The Gdańsk Blueprint – Lessons for the European Tech Map

Moderator: Peter Kofler
Participants:
● Kamil Pruchnik (Senior Regional Representative for Poland in the European Investment Fund)
● Jarek Pilarczyk (Partner in Balnord)
● Jacek Ostrowski (Partner in Simpact Ventures)

While high-level policy often dominates the European discourse, the true measure of our success lies in the execution of ecosystem building at the regional level. This session utilizes our host city, Gdańsk, as a primary case study for how second tier European hubs can achieve global relevance through strategic "exit-to-reinvestment" cycles and the retention of deep-tech intellectual capital. The Gdańsk ecosystem was fundamentally reshaped by the acquisition of IVONA Software by Amazon in 2013. This milestone did more than provide a financial exit; it served as the foundational intelligence for Amazon Alexa and anchored a global R&D powerhouse within the Tricity area. By exploring the "Founder Flywheel" - where early pioneers reinvest capital and expertise back into the local scene - we will analyze the transition from traditional industrial roots to a high-tech sovereign anchor. As the S9+ Coalition advocates for founder-friendly frameworks, we must look to models like Gdańsk to understand how to turn individual success stories into permanent, scalable regional infrastructure.

Topics:
● Strategic M&A and Ecosystem Retention
● From Exit to Reinvestment
● Sovereignty in Deep-Tech
● Scaling the Blueprint
● Infrastructure Transformation

A panel focused on the practicalities of ecosystem resilience, moving beyond theory to examine the concrete cycles of talent, capital, and policy required to build a competitive, pan-European innovation landscape.