Representatives of Fluence Technology and Panattoni Europe received the main awards in the seventh edition of the University of Warsaw Entrepreneur of the Year competition. The award gala took place on 28th May in the building of the Faculties of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics of the University of Warsaw at Dobra 55.

“Congratulations to the winners, the finalists and the distinguished in the UW Entrepreneur of the Year competition. We are proud of your achievements. The University of Warsaw is a modern and open institution. We understand very well the need for cooperation between science and business. We want to educate not only those who are looking for a job, but above all, those who will shape the directions of the modern world and the labour market,” Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the Rector of the University of Warsaw, said during the competition gala.

This year, the competition’s chapter selected twelve finalists in four categories: “Master of Business”, “Innovation/Innovator of the Year”, “Social Entrepreneur”, and “Start-up of the Year”. In these categories, two companies were selected to receive the main prizes and four were awarded distinctions.

The companies and organisations that made it to the finals are created by people associated with the University of Warsaw – students, doctoral candidates, employees, and graduates of the University.

From Warsaw into the world

The founder of Panattoni Europe, which won the main prize, is Robert Dobrzycki, who graduated from the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw. His company develops warehouse and industrial space in Poland and Europe. The company began operating in Poland in 2005, expanding into foreign markets in the following years.

The second grand prize winner, Fluence Technology, is a Polish technology company founded in 2016 by Polish physicists, specialising in the production of advanced laser systems. It is already operating on five continents with renowned universities and global companies. The company develops all-fibre femtosecond lasers, which are used, for example, in medical imaging techniques or enable the production of next-generation electronics.

Social mission of the University

The purpose of the Entrepreneur of the Year competition is to promote entrepreneurship and good practices in the business sphere among representatives of the UW community. In 2024, the competition is being organised for the seventh time.

“Since the first edition, the event has shown how diverse and interesting are the activities in which people connected with the UW are involved – those who work or study here, as well as those who have graduated from the University,” said Prof. Beata Glinka from the UW Faculty of Management, the competition coordinator and the UW Rector’s Plenipotentiary for Entrepreneurship Development.

The competition contributes to the promotion of values such as entrepreneurship, the establishment of relations between business and science, thanks to which new solutions affecting the quality of people’s lives or the technological advancement of communities can be created. The participants of the competition are representatives from various fields of science.

“For many years, the University has been fostering conditions for its community to create ideas and turn them into reality. This is evidenced by the fact that a large number of the competition’s winners are people associated not only with business or economic studies, but also with social sciences, the humanities and the sciences,” said Prof. Przemysław Dubel, the director of the University’s Centre for Technology and Knowledge Transfer, which participates in organising the competition.

The competition’s chapter consisted of Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, the UW Rector, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Dr Grzegorz Brona, Prof. Ewa Krogulec, the UW Vice-Rector for Development, Dr Michał Kurzelewski, Dr Remigiusz Lewandowski, Sebastian Podkański, and Aleksandra Szwed.