Maciej Kamieniecki

Shareholder of Natural Resources Institute (IDN)
CISO, Chief Information Security Officer

Experienced manager with proven expertise in project management (defining project objectives, organising necessary resources and ensuring smooth and timely implementation). 

Graduate of Leon Koźmiński Academy in Warsaw (Business Psychology) and postgraduate studies in project management at Warsaw School of Economics. He gained practice while working for international corporations in Warsaw and Singapore.

He has experience in both projects for private clients and public sector clients (Ministry of Finance).

"In my day-to-day work, I put emphasis on the quality and margin of the projects delivered."

Gabriela Derehajło

Shareholder of Natural Resources Institute (IDN)
IDN Marketing and Sales Specialist

Law student at the Faculty of Law, University of Białystok. Beekeeping technician and passionate about beekeeping. She gained experience while working at the Meliffer Apiary, Dr.Fridhelm Wessel's company.

She knows the beekeeping market in the region very well. She is involved in the local community and volunteering.

In addition, she has gained a range of professional experience in marketing and customer service

Wojciech Kamieniecki, Ph. D.

IDN CEO, Chief Executive Officer

Manager with many years of experience in management of enterprises and large projects, creator of accelerators of innovative ventures. In recent years, he has been involved in introducing modern and innovative solutions combining the worlds of science and business into the Polish and European markets.

Manager and, for many years, head of key institutions responsible for cyber security and technological development in Poland, including the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR). During his time at the helm of this agency, NCBR won the EC award for the best innovation procurement institution in the EU.

Expert in the field of modern technologies and management. Author of a number of scientific publications in the field of development strategy, enterprise management and enterprise value creation.

Arkadiusz Dorynek

IDN Financial Director

Financial expert with over 25 years of experience in corporate finance, private equity, and strategic management. 

He holds an MBA in Finance from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Gdańsk. Recognized as "CFO of the Year" in 2013, he has an impressive track record in IPO management, financial strategy development, and business transformation.

Throughout his career, Arkadiusz has held leadership roles, including Chief Financial Officer for publicly traded companies like Medinice S.A., Platige Image S.A., and Multimedia Polska S.A. 

His expertise spans capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. He has also contributed to the development of innovative projects, such as the commercialization of cutting-edge cardiology solutions and R&D-driven initiatives.

Daniel Puch

Project Manager

Head of Development Department - Bialystok University of Technology (BUT). Project Manager of several dozen projects with a total value of over PLN 290 million (including POKL, POWER, POIŚ, POIR, POIG, RPOWP, PORPW, ERA-NET), in which over 25,000 participants participated (POKL, POWER). 

Horizon EU& EU Funds Expert.

Master Business Administration: Innvation and Data Analysis; Woodbury School of Business/SWPS/ Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Postgraduate studies: Lean Management; Bialystok University of Technology

Master's Degree: Faculty of Law; University of Bialystok

Certificates:

• Prince2 Foundation Certificate in Project Management;
• AGILEPM Foundation;
• 1st level of TRIZ certification -Theory of Solving Innovative Tasks

Member of the Program Council of the Business Incubator of BUT. Member of the the council of the Foundation of the Białystok Personnel Training Council. Member of the Coordinating Committee of the IATI.

Agnieszka Gajewska

IDN Marketing Director

Civil servant, for 15 years responsible for the implementation of government programmes and strategies, expert in the Human Capital Operational Programme, Polish subject matter expert in the Council of Europe specialist group, coordinator of the European Commission's National Contact Point.

After leaving public administration, she continued working at the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK), where she was responsible for on-line educational, marketing and promotional projects. She is enthusiastic about new technologies, e-learning and the use of multimedia in digital media marketing campaigns.

Then, she was associated with the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), where she managed projects related to rebranding and creating a coherent image of the NCBR group.

Currently director of marketing and communications at Inseqr Ltd.

Jolanta Piekut,
Prof., Ph. D.

IDN R&D Manager

Professor BUT at the Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Environmental Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Bialystok University of Technology, Poland. PhD in pharmaceutical sciences, Assoc. Prof. in agricultural engineering, scientific and research activities: food chemistry, biochemistry, quality and safety of natural products, agricultural and food waste management. 

Author and co-author of scientific publications and patent applications, R&D project manager, organizational manager of national and international research and teaching grants. Currently the Vice-Dean for Students Affairs and Education at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Bialystok University of Technology for the following courses: biotechnology, agri-food engineering, environmental engineering, forestry. She was participated in 10 research grants financed national funds and in 8 projects implemented within the framework of programmers financed or co-financed from European Union funds; she was the contractor , beneficiary, the task manager, an expert team member, a member of the editor board, and the coordinator of an investment project.

Scientific interests are currently focused on the following thematic areas:

• using agri-food waste as a source of biologically active substances,
• studying the interaction between phenolic compounds extracted from organic waste and pathogenic microorganisms,
• using organic waste as a feed additive,
• using the sublimation dehydration process to obtain freeze-dried products based on natural products to develop and possibly implement new products,
• using individual fractions of plant extracts as biocatalyzers in microbiological processes,
• assessing natural products in terms of the occurrence of biologically active substances (phenolic acids) with potential applications in agri-food processing.

Projects:

• "The use of the sublimation-dehydration process for the acquisition of lyophilizes on the basis of natural products aimed at designing and possibly implementing new products" within the framework of the "Innovation Incubator+"
  - project manager; in years 2017-2018.
• "Rhodiola rosea -innovative cultivation, innovative raw materials", financed from EU funds, Rural Development Program 2014-2020
  - contractor; in years 2021-2022.

Ewa Zapora, Ph. D.

IDN R&D Director

Assistant professor at the Department of Silviculture and Forest Use, Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Bialystok University of Technology, Poland. PhD in pharmaceutical sciences, experience in assessing the impact of natural products on human and animal health as well as assessing the possibility of obtaining and using bioactive substances from forest raw materials. Author and co-author of scientific publications, patents and patent applications. R&D project manager, organizational manager of national and international research and teaching grants

Current research projects:

• "Rhodiola rosea - innovative cultivation, innovative raw materials", financed from EU funds, Rural Development Program 2014-2020 - principal project manager.
• "Screening of basidiomycetes (Basidiomycota) for their biologically active metabolites" Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange - project manager.
• "FORCER - fractionation and verification of the biological activity of the Heterobasidion annosum as a potential ingredient of the preparation for colorectal cancer", Regional Operational Program of Podlaskie Voivodeship 2014-2020.
• "FUMASTI - an innovative composition for the treatment and prevention of inflammation of the mastitis in dairy cattle", financed by EU funds, Innovation Incubator 4.0, Intelligent Development Operational Program 2014-2020 - principal project manager.
• "openforestdata.pl - Podlasie digital repository of natural science data ', Operational Program Digital Poland 2014-2020 - deputy project manager.
• "PROM - International scholarship exchange of doctoral students and academic staff". Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange - faculty coordinator

Completed research and teaching projects:

• IRES: U.S. - Poland Student Research Experience to Study Plant Species Interactions in the Unique Ecosystem of the Bialowieza Forest ", National Science Foundation, US, 2015-2017
• International Training School COST FP1401 GLOBAL WARNING - 2016
• COST Action FP1406 Pine pitch canker - strategies for management of Gibberella circinata in greenhouses and forests (PINESTRENGTH) - 2017
• "Trilateral Summer Academy", German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), 2013-2016

Certificates:

• Prince2 Foundation Certificate in Project Management
• 1st level of TRIZ certification - Theory of Solving Innovative Tasks.

Chairwoman of the Organizing Committee of the annual International Scientific Conference "Tourism in environmentally valuable areas", from 2014. Member of the Polish Forest Society. Member of the Polish Mycological Society. Member of the "Medical Mushrooms" Consortium. Co-founder of Fungi Extract Bank (www.fungiextractbank.com)

EXPO2020 Dubai institutional ambassador.

Team rewards:

• Podlaska Brand in the "Discovery" category (2020)
• Innovations 2018. social innovations. Category: Science for Life (2018)

The heroine of the Podlaskie Voivodeship promotional campaign: "People powered by nature" (2020).

Sławomir Bakier

IDN Research Team Director
President of the IDN Scientific Council

Director of Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Bialystok University of Technology, Poland. Professor of agricultural sciences. Author and co-author of scientific publications, patents and patent applications. R&D project manager, organizational manager of national and international research and teaching grants. Organizational manager, the task manager, an expert team member, a member of the editor board and the coordinator of the projects:

• 2022 coordinator on behalf Bialystok University of Technology project Hajnówka OdNowa.
• 2017-2022 coordinator on behalf of the Białystok University of Technology of the project e-Puszcza: Podlaskie Repository of Natural Data. Project carried out in consortium with the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
• 2021: Project manager for the construction of mobile bison trapping, including concept development, preparation of project and cost documentation and development of a prototype of a mobile bison trapping.
• 2017-2018: Project manager implemented as part of the "Incubator of Innovation +" under the title: "Field verification of plant composition for the prevention and treatment of malignant American foulbrood AFB. The project implemented as part of the cooperation of INFINI Ltd. and the Institute of Innovation and Technology of the Białystok University of Technology.
• 2017: Contractor in the project "2WORK - a comprehensive program shaping competences and qualifications, increasing the chances of graduates in the labor market", POWER 2014-2020, Action 3.1. (specialist workshops: "Saprophytic fungi and their role in the Tilio-Carpientum subfonental hornbeam forest stands" and "Parasitic fungi and their role in the Tilio-Carpientum subcontinental forest stands").
• 2015-2017: University project coordinator - chairman of the steering committee of the International scientific and research project "IRES: U.S. - Poland Student Research Experience to Study of Species Interactions in a Unique Ecosystem of the Bialowieza Forest" funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) No. 1459504. Implemented by the Białystok University of Technology and the University of Mississippi.
• 2013-2015: Head of the Polish group of "Polish-Bielarusian-Germany Trilateral Summer Academy" implemented by Białystok University of Technology, Bielarusian Technological State University in Minsk, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Lower Oder Valley National Park, Bialowieza National Park, Bielawiezskaya Puscha National Park.
• From 2014: Work manager of the statutory work carried out at the Faculty of Forestry: "Identification of secondary metabolites in vascular plants and fungi from the Białowieża Primeval Forest".
• 2007-2008: Project manager: "Analysis of real properties of crystallized honey and technology of their modification" carried out at the Białystok University of Technology and financed from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (habilitation grant) No. N31201132 / 0755.
• 2006-2008:Benchmarking research coordinator under the "Podlaski Klaster Spożywczy" project. The project is implemented from the European Social Fund under the Integrated Regional Operational Program of the IROP by the University of Information Technology and Entrepreneurship in Łomża.

Scientific interests:

• Nature protection;
• Beekeeping in a forest environment;
• Action task for people and action;
• The use of modern analytical techniques for the quantification of biologically active compounds;
• Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of products;
• Near-infrared spectroscopy;
• Binding of water in food products;
• Rheological properties of food products.

Magdalena Przybyło, Ph.D., Eng.

Technology Director
Vice-President of the IDN Scientific Council 

Experienced scientist and manager. Researcher and academic lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Wrocław University of Technology.

Creator and CEO of Lipid Systems sp. z o.o., a pharmaceutical company founded and operating in Wrocław. Lