Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) has signed an agreement with the Łukasiewicz Research Network and eleven Polish technical universities to establish the Interdisciplinary Center of Innovation 3W.

The Interdisciplinary Center of Innovation 3W (ICI 3W) is to help bring new water, hydrogen and carbon technologies to the market. The center will develop potential diagnoses and prepare technology development strategies in 3D areas. It will also offer consulting services.

The agreement with BGK on the establishment of ICI 3W was signed at the ImpactCEE’22 conference by representatives of Poznań University of Technology, the Kraków University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszalin University of Technology, Rzeszów University of Technology, Opole University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Maria Curie University – Skłodowska in Lublin, the University of Zielona Góra and the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin and a representative of the Łukasiewicz Research Network.

ICI 3W will support research centers and Polish researchers who solve problems with access to water, develop ways to use hydrogen in the energy transformation and create innovative technologies related to various forms of elemental carbon: graphene, nanotubes, fullerenes and others.

ICI 3W will also promote the implementation doctorates, and create study programs and training related to 3W.

“Universities have the intellectual and technical potential to develop issues related to water, hydrogen and carbon. We also need the integration of the environment so as not to compete with each other”, said Prof. Eng. Teofil Jesionowski, the rector of the Poznań University of Technology. “We know that new technologies are costly, but they are very beneficial from the point of view of further economic development. The earlier investment will pay off with more creating jobs, know-how, as well as new, environmentally friendly solutions because we should not forget about climate change”, added Prof. Jesionowski.

Adrian Andrzejewski