A hi-tech company - from a garage to...

1. A hi-tech company - from a garage to... Tomasz Cioska

2. Plazmatronika’s history • 1987 - foundation of Plazmatronika (in a garage) by Dr. Eng. Ryszard Parosa and Dr. Eng. Edward Reszke from Wrocław’s Technical University as one of Polish first hi-tech companies and SME’s • Three major product and service lines: • industrial scale applications of microwave technologies (textile, food, foundry, glass, steel, environmental protection) • laboratory equipment (microwave laboratory digestors, chemical reactors, microwave generators, auxiliary devices) • wall drying and isolation, destruction of mould and insects in wood • 1M $ turnover in 1996, the staff of 35, purchase of office and production building, foundation of a joint stock company (S.A.) • Rzeczpospolita and Businessman Magazine issue articles on Plazmatronika, JAAC considers Plazmatronika’s digestors as world’s best laboratory equipment of this sort.

3. Plazmatronika’s building • 1997 - over 3m flooding of Plazmatronika’s building cuts off water and electricity supply for 1,5 months and telephone lines for 6 months, the production line of mastics for food industry - the main source of the Company’s steady revenues – damaged • At the same time Plazmatronika receives a number of orders for drying of flooded buildings in Poland and in Northern Moravia (Czech Republic)

4. Plazmatronika in transition • New management brought into the Company by the group of private investors in November 2000 (CRESCO Financial Advisors) • Deep restructuring of the Company: • staff reengineering (replacement of redundant employees) • introduction of financial management and bookkkeeping standards • sales and marketing activation (international sales network launching) • reduction of liabilities by 95% • Foundation of Plazmatronika NT sp. z o.o. (limited liability), the holding company for Plazmatronika S.A. and - in future - for Single Purpose Vehicles,which willcommercialise and develop the existing and future product lines (laboratory products, construction technologies, industrial applications) • Acquisition of financing from Fundusz Inwestycji Kapitałowych KGHM Metale S.A. in the form of bonds and commercial bills of exchange

5. Plazmatronika today (1) • 26 patents pending and PCT applications filed (system electronics, chemistry, mechanics, complete devices and technologies) • Development and implementation of technologies: • nanopowder production technologies (with DSc Witold Łojkowski of UNIPRESS -High Pressure Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences) • silicone processing methods (with Wrocław’s Technical University) • new generation of power supplies- 3 patent applications filed (developed in cooperation with Jerzy Dora’s Power System Company) • foodstuff drying technology (developed with Wrocław’s Academy of Economics and PAULA Food Processing Company) • Sales of laboratory equipment and industrial products to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, UK, USA • Drying and isolation services rendered: Wrocław’s Town Hall, Thyssen Building in Wrocław, major banks and public buildings, Green Gate in Gdańsk, XIIIth century Henryków Monastery

6. Plazmatronika today (2) • Participation in Program Techno 2000 • Participation in the 5thFramework Programme project on microwave utilisation of asbestos residues as the main supplier of technology, designer and manufacturer of equipment • Close cooperation with National Contact Point, WCTT (Wrocław’s Centre for Technology Transfer), Innovation Relay Centre - Poland West - successful transfer of Plazmatronika’s technologies abroad (France, Germany, and Italy) • Cooperation with major European research institutions and companies (e.g. Polish and Czech Academies of Sciences, Technical Universities of Cracow, Ostrava (VŠB), and Wrocław; Universities of Bochum, Bologne, Wrocław; Polish „central institutes”;Companies: BASF, BH-F, KGHM, MUNTERS, MWGT, Soletange-Bachy, Telzas)

7. Bridging science with industry • Company’s mission: to build a bridge between science and industry through implementing broad range innovations from laboratory to industrial scale • By 1999 - scarce possibilities to execute the mission • harsh legal and tax conditions • lack of funding from banks and venture funds • 2000 - new approach of financial institutions towards hi-tech, interest in financing the development of the Company expressed by various venture funds • 2001 - Polish crisis of finances, budget cuts, and the reduction of investment involvement by financial institutions endanger the Company’s mission again • President’s and Government’s new policy expressed at September’s Visegrad Group meeting may improve the climate for hi-tech in Poland

8. Plazmatronika tomorrow • Advanced preparations to participate in at least 3 more EU sponsored projects by the end of 2001 with European, Polish and other Candidate Countries enterprises and institutes • Joint development of technologies (continuation) • international companies (Plazmatronika as the outsourced R&D centre for business partners) • scientific institutes (industrial implementation, commercialising, and manufacturing of products) • Licensing of some of the technologies to EU and CC countries • Acquisition of the institutional investor (project before the final resolution of its General Assembly of Stockholders) • Implementation of the Company’s mission in the form of hi-tech start-up projects incubator and spin-off sponsor • IPO at a stock exchange in 2-3 years (conditional upon the improvement of the climate for NT investments)

9. Thank you for your attention!