One of the largest business events in Europe closed on April 26 in Katowice. The European Economic Congress (EEC) is undoubtedly a big event in Central Europe. Each year, several hundred panelists participate in over a hundred sessions and discussions. The congress was three days of debates and meetings, attended by more than 15,000 visitors from Poland and abroad.
The EEC is a place where EU commissioners, Polish and European politicians, business representatives, experts and scientists meet. All events at the congress are reported by over 500 journalists from Poland and the world.
This year the 15th European Economic Congress was focused on the most important and pressing current trends that shape the prospects for future economic growth, as well as its social and political environment. Among other things, topics related to the environment, climate change, digitization, the green transformation of industry and energy, the development of technology and artificial intelligence, the development of cities and healthcare, and the war in Europe were discussed.
An important point on the agenda regarding issues related to the war and prospects for Ukraine was a conversation between former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine in 2014–2019.
The EEC is a place to announce new investments.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the construction of an IT center that will house part of the data processing and databases of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. “We will create the best possible conditions for the development of the IT industry, not only in Poland, but throughout Central Europe and the European Union,” he announced.
Dominika Bettman, General Manager of Microsoft Poland and Ralph Haupter, President of Microsoft EMEA announced the opening of the most modern and at the same time the first cloud data processing region in Central and Eastern Europe. “Connecting Poland to the largest, most trusted global cloud infrastructure opens up new opportunities for the development of the digital economy. It brings us to a totally new level of building resilience based on security and innovation, strengthening every organization in such uncertain times,” said Bettman.
Among the participants of the Congress, apart from the PM, other representatives of the government were also present: Andrzej Adamczyk, Minister of Infrastructure; Waldemar Buda, Minister of Development and Technology; Janusz Cieszyński, Minister of Digital Affairs; Marlena Maląg, Minister of Family and Social Policy; Adam Niedzielski, Minister of Health and Grzegorz Puda, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy.
The EEC is not only substantive debates, but also a number of interesting attractions. One of them was a test drive of electric trucks.
It is also worth noting the positive changes in Katowice. Once mainly associated with mining, thanks to great effort and huge investments, the city is an excellent example of a successful transformation into a fashionable, modern and truly European city full of greenery, where modernity and creatively refer also to tradition.
Those who last visited Katowice even only a decade ago would today be very positively surprised. The MICE and HoReCa base is also growing there. In 2022, Katowice organized nearly 6,500 business events. Over half a million people came to the city for conferences, fairs, symposiums and other events, spending almost PLN 151 million in this increasingly fashionable city.
