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Asseco Innovation Hub will be the venue for advanced research and development. Their goal will be to develop proprietary IT technologies and products for the energy, telecommunication, media, health care, banking, agriculture, business and public administration sectors, among others. In addition, the center will develop IT security projects.The research will focus on the most important trends in new technologies such as the Internet of Things, telemedicine, electromobility and smart power grids. Asseco Innovation Hub will also offer artificial intelligence solutions, including self-training systems based on the so-called machine learning. Thanks to advanced analysis of data collected in real time from various sources, the system will identify what users do and how to protect them from danger. Asseco is also planning to develop projects related to drone control systems. A team of the best specialists in the country, with extensive experience in software development, will be involved in their construction. In addition, Asseco Innovation Hub will continue to develop solutions for Big Data and CloudComputing.

Asseco Innovation Hub will be a modern R&D centre, which will enable us, a Polish company, to compete even more effectively in foreign markets. Thanks to the investment, approx. 400 new jobs will be created, and its implementation will translate into an increase in innovativeness of the whole region, said Adam Góral, President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland.

The solutions that will be researched at the Asseco Group's new centre in Rzeszów confirm that Poland is actively participating in the fourth industrial revolution. In turn, the ecosystem created by our government for the development of innovation, which includes, among other things, financial support instruments and solutions facilitating cooperation between science and business, allows for synergy between the scientific and technical background. This is extremely important from the point of view of the whole economy, said Deputy Minister of Development Adam Hamryszczak.

Podkarpacie is a region open to development. Here, we invest in modern technologies which determine the success and future of the Polish economy. We especially value companies that create research and prototype centers as well as laboratories. Such measures may result in creating permanent jobs, and this is very important for our economy. Asseco Poland has been constantly improving the quality of its services and investing in their development. Last year alone, it spent over PLN 130 million on research and development. This puts Asseco at the forefront of Polish companies in this field. It is great  that the company's leadership decided to make another important investment and planned to locate it in the Podkarpacie region. Thanks to such projects our region is becoming even more innovative, said Władysław Ortyl, Marshal of the Podkarpacie Voivodeship.

The Asseco Innovation Hub building will be merged with the existing head office of the Company at Olchowa Street in Rzeszów. It will have over 9,000 m2 of total area, 5 above-ground floors and one technical floor. On the ground floor level, in addition to office space for R&D activities, a representative part will be located with a hall and conference rooms. On the next floors there will be a complex of office spaces along with conference rooms, social rooms and the so-called creative rooms. On the last floor there will be a technical terrace and technical rooms.Under the Intelligent Development Operating Program for 2014-2020 Asseco has received more than PLN 26 million of funding from the Ministry of Development for the project implementation. The total value of the investment, which is planned to be completed in Q2 2020, is PLN 80,359,662.57.

The Asseco Group is present in over 50 countries worldwide, and the share of foreign markets in the Group's total revenues is over 80% and has been growing steadily. The establishment of Asseco International (AI) is an important step in the development of the Asseco Group's operations on international markets. After completing all the planned changes, the Group's operations will be divided into three main areas: Asseco Poland and the Polish market, Formula Systems and the Israeli market, and Asseco International and other foreign markets. AI will be headed by Jozef Klein, the President of Asseco Central Europe, who has been involved in the establishment and international development of the Group from the very beginning. The President of the Supervisory Board will be Adam Góral. 96.55% of AI's shares will be held by Asseco Poland, and 3.45% of the shares by the managers of Asseco Central Europe (ACE), who currently hold shares in ACE. The new company will be registered in Slovakia.

"In our Group, we have a proven development model of Formula Systems and we would like to repeat its success. We have established Asseco International because we have recognized that the current scale and potential of our international operations requires the creation of a dedicated team of experts, who will manage these operations on a daily basis. By establishing Asseco International, we would also like to separate our Polish operations from international business," said Adam Góral, President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland.

