The European Economic Congress (EEC) is one of the most important business events in Europe, serving each year as a platform for discussion not only for key players from the business world, but also for representatives of politics, academia and the media. By combining diverse perspectives and experiences, the Congress provides a creative space for exchanging ideas and debating the challenges of today’s world.
This year’s edition of the Congress was particularly special, as the GZM Metropolis, co-host of the event, for the first time organised the Metropolitan Innovation Summit, which a year earlier had taken place in Germany’s Ruhr Metropolis.
Representatives of our Observatory, Assoc. Prof. Robert Pyka, PhD, and Zuzanna Neuve-Église, PhD, actively participated in both the Congress and the Innovation Summit.
As part of the main programme, prof. Pyka gave a lecture on his research into innovation districts in Lyon, France, and joined a discussion panel featuring internationally renowned expert on creative cities, Charles Landry (author of The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators). The panel also included cultural sector professionals and staff from the metropolitan institution, who presented their ongoing urban innovation projects. Charles Landry’s visit to the heart of the Metropolis also had a personal dimension – prof. Pyka had the opportunity to show him the unique character of the conurbation’s cities, including Bytom, which holds a special place in Landry’s family history.
On the first and last days of the Innovation Summit, Zuzanna Neuve-Église, PhD, joined a group of metropolitan institution staff and researchers from the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Hungary, and Poland to explore innovation spaces across the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area. The programme included study visits to innovative companies in the fields of mobility and digital services in Gliwice, as well as workshops and presentations on the practical implementation of the GZM Metropolis’s Prototyping Schools initiative. The delegation also took an exciting test ride in Poland’s first fully autonomous vehicle (without a driver), developed by the company Blees, and visited prototype project located on the University of Silesia campus.
