Speakers

Patryk Białas is an expert in innovation, EU funding and energy transition, and Director of the Centre for Innovation and Competencies at the Euro-Centrum Science and Technology Park in Katowice. He is a Katowice City Councillor and Chair of the Climate and Environment Committee. Since 2015 he has organised the #czystepowietrze (clean air) campaign and coordinated the Katowice Smog Alert (Napraw Sobie Miasto Foundation), one of Poland's first grassroots anti-smog initiatives. He leads just-transition efforts in Silesia, is social coordinator of the Silesia Hub, Climate Reality Project, co-founded the Silesian Climate Movement, and chairs the Ecological Brotherhood at the Upper Silesian Union. A columnist for "Śląska Opinia" and just-transition expert for the Climate Coalition, he is a graduate of the 17th PAFW Leaders Programme. Earlier he was Director of Development at the Kraków Technology Park and Deputy Director at the Marshal's Office of the Silesian Voivodeship.