Following the establishment of the new organizational structure, Asseco Poland's managers will be fully focused on the domestic market, and the development of international companies will be handled by the management board of AI. The establishment of Asseco International is also a partial formalization of the operations of the existing Board of Directors of the Asseco Group, i. e. the group of presidents of the most important foreign companies in the Group. Jozef Klein, who has been the President of the Board of Directors so far, has been appointed the President of the Management Board of the new holding company and will guide further development of international operations. The Management Board of AI will also include: Przemysław Sęczkowski (the Vice President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland engaged in international operations of the Group), Marek Panek and Rafał Kozłowski. Also, the Presidents of foreign companies - Piotr Jeleński, Torben Falholt, Jose Antonio Pinilla and Daniel Araújo - will be engaged in AI's operations.

"So far, the presidents of individual companies have focused primarily on the development of their businesses. By joining our forces in Asseco International, we are able to implement a truly ambitious international project. In the future, we are also not ruling out a stock exchange debut of Asseco International on one of the Western European stock exchanges," added Adam Góral.

The registration of AI should take place within a few weeks. In subsequent stages, all shares of Asseco Poland held in Asseco Central Europe, Asseco SouthEastern Europe, Exictos, Asseco Western Europe, R-Style Softlab, Asseco Denmark, Peak Consulting, Asseco Lithuania, Asseco Georgia, Asseco Kazahstan and Asseco Software Nigeria will be transferred to AI. The whole process should be completed by the end of this year.

Nearly 250 of highly qualified CEIT specialists investigate technical and process innovations, industrial automation, structural and material engineering, and also the area of education. Research and development, which is the dominating factor of this company, is accompanied flexibly with practice. Its annual earnings amount to approx. EUR 22 mil.

“CEIT is a modern company that by its innovative approach, but mainly its solutions and products in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence, will enrich the Asseco group with new trends and competencies, which we would like to advance jointly to the international level. I believe that this great potential created by joining our companies will advance us significantly in the research and development area,” said Jozef Klein, CEO Asseco CE, on the occasion of signing the contract.

The CEIT group specializes in connecting physical industrial systems and intelligent cyber processes within the meaning of the Industry 4.0 concept earmarked as the industrial revolution number four. The objective is to ensure higher productivity and competitiveness of company’s customers through its solutions. “By entering into strategic partnership with Asseco Central Europe, CEIT has opened the space for broader application of its innovative potential on the international level, with the aim to grow faster on international markets. Joining the competencies of Asseco Central Europe and CEIT creates space for the synergy of new solutions and top innovations for the industry in the spirit of Industry 4.0,” expressed Branislav Mičieta, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CEIT, on the occasion of signing this contract.

At present, KSI ZUS settles contributions equal to half of Poland's annual budget, and also exchanges data with a dozen or so state institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, the Central Statistical Office (GUS), the National Health Fund (NFZ) and the National Bank of Poland (NBP). The system serves 25 million citizens, including insured persons, beneficiaries and payers. The IT solutions used in the system are able to easily handle the collection and processing of approx. 300 terabytes of data and 250,000 operations per second. This shows the scale, complexity and importance of the system for every Polish citizen.

I am proud that it is the Asseco team that has created such a key IT system for our country as KSI ZUS. It is one of those projects in the history of computerization of Poland, which confirms that Polish IT sector is able to operate at the highest global level. This is thanks to the work of Asseco's specialists, who take care of the retirement pensions of millions of Poles and are able to adapt the system to legal changes on time. In the case of such an important system, there is no room for errors or experimentation. Asseco is best prepared to deal with KSI ZUS and we have proven many times that we are a supplier that guarantees its stability and security, said Vice President of Asseco Poland Tadeusz Dyrga.

KSI ZUS is a system that does not need to be advertised. Not only the system, but also people who created it have never failed and we should remember about it. That is why I would like to thank our employees, as well as our technological partners for their efforts and contribution, thanks to which I can collect the award on their behalf, said Vice President of ZUS Krzysztof Dyki.

It is the largest nation-wide system, a symbol of Polish computerization in the sector of public solutions and a proof of high Polish intellectual capital in the new technology sector, he added.

The Computerworld's "IT Leader" competition has been organized for 21 years and has included over 1,000 companies and institutions from various sectors of the public administration sector. The competition is open to those entities which make effective use of innovative ICT solutions in their daily operations and serve as role models for other companies. The "IT Leader" title has become a valued distinction on the market, and the conference and the gala accompanying this event every year provide an opportunity for a substantial debate on the most important issues related to computerization of Poland.

