President of the Office of Rail Transport (UTK) with a visit at Lukasiewicz – Poznan Institute of Technology

Last week, a meeting of Ignacy Góra, President of the Office of Rail Transport (UTK) with Arkadiusz Kawa, Director of Lukasiewicz – Poznan Institute of Technology and representatives of the Institute took place. The meeting was also attended by members of management and directors of UTK’s regional offices.

During the meeting, the President of UTK stated that the Lukasiewicz Research Network has a huge scientific and business potential. Ignacy Góra added that from the point of view of the national safety authority, he recognises the work in the field of rail transport and is full of appreciation for the activities in the areas of modern mobility, sustainable economy and digital transformation. For the Polish economy, research projects in the areas of  agriculture, forestry, ecology and renewable energy are important. For the rail, green energy is the direction of development, and hydrogen creates new opportunities.

The UTK President also emphasised how important it is, from the point of view of the operation of the public administration, to strive for the development of IT services aimed both at individual services for citizens and at contacts with entrepreneurs.

President Ignacy Góra and the UTK staff were welcomed by Arkadiusz Kawa, Director of Łukasiewicz – Poznań Technological Institute. In the first part of the meeting, the hosts presented the history of Łukasiewicz – PIT, the main research areas and the development potential of the Institute.

– We have common priorities with UTK in the areas of safety in rail transport and the creation of solutions that will increase the accessibility of railways for people with reduced mobility. All this must be done in the spirit of a sustainable economy, i.e. with care for the environment. We try to respond to these challenges with our daily work. I hope that meetings of this kind will increase the scope of our cooperation and open up new opportunities,” said Arkadiusz Kawa, director of Łukasiewicz – PIT.

The meeting at Łukasiewicz – Poznan Institute of Technology concluded with a visit to the Institute’s laboratories, including laboratory of materials testing, where design work on various components of railway vehicles is carried out.

The Łukasiewicz Research Network was established in 2019. It is the 3rd largest research network in Europe. It comprises 22 institutes, 440 laboratories and 4,500 scientists and experts. Łukasiewicz supports national economic policy, in particular by making forecasts of trends and effects of technological changes that can have a strong impact on society and its development, and analyses the state of the art of technology for public policies. The Network includes, among others, the Łukasiewicz – Poznań Institute of Technology, whose traditions and research experience date back to 1945. Currently, Łukasiewicz – PIT consists of the Centre for Modern Mobility, the Centre for Sustainable Economy, the Centre for Digital Transformation and the Centre for Laboratory Testing.

Such meetings for the UTK employees are an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the specifics of the operation of individual companies and expand their knowledge of technical solutions available on the railway market, as well as an opportunity to talk directly about the ongoing issues.