Transformative impact of the Central Office of Measures on Kielce’s development

The construction of the modern Laboratory Campus of the Central Office of Measures has just been completed. The city of Kielce is the host of this project and will soon become the capital of Polish metrology.

The city sought the investment, participated in talks on the location of the project and presented the advantages of locating the Laboratory Campus in Kielce. The project is unique. It will provide real support to the National Metrological Institution, and will also become a place where research communities will meet to discuss scientific and technical problems, working to support enterprises, but also state institutions, such as universities, research institutes or the army.

Venturing beyond the capital

Major research institutes of strategic importance for the economy are usually established in state capitals. The Central Office of Measures (Pl. GUM) is also located in the capital of Poland, but without the possibility of institutional development, including research. Limited premises, expensive space, and communication difficulties forced the Office to look for a new location. This tendency to expand their headquarters or branches outside Warsaw is also visible among universities and entrepreneurs. It turns out that the offer of smaller cities is more attractive due to operating costs, access to qualified staff, lower turnover of trained employees, access to financing and commuting costs.

Preparations for the construction of the GUM Laboratory Campus took several years, several different locations were considered, but Kielce turned out to be the most attractive. Additionally, the investment was supported by EU funds from the Regional Operational Program of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship for 2014-2020.

An innovation and technology hub

The city of Kielce is well connected. It is located at the intersection of national and express roads: S7, DK74 and DK73, between key transit routes: Brussels-Katowice-Kiev and Berlin-Warsaw-Nizhny Novgorod, and near the pan-European corridor Gdańsk-Katowice-Žilina. There are 9 universities in Kielce, educating 20,000 students and providing 6,000 graduates to the labor market every year.

For Kielce, the GUM Laboratory Campus is an opportunity to develop a new regional specialization in the field of metrology, strengthen the human resources potential of local universities and create space for business development. There are indications for this in the form of close cooperation between the GUM and the Kielce University of Technology as well as strong enterprises from the machinery, automotive and metal industries, and companies operating in Kielce offering modern business services. Targi Kielce (Pl. Kielce Trade Fairs) which organizes significant events and congresses in the country, such as the International Defense Industry Exhibition, PLASPOL and AGROTECH, is also an additional advantage for companies wanting to develop and establish new relationships.

The Kielce local government offers one of the lowest real estate tax rates among provincial cities in Poland. In Kielce, three additional resolutions exempting real estate tax have been introduced, which relieve investors at the initial stage of launching new projects.

The birth of the metrology cluster

Without a doubt, the development of the GUM campus will stimulate the economic development of the city of Kielce. Key institutions focused on metrology have already noticed this. Several dozen Polish companies and universities have established a Metrology Cluster. The main assumption of the Cluster is to effectively provide the industry with the most modern metrology solutions to enable Polish companies to truly compete on the global market. The initiators of establishing the Cluster were the Central Office of Measures and the Kielce University of Technology, and the coordinator is Targi Kielce.

The development of research centers contributes to the socio-economic develop ment of the entire environment. There are many similar examples in Europe and the world. Kielce University of Technology is already adapting its teaching profile to the needs of future employers. It recently created a new education specialty: metrology in mechanical engineering.

GUM, as a national center of modern metrology, brings together the basics of functioning of many industries. It is difficult to imagine a modern society with a modern economy without appropriate transport and communication infrastructure, without the growing importance of new technologies and without building cooperative connections. Many processes require measurements, and this is not possible without appropriate infrastructure ensuring comparability of results. Metrology builds innovation in industry, stimulates research in other scientific areas, and is also the leading topic of many international projects.

A technological wonder

The construction of the Świętokrzyski Laboratory Campus is an investment on a scale unprecedented in the history of Polish metrology. The GUM campus will offer research in the field of acoustics, time and frequency, length, mass, thermometry and metrological informatics.

At the foot of the picturesque hill of Mount Telegraf, 6 modern laboratories as well as conference and educational facilities as well as office and service areas are being built. The total area of the campus will be as much as 39,115.7 m2. The project itself uses many unique technological solutions, such as stabilizing blocks weighing up to 129 tons, a measurement station for measuring large 3D objects and the longest laboratory room (the bridge connecting the buildings of the Time and Frequency Laboratory and the Length Laboratory is 76.35 m long).

For Kielce, the investment means the opportunity to develop local companies, but also to attract new investors interested in cooperation with the Central Office of Measures. Right next to the campus there are nearly 50 ha of investment areas intended for production, technology and service companies. The city adapts the local development plan to the needs of new investments. The consultation process also includes the project of the eastern bypass of Kielce, which will significantly improve communication with the GUM campus and investment areas in this part of Kielce.

This article comes from magazine:
FOCUS ON Business #14 January-February (1/2024)