8Foundry Alliance in Pomerania Region: Talks on City and Business Cooperation

Gdynia has been consistently developing its partnership with Kaohsiung for several years, building relationships that are increasingly opening up space for economic cooperation. Łączpol returned from Taiwan with its first concrete contacts, and the talks with DGT showed that the Asian market could create new opportunities for partnership and development in the coming years. This is exactly why the 8Foundry Alliance came to Pomerania—to work out the next steps together.

Representatives of the 8Foundry Alliance spent two days in Pomerania, meeting with the local government and companies from Gdynia. The talks covered international cooperation, business relations, and the opportunities opened up by the contacts built by the cluster in Asia.
The visit began at the Gdynia City Hall with a meeting with Mayor Aleksandra Kosiorek and the Mayoral College. Together, we summarized the business mission at the Smart City Summit & Expo in Taipei and Kaohsiung. We discussed further directions of cooperation and how cities can turn international relations into benefits for local business. A separate topic was Gdynia’s partnership with Kaohsiung and the prospects of expanding it in the areas of smart city, education, and the maritime economy.

The subsequent meetings were business-oriented. At DGT, we focused on directions for technological cooperation and new opportunities for expansion into new markets. The discussion covered Asian and African markets, which could create new spaces for partnerships and projects in the coming years.

At Łączpol, we summarized the results of the company’s visit to Taiwan. We focused on concrete outcomes: new contacts, cooperation opportunities, and the next steps that could translate into business growth. Such discussions allow for a quicker assessment of the potential of new directions and effective partnership building.

On the second day, during workshops attended by Vice President Tomasz Augustyniak, Justyna Patyk, and Dr. Rafał Gajewski, we discussed how cities can benefit from international cooperation networks and how to effectively connect the actions of local government, business, and education, turning ideas into concrete projects for implementation.
For the 8Foundry Alliance, such visits have a practical dimension. Regular meetings with partners help to more quickly identify new cooperation opportunities and build relationships that translate into concrete projects.

Thanks to cooperation with our Cluster, Pomerania is increasingly appearing in discussions regarding Polish-Asian and Polish-African economic cooperation. These two days have strengthened our conviction that this is the right path.
The industrial base, maritime tradition, and already existing relations with Taiwan create a starting point that most Polish regions lack. Now, it is all about making good use of it.