An element14 investigative series: Poland a bright spot in EU fiscal woes

An element14 investigative series: Poland a bright spot in EU fiscal woes

From Footwasher Media

Recently, bad economic news has been almost a daily occurrence out of the European Union, but there are occasional bright spots that miss the regular news cycle. Poland seems to be one of them.

Poland is due to become an official member of the Euro Zone in January 2012 and is obliged, under the terms of the Treaty of Accession 2003, to replace its current currency, the Zloty, with the Euro, however, the country may adopt the Euro no earlier than 2019. That's probably good news for Polish start ups that seem to be able to find plenty of government support and venture capital for a raft of innovative technologies.

Footwasher Media's Lou Covey sat down with three Polish startup companies touring Silicon Valley recently, as they were on the hunt for partners and investors to help them expand into the US. Part of their discussion covered the health of the Polish entrepreneurial environment. The three companies were Ekoenergetyka with electric vehicle charging ( http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Oil_dependence_Are_electric_vehiclesthe_answer-article-vppo_nov2011-html.aspx) technology, virtual environment maker ( http://www.ecnmag.com/Articles/2011/03/App-Solutions/Putting-Physics-to-Work-in-Next-Generation-Automotive-and-Aerospace-Engineering/) i3d , and chemical synthesis innovator, Apeiron.

This interview is the first in a series of reports and interviews on the state of European innovation and efforts of the European Commission's Digital Agenda ( http://www.element14.com/community/groups/quadrant-co/blog/2011/10/04/broadband-power-cables-could-boost-europes-economy). ■