Master Class CEE - Warsaw Field Trip 2025/26

Throughout the day, the students arrived individually in Warsaw before checking into the Hotel Metropol. The schedule for the day included a sightseeing tour of Old Warsaw.

The group met up at Sigismund Column in Old Town and embarked on a 2-hour guided walking tour of Old Warsaw, learning about the city's history and marveling at the architecture.

In a meeting with STRABAG Polska, organized by Christian Lassnig of Advantage Austria Poland, board member of STRABAG Wojciech Trojanowski gave insight on STRABAG’s presence in Poland, in particular several planned big infrastructure projects - central transportation hub, power grid and nuclear power plant. He also outlined challenges for those plans, such as labor shortages, inflation and rising costs. 

At our partner university SGH Warsaw School of Economics our students were welcomed by vice-rector Prof. Jacek Prokop. Mikolaj Pindelski gave a lecture on new businesses in Poland and emphasized the necessity to scale up fast even for small businesses and the “Rule of Three Dimensions” when launching new products - changes in at least three key areas mark a good opportunity for market entry.

The visit to the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) provided the group with an extensive overview of foreign direct investments in Poland, current initiatives to attract more R&D and technology related investments and support programs for internationalizing Polish companies. Our thanks go to Michał Górecki for arranging the program and his presenting colleagues.

A direct look into polish creative industries and startup culture our students got at the Instytut Przemysłów Kreatywnych, where they met the staff of videogame developer 11 bit studios S.A.. Pawel Miechowski emphasized the importance of culture and purpose in videogame development and gave a look into the studio’s 20-year history of growing from startup to an established niche player in the market. Every new project explores new territory - there is no repetition. Being convinced of your purpose gets you through the ups and downs that come with projects like these.

On the third evening in Warsaw, the students were invited to a Farewell Dinner at Restauracja Zapiecek. Early the next day, they would check out of their hotel and spend the day on their final visits, before leaving for Vienna.

In a walk & talk with co-founder of StartUp Hub Poland, Maciej (Maciek) Sadowski, our students gained further insight on Poland’s startup scene – the deep talent pool of MINT students, the openness to international partners and the success stories of startups.

Our long-standing partner Wolf Theiss Poland showed our students the differences between the different parts of a company – in this case the Austrian and Polish branches. The "One Region, One Firm" approach builds on local expertise, knowledge sharing, innovation, internal development and diversity. Michał Derdak held a presentation on antitrust laws and combined business and law aspects for very helpful insights. Thank you to Marta Brzozowska and Anna Suwińska (Nykaza) for organizing this enlightening meeting!

 

After their visit at Wolf Theiss, the students would individually leave for Vienna, where further studies would await.