Augmented reality, AI and robotics: Discover Poland's 'Silicon Forest'

euronews (in English)

The wooded region of Podlaskie in northeastern Poland is proving to be fertile ground for technology and innovation. We speak to the companies and graduates at the heart of this unlikely tech hub.

Transcript

00:00 Come to Podlaskie here in northeastern Poland and you can immerse yourself in beautiful

00:11 natural surroundings.

00:13 But this is a region that`s also looking to put itself on the map for a forest of a very

00:17 different kind.

00:28 Podlaskie wants to become a kind of silicon forest through its blossoming tech and IT

00:33 scene, growing an ecosystem which is already employing more than 10,000 people in the IT

00:39 sector, including over 4,000 software developers.

00:46 This advanced augmented reality technology helps speed up work in science laboratories,

00:52 doing away with some manual, time-consuming tasks.

00:57 With new drug, it needs 10 to 15 years being developed.

01:03 This reduces the time of one, two to even three years less.

01:07 I can fully focus as a scientist on my work as I can see everything in my eyesight and

01:13 navigate through voice commands, so work with my hands free.

01:18 Holo for Labs is part of the international tender hut group which is rooted in Podlaskie.

01:23 If we are talking about the future and what we want to do here also is that we are really

01:29 working closely with the old universities.

01:32 We are trying to train the new people.

01:34 We are trying to, you know, have the best employees as we can.

01:38 And I also see a lot of growth here.

01:45 For the medical university of Białystok in the regional capital, tech is at the heart

01:52 of research, focusing on things like artificial intelligence and how it can help personalize

01:58 future treatments.

02:01 There is a great environment for collaboration between university, academia and business

02:07 partners which helps to develop tools that will actually be delivered to the patient's

02:12 bed.

02:13 I think we are lucky to have partners with a huge experience, especially from the US

02:17 or from Germany.

02:22 Meet Photon, an interactive robot which can see, hear and perceive touch.

02:28 It's the brainchild of Podlaskie graduates, helping to introduce school children to technology.

02:40 Robots are actually tools for teachers to conduct different lessons.

02:43 We are giving them robots, materials and applications and all of that combined helps them to conduct

02:49 lessons in social emotional learning, AI, robotics, coding and for example work with

02:53 children's special needs.

02:57 Designed and assembled in Podlaskie, Photon says 60,000 of its robots are now deployed

03:02 in classrooms in Europe and the US.

03:06 And as it grows, the startup wants to stay loyal to its roots.

03:13 I see a lot of region development in terms of new companies and technology coming to

03:18 this region and I think it's super helpful that we can develop together.

03:23 For the future I think we of course will be doing some global and international expansion

03:27 but the core of the company will be still here.

03:30 The technical and creative minds behind Photon graduated from here, the Białystok University

03:43 of Technology.

03:45 It's building a track record of graduate startups, helping to retain young minds in the region.

03:51 Around 9,000 students

04:20 graduate in Podlaskie each year.

04:23 A young skilled workforce this region is relying on to realise its innovation and investment

04:30 vision.

04:32 We had many study visits to foreign countries.

04:36 We went to Silicon Valley, to Israel and many European countries.

04:41 We tried to train as much people as possible but still it's I think not enough.

04:46 So this is the main challenge.

04:48 I think not only in this part of Poland but all over the EU.

04:52 [Music]

04:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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