research
at the University of Bern
Robert Rudolph Head of Digitization & Innovation at Swissmem
Joanna Soroka Principal at Hitachi Ventures
Magdalena Kulczycka Director of the CE BioForum
Thomas Rothacher Director of the Department of Science and Technology at the Federal Office for Armaments of the Swiss Confederation

Panel VI - From science to commercialization. Polish-Swiss insights

Karolina Wery�ska Chief Communication Officer, Polonium Foundation;
panel moderator
Piotr Garstecki President of Scope Fluidics S.A., Group Leader at the Institute
of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Micha� Walczak Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Captor Therapeutics
Mateusz Wojdy�o President of Share.P AG
Liliane Brunner Halbach Deputy Director of the Therapy Development Accelerator (TDA) at the University of Zurich
Bart Dzikowski Managing Director, Novartis Venture Fund
Christian Brunner Head of BRIDGE (grant program of the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and Innosuisse)

Panel VII – Polish-Swiss partnership in blockchain and digitalization in the era of a global economy

Katarzyna Lasota-Heller Founder of Partner
at LEXcellence AG;
panel moderator
Piotr Rutkowski Policy advisor DLT/blockchain, Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
Boris Inderbitzin legal and technology policy advisor, Directorate
of International Law
of the Federal Department
of Foreign Affairs
Sirpa Tsimal Director Investment Promotion, Switzeland Global Enterprise (S-GE)
Marek Dutkiewicz Founder and former CEO
of HR Campus in Z�rich, is EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020
in the field of retail/services
in Switzerland
Kamil Rafa� Gancarz Founder, Inventor, President
of the Board of Bitfold AG
Goran Radin Managing Director Impact Partners GmbH
Maciej Stalewski Director of IT Services Department, Polish
Development Bank

Conclusion of the Forum

Iwona Koz�owska Ambassador of the Republic
of Poland to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein
Helene Budliger Artieda State Secretary, Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Swiss Confederation

Programme

Day 1: Economic forum
October 3, 2022 (Monday)
Time: 8:00 - 16:30
Language: Polish and German (simultaneous translation)
Place: Bern, "Kursaal" Convention Centre

8:00-8:50		Participants’ registration
9:00-10:15		Opening ceremony & keynote speech
10:30-12:00		Panel I - Chances and challenges for the future global socio-economic order Polish and Swiss business leaders and policy makers discuss latest trends in economy and society as well as possible future developments.
12:00-13:00		Networking lunch
13:00-14:30		Panel II - Vision and strategy for future development of Polish-Swiss economic cooperation Leaders of business organizations and agencies tasked with facilitating business cooperation discuss ways to further deepen and improve Polish-Swiss economic relations.
15:00-16:30		Panel III - The communal dimension of Polish-Swiss economic cooperation. From assistance to partnership Local governments play a key role in economic development in both Poland and Switzerland. In this session, mayors of Polish and Swiss communes explore possibilities of enhanced bilateral cooperation on the local level.
19:00-22:00		Reception at the Residence of the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland

Day 2: Technology forum
October 4, 2022 (Tuesday)
Time: 9:00 - 17:00
Language: Polish and German (simultaneous translation)
Place: Bern, "Kursaal" Convention Centre

9:00 - 9:15		Opening session of the Technology Forum
9:15-10:30		Panel IV - Polish-Swiss cooperation models, challenges and possibilities in the new technology sector Policy makers and experts discuss the potential of Polish-Swiss cooperation in cutting-edge technologies. How can we tackle global challenges together? How can we jointly drive innovation? What are the opportunities and models for the collaboration?
10:45-12:15		Panel V - How technological innovation serves humankind Academics and businesspeople discuss the role of technological innovation in contemporary society.
12:15-13:15		Networking lunch
13:15-14:45		Panel VI - From science to commercialization. Polish-Swiss insights Bridging academia and industry is a key element of an innovation ecosystem. However, the road to commercialisation can be challenging. A panel of experts will provide insights from the perspective of a potential founder, and investor, as well as compare existing systems supporting transfer of technology and translational projects in Poland and Switzerland.
15:00-16:30		Panel VII - Polish-Swiss partnership in blockchain and digitalization in the era of a global economy Leaders of cutting-edge technology businesses discuss the advantages of Polish-Swiss cooperation in the most innovative sectors.
16:45-17:00		Conclusion of the Forum

Registration and contact

To register for the 2nd Polish Economic & Technology Forum in Switzerland, please click below. Participation is free of charge.

If you have any additional questions, please contact �ukasz Chraba�ski at lukasz.chrabanski@paih.gov.pl.

A manager with many years of experience in both government administration and the private sector, but also in non-profit non-governmental organizations.

In February 2021, he was appointed the Chairman of PAIH. Before joining the Agency, as the Director of the Department of Supervised and Subordinate Units, he was in charge of entities subordinate to the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology.

Previously, he was a member of the board of the Wa�brzych Special Economic Zone, where from 2016 he was responsible, inter alia, for investments, finances and controls, as well as cooperation with institutes of higher education and universities. Over the four years of his tenure, more than 90 companies joined the Wa�brzych zone, including such significant investors as: Mercedes-Benz, Umicore, GTHR, LS, and Hongbo Clean Energy. During this time, the expenditure incurred in the zone increased by PLN 6 billion, exceeding PLN 30 billion in total.

In the past, Krzysztof Drynda was an advisor to the Minister for the economy. He was also professionally related to the financial sector and ran his own business in this field. Moreover, for many years he has been an active member of non-governmental organizations.
Krzysztof Drynda is a graduate of the Faculty of Electronics from the Wroc�aw University of Technology and is a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
Anna Bodnar is Director of Distribution Development at Ekoenergetyka, one of the biggest European manufacturers of charging stations for electric vehicles. Anna was appointed to this position in September 2020 and has been developing, implementing and executing a strategy for an European distribution network since. Within that time Anna successfully led to signing significant distribution contracts with players from such countries as Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, UK, Romania and Bulgaria. Anna was recently also appointed by Ekoenergetyka to head business development and sales activities on D-A-CH markets. The new role includes responsibilities such as prospecting, development of market entry strategies, team planning and recruitment, negotiations as well as dealing with public authorities, stakeholders and business partners.

Prior to joining Ekoenergetyka, Anna spent almost 9 years at ARRIVA, a leading pan-European public transport operator, most recently as New Business Development Executive reporting directly to the London HQ, where she was responsible for delivery international large scale projects, prospecting, building and maintaining relationship with client bodies and key stakeholders, as well as delivery of specific transactions. Previous to this role, Anna gained 8 years of experience in program and project management, scaling-up businesses and management of M&A activities.

Anna earned an MBA from SGGW in Warsaw, with a dissertation focused on new business development. Anna is also a certified coach and a Prince2 Practitioner certified project manager. Her language skills include native Polish, fluent business English as well as fluent German.
Ambassador Erwin Bollinger (*1962), Attorney, LLM, Head of Bilateral Economic Relations Division and Federal Council Delegate for Trade Agreements since 1.6.2018. From 2008 to 2018 he was Head of the Export Controls and Sanctions Section and Dep. Head of the Bilateral Economic Relations Division. From 2005 – 2008 he was Head of Export Control Policy. From 2003 to 2005 he was Dep. Head of Bilateral Economic Relations Europe/Central Asia. From 1999 to 2003 Counsellor at the Swiss Mission to the EU in Brussels. He joined the Federal Administration in 1992 starting at the former Integration Office FDFA/FDEA, transferring to the former Federal Office for Foreign Economic Affairs, World Trade/WTO Section in 1995. Between 1989 and 1992 he worked at swissmedic, becoming Dep. Head of the Legal Affairs Service in 1991.
He is a lawyer, PhD in law and legal advisor. He studied at the University of Warsaw and the University of Orleans (France). He specializes in issues on international economic promotion, exports, entrepreneurship education and issues on sustainable development.

At PARP, he is responsible for activities related to the promotion of entrepreneurship, trainings and internationalization of companies. He supervises the implementation of cooperation projects (Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, Enterprise Europe Network), promotion programs addressed to IT/ICT and medical equipment industries, aid and training projects (including the e-learning portal "PARP Academy").

He manages the international contacts of the Agency and represents PARP in the European Association of Innovative Agencies (TAFTIE).
Michele Cagna, Head of Supply Chain Management, MAN Energy Solutions Schweiz AG, Z�rich

Education: PhD Fluid Mechanics, KIT Karlsruhe, Germany

After his first job at Freudenberg Nonwovens KG, Weinheim, Germany, Michele joined MAN Turbo AG, Oberhausen, Germany in 2007 and started as a development engineer for aerodynamics and thermodynamics.

After holding various management positions within MAN and before moving to Zurich, Michele was responsible for global Systems Engineering, Instrumentation & Controls for turbomachinery.

Since August 2020, he is leading the Supply Chain in Zurich, consisting of Production, Logistics, Purchasing, Planning and Test Bench.

Michele is inspired and motivated by his passion for turbomachinery and MAN Energy Solutions' strategy to drive the transition to a carbon neutral world.
Oliver studied business/marketing at the University of Z�rich before working at UBS as marketing & sponsorship head e.g. in Z�rich, Basle, New York, Tokyo and Hongkong.

Later he was part of the executive board of the internet startup Lunchgate AG before joining Switzerland’s economic promotion agency Switzerland Global Enterprise. As member of the international executive board and Regional Director for Europe, Africa and Central Asia, he was responsible for approximately 100 countries and 50% of S-GE’s export and investment promotion business.

In 2017 he founded his own consulting company Triple Eight Solutions AG where he focusses on business development, marketing and internationalization for SMEs and NPOs as well as personal work productivity trainings.

In 2021 he became president and managing director of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Central Europe SEC, which fosters a community of likeminded companies and individuals who are active in the intersection between Switzerland and the 17 CEE countries.

Oliver as board member is supporting various other non profit organizations. He lives closes to Z�rich, is married, has two teenage daughters and loves sports and culture.
Dr. Katarzyna Lasota Heller has over 20 years of experience in IT, IP and FinTech law. Founding Partner of LEXcellence - Swiss Law Firm in Baar (Zug). President of Swiss-Polish Blockchain Association. Founding Member of Polish Professional Women in Switzerland.

Dr. Lasota deals with issues related to Blockchain, FinTech, NFTs and Metaverse on daily basis. As visiting professor at Kozminski University in Warsaw she lectures on Blockchain, IP and Technology Law; attorney at law admitted to practice in Switzerland and in Poland.

Katarzyna received the doctoral degree in 2003 from Ludwig Maximilian University; as a scholar of the Max-Planck Institute in Munich. She is an alumnus of McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento California, where she finished my LL.M. Studies in 2004. Over the years, she has worked for several large law firms in Munich, Warsaw and Vienna. Between 2010 and 2015 led a global compliance program of a South African Company and was President of EDiMA.

Katarzyna is passionate about economic disruption and data driven economy.

Wife, mother of a teenage daughter, loves hiking in the Swiss Alpes, occasionally plays golf.
Monika Zakrzewska–Hodun, attorney-at-law, tax advisor, Director of Organisational and Legal Division in DANWOOD S.A. - an international company which is a leader in construction of prefabricated houses. Her responsibilities include day-to-day legal services for the company, supervision of the work of in-house lawyers and cooperation with external law firms working for DANWOOD capital group on foreign markets. One of the top graduates of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bia�ystok. An award winner of the competition for the best student of Polish universities 'PRIMUS INTER PARES' - organised under the patronage of the President of Poland. She holds an Master of Business Administration degree. For over 20 years she has provided legal services to companies from various sectors, also taking part part in numerous due diligence processes, mergers and transformations, both as an in-house lawyer and as an employee of renowned law firms. Her specialization is labour law, construction law and commercial companies law, in which she has a rich experience in court disputes. Former university lecturer. Currently provides legal trainings and conducts classes with attorney-at-law trainees.
Tomasz Baran MD, MBA is Executive Vice-president of PBKM (Polish Stem Cell Bank) which is the largest cord blood bank in Europe operating under FamiCord Group brand name. Tomasz has both medical and business background. He joined PBKM in 2010, prior to that he has been holding various position in pharmaceutical industry. In his current role Tomasz is responsible for Sales and Marketing activities towards healthcare professionals and end customers, Tomasz is also involved in strategic decisions regarding company development into stem cell based drugs manufacturing. Since 2020 he leads new project - development of novel cancer immunotherapies - CAR-T.
Katarzyna is a Vice President of the Swiss-Polish Blockchain Association (based in the canton of Zug in Switzerland) and Investment Board Member at Cobin Angels - Poland's largest professional Business Angel Club. She is heavily interested in blockchain applications in various industries and countries, including cooperation between Switzerland and Poland on that topic. Katarzyna graduated in health sciences (specialization - health economics) at the University of Lucerne. In the past, she worked as a business journalist of the Polish Press Agency, Reuters Agency, and The Wall Street Journal.
Marek Dutkiewicz came to Switzerland from Poland 30 years ago as a student for an internship. He brought with him the dream of finding a job where he could combine family and work. Back then, it would never have occurred to him that he would one day be CEO of one of the most successful Swiss HR companies.

With various jobs such as distributing newspapers, cleaning salad and gas station attendant, Marek made his way through Switzerland until he finally got into the office world and after further stages ended up at Nixdorf Computer AG. It was this job that brought him into contact with SAP for the first time. When it came time to take over Nixdorf Computer AG by Siemens, Marek took the opportunity and founded his own company with two partners: HR Campus. Werner Schenker was an HR expert, Hendrik Friesecke knew all the technologies on the market. And Marek? Marek had a vision. The three of them worked in the barn of an old farmhouse in the Zurich Oberland, with starting capital of 30,000 francs.

"Fresh, humane and smart" are the company's three values. Overall, Marek and the company HR Campus exude positivity and optimism: Happy Employee Happy Company is the slogan and when you open the website in the browser, the small, overjoyed smiley in the tab smiles at you. Perhaps the mix of Swiss and Polish values is also the secret recipe for the success of HR Campus. Without stigmatizing, Marek explains that HR Campus has happy customers because he has always offered them the highest quality and his hard work.
Expert in educational projects in the fields of science, the digital transformation and cybersecurity.

After a career in business and finance Margo devoted herself to social entrepreneurship and philanthropy. The Bridge Foundation, that she started in 2010, works to address global security and socio-economic challenges.

She created the Global Cyber Lab as an international platform for students, academia, think tanks and business to raise digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness.

In 2019, with 65 universities, The Bridge ran the first ever inter-disciplinary cybersecurity challenge for students in IT/engineering, business, law, medical schools and military academies - who acted as government advisors in an international cyber-crisis. The project was praised by international organisations, experts and diplomats.

In 2020, the UN Open Ended Working Group on Cybersecurity circulated the foundation’s “New Roadmap for Cybersecurity Education” report on improving cybersecurity education across university programs to all member states as an excellent capacity-building initiative to improve their cybersecurity landscape. The report is available on the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) online platform.

Since 2021, the Global Cyber Lab runs the Cybersecurity Roadshow, an agora for students and young professionals around technology and cybersecurity.

The Bridge is a non-profit operating in Poland, Switzerland and Canada that has achieved Special Consultative status with the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Philippe Roesle works at the intersection of science and diplomacy at the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) where he is currently acting Head of Bilateral Relations. Before taking up this position, he was head of swissnex Astana 2017, a platform within the Swiss Pavilion Expo 2017 Astana dedicated to education, research and innovation. In this role, he was responsible for facilitating bilateral cooperation and knowledge exchange between Switzerland, Kazakhstan and beyond. Previously, Philippe worked at the Science and Innovation Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in London, where he set up and managed a programme designed to support Swiss tech startups enter the UK market. Philippe studied at the University of Basel and King’s College London and holds a PhD in English history and literature.
Anna Para, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of International Management at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, where she conducts research on internationalization strategies. She combines her academic career with working as market and marketing research analyst.

Her current research interests concern international business, digital economy as well as tourism and hospitality management. She authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on tourism labour market, competency management and sustainable tourism. She shares her knowledge with students, companies and NGOs. Supporter of regional tourism initiatives, she cooperates with several non-profit organizations such as Pro Carpathia - Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Rozwoju i Promocji Podkarpacia, Polska Izba Produktu Regionalnego i Lokalnego, Fundacja Rok Rzeki Wis�y.

For several years worked in the consulting industry as export analyst, supporting internationalization of Polish companies on the European markets. In 2019 she joined PFR TFI where she was responsible for marketing communication of the Polish International Development Fund that supports investments of Polish firms. In years 2017-2019 she worked as market research analyst for KROSS company - the biggest Polish bicycle producer.

Anna speaks English, German, Spanish and Polish. She is avid cyclist and hiker.
Mr P�achno is an alumni of the Cracow Universitity. He also holds postgraduate diploma of the AGH - University of Science and Technology in Cracow in Facility Management and postgraduate diploma of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in Sports Organisations Management. Since 2012, Mr P�achno is a lecturer at the department of Management and Social Communication at Jagiellonian University, Cracow.

He is an experienced manager, with knowledge about project management in the field of international cultural events, as well as business, sports and tourist conferences.

He has participated, as an organizer, in a number of sports events including: European Championships in Football UEFA EURO 2008, UEFA EURO 2012, EHF EURO 2016, The World Games 2017 in Wroc�aw and the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial (as a sponsoring manager).

Between 2018 and 2020 Marcin acted as a Director of the events operations division at European Conferences United, which is known for organization of business conferences.

He has also co-created ROAD TO SPORT, headquartered in Wroc�aw, which organizes projects in the field of sports tourism.
Biogram in Polish.

Koordynuje prace Sztabu Pomorskich Przedsi�biorc�w, kt�ry zrzesza 14 organizacji pracodawc�w z wojew�dztwa pomorskiego, dzia�aj�cych wsp�lnie na rzecz rozwoju przedsi�biorczo�ci oraz poprawy warunk�w prowadzenia dzia�alno�ci gospodarczej. Cz�onkini Wojew�dzkiej Rady Dialogu Spo�ecznego, Pomorskiej Rady Przedsi�biorczo�ci, Pomorskiej Rady O�wiatowej w tym zespo�u roboczego Rady ds. kszta�cenia na potrzeby rynku pracy. Wiceprzewodnicz�ca Pomorskiego Zespo�u ds. Kobiet przy Zarz�dzie Wojew�dztwa Pomorskiego. Cz�onkini Rady Konsultacyjnej przy Wydziale Ekonomii i Zarz�dzania Politechniki Gda�skiej, Rady Programowej Forum Inicjowania Rozwoju oraz Rady Fundacji Hospicjum Pomorze Dzieciom.

Lingwistka, wieloletnia ekspertka ds. stosunk�w mi�dzynarodowych i bezpiecze�stwa w Kancelarii Prezydenta RP i w Biurze Bezpiecze�stwa Narodowego.

Spo�eczniczka i dzia�aczka na rzecz os�b ze spektrum autyzmu i ich rodzin. Zaanga�owana w dzia�ania inicjatywy obywatelskiej „Chcemy ca�ego �ycia!”, aktywna w organizacjach Porozumienie Autyzm-Polska, Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Osobom Autystycznym, Autism-Europe oraz Global Autism Advocacy Leadership Network.
Zbigniew Stencel is a craftsman and entrepreneur. He comes from a multi-generation family of carpenters known in Kashubia. Together with his wife Teresa and son Tomasz, he runs the Stencel Stolarstwo company in Wejherowo. He is a master of carpentry, and the Minister of Culture and Art awarded him the title of Master of Artistic Craft. The Stencel company is famous primarily for the production of stylish furniture - baroque Gda�sk or rococo, which are works of woodcarving art, which can be admired in various historic buildings as well as public and sacred buildings throughout the country. Stylish furniture from the Stencel company also goes to foreign markets - incl. to Germany, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, USA, Australia and Ecuador. Zbigniew Stencel and his company received many awards and distinctions, incl. in the economic competition Company with Quality or Company with Future. Zbigniew Stencel has been active in the organization of crafts for many years, his company is affiliated to the County Guild of Small and Medium Enterprises in Wejherowo. Since 2005, Zbigniew Stencel has been a member of the Management Board of the Pomeranian Chamber of Craft for Small and Medium Enterprises, acting as the Deputy President. In May this year. took the position of its President. He is also active in the forum of the Polish Craft Association. He was awarded the highest honorary craftsmanship decoration - Saber im. Jan Kili�ski.

The Craft Chamber has been operating in Gda�sk since 1945, but the traditions of Pomeranian crafts, especially Gda�sk craftsmanship, are much longer. The Pomeranian Craft Chamber of the Ministry of Treasury continues these traditions, at the same time strongly focusing on innovation and adaptation to contemporary challenges. The Chamber brings together 23 guilds of various crafts and industry guilds as well as 2 craft cooperatives from the entire Pomeranian Voivodeship, representing approx. 2,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Chamber is also an active member of the largest and oldest economic self-government body - the Polish Craft Association.
Anna has 25 years of professional experience in the equine field. In 2003 she graduated from the University of Gdansk with a master’s dissertation, ‘Horses in Literature Worldwide’. In 2005 she moved to Dubai, where she continued her professional equine career as a trainer, stable manager for the member of the Royal Family, as well as a consultant, equestrian manager and international project manager. Anna has cooperated with clients from around the world, most notably from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has been living in Switzerland since 2017. In 2020 she became Co-Founder & CEO of Horse Treasury GmbH, which is driven by its motto of ‘Horse Trading with Integrity’ and operates through an internet platform offering online horse auctions and a broad spectrum of interconnected services.
Ma�gorzata Kubat, M.A., Co-Founder and CEO of LanguageMasters GmbH, a private language school with 30 employees and more than 1000 clients a year.

Grew up in Poland, studied linguistics and literature at Zurich University, living for 20 years in Switzerland. At the age of 30, she founded her first successful company in Z�rich. For over 5 years she is leading LanguageMasters, an exclusive language school at the very heart of Zurich. Her company is famous for a wide range of language courses, high quality language services and professional linguists, a family-friendly concept and for creating tailor-made programmes for clients.

Under her supervision, the school received recognition as an certified examination TELC centre providing international, standardised tests for German. Also instrumental in the school being awarded the highest Swiss Quality System label in education: EduQua which is recognition of excellence in educational services. Responsible for co-operation with Swiss authorities, Migration and Integration offices.
Active Member of many language & cultural organisations and representing Switzerland at International Language Conferences.
Loving and constantly supporting art, cultural events (in particular Polish events), NGO’s, organisations for kids with disabilities as well as children’s sport clubs.

Passionate entrepreneur with a big vision, open-minded pedagogue driven by passion, author for German learn-material and instructor for educational training. Raising the bar with every good challenge that comes her way, self-motivated with a positive attitude and strong sense of teamwork and respect.
Paulina is the co-founder of NUME-Lab Switzerland, a Swiss skincare brand which focuses on clean, minimalistic and effective skin treatment solutions. She aims to disrupt the beauty industry pioneering conscious and ethical skincare solutions bringing inclusivity and diversity to the world.

Polish by nationality, Paulina has been living abroad for the last 25years, working in different fields in project management, marketing and supply chain within international pharmaceutical and engineering corporations in Italy, China, Belgium and Switzerland.

She is passionate about travelling and discovering the world, one of her dreams is to open an animal sanctuary. When she is not working on NUME-Lab, you can find Paulina biking around Neuchatel where she lives or hiking in some of the highest Swiss mountains.
Petra W�st PhD has headed the consulting firm W�st Consulting GmbH in Basel since 2004 and works internationally as a trainer, keynote speaker and coach on the topics of self-branding, communication and leadership. She also teaches at various universities and is the author of several well-known books.

Petra W�st is one of the most prominent experts in personal branding and team branding. Building on her many years of experience, she has developed the Self Branding Model®, which she passes on in lectures, workshops and personal coaching. In doing so, she inspires and supports her customers in creating and living a distinctive and contemporary personal brand or team brand - offline and online.

Petra W�st has a doctorate in economics and a degree in psychology from the University of Zurich. After several years as a consultant in executive search in Switzerland and England, she moved to the Management Center St. Gallen, where she worked as a leadership trainer for four years. She has been working independently since 2004. She is a certified coach for the Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) and Collective Leadership Assessment (CLA) and recognized as a “Professional Speaker” of the German Speakers Association.
Ambassador Eric Jakob, (*1962), Dr. phil., Head of the Promotion Activities Directorate since 01.12.2012. Previously General Manager of Regio Basiliensis and the Intercantonal Coordination Office at Regio Basiliensis in Basel. 1995 to 2003 Assistant General Manager of this organisation. From 1993 to 1995 Swiss Adviser to Infobest Palmrain, an information and advisory body for cross-border matters in Village-Neuf (France). Prior to that Senior Project Leader within the framework of the PTT Initiative at that time «Communication and Model Community Basel», also worked as a journalist.
Maciej has been present on the IT market for over 9 years. He was responsible for setting up two IT delivery centres in central Poland with 500+ IT headcount. In 2019 he took the role of Country Business Lead Switzerland at Sii Poland and currently is responsible for all business development related activities on the Swiss market. He has extensive experience in working with TOP100 Swiss companies representing various sectors, including: Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare, HiTech, Manufacturing, Retail and Utility. In private life, he is a long distance runner and is passionate about dog behaviourism.
Mathias Ulrich is Deputy Head of the Office for Economy in Canton Schwyz. He is active in various European markets such as Germany, Nordics, Italy and Poland to showcase Schwyz and Switzerland as an attractive business location. Canton Schwyz is part of the Greater Zurich Area and therefore part of the economic powerhouse in Switzerland with its fertile ground for international companies. Mathias Ulrich has a MAS in Business Excellence and gained years of experience in Business Promotion, Banking and Tourism.
Miron Zandecki is a Polish engineer and CEO and Co-owner of “WM Solution GmbH”.

In years 1998-2002 Miron was responisble for impelmentation and testing procedures at “Lucent Technologies Poland” in Bydgoszcz. In 2002 he became CEO and Co-owner at “Telecom Partner Sp. z o.o.”. He stayed at Telecom till 2012. Among those he was a Member of the Board at “UKS Dragon Bojano” - youth soccer club. Since 2017 he is an owner of “DM Side Miron Zandecki”.
Przemys�aw used to be Nevomo’s CEO from January 2018 to September 2021. As Chief Product Officer, he is responsible for coordinating the development of Nevomo's products, including supervision of R&D projects and technological cooperations. Przemek has over ten years of managerial experience in finance and sales, gained mostly in private banking, fund management, real estate brokerage and land development sectors. He used to manage a portfolio of real estate assets in one of the largest Polish banks and used to be a Board Member of nine SPVs of a closed-end property fund. He gained his experience, among others in Getin Noble Bank, Home Broker, ProDevelopment, CB Richard Ellis I San Francisco Centre for Economic Development. Przemek is a member of the Urban Land Institute. Moreover, he is a Ph.D. candidate at Ko�mi�ski University in Warsaw (Management in New Technologies). He is a graduate of ESCP Europe in Paris (Master's in Management: London-Madrid-Paris, Major: Public Management) and Cracow University of Economics (Master’s in Economics, Major: Spatial Economics) and the Microeconomics of Competitiveness Program at Ko�mi�ski University (in cooperation with Harvard Business School). He is a scholarship holder of the French Foreign Ministry (Bourse Eiffel).
Micha� Wr�blewski is Mechanical engineer and Master of Management and Economics graduated from Technical University of Gda�sk. In years 1999-2014 he was employed at ABB, MAAG Gear Zamech, FLSmidth MAAG Gear various managerial positions. In years he was 2011 - 2014 VP SCM in FLSmidth MAAG Gear. From 2014 until 2018 he was Chief Operation Officer & Member of the Board in Rockfin. Since 2017 he is a CEO of Rockfin GmbH. Since 2018 he is Vice President of the Board - Sales and Business Development.
Dr. Andreas Gut, Professional position at Innosuisse - Swiss Innovation Agency: Head of International Programmes.

Responsibilities
- Development of strategy and project related initiatives of Switzerland and Innosuisse in the do-main of international innovation cooperation
- Swiss participation in EUREKA, Eurostars, Active and Assisted Living, ECSEL, and engagement of Innosuisse in bilateral cooperation
- deputy head of Innosuisse Division Knowledge Transfer & International Collaborations.
Past professional positions
- 7.2017 - 12.2018: Head of Research and Innovation Programmes, State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI
- 7.2014 - 6.2015: EUREKA Project Coordinator Chairman during the Swiss EUREKA Chairmanship
- 2.2008 - 6.2017: Swiss EUREKA Project Coordinator, State secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI
- 2001 -2008: Scientific Collaborator for Energy Research at Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Bern.
Education
- 1994 -1998: PhD ETH Z�rich / Institute for Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Liebefeld
- 1987 -1993: Studies of Environmental Sciences, ETH Z�rich
Joanna Cygler, Ph.D., SGH Professor, The Director’s Proxy for Scientific Development, The Lukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Aviation.

Specializes in broadly understood international business cooperation (bilateral and network). She was the recipient of the J. Fulbright Scholarship (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA), as well as the Foundation for Polish Science Scholarship. Associate Professor at the Department of Management Theory (Collegium of Management and Finance) at the Warsaw School of Economics. Her habilitation thesis titled: Coopetition of Enterprises. Sectoral and Corporate factors (Kooperencja przedsi�biorstw. Czynniki sektorowe i korporacyjne) received the Polish Academy of Sciences Award in the competition for the best habilitation dissertation in the field of Management, defended in 2007-2009. She successfully combines her scientific experience and business practice with substantive collaboration with central governmental institutions, international organizations (the UN and the World Economic Forum), international consulting companies and numerous Polish and foreign enterprises. Author and co-author of multiple publications, and coordinator of many research and business projects (Polish and international). Prof. Cygler was head of Executive MBA Studies at the Institute of Economics, Polish Academy of Sciences (2016-2022). Initiator and one of the main coordinators for R&D projects in the area of UAV (The �ukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation with NIAS, NASA and UBER) – one of the biggest research projects jointly conducted by Polish and American research institutes.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jolanta Janczak-Rusch is a renowned scientist and expert in the field of joining technologies and group leader at Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research.

She was the initiator of the Swiss-Polish international doctoral program (Empa/CH, WUT and AGH/PL), a pilot project of Swiss contribution framework (2007-2017) and co-organiser of the Swiss-Polish Cohesion Dialogue between Science, Business and Culture in Bern (2007) as well as of the Polish-Swiss Science and Technology Days in Warsaw (2010). As a group leader at Empa, Jolanta Janczak is strongly involved in cooperation with industry and research partners. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the POB Research Center Materials Technology of the Warsaw University of Technology within the framework of The Excellence Initiative - Research University. In recognition of her remarkable scientific achievements, in 2014 she was nominated as a titular professor by the President of the Republic of Poland.
�ukasz W�sek - graduated from the Cracow University of Economics in the field of Finance and Accounting specializing in Financial Markets and Investment Consulting. In 2008 he started working at Comarch Group as Capital Investment Specialist and was responsible for different investment projects and acquisitions. In 2012 he became the Chief Financial Officer of Comarch in DACH Region. In 2014 -2019 he held also the position of Country Manager in Germany.
Piotr Paszczyk - Executive Manager and Board Member in APN Promise - technology market leader since 1991. Grew company from 1 up to more than EUR 30 Million revenue. Recently also expanding in the Baltics. APN Promise SA is listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange and delivers to medium and large enterprises in all verticals, including industry, banking, insurance, retail, public sector, healthcare, education and many others. APN Promise SA is one of the top 500 largest and most dynamic Polish companies (according to Rzeczpospolita ranking) and 4th largest Polish IT company. Having years of experience in management, Piotr Paszczyk specializes in coaching and strategy building.
Anna Salamo�czyk-Mochel is a manager boasting impressive experience in executing the management process: resource planning, utilisation and organisation, team management, steering and impacting interpersonal relations, as well as deliverables control. In recent years she has served as President of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Foundation and Head of the Erasmus+ Programme National Agency. Earlier she gained experience at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as head of the minister’s office. Before joining the civil service, she was involved in the training industry as a coordinator of projects targeted at the travel sector, such as “Green Company” and “Training Flavours”.

Salamo�czyk-Mochel has many years of experience in projects focused on building international cooperation between educational and training institutions in the context of implementing learning mobility opportunities - educational and scholarship tourism.

Anna Salamo�czyk-Mochel holds an MBA degree in management from �azarski University and a master’s degree in Romance studies from Pedagogical University of Krak�w. She also completed post-graduate studies in public relations and human resource management at Tischner European University in Krak�w.
Education: master degree in history at Adam Mickiewicz University

Qualifications: Organization and Management, Study of the Agricultural Policy of European Cooperation, Quality Management in Education – Manager`s Certificate.

Family status: married, two sons

Career: teacher (history); director of the Primary School, Wielenin; councilman and Deputy Foreman of the Podd�bicki District, Mayor of the Uniej�w Municipality (since 2002 as well at present);

J�zef Kaczmarek has been consistently implementing the concept in tourism development of Uniej�w, since 2002, as he holds the position Mayor of the City. Main target of his actions is economic growth of the Uniej�w Municipalty, by leading to a wide use of geothermal water, in particular for: healing, recreational and heating purposes. The originator and implementer of the award-winning project "Termy Uniej�w", one of the 7 wonders of European funds. As Mayor, in 2012, he achieved the “thermal spa health resort” status for Uniej�w city. Since this circumstances, Uniej�w became the 45^th health resort in Poland, being at the same time the 1^st health resort in the ��d� region and the first thermal spa in the country.

Awards: laureate of the Local Government`s Oscar (award of the Grzegorz Pa�ka); 4-time laureate of the Local Government Region Manager award; laureate of the "Way to Success" competition; laureate of the competition "Strong Man in Business 2013";

Interests: economics, education, sport
Rafa� Milczarski is the President and CEO for LOT Polish Airlines since January 2016.

As President and CEO, Mr. Milczarski is responsible for leadership of company’s restructuring process to date and its strategic development plans, market strategy, day-to-day management, business development, improvement of company’s management structure, optimization of company’s operations processes, cost optimization, introduction of meritocracy at the management level.

In 2017, Mr. Milczarski was elected as President of AIRiE (Airlines International Representation in Europe) - association which represents mid-size airlines interests in European regulatory issues.

In 2018, he was appointed also as President of Polish Aviation Group (PGL) which consolidates various aviation industry activities in Poland.

He graduated in Economics from the University of Cambridge. During his studies, he has been a trainee, among others at UBS Bank in Zurich and JP Morgan in London. After graduation he worked in the maritime and railway logistics department at Foster Yeoman Limited in Great Britain.

Mr. Milczarski co-founded the Baltic Rail, one of the first private railway carriers of goods in Poland. In 2005, together with an industry investor Freightliner Group in the UK, he founded Freightliner PL - a freight rail carrier. As a president and co-owner he led the company from a start-up to the achievement of a few per cent share of the freight market in Poland. He is also the founder and former CEO of Freightliner DE - a German subsidiary Freightliner PL and the Association of Independent Railway.
Tourism expert with many years of management experience from various destinations in Switzerland, including 13 years as Tourism Director in Interlaken. Expertise from summer and winter tourism, city and congress tourism, from local, regional, cantonal and national organizations (including 6 years for Switzerland Tourism in the USA) and as CEO in the mountain railway industry. Broad national network in tourism. Former president of the Association of Swiss Tourism Managers (VSTM).

Master's degree in Business Psychology, Dipl. Lecturer at Universities of Applied Sciences, CAS Digital Marketing Specialist, Dipl. PR Specialist, NDS Destination Management.
Urs Eberhard (born in 1957, studies in English language and literature at the University of Zurich, with minors in journalism and musicology), married and father of two children, started his career at Switzerland Tourism in 1989 as District Manager in Dusseldorf, Germany. From 1990 to 1995, he was in charge of Switzerland Tourism Amsterdam (The Netherlands); he then was elected Director of Switzerland Tourism London, responsible for the UK and Ireland, a post which he held till 1998. In January 1999, Urs Eberhard was named VP Marketing, based at Switzerland Tourism's head office in Zurich. From 2000 to 2004 he was Director Switzerland Tourism North America in New York overseeing office in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto and being responsible for one of the most important source markets for the Switzerland Tourism industry. As from June 2004 he is back in Zurich, at Switzerland Tourism's HQ as Deputy CEO of Switzerland Tourism, responsible for the department Markets.

