The Polish-American Conference on Science and Technology – a joint project of Łukasiewicz-Institute of Aviation and the Ohio State University, celebrated its round jubilee this year. On June 24-25, 2021, a special, twentieth online edition was organized, which gathered 120 participants, representing Polish and American scientific institutions, government administration and organizations, and industry. The honorary patronage over the event was assumed by the Minister of Education and Science and the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology.
The jubilee edition of the conference was held under the slogan: “New perspectives for the development of aviation and space technologies”.
The conference gathered many distinguished guests, including: Professor Michael Benzakein – director of Propulsion and Power Center at Ohio State University, vice president of the Łukasiewicz Research Network, dr. Marcin Kraska, representative of the American Embassy in Poland, Mr. Neil Pickett and the President of the Management Board of General Electric Company Polska S.A., Dr. Eng. Marian Lubieniecki.
This year, the conference focused on three important areas, namely hybrid-electric propulsion, unmanned systems and advanced research in the field of aviation and astronautics. Both the American side and the Polish side presented many substantive presentations describing the most interesting current research projects. Conference participants also discussed prospective technologies and fields for further research.
– The Polish-American Conference on Science and Technology is a unique undertaking in the field of Polish-American bilateral cooperation. Over the twenty years of organizing this event, it was possible to invite many outstanding experts – industry representatives, who shared their knowledge and experience with other participants. I hope that subsequent editions will bring us many interesting discussions and will allow us to further develop the potential of this conference – emphasizes the director of Łukasiewicz-Institute of Aviation, Dr. Paweł Stężycki.
History of PAC
The series of Polish-American Conferences on Science and Technology was initiated in 2002 by the Institute of Aviation in cooperation with the Washington-based think-tank CSIS – Center for Strategic and International Studies. This cooperation was established in circumstances related to the off-set for the purchase of F-16 fighters by Poland.
The conference had a huge impact on the visibility of Poland on the American scene. The experience gained prompted the Polish side to the idea of raising these conferences to a more academic level. As a result, the American Academy of Sciences and then the Ohio State University, which is currently the main co-organizer of the conference together with the Łukasiewicz Institute of Aviation, were included in the group of conference partners.
The Ohio State University has become a key partner for the Polish institute in the field of research collaboration and academic exchange. Thanks to the agreement signed in 2014, which also included the Warsaw University of Technology, research internships were launched for employees as well as students and doctoral students of these three institutions. Also, joint high-technology projects were initiated and many valuable scientific and business contacts were established.
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The Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation is one of the most modern research facilities in Europe, with traditions dating back to 1926. The Institute closely cooperates with global tycoons of the aviation industry, such as: GE, Airbus, Pratt & Whitney, and institutions from the space industry, including the European Space Agency. Strategic research areas of the Institute are aviation, space and unmanned technologies. It also provides research and services for domestic and foreign industries in the field of materials, composite, additive, remote sensing, energy mining technologies.
The Łukasiewicz Research Network provides attractive, complete and competitive technological solutions. It offers a unique system of “challenging” to business, thanks to which a group of 4,500 scientists in no more than 15 working days accepts the business challenge and proposes the entrepreneur to develop an effective implementation solution. At the same time, it involves the highest competences of scientists in Poland and a scientific apparatus unique in Poland. What is most important – the entrepreneur does not bear any costs related to the development of an idea for research work. Łukasiewicz meets the expectations of business in a convenient way. The entrepreneur may decide to contact us not only through the form at https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/biznes/ but also in more than 50 locations: the Łukasiewicz Institutes and their branches throughout Poland. They will receive the same – high quality – product or service everywhere. The Łukasiewicz potential is focused around such research areas as: health, intelligent mobility, digital transformation and sustainable economy and energy.