EKW is one of the key solutions in the Ministry of Justice. It supports land and mortgage registers in Poland and allows for the use of the Central Information on Land and Mortgage Registers, as well as the exchange of information in electronic form. As part of the agreement, Asseco will provide the Ministry of Justice with the maintenance services of EKW, which include the supervision of the system use, as well as servicing and technical support. The Company will also ensure the required availability of EKW's full functionality and performance. In addition, it will be responsible for bug fixes. Asseco will also run a training program for internal users and system administrators.

Asseco is the largest Polish IT company, which enjoys a well-established market position. We have the technological, competence and financial potential to effectively carry out even the largest and most important IT projects for the state institutions. Therefore, I am pleased that we will support the Ministry of Justice in further maintenance and development of the EKW system, said Przemysław Borzestowski, Vice President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland, who is responsible for the public administration segment.

By providing maintenance and development services regarding the EKW system, we will use the experience and know-how acquired in the KSI ZUS project, said Sławomir Szmytkowski, Director of the Systems Maintenance Division in Asseco Poland.

Asseco Poland is the largest Polish IT company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and the 6th largest software developer in Europe. It leads international Asseco Group which operates in 54 countries and employs over 20,000 people. Asseco is the largest producer of software for the public sector in Poland. The company has built and implemented complex systems for various clients, including the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA), the Ministry of National Education (MEN), the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), the Central Statistical Office (GUS), the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS), the Agricultural Property Agency (ARP) and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMiGW). In addition, for years, Asseco has been a trusted partner for the energy, telecommunication, health care, uniformed services and local government sectors.

On August 23, Asseco Group published its financial results for the first half of 2017. Its revenues increased by 10% on annual basis to PLN 4.1 billion. The company continued a development strategy based on the sales of proprietary IT solutions - in the reporting period, its value reached PLN 3.4 billion, which accounted for 81% of the Group's total revenues. In the first half of the year, the results were above all boosted by Asseco Group's operations in foreign markets. Their share in total revenues has been gradually increasing - currently, it amounts to 83%. Asseco Group's revenues are diversified not only between geographical regions but also between sectors. The general business sector accounts for 41% of total revenues, the banking and finance sector - for 39%, and the public administration sector - for 20%. In the first half of the year, Asseco continued the cooperation with key clients and actively worked on new projects. In August 2017, the order backlog amounted to PLN 7.4 billion and was by 7% higher than in the corresponding period in the previous year.

We operate in over 50 countries and we observe high demand for IT products and services. We use this situation to further develop Asseco Group and to build value for its shareholders. In the first half of 2017, we achieved very good results and we are pleased with the Group's record revenue growth. In particular, we are happy with the growing and significant impact of our foreign companies, including Asseco SouthEastern Europe and Asseco Central Europe, among others. We have been dynamically developing the ERP segment and we have signed international contracts in various sectors. We have been exporting our Polish banking systems to Austria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Nigeria, and one of Western European countries. Recently, we have started the implementation of a new project in the banking sector in Vietnam, said Adam Góral, President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland. In August, we partly booked profits from our investment and sold a 20% stake in Formula Systems. In total, thanks to the transaction and previous dividends, we have received over PLN 450 million, which is a higher amount that our initial investment in the company. We remain the largest shareholder of Formula Systems and we hold a stake of more than 26% of shares worth about PLN 500 million. Thanks to the transaction, we have acquired funds for further investments, he added.

In the first six months of 2017, Israeli companies maintained high growth of revenues (22%), which exceeded PLN 2.5 billion. It is worth noting that Sapiens strengthened its presence in the US market through the acquisition of insurer StoneRiver. In Central Europe, sales increased by 13%, thanks to dynamic growth in the ERP segment, among others. In the South East European market, revenues increased by 9%, and were boosted by higher revenues in the banking sector. The revenues in the Western European market went up by 2% on annual basis thanks to focus on selling proprietary solutions in Spain, Western Europe, and the African markets, where Portuguese company Exictos operates. In Poland, revenues dropped by 14%, mainly due to continued stagnation in the public tender sector. However, it is worth noting that Asseco Business Solutions, which specializes in the ERP solutions, improved its results in the reporting period.