The jury of the Good Company award also granted Comarch the title of the fastest-growing enterprise from the List 2000. Comarch conducts research and development work in the telecommunications, banking, trade and services, public administration, and small and medium-sized enterprise sectors. In 2008, Comarch allocated 93 million PLN for research and development activities (compared to 96.6 million PLN the previous year). Most of the products sold by Comarch are created within the organization. R&D activities, which consume 15 percent of the company’s revenue, employ 1,100 people at Comarch.
– Implementing innovations within the products themselves and improving solutions to increase their competitiveness is our definition of R&D activities – says Professor Janusz Filipiak, CEO of Comarch.
R&D activities at Comarch are financed by EU funds, including the Sectoral Operational Programme, the Framework Programme, targeted projects of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and EUREKA/CELTIC.
– Comarch’s expenditures on innovation exceed not only the average for Poland, which, with an R&D expenditure indicator of 0.6 percent of GDP, lags at the tail end of Europe, but also the average for Scandinavian countries, which spend 3-5 percent of their GDP on R&D – says Paweł Prokop, Vice President of Comarch.
This year’s innovation leaders of the List 2000 ranking by “Rzeczpospolita” have dedicated research and development centers within their structures. These companies were shielded from the turbulence associated with the economic slowdown. Despite more difficult market conditions, employment in R&D departments in 27 companies (out of 66 classified in the innovation ranking) increased, albeit slightly.