Prior to his career at Switzerland Tourism, Urs Eberhard worked with the Arth-Rigi-Railway Company in Goldau, Switzerland as Director of Marketing and later as Deputy Director. The time Urs Eberhard was working for the Arth-Rigi-Railway had a big influence on him, he is a big Swiss railway lover.
Dominik Feldges works as an editor in the Economics/Business News Section of Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ). NZZ, which was established in 1780, is the leading daily newspaper in Switzerland. It also belongs, due to its independence and large network of staff writers both in Switzerland and internationally, to the most highly regarded newspapers in the German speaking world as well as globally. Dominik Feldges specializes in the reporting about the life sciences and the investment goods sector. Being married to a physician from Poland and as a learner of Polish, he is also interested in political and economic developments in Poland as well as in Central Eastern Europe. He joined NZZ in March 2015. Before, from 2000 to 2015, he had worked as an editor for the Swiss financial newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft specialising in the healthcare sector as well as in the economies and financial markets of the UK, Japan and South Africa. From 1997 t0 1999 he had been a consultant at the Swiss advertising group Wirz specialising in financial communications and investor relations. Born in 1971, Dominik Feldges graduated from Basel University with an MA in English literature, English language and history. He speaks German, English, French, Polish and some Japanese.
In his current role, Ulrich Schwendimann focuses on fostering economic relations between Poland and Switzerland and supporting businesses active in both countries.

He graduated in Slavonic and Business Studies from the University of Zurich and completed an Executive MBA at the Warsaw University of Technology. Before his assignment with the Chamber he worked as a journalist and scientific researcher.
Bartosz Wieli�ski is a Polish local government official who has been the Secretary of the �redzki District in the Wielkopolska Region since 2017. He is an MPA and Mechanisms of the Euro Area graduate at Pozna� University of Economics and Business. As a local government official, he is also a graduate of the School for Political Leaders. For the last five years, he has been actively involved in implementing the government's repatriation program. Since 2022 Wieli�ski has been responsible for helping refugees from Ukraine. Bartosz Wieli�ski believes that it is necessary to cooperate over divisions for the country's good.
Dr Karolina Wery�ska - Chief Communication Officer and board member of Polonium Foundation. Completed her PhD degree in Drug Discovery at the University of Zurich, with prior degrees from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Jagiellonian University in Poland. Extensive research experience from leading research groups at Oxford University, Harvard University and University of Toronto. Recently, joined Global Medical Affairs in Idorsia Pharmaceuticals.
Co-founder and President of the board and of the “Wielkopolska Centre for Education and Local Government Studies” Association - which is the oldest association of local governments in Poland. Historian and lawyer by profession; passionate about local government and civil society.
Dr Micha� Walczak is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Captor Therapeutics - a leading Polish biotech and one of the first companies in the world that applies Targeted Protein Degradation to discovery and development of therapeutics. Micha� is a trained biophysicist and structural biologist with PhD from ETH Zurich, MSc from University of Virginia and a postdoc from Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel. He is interested in mechanistic aspects of protein structure and function with in-depth knowledge of molecular interactions, protein NMR spectroscopy and chemical biology.
Director of International Affairs at the Ombudsman for SME as well as Director of Analytics Department and Director of Cracow Office. Representative of the Industrial Development Agency in Brussels. Board Member and Treasurer of Polish Landed Gentry Association. Honorary Member of Business Centre Club. Member of the Council of Patrons of the Cracow University of Economics. President of the Health and Rejuvenation Research Foundation. Former: Ombudsman for Alumni Rights at the Ministry of Higher Education and Member and Secretary of the Supervisory Board of the Grupa Azoty Siarkopol.

Alumnus of Harvard Business School, Zurich University, Istanbul University, Jagiellonian University, MBA at Collegium Humanum. Lecturer at the Austrian Economics School Club and School of Polish and European Law in Lviv and Ternopil.
For over 20 years Pawe� St�ycki PhD is associated with this what is his passion - the development of technology and working with people.

During his engineering career he worked in managerial positions in General Electric where he developed large teams and projects.

In 2018 he was appointed director of the Institute of Aviation and since 2019 he continues his mission as director of the �ukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Aviation.

Pawe� manages a group of 1300 engineers and scientists working on various technologies in aviation and space. He combines his knowledge on the operation of large industrial companies with enthusiasm and substantive knowledge of the team in order to develop solutions that have a chance for practical application with the participation of domestic and foreign industry.

Outside of his everyday duties, he is a member of international aviation organizations: the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, the European Aeronautics Science Network and the European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (as a chairman). He is also a chairman of the Association of the Polish Aviation Industry and the Polish Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Julie B�chtold works for Switzerland Global Enterprise, the Swiss export promotion agency. Since May 2022 she is back in the Global Marketing department in the headquarters dealing with the EMEA region. Previously, she was Deputy Head of the Swiss Business Hub Russia at the Embassy of Switzerland, where she assisted Swiss companies in entering the local market. She has about 20 years of experience in bilateral trade relations, developing and implementing market entry and marketing strategies in various industry sectors, especially in MEM, Medtech and Cleantech. Julie has represented Swiss Business in Russia and supported foreign countries in establishing subsidiaries in Switzerland. After having graduated in German and Slavonic studies from the University of Bern, she started her professional career as a radio journalist.
Henrique Schneider is the deputy CEO of the Swiss federation of small and medium enterprises (sgv). In this position, he represents the largest umbrella organization of the Swiss economy in different working and expert groups, regulatory bodies as well as non-executive boards. Especially, he is a voting member in the Swiss Competition Commission. In addition, he is professor for economics at Nordakademie, University of Applied Sciences, in Elmshorn, Germany.

Henrique is an entrepreneur owning stakes in different technology and IT companies and start-ups. he is a frequent public speaker in Europe, Asia, and the US and publishes regularly peer reviewed papers in academic journals as well as opinion pieces in newspapers. Applying philosophy of science and Austrian economics to actual issues, his most recent books are: “Platform Economics” (2022), “Adventures in Chinese Realism” (2022)”, “The puzzle of productivity” (2020), “The Value of SMEs” (2019), “Introducing the Political Philosophy of Hanfei” (2018), “Creative Destruction and the Sharing Economy” (2017); “Uber: Innovation in Society” (2017)”.

Henrique studied economics and philosophy in Switzerland, Germany, China, the US, and Austria.
Manager and scientist with over 15 years of management experience, including management of research and development organizations. Humanities PhD. An MBA studies graduate of the Franklin University (USA). Dr. Dybczy�ski completed his internship at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. dedicated to the management of scientific organizations. A graduate of Cultural Studies and Political Science at the University of Wroc�aw and postgraduate Studies of Law and Economy of the European Union.

Since 2002, a Researcher at the University of Wroc�aw. Deputy Director of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Wroclaw in the years 2005-2012. Head of the Postgraduate European Union Structural Funds Study in the years 2009-2014. Senator of the University of Wroclaw in the years 2008-2012. Expert of the Public Debate Forum at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland in the years 2013-2015. Consultant to the Ministry of Defense in the years 2013-2015. Manager at IBM in the years 2014-2017 responsible for organizing and supervising the support division of project teams in the Western hemisphere. Managing Director at KGHM Cuprum Ltd. until February 2018.

Author of books and scientific articles in the international relations and negotiations area.
For almost 10 years in the municipal executive and for 1 year President of a small municipality with 2000 inhabitants in the canton of Vaud. A famous Polish compatriot has given us the honor of living in our territory for many years. Today we are trying to honour Mr Paderewski in various ways.
Peter Krenn, Dr. rer. soc. oec., University of Vienna. Study abroad at Sorbonne University. Working for BENDURA BANK AG since 2011. Initially in the area institutional clients, since 2017 member of the Board of Management. In charge for the strategic management of the bank and responsible for the areas Private Clients Central, Eastern & Southern Europe and Private Clients International & Wealth Management, the Human Resources Department as well as our Hong Kong Representative Office. Previously at Raiffeisen Bank International AG in client relationship management, corporate analysis, project finance and credit risk management. Peter Krenn also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (Valuation & Strategy) and the Austrian Economic Chamber. Serving as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Malta in the Principality of Liechtenstein since 2021 and as an external expert at the University of Liechtenstein since 2022.
Education, professional career
Goran Radin studied economics at the University of Basel and worked for 25 years in private banking for Swiss and international private clients. As a private banker, he looked after very wealthy clients in the area of asset management. In parallel, he held various management positions in banks: from department head, head of international clients, head of a bank branch to member of the operational management of a Swiss private bank. For over 22 years, Goran Radin has been active in various NPOs, with a focus on health, developing countries, environmental protection and culture. Goran Radin is founder and managing director of Impact Partners.

Activity, current focus
Impact Partners GmbH is a consulting agency with 5 employees in the field of philanthropy and major donor fundraising. On the one hand, clients are non-profit organisations that want to run a capital campaign and/or expand their major donor fundraising. On the other hand, Impact Partners offers consulting services in the field of corporate philanthropy to private companies. For financial service providers, Impact Partners offers special consulting for the expansion of philanthropic activities.
Hanna Sroczy�ska, PhD has over 10 years of professional experience in an international research funding environment. Since 2013 Hanna has been involved in two EEA and Norway Grants Research Programmes and for the past 2 years she has coordinated the current ‘Applied Reasearch’ Programme under the Grants. Her responsibilities also include project management as well as facilitation of partnerships under Horizon 2020 and bilateral collaboration.

