PRO CIVIS – IDEAS AND ORGANIZER OF Refal HACKATHON

PRO CIVIS is a co-author of the international concept of the project “BioBoosters – boosting the circular transition“, under which the Refal Hackathon and 17 further European hackathons are held.

PRO CIVIS is the formal organizer of Refal Hackathon.

Mission, scope of activity and references of PRO CIVIS:

The Foundation for Education and Social Dialogue PRO CIVIS, established in 2007, based in Kielce, undertakes, manages and supports:

• initiatives to develop entrepreneurship through research, development and innovation
• activities for the development of local and regional communities.

Substantively, PRO CIVIS focuses its activities in the following areas:

• circular economy and bioeconomy as a renewable element of circular economy;
• sustainable development (sustainable products, services and business models and new
• consumption patterns);
• regenerative growth;
• biotechnology;
• ecological innovations;
• industrial and territorial ecology;
• renewable energy sources and energy efficiency;
• protecting and stopping climate change.

For these substantive areas, the Foundation undertakes and conducts:

• basic research, application research and development work
• activities in the field of commercialization of research and development results
• activities for the development of entrepreneurship and innovation, involving the material and technical base as well as human and competence resources.

PRO CIVIS is a member of the international consortium Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking supporting the competitiveness of the European bioeconomy and circular economy (Circular Economy). The consortium includes the largest European companies, universities, research centers and non-governmental organizations.

In line with its goal and mission, PRO CIVIS co-creates and implements subsequent externally financed projects in international consortiums. These are in particular:

• RDI 2CluB – Rural RDI milieus in transition towards smart Bioeconomy Clusters / Innovation Ecosystems CBB Connected By Biobord (project completed)
• BIObec – Preparing the creation of Bio-Based Education Centers to meet industry needs and boost the contribution of the bioeconomy to societal challenges (in progress)
• BioGoLocal – Implementing Circular Bioeconomy in Practice at Local Level (in progress)
• Bio4HUMAN – Identifying bio-based solutions for waste management applicable to the humanitarian sector (in progress).

PRO CIVIS is the leader of the scientific and business partnership dealing with cascade extraction of biomass (mechanical, water and steam extraction, alcohol and chemical extraction, supercritical CO2, fermentation and dry distillation). The studies, research and innovative implementations carried out are aimed at optimizing the use of the economic potential of biomass while ensuring a complete waste-free management system (re-use, re-circulate, cradle to cradle system).

About The Center for Business Promotion and Entrepreneurship in Sandomierz

The Center for Business Promotion and Entrepreneurship in Sandomierz, Poland is a non-profit foundation founded in 1991 by the Senator of the Republic of Poland Zbigniew Romaszewski and TechnoServe, an American, non-profit organization supporting the development of entrepreneurship in many agricultural regions of the world.

The Center for Business Promotion and Entrepreneurship helps leading and accelerating the economic transition in rural southeastern Poland. Its early programs concentrated on agribusiness development. In recent years these efforts expanded into general business development, public sector, economic and development planning, as well as non-governmental organizations.

Headquarters of the  Centre operate in Sandomierz. As for regional sub-office, it is located in Busko-Zdrój, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship.

The Center cooperates with a wide range of local as well as international agencies. It is an active member of the national Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Services Network of more than 200 accredited non-commercial organizations that cooperate and provide advisory, training, information and financial services for the benefit of micro-businesses, small and medium enterprises and start-ups. The SME Services Network was established by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, a leading national agency promoting cooperation among public administration bodies, business sector and non-governmental organizations. In addition to its own direct services, through the SME Services Network the Center provides access to a range of other programs providing advice, training and information for small and medium enterprises, all geared to helping them increase their competitiveness within the European Union (EU).

The Center, as a business support institution, is established in the register of training institutions in the Voivodeship Unemployment Office in Kielce, which is a prerequisite to obtain public financial support for trainings for the unemployed and those, who are looking for a job.

The Center is also one of the founding organizations of the Polish Rural Forum, a national cooperation of organizations that support rural areas. Since 2005, the Forum has been registered as a union of associations. Under the Forum, the Center participates in consultations and gives opinions concerning government legislative initiatives for rural areas in Poland, as well as participates in bottom-up initiatives of non-government organizations undertaken locally for the development of rural areas.

The Center’s well-qualified experienced staff provides consulting and training services, financial services (loans) and technical assistance to micro, small and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers, non-government organizations, local governments and rural youth in southeastern Poland.

The Center’s primary areas of expertise are:

• Business Advisory Services: Training and consulting services for micro, small and medium-sized businesses focused on increasing client business profits and competitiveness — provided within the Business Advisory Services (BAS) Department.
• Loan Fund: Loan-granting program established by the Foundation for small scale entrepreneurs and business start-ups.
• Local Government and Community Development: Assistance local governments in building democracy and successful community, based economic development — provided within the Local Government and NGO Department.
• Rural Areas Development: Training and education on the structures of the European Union focused on agribusiness, farmers and the development of rural southeastern Poland. We care about increasing contacts between farmers; we create discussion groups to exchange experiences. We provide training and consultancy for farmers and producer groups. We are a Consortium leader  “Modern agriculture and food processing” – provided within the Rural Areas Development Department.
• International Consulting and Training Services: Designing and providing training and study tour visits for individuals and groups of business entrepreneurs, agriculture producers and processors, business development consultants, and others from Central and Eastern Europe countries, and the former Soviet Union.
• Training and Conferences Services: Open training and regularly scheduled courses and custom-designed closed training programs provided in the Center’s residential training and conference facility, called Hotel Basztowy.

The main areas of the Center’s activities are complemented by cooperation with foreign partners – focused on thematic training combined with study visits for organizations and various professional groups from home and abroad.

In response to specific orders, training programs are developed and implemented, based mainly on study visits and exchange meetings allowing participants to gain practical knowledge about their functioning. Cooperation is also undertaken with foreign organizations in order to exchange experiences, raise own competences and search for opportunities to implement joint activities for the development of the region, based on the models developed by experienced European organizations in the field of education and consulting with farmers.