Dearest Attendees and Friends,
On behalf of WSB University Authorities, I want to thank you for your great engagement and participation in the international conference on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation’ 2020, which took place on 23-24.09.2020 in Hotel Kotarz, Brenna, Poland. I would like to express my gratitude for each participant who came to Brenna, as well as all participants who join us via online.
I would also like to thank all conference patronages:
- Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland,
- Academia Europa Nostra,
- Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia,
- Mayor of Brenna Commune,
- The Scientific Society of Organization and Management, Branch in Dąbrowa Górnicza,
- The Commission for Polish-Czech and Polish-Slovak Relations of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
- European Regional Science Association (ERSA) Polish Section,
- Rector of Gdynia Maritime University, prof. Adam Weintrit,
- Rector of WSB University, dr hab. Zdzisława Dacko-Pikiewicz, assoc. prof. AWSB.
Many thanks are offered to keynote speakers of the conference:
- prof. Marina Andeva, University American College Skopje, North Macedonia,
- prof. Alexandros Apostolakis, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Greece,
- Prof. Jacinto Garrido Velarde, Department of Territorial Sciences, University of Extremadura, Spain,
- prof. Dangis Gudelis, Institute of Public Administration, Faculty of Public Governance, Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania,
- prof. Eduardo Medeiros, ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal,
- prof. James W Scott, the Karelian Institute, the University of Eastern Finland, Finland.
I would also like to say thanks to prof. Martin Klatt, dr Hynek Böhm, prof. Kostadin Kolarov and prof. Tomasz Studzieniecki who moderated the conference sessions, as well as dr Wojciech Opioła, dr Francesco Cappellano and prof. Khrystyna Prytula who made an introduction to each roundtable debate, as well as all panelists of the roundtable debates.
I would also like to express my gratitude for participants of each accompanying event:
- prof. Marek Lisiński who lead the scientific panel for Ph.D. students and each participant of the panel,
- dr Łukasz Wróblewski and prof. Grzegorz Maciejewski who lead the Thematic Session: "Cultural institutions of the Polish - Czech borderland in the face of challenges and threats of the 21st century",
- Beate Grajnert, European Commission, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, Belgium and other panelists of the
thematic session: “INTERREG Programme Czechia – Poland: experience from the period 2014-2020 and the key assumptions for the period 2021-2027”: Bogdan Kasperek (Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia), Tomas Balcar (Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia), Roman Foksowicz (Deputy Mayor of Jastrzębie Zdrój), Jerzy Pilch (Mayor of Brenna Commune), Roman Wróbel (Mayor of Bystrzyca Commune), Petra Rypieniova – Slovackova (NGO Association „Człowiek na granicy”), Hynek Bohm, Technical University of Liberec,
- Anna Salamończyk-Mochel, Magdalena Stusińska and Arkadiusz Szymanek from GPW Foundation who presented the
project "KNOWLEDGE - SKILLS - COMPETENCES. An innovative model of acceleration of cross-sector cooperation for the development of the Polish capital market", co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under the DIALOG programme.
I am glad and grateful that our invitations to participate in the conference were accepted by many scientists. 20 countries were represented by participants of the conference who confirm their attendance stationary and online. I am also grateful that we all could exchange our research results, lead discussions, establish new relations and spend time together.
The Conference was characterized by its interdisciplinary approach and innovative formulas, especially round-table debates and accompanying events. The innovative conference form was focused not only on the valuable scientific discussion during the plenary sessions but also on networking during the round-table debates and other events.
We were able to overcome all difficulties and limitations set before us by the COVID-19 pandemic as we have organized the conference in a hybrid formula. In addition to the traditional meeting of participants and panelists in Brenna, all guests that were not able to come to Poland, had opportunity to connect with us via online.
We can undoubtedly say that the conference was truly successful. Plenary sessions and roundtable debates led to many interesting ideas, exchange of scientific thoughts and new perspectives on cross-border issues across the globe. We were able to discover a huge potential and possibilities that will lead to new collaboration possibilities and growth of science in the area of territorial and inter-organizational cooperation.
Chairperson of the conference
dr hab. Joanna Kurowska-Pysz, assoc. prof. AWSB
Director of Research Institute on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation
Akademia WSB / WSB University
Cieplaka Street 1c
41-300 Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland
tel. 48 602 23 11 24
e-mail: jkurowska@wsb.edu.pl