Hanna holds a PhD in economics from the Warsaw School of Economics. Prior to joining NCBR, her career concentrated on European integration and international business.
Graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru� and MBA programme organised by the Polish Academy of Sciences. Legal Counsel, member of supervisory boards of companies related to the maritime economy, in particular the transport, forwarding, logistics and port operators industry. He is a socially active member of the Maritime Convention.
Has many years of experience in engineering design work and team management gained in scientific research units and production companies in the aviation and automotive industry. Among others, at GE Company Polska - GE Aviation Engineering Design Center. Combines technical and management competences supported by extensive professional experience in many areas. In his professional career, he worked, among others as a sales engineer, mechanical constructor, reaching the position of the manager of the production department or the manager of the engineering team on the project of the trailing edge of the wing for the Airbus A350 and Deputy Director at �ukasiewicz - Institute of Aviation. Representative of �ukasiewicz - Institute of Aviation in the Working Group of the �wirko i Wigura Program. Board member of the Association of Unmanned Flying Systems. A graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Production Engineering, majoring in Automation and Robotics.
Boris Inderbitzin is a qualified attorney-at-law, completed a bilingual double master's degree at the Universities of Lucerne and Neuch�tel and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Technology and Public Policy from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. He currently works as a legal and technology policy advisor at the Directorate of International Law of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
Sirpa Tsimal is an economic development specialist. Currently, she is Director for Investment Promotion at Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), where she focuses her work on emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, personalized health, robotics and advanced manufacturing in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Switzerland.

Sirpa has 15+ years of experience working with and leading international teams in marketing communications, business development, market entry and strategic innovation projects. Prior to S-GE, Sirpa was the founder of The Location Lab and Managing Partner at TSIMANN LLC, and a consultant for various economic development agencies such as BaselArea and Health Industries South Australia. She also ran and scaled the mentorship program at two health tech accelerators, in New York City (ELabNYC) and in the State of Connecticut (ABCT).

Sirpa graduated from the University of Zurich in 2003 with a master’s degree in communication sciences, international law and social anthropology.
Author of the invention and hardware technology being the “heart” of Bitfold. He has 15 years of experience in finance. Well-recognized trainer and crypto expert, member of MENSA, Business and Financial Consultant, former trader, worked with multiple financial institutions worldwide.
Co-founder of Scope Fluidics. Professor of chemistry and manager. He has led scientific technical projects in Poland and the United States, specializing in soft matter physics and microfluidic techniques. Passionate about organizational development and building value by creating technologies that solve important problems in healthcare.
Mateusz Wojdy�o is an inventor, investor and successful founder of several companies including 2 exits. In 2017 Mateusz he co-founded and successfully launched a tech start-up, Safeside.life, the Swiss online life insurance company trusted by Baloise Bank, which became its strategic partner. Mateusz is a man who turns ideas into reality. He made that, after only a year of activity his latest Start-up Share.P has an experienced team, a product that solves the Parking problems of customers and signed contracts with big players on the market including Google. With experience on the international level and an extremely positive attitude he always inspires others to go beyond the impossible.
Dr Liliane Brunner Halbach is a Senior Healthcare professional with 18+ years global Pharma experience from Drug Research toCommercialization and Business Development working in different roles in headquarters and affiliates of Novartis, Roche and AstraZeneca in Switzerland, Spain and the US. She volunteered as an industry advisor and lecturer for SPARK at Stanford Medical School - a mentoring program that helps researchers bring ideas from basic research to proof of concept. Besides her role at the Therapy Development Accelerator (TDA) at the University of Zurich, where she leads SPARK Zurich, she is a judge and mentor for lifescience start-ups at the MIT CEE Forum, and SPARK Europe. Liliane has a MSc in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Bart Dzikowski is a Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund (NVF) and its Head of Transactions & Legal based in Basel, Switzerland. In this capacity, he leads NVF’s transactional function, manages NVF’s junior investment professionals based in Europe and is responsible for several of NVF’s portfolio investments. He currently serves on the boards of directors of Oculis (a Swiss-Icelandic clinical stage biotech company developing novel topical treatments for ophthalmic diseases), Enterprise Therapeutics Holdings (a UK drug discovery company dedicated to the research and development of novel therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases) and UZH Life Sciences Fund (a joint NVF-University of Zurich investment fund which provides early financing for UZH spin-off companies). Bart was previously a board member at Inflazome (until it was acquired by Roche) and Enterprise Therapeutics (until its TMEM16A program was acquired by Roche) and a board observer at Heptares (until it was acquired by Sosei) and Aeglea Therapeutics (until its Nasdaq IPO). Prior to joining NVF, Bart held various senior roles in Novartis’ Corporate Legal Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development & Licensing groups. Before joining Novartis in 2009, he was a Vice President on the M&A team at the Investment Banking Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York and, before that, he was an attorney with the Corporate/M&A Group at the law firm of Allen & Overy LLP in New York. Bart holds Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) degrees from McGill Law School in Canada and is a member of the New York State Bar.
Martin Brettenthaler (born 1970) is the CEO of SWISS KRONO Group, a leading family-owned laminate flooring and wood-based panel producer headquartered in Switzerland. With ten production facilities in eight countries and sales around the world, the Group employs 5’100 employees and generates a turnover of appr. EUR 2.3 billion in 2021/22. Prior to becoming SWISS KRONO’s CEO in 2016, he has been leading the wood-fibre insulation producer Pavatex and had been COO of HIAG Group before that. After his studies in St. Gallen and Paris he had started his career as management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in Munich and Paris. Since 2021 he also has been serving as Chairman of the European Panel Federation (EPF) that represents the interests of the industry on the European level. Martin Brettenthaler strongly believes in the important role that the wood-based panel industry can play as a role model for sustainability in the decarbonization of Europe’s manufacturing industry. A married father of three daughters he lives with his family near Basel, Switzerland, and enjoys running and playing golf and chess.
Dr. Danuta Cichocka is a microbiologist and an entrepreneur with close to 20 years of professional experience in microbiology research, innovation, product development, and as a company founder. She completed a PhD in Microbiology in 2008 in Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany, followed by a post-doc at the KU Leuven, Belgium and a senior researcher position at FHNW in Basel (2012-2017). She has experience in research management and biotechnology policy development at a European level, gained at the European Commission in Brussels (2009-2012). In 2016 she completed the Executive MBA program at the EPFL and obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Management of Biotech, Medtech & Pharma Ventures. Over the last 5 years, as a Resistell’s CEO, she has been dedicated to developing the world’s fastest antibiotic susceptibility test. Danuta brought the company to the successful launch of the first product, a research device Phenotech R&D. The second product for diagnostics, Phenotech AST is under clinical validation at the University Hospital in Lausanne and will be launched upon the completion of the clinical study.
Dani Duttweiler (50, lic. iur. University of St. Gallen) heads the Unit of Vocational Education and Training Policy at the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI. He is also Deputy Head of the Vocational, Professional and Continuing Education Division. In the course of his many years of work at the federal government, Dani Duttweiler has acquired a considerable insight on vocational and continuing education from different perspectives.

Current issues adressed by SERI include the contribution of the initial and continuing education into meeting the demand for skilled workers, the integration of young people into vocational education and training, the attractiveness of vocational education and training and the framework conditions for lifelong learning.
Hugues Abriel, MD PhD, is a biologist (ETH Zurich, 1989) and physician (University of Lausanne, 1994). He completed his PhD in medicine and life sciences (specializing in medical physiology) at the University of Lausanne in 1995. Since 2009, Hugues Abriel has been a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Bern. He is since 2022 one of the members (vice-rector for research) of the executive board of the University of Bern. Hugues Abriel is particularly interested in the molecular and genetic aspects of medicine. He has been in close contact with young doctors and researchers from French-speaking African universities for several years. He has just finished an academic sabbatical spent at the Universities of Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Fez (Morocco).
Rados�aw Sierpi�ski, MD, PhD - President of the Medical Research Agency.

A doctor and a manager specialised in medical sector management, clinical trials, HTA and management of science.

He has wide experience in research and development in biotechnology and extensive contacts with international scientific bodies and healthcare management institutions. His areas of interest include first of all innovative technologies, trial management and commercialisation.

Education:
A graduate from the First Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Warsaw. In June 2018 he took a doctor's degree in the Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw, on the basis of his doctoral thesis titled "Single-Centre Results of the Multi-Centre Electrical Storm Registry RECOVERY". In 2019 he obtained the title Master of Business in Medicine at the Lazarski University in Warsaw. He is an author of scientific and popular science publications as well as presentations delivered on international medical congresses in the field of cardiology, telemedicine and healthcare organisation.

Professional career:
Rados�aw Sierpi�ski worked in the Clinic of Arrhythmias at the Institute of Cardiology and also in private healthcare facilities, as a physician and medical director. Between 2018 and 2019 he was an advisor of prof. �ukasz Szumowski, the Minister of Health. He cooperated with the Foundation and Association for the Patients with Arrhythmias - A Heart for Arrhythmia.

A member of the Board of the National Centre for Research and Development, representing the Minister of Health, and of various teams of experts working for Minister of Health and the Minister of Science and Higher Education. President of the Social Council of the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze and Vice-President of the Social Council of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Branch of the National Health Fund (Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia - NFZ).

A member of an expert group in the area of clinical research of the European Commission.

A Polish representative in the group Mission Cancer of the European Commission.
Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter is a National Councillor and member of the Foreign Policy Commission as well as a member of the EFTA/EU delegation. She is also president of the Basel Chamber of Commerce and a board member of Economiesuisse.
Dr. Magdalena Kulczycka – an experienced molecular biologist. She has gained her experience within the laboratories of the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University, Ma�opolska Centre of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University as well as University of California Santa Barbara, Max Planck Institute in Martinsried in Germany and Lund University in Sweden. She was also active as an entrepreneur, with the role of founder and president of MicroBioLab sp.z o.o. and LabStorm sp.z o.o. She got to know both worlds well by running an investment fund and working as a technology broker for Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in the Centre for Technology Transfer CITTRU of the Jagiellonian University. Currently, she is the Director of CEBioForum - the most important event connecting the world of biotechnology and business.
Joanna Soroka, Ph.D. has over 15 years professional experience across academic research, corporate strategy, consulting, and venture investments in healthcare.

Joanna is a Principal at Hitachi Ventures where she focuses on early-stage investments in digital health, life sciences and biotech space.

Prior to Hitachi Ventures, she was a Manager at PwC where she advised top 10 pharma on the digital transformation and data strategy.

Before that, Joanna worked at Konica Minolta in several functions including R&D, corporate strategy and business incubation, where she led a global digital health transformation project and was a part of a new new business development in Precision Medicine combining genetics, data and imaging.

Joanna earned her postdoctoral training in genetics and oncology from Cancer Research UK, Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, and M.Sc. in biology from the Jagiellonan University.
Seasoned IT Executive and Enterprise Architect with over 20 years of experience in IT Strategy and Governance, team and project management, IT systems design, delivery and maintenance. Expert in high performance multi-channel platforms, innovative payment applications and system integration.

For last 4 years at Polish development bank BGK, responsible for providing IT Services and IT Governance.

Previously, managed the development of IT systems for PKO BP - the biggest Polish bank, Inteligo, Bank Pocztowy, Kredobank Ukraine and other financial institutions. Also delivered and maintained analytical and data governance systems for the Ministry of Finance. Gained experience working in projects in Poland and abroad.

A graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Management and Law in Warsaw.
Fabrice Filliez is a career diplomat. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, he served as Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore and the Sultanate of Brunei from 2018 to 2022. Previously, he served in Berne for five years at the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters with the title of Ambassador in charge of multilateral tax matters where he was responsible for representing Switzerland's interests in important multilateral tax negotiations, in particular at the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information. Other positions during his career included appointments at the Swiss Embassy in London, at the Directorate for European Affairs in Berne, at the Swiss Mission to the European Union in Brussels, as well as at the Directorate for Public International Law in Berne, postings where he was actively involved in various Swiss-EU negotiations. Fabrice Filliez graduated from the University of Geneva with a Degree in Law and holds a Master’s Degree in European Law from the University of Brussels, Belgium.
Piotr Dytko is a manager with extensive experience in the private and public sectors. A graduate of Law at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics and Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Wroc�aw. He also completed doctoral studies at the University of Wroc�aw and postgraduate studies in management at the Economics University in Wroc�aw. He is also a graduate of MBA studies.

Prior to joining PAIH, he was, among other things, Chairman of the Management Board of Union of Employers’ Business and Science Poland. Previously, he managed health care units and research and development entities, including, among others, the Polish Centre for Technology Development ‘PORT’ and the main research centre of KGHM Capital Group - KGHM Cuprum.

Piotr Dytko also taught at the University of Wroc�aw and non-public universities in the field of State and Law, Administrative Law, Local Government in Poland and the EU.
Born in 1986, Pawe� Jab�o�ski graduated from Warsaw University Faculty of Law and Administration as well as the School of Spanish and European law at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha and the University of Warsaw. In 2008-2015, he practiced in law firms. Attorney-at-law, member of the Warsaw Bar Association and its deputy disciplinary officer in 2016-2018. In 2018, he was appointed advisor to the Prime Minister, then a deputy director of International Projects Coordination Department at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. Since 2020, he has served as the Polish Government Plenipotentiary for the Three Seas Initiative. Also a Board member of the Institute of Central Europe.
Born on 25 February 1964, married, four children (three daughters and a son).

Obtained a law degree in 1987 from the University of Neuch�tel, Switzerland (lic.iur.). 1988/89 postgraduate degree in European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium).

Worked from 1989 to 1990 as an assistant of the law department of the College of Europe and then joined a law firm in Brussels. Acted as legal counsel in Brussels and Zurich from 1990 to 1996. Joined the Conference of Cantonal Governments on 1^st September 1996, first as representative of the cantons at the Coordination Unit for European matters of the Federal Departements of Foreign affairs and Economy and as of 2003 as Deputy Secretary General and Head of Foreign Relations in the Secretariat of the Conference in Bern.

As of 1^st May 2018 appointed as Secretary General of the Conference of Cantonal Governments and Director of the ch Foundation for intercantonal cooperation.
Associated with Comarch since 2008. Initially in the R&D department. Since 2018 responsible for the company's overall activities in the DACH business area. Before joining the Comarch team, he gained business experience in London, Frankfurt and Singapore. He is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics.
Christoph Buser became director of the Baselland Economic Chamber in September 2012, after successfully leading the Chamber’s «politics and communications» branch since 2005. The Chamber belongs to Switzerland’s largest business organizations on the canton-level with its more than 10’000 member-businesses of all sizes and sectors.

During his tenure, Buser has built the Chamber into a lobbying powerhouse for business-friendly regulations with much recognized influence in the canton of Basel-Landschaft and across Switzerland. Buser is ardent about the need to create an environment where companies can innovate, grow and flourish. He initiated and oversees several key issue-initiatives that range from energy-efficiency and regulatory relief to transportation improvements and economic development. Buser is especially passionate when it comes to promoting Switzerland’s vocational education training (VET) that provides companies with young skilled workers and keeps the youth unemployment rate at a record low level.

Buser was a member of the state parliament for twelve years and serves on the board of several companies and associations. He also serves as president of two government-committees, one being a task force to fight traffic congestions and the other being an expert-team sifting out needless bureaucracy from new legislation.

Born on June 3^rd 1971 in Basel, Buser earned a master’s degree from Basel University in business administration and economics. He lives in F�llinsdorf with his wife and two children (21 and 18 years old).
Deputy Director of the Department for Trade and International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, responsible for international organizations and bilateral economic cooperation. A graduate of the University of Warsaw, the Warsaw School of Economics and the College of Europe in Bruges, he also studied at Northeastern Illinois University and Sciences-po Paris.

In 2014-2017, he was an advisor in the European Parliament dealing with issues of foreign policy and energy security. He also worked in the European Commission and the Security & Defense Agenda think-tank.
On May 16, 2022, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appointed Kamila El�bieta Kr�l as the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.

Since 2020, Kamila Kr�l has worked for the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, at the Department of Digital Economy. At the department, she was responsible for project and project product management, mainly in the field of coordinating the functioning of the Help Centre for Entrepreneurs (CPP), as well as for project management in the field of education and communication and the development of e-services and e-payments.

Previously, she worked at the Department of Supervised and Subordinate Units and in the Department of Social Dialogue and Social Partnership.

There, she was involved in organising and managing a support system for implementing projects concerning the development of crafts and regional services as well as projects related to the development of vocational education. Her duties also included the implementation of tasks regarding projects under the Digital Poland Operational Programme 2014-2020 co-financed by the European Union.

Since 2018, she has worked in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, in the Prime Minister’s Office. She attended the meetings of the permanent Team for the consideration of offers of implementing public tasks.

She was in charge of substantive service for the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Council of Ministers, as well as of expert service for the Minister-Member of the Council of Ministers, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Management of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister as regards Poland’s membership in the EU, foreign affairs.

Kamila Kr�l was born on 28 April 1992 in Warsaw. She is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, where in 2017 she obtained a Master’s degree in finance law and treasury. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with a specialisation in local government and regional policy (University of Warsaw, 2012-2015) and a Bachelor’s degree in European studies (University of Warsaw, 2011-2014).

Kamila Kr�l speaks English, French and Spanish.
Following his graduation as an electrical engineer at ETH Z�rich, Robert Rudolph worked as an R&D-Engineer in a start-up company for power electronics equipment. Equipped with an additional degree in industrial management of the ETH Z�rich, he was responsible at an international machinery manufacturer for various tasks in the field of strategy, innovation and technology management and academia relations on different corporate levels including on corporate staff level. As head of the technology transfer office of the Paul Scherrer Institute, the largest national research centre he learned about R&D and collaborations in the academic world. During his stay he managed numerous transfer and collaboration projects between academia and the private sector and supported the establishment of spin-off companies. In 2012 he took over the responsibility for education and innovation on the board of Swissmem, the national association for the manufacturing sector. In 2018 Swissmem decided to intensify activities in education and digitisation and Robert Rudolph consequently is today leading the department for digitalisation and innovation. He is member of various comitees in Switzerland and the EU active in innovation, research, technology and digitalisation and in particular on the advisory board of the federal report on research and innovation.

In 2015 he founded and is still chairing the initiative Industrie 2025, which has the goal to foster the implementation of the industry 4.0 concepts in the Swiss manufacturing industry.
Married to Cristina Pfirter, one adult daughter Delia. Resident in Oberwil BL. Owner and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Woodpecker Group AG (wholesale of timber and building materials) and Sperragjago AG as well as other board of directors mandates.

Board of Swiss Employers' Association, Board of Trade Switzerland VSIG. Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland for the cantons of BS, BL, SO, AG, LU, JU.
Dr. Peter Gr�nenfelder is the Director of Avenir Suisse. Previous positions were, inter alia, state chancellor of the Canton of Aargau and president of the Swiss State Chancellors’ Association. Furthermore, he is a lecturer for public governance at the University of St. Gallen as well as frequent visiting lecturer at universities in Switzerland and abroad.
As a pharmacist by profession, I worked in pharmaceutical development for a large chemical company in Basel for 18 years. Today I work as a religious education teacher at a primary school and am, among other things, a practical teacher for prospective religious education teachers. I have been a member of the Muttenz municipal council since 2004 and was responsible for the education, culture and leisure department for 15 years. I have been mayor of the municipality since 2019 and head the Department of Presidential Affairs, Economy and Culture. I am a board member of the Swiss Association of Cities and a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
Piotr Rutkowski advises in Chancellery of the Prime Minister (former Minister of Digital Affairs) on policy blockchain/DLT. Since 2019, he has been running the DLT/blockchain Working Group, currently as part of the Task Force for Breakthrough Technologies.

He is the member of Policy Group of the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), which deploys the European Blockchain Services Network (EBSI) – the initiative of the European Commission and EU Member States.

At NASK, the National Research Institute he works for the Cybersecurity Product Analysis and Development Team, Cybersecurity Development Division. He advises on new technologies, deals with the development of the Polish node of the EBSI.

In the law firm Wardynski & Partners he is technology adviser. He dealt with legal, regulatory and technological aspects of innovative sectors of the economy.

Since 1990 he has operated his own consulting firm, Rotel, specializing in issues of strategy and regulated market strategies and new technologies trends, cybersecurity, cryptography applications critical infrastructure and cooperation between the public and private sectors.

He has advised numerous companies from the telecommunications industry. He has also been retained as an expert by the public communications administration, the Polish Parliament, and international institutions. He was one of the people involved in creation of the legal and regulatory framework for the telecommunications industry in Poland.

He is also the founder and vice president of the Mikromakro Institute, a think tank striving social acceptance for disruptive technologies, competence centre for drones (UAV) applications.

His Swiss business experiences includes, above all, several years of cooperation with the once leading global cryptography provider Omnisec Ag.
Thomas Rothacher Ph.D., Exec. MBA HSG

Thomas Rothacher holds a PhD in physics from the University of Bern and an EMBA from the University of St. Gallen. He has done his research in the field of solid-state laser. Further, he completed courses at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, US and at the London Business School, UK.

Since 1999, he works for the Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) within armasuisse in several leading positions. During the last nine years as Director of Science and Technology. In this position, he is responsible for applied defence research and technological innovation within the DDPS. Also for evaluation and testing of modern technical systems of the Swiss armed forces. Therefore, together with his team he maintains an important network of cooperation with national and international academy and industry. Under his lead, the Swiss Drone and Robotics Centre (SDRC) as well as the Cyber-Defence Campus (CYD) within the DDPS were established.

In 2020, Thomas Rothacher was promoted Deputy National Armaments Director.
State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda (*1965) has been director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) since 1 August 2022. Prior to that, she was Switzerland’s ambassador in Bangkok, Thailand, with additional accreditations to Cambodia and Laos. Until 2019, she held the same position in Pretoria, South Africa, with cross-accreditations to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritius and Namibia. From 2008 to 2015, Helene Budliger Artieda was head of the Directorate for Resources at the FDFA. In this capacity, she was advisor to the Head of Department on resource matters and a member of the FDFA Management Board. In 2000 she graduated from the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogot� (Colombia) with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). After graduating from commercial school in Zurich with a Federal VET Diploma in Commerce, she completed internal training at the FDFA as a consular officer. Helene Budliger Artieda is married.
Herv� Lohr, Born: 14th of May 1965

2019-current: Head Americas, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Berne
Promotes the relations with the countries of the Americas and represents Switzerland’s economic and trade policy interests abroad. In so doing, the division adheres to the strategic orientation of Swiss foreign economic policy set out by the Federal Council.

2016-2019: Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OECD, Paris
Key issues for Switzerland and the Swiss Delegation to the OECD are tax policies and practices, financing of development aid, governance and outreach of the organization, economic inequality, EDRC and relations between the OECD and Swiss actors. The Swiss delegation represents the Swiss Interests together with the round 500 delegate and experts coming from Switzerland every year to the OECD in the relevant Committees of the Organization.

2009-2015: Deputy Head and Head of the International Economic Law Division, SECO, Berne
Leading negotiations for both the European Free Trade Association and Switzerland free trade negotiations on competition and trade defense, legal and institutional aspects, as well as dispute settlement (Asia, CIS and Central America); analysis of economic aspects of intellectual property rights, corporate governance and various aspects of international and European economic law.

2005-2008: Head Europeans Affairs of the Canton of Zurich, Zurich
Council and leading negotiator for the Government of the Canton of Zurich in charge of the negotiations on a new agreement on air traffic for the airport of Zurich between Switzerland and Germany. Competence center of the Canton for European Affairs.

1998-2005: Head a.i. and Deputy Head of the Division International Agreements and Cooperation, Swiss Federal Office for Migrations, Berne
Elaboration and leading of migration dialogue processes with countries of origin and transit of migration, among which many located in Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the CIS additionally with Chile and Mongolia. Delegate of Switzerland in various migration related international fora, e.g. UNHCR, IOM, ICMPD, EU, etc.

1994-1998: Policy Advisor M�decins Sans Frontières, Geneva
Different positions within the NGO "Doctors without Borders" in Geneva, among which member of the board of directors (1999-2002). Field visits in different capacities in Uganda, Ethiopia, Georgia, Philippines, Colombia, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Studies:
1997, Master in Law, University of Neuch�tel, Switzerland 2012, LL.M. in International Economic Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland
W�odzimierz Hibner - Doctor of Law, a local government employee with over twenty years of experience, the current mayor of Nowy Tomy�l (since 2014). He was previously involved in the protection of consumer rights.
Bas Gouverneur is Chief Technology Officer of RUAG, a holistic technology company with a clear focus on current and future security topics. As the main technology partner of the Swiss Armed Forces, RUAG offers a comprehensive product and service portfolio for civil and military systems. RUAG also provides information and communication solutions as well as comprehensive maintenance and repair services.

The focus of Bas is to drive the company's technological progress as part of its demanding security mandate to operationalize innovative solutions. Including implementing a new technology & innovation strategy process that focuses on emerging technologies.

Prior to joining RUAG in 2016, he gained his close to 20 years of professional experience mainly in the civil aviation industry. At QualitPark AviationCenter between 2004 and 2010 in Hamburg, he delivered engineering projects with Airbus on aircraft programs like A380, A350 and Future Projects. Starting in 2010, he provided Fleet Technical Management Services and delivered Aircraft Modifications for commercial aircraft operators as Vice President Aircraft Engineering at SR Technics, an independent MRO with engineering locations in Z�rich, Dublin and Belgrade.

Bas graduated from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands with a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 2003 and from the University of St. Gallen with an international executive MBA in 2019.
Christian Brunner is the head of BRIDGE, the joint funding programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. BRIDGE supports researchers in Switzerland whose results have potential for an innovative product or service and thereby enable an accelerated transfer of research into the economy and society.

Christian holds a PhD in materials science from ETH Zurich. Before he joined the SNSF and BRIDGE, he worked for five years as development engineer in the innovation team of the global medical device company Synthes. Christian is passionate about the power of innovation and research for the benefit of society.
Head of Norway Grants Unit, Department of Innovation Implementation in Enterprises, Polish Agency for Enterprises Development (PARP).

Graduated from University of Economics in Katowice as M.A. in International Relations, and from Silesian International Business School and Toulouse Business School as Mastere Specialise Finance and Banking. Completed PhD studies at Warsaw School of Economics, major in International Management.

Since 2020 leading the Norway Grants Unit in PARP, being responsible for managing implementation of the Business Development and Innovation Programme within the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.

In 2019-2020 headed Joint Technical Secretariat of the Interreg Poland - Slovakia Programme, managing the implementation of the Cross Border Cooperation Programme which supported infrastructural, cultural and educational projects.

In the years 2008-2018 held the position of National Programme Officer, and then Deputy Head of the Swiss Contribution Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in Poland, supervising the implementation of the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme in the fields: Private Sector Development, Regional Development, Research and Scholarship, Health and Social Services, as well as support to Civil Society. Acting on behalf of Swiss institutions supervising the Programme (SDC and SECO) cooperated with wide group of stakeholders including: Polish local, regional and national institutions, international partners (i.e.:World Bank, IOM), representatives of the NGO sector in Poland, Universities and private companies.

In Poland’s pre-accession period and shortly after EU accession involved in partnership projects between Poland and several Members States (France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Slovenia), focusing on Private Sector Development, Regional Development and transposition of the aquis communautaires to the Polish legal framework.

Interested in the concept of sustainable development, CSR, art, travels and literature.
Ambassador Thomas A. Zimmermann (*1971), Dr. oec. HSG, Delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements and head of the Special Foreign Economic Service Division in the Foreign Economic Affairs Directorate since 1st September 2020. Previously head of the Organisation, Law and Accreditation Directorate (2009-2020), head of the Staff Unit (2006 – 2009) and Senior Desk Officer for North America in the Bilateral Economic Relations Division from (2003 – 2006). Research Associate at the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St. Gallen (SIAW-HSG) from 1998-2003.