The Friday meeting of the Institute Council, convening for the first time in its new composition, resulted in decisions on matters of key importance for Łukasiewicz – PORT. The Council issued a positive opinion on the candidacy of Prof. Jarosław Bosy for the position of Institute Director, approved the directions of the Institute’s scientific activities, and positively assessed the draft work plans (including the financial plan) for the coming year. The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson elected at the beginning of the session – the Council members entrusted this role to Prof. Adam Maciejczyk.
It is worth recalling that the 2019 Act on the Łukasiewicz Research Network precisely defines the tasks and formal framework for the functioning of both governing bodies of the institutes within the Network, namely the directors and the institute councils, while the statutes of individual institutes further specify these rules.
Currently, the Institute Council of Łukasiewicz – PORT consists of 11 members, including one employee of our Institute, whose election – in accordance with the Institute’s statute – involves all employees. Since December 2023, this role has been held by Dr. Krzysztof Czyż, Head of the Materials Technologies Laboratory (Tech-Lab).
The remaining Council members are appointed by the President of the Łukasiewicz Research Network upon the Director’s request. Prof. Jarosław Bosy, Director of PORT, emphasizes, however, that the Council is not a body supporting the Director personally:
– This is the Institute Council, which is why we conducted internal consultations and discussed the optimal composition of the Council for the Institute’s development with each Center. I would like to thank all my interlocutors for their comments, suggestions, and proposals. As a result, we succeeded in engaging individuals whose competencies, experience, and potential truly correspond to our strategic goals and needs – says Prof. Bosy.
The scientific community is represented on the Council by Prof. Anja-Verena Mudring, specializing in biological and chemical engineering, Dr. Katharina Summermatter, an expert in biosafety closely cooperating with the WHO, and Prof. Adam Maciejczyk, a specialist in oncological radiotherapy.
Each representative of the business sector brings many years of professional experience to the Council: Dr. Martin Strassburg contributes expertise in technological innovation in experimental physics, Dr. Stanisław Rogoziński is an effective manager in the venture capital and commercialization sector, Dr. Tomasz Han is responsible for business strategy and R&D activities at Hasco-Lek, and Dr. Włodzimierz Kubiak has long-standing experience as a manager in international pharmaceutical corporations.
Łukasiewicz – PORT aims to be a significant point on the scientific map of Wrocław and the region; therefore, the voices of representatives of public institutions are equally important within the Council. These include Cezary Przybylski, a long-time local government activist of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Jakub Mazur, Deputy Mayor of Wrocław with business and strategic experience, and Justyna Młynarz, an expert in the development of Polish-German relations.
The Director of Łukasiewicz – PORT stresses that virtually every member of the Institute Council is capable of supporting the key objectives of the new PORT strategy, aligned with the strategy of the entire Network, namely commercialization and networking understood not only in a regional context, but also at the national and international cooperation levels. Importantly, each Research Center forming PORT has its substantive representative on the Council.
On 13/12/2024, the first meeting of the Council in its new composition provided an opportunity to present the concept for the development of the Centers. Each Center has its own pathway from basic research to cooperation with business and commercialization. Each Center also plans its own level of networking: the Population Diagnostics Center – regional and national networking, the Materials Science & Engineering Center – networking within the Łukasiewicz Network, and the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Center – internationalization. A positive indicator for this vision of the Institute’s development is the presence on its Council of individuals experienced at each of these levels.
