The fifth edition of the Olivia Prize awards is behind us. This time, Olivia Centre, the largest Polish business centre, awarded 5 main prizes and 3 distinctions. The ceremonial gala, during which the statuettes were awarded, took place on the 34th floor of Olivia Star, and the patronage over this year’s edition was taken by Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk and the United Nations Global Compact Network Poland.

Olivia Centre is the largest business centre in Poland, which since 2020 has been awarding prizes to the most interesting business and social initiatives. This time, the organizer decided to expand the formula and award prizes and distinctions also to promising Pomeranian scientists and a nationwide business environment institution. The jury consisting of: Marta Moksa (O4 Coworking), Prof. Ph.D. Sylwia Mrozowska (Univentum Labs), Jolanta Szydłowska (Gdańsk Foundation for Management Development), Grzegorz Borowski (Infoshare), Paweł Jemioł (Nordea), Mateusz Kusznierewicz, multiple Polish medalist in sailing and Remigiusz Wojciechowski (Bayer).

Olivia Impact

The main prize in the Olivia Impact 2024 category, awarded to companies and projects that contribute to business development to the greatest extent, was won by the Pomerania Development Agency for the consistently implemented Invest in Pomerania programme, which works to improve the investment attractiveness of Pomerania.

The distinction in this category went to the team of the ARCO by Paco Pérez and Treinta y Tres restaurants and chef Antonio Arcieri for obtaining a number of prestigious international awards (Bib Gourmand star and distinction of the Michelin guide, La Liste, The Best Chef Awards, Star Wine List, Best of Award of Excellence). Winning so many awards has a huge impact on the promotion of Gdańsk on the gastronomic map of the world, as well as the development of a number of local cooperators of these restaurants.

Olivia Harmony

In the Olivia Harmony category, awarded to projects with the highest social dimension, the main prize was won by Capgemini Polska. The statuette was awarded for the Oh, Christmas Tree! initiative – a project that made it possible to fulfill the Christmas dreams of the charges of the Korczak Nursing Home in Gdańsk Oliwa and the planting of 9000 trees by over 200 employees in 6 locations in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

In this category, the award went to Aspire Systems Poland for a number of environmental and charity initiatives as well as actions for physical and mental health. The jury wanted to emphasize the scale of pro-social and ecological projects that are implemented at Aspire. In 2024 alone, the company implemented as many as 5 such projects.

Olivia Everyday Hero

A new competition category was also Olivia Everyday Hero – for an individual for her social involvement. For 2024, the award was won by Karol Grodzicki from Speeron, who is also the head of the IT Department of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association Headquarters. The jury appreciated Karol Grodzicki’s commitment to the Safe from Harm initiative, which aims to prevent violence against children and to conduct training for over 20 thousand members of the ZHP staff via an e-learning platform.

For supporting the community of the business services sector in Poland and the organization of one of the most important business conferences Follow the Leaders in Gdańsk, the Olivia Connect 2024 award was won by Pro Progressio. This institution has been working for years to connect and promote entrepreneurs, supports their development, organizes a number of business events, and develops numerous reports and analyzes to see trends, opportunities and risks of business conducted in Poland.

Olivia Hero of the Future

In this year’s edition, for the first time, the Olivia Hero of the Future awards were presented, the aim of which is to support and promote innovative projects carried out by Pomeranian scientists. This category was organised in partnership with the Daniel Fahrenheit Association of Universities in Gdańsk, which includes the Medical University of Gdańsk, the Gdańsk University of Technology and the University of Gdańsk. For projects implemented in 2024, the main prize in this category went to a team consisting of: Paweł Mazierski, PhD, Anna Gołąbiewska, PhD, Beata Bajorowicz, PhD, and Anna Malankowska, PhD .

The award was granted for research and development work in the field of modern photocatalytic technologies for air and water purification, allowing for the optimization of processes while reducing energy consumption. The effectiveness of the developed solutions has been tested to remove various air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, and microorganisms such as bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and bacteriophages (SARS-CoV-2-like structures)

In this category, the jury also decided to award a distinction, which went to the team consisting of: Dr. n. Med. Ulana Juhas, Ph.D. Med. Andżelika Borkowska, Joanna Reczkowicz, MSc, Zuzanna Margas, MSc. The award was granted for the INFLASCOPE intelligent inflammatory analysis and prediction system operating in the SaaS model, using routine blood tests for automatic analysis and prediction of inflammation, where the use of AI and machine learning algorithms is crucial. This model contributes to detecting inflammatory trends and predicting the risk of chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, chronic heart failure and cancer.

– Olivia Prize is growing in strength every year, which is of great importance for us organizers – says Bogusław Wieczorek, representative of the management board of Olivia Centre. From the project, which initially had the dimension of supporting the promotion of enterprises operating in Olivia, it grows to the rank of awards, covering the entire province and supporting numerous, very socially beneficial projects. We are glad that our project is supported by such important partners as the Fahrenheit University Association or the UN Global Compact Network Poland, because thanks to this, the projects we award can gain even better promotion and support, especially when it comes to initiatives supporting business development, ecological, charitable and scientific projects.

The author of the awards in the Olivia Prize 2024 competition is Magda Beneda. The greatest passion of the graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk is painting, but the Gdańsk-based artist is also involved in graphic design and applied arts. He has 15 art exhibitions throughout Europe. Her works can be found in many private collections in Poland, Norway, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA.