Another year has passed and we’ve done our best.
What happened in 2022 in OMGKRK?
Krakow Startups Report and Krakow Innovation Campaign launch
After months of hard work, we’ve launched the first edition of the Krakow Startups Report and created a new database of Krakow Startups.
Till the date, the Report was downloaded, 2200 times and Krakow Startups database was visited 1430 times.
The report is the first ever comprehensive publication in the region containing data about Krakow startup ecosystem, presenting information on employment rates, specialization areas, business models, development stages, sources of financing and challenges faced by 140 surveyed startups. The report also includes information on support programs and institutions, investment funds, coworking spaces, or selected success stories of companies from Krakow.
The promotion campaign of the report has been supported by local media including Mam Biznes, Re:view, I love Krakow, emiteo and other partners: City of Krakow, Malopolska Belgium Business Chamber, French -Polish Chamber of Commerce
The report has also been an inspiration for a joint ‘Kraków. Meet the innovation’ campaign launched with our new strategic partner Krakow5020.
Thanks to that support, we have broadly spread the news about the report, which was mentioned in all top media in Poland including Business Insider, Newsweek and Forbes Polska.
The campaign involved local entrepreneurs and allowed the release of a promotional video: https://www.omgkrk.com/krakow-meet-the-innovation/ and the spread of multiple posters across the city center, encouraging the tourists and residents to download the report and learn why Krakow is one of top business locations in Europe. The posters could be found in 9 locations across Planty Park.
The report was also mentioned during various tech & startup events including Bomba Megabitowa, Talk N’ Roll, D&I Changemakers Conference 2022.
Strong relationships
For us, it was a year of establishing close relationships with our community and ecosystem partners.
We have strengthened our partnerships with City of Krakow (Krakow Startups Report Campaign), Małopolska Innowacyjna (Sponsorship of the Summer Jam & Hangouts), and TNW (Yearly conference attendance).
We have also initiated new partnerships with Krakow 5020, Vienna Business Agency, SIBB, Startup Amsterdam, Mobile Trends, Open Eyes Summit and many more.We have also extended our membership by admitting the following companies to OMGKRK family: Kitopi, Stonly, Unit 8, Futurehome, hubraum, Silvair, HR Hints, Talangeo, Orbify, CleanWhale, Simply Talented, AstroTectonic and Sindicai.
Summer Jam
On 30th of June we have conducted our first Summer Party after the pandemic, and it was epic.
The amazing venue of Forty Kleparz Lounge Bar attracted over 400 attendees, including a full spectrum of innovation ecosystem stakeholders and IT professionals, allowing them to acquire new knowledge and connections necessary to accelerate their business networks and careers.
This edition of Summer Jam was also extended with special exhibition spaces dedicated to Metaverse featuring Summer Jam Virtual Station by VRARA Poland, Virtual Photo Booth by Exploded View, Virtual Fitting room Wearfits and other VR/AR installations prepared by Haptology, Virbe, Photon, Everdome, VRPartments and Biominds.
The event was also supported by other exhibitors & sponsors including Małpolska Innowacyjna (main event sponsor), Krakow 5020, Edrone, Flyr, Unit8, SIBB, and AGH EduVRLab.
Monthly Hangouts
In 2022 with support of Malopolska Innovative financing we continued our new initiative – monthly Hangouts focused on building business connections and knowledge exchange between various stakeholders of our ecosystem.
The meetings were organized on every last Thursday of the month in the various hip venues in the city. We have conducted 9 meetups with over 300 attendees that visited Alchemia, F:LaTO, Busz, PAON, Weźże Krafta, Stakkato Art Space, Pacura Studios and Targowa2.
The 3 last hangouts editions in 2022 were extended with Keynotes of local experts including: Grzegorz Wójcik from Autenti, Róża Szafranek from HR hints and Michał Blak from edrone – since people loved this format of the event we will probably continue it in 2023.
On 15th of December 2022 thanks to the partnership with hubraum we conducted an additional special Christmas edition of the hangout in which we extended the format even further with a VC roundtable, a panel discussion with 6 VC experts dedicated to the current stage of the VC investment landscape. This edition was also combined with a small Christmas Party for 150 attendees.
Leadership Team Strengthened
The OMGKRK team has continued to grow in strengths.
We have added 3 new members to the core OMGKRK operations team, including Karolina Paluch as Marketing Manager, Christopher Flörke as Operations and Event Manager, Gabi Małacha as Creative Director.
We have also built a great relationship with volunteering team including Natalia Golec (operations support), Riccardo Odone, Adam Serafin (tech support), AIESEC Team Natalia Piekaniec and Miłosz Duda.
