PKN ORLEN launches the second round of its acceleration programme

The ORLEN Skylight accelerator is targeted at recently founded technology companies based in Poland or abroad that have a finished product or service proposal capable of being implemented in business areas such as petrochemical production, power generation from renewables, internal processes, customer service, or supporting the development of new services.

“Continuous investment in R&D and innovation projects marks an important stepping stone in PKN ORLEN’s efforts to build a strong multi-utility group, strengthen its brand and become a leading industry player on the international market. This is why emphasis is placed on developing tools that allow us to effectively forge business relationships with innovators and technology providers. ORLEN Skylight Accelerator allows us to implement innovative solutions in partnership with startups from all over the globe. They give us a boost in the pursuit of our strategic objectives and in building lasting competitive advantages based on advanced, low-emission technologies,” said Patrycja Panasiuk, Deputy Executive Director for Strategy, Innovation and Investor Relations at PKN ORLEN.

The programme kicked off in mid-July 2021 and will run until May 2023. It is to cover 11 acceleration rounds during which new technological and business projects will be presented. Recruitment window for the first round, for which 22 calls for proposals were announced, was closed on August 16th. More than 100 different proposals were submitted, the major part of which were digital solutions for retail, HR, OHS and other areas that perform corporate functions.

“The results of recruitment for the first round show that the Programme attracted immense interest from recently founded technology companies based both in Poland and abroad. This demonstrates that innovators from all over the world see the enormous potential of business relationships with PKN ORLEN. Acceleration focused on joint development and support in technology commercialisation, carried out under the auspices of the largest company in Central and Eastern Europe, is a milestone in the development of every startup which plans to expand its business or enter the European market,” said Łukasz Kopeć, Head of Innovation and Acceleration Department at PKN ORLEN.

Meetings are being arranged with those startups that have successfully completed the first stage of selection. The selected startups whose proposals have received preliminary expressions of interest from PKN ORLEN business areas can now present in more detail their value growth proposals. Those startups whose technological and business potential will be assessed positively will qualify for the pilot stage. At that point they will gain access to the ORLEN Group’s operational infrastructure and will be given support of the Group’s experts and external mentors. In line with the Programme’s schedule, we plan to close the selection process and start preparations for the first round of pilot implementations by the end of September,” said Marcin Drygas, Manager of the ORLEN Skylight Programme with PKN ORLEN Innovation and Acceleration Department.

27 calls for technology proposals were announced for the second recruitment round that started on September 20th 2021 and will run for another four weeks. Applications can be submitted via the online form available at www.innowacje.orlen.pl by October 18th 2021.

​The list of current calls and detailed information about the programme are available in the ORLEN Skylight Accelerator section of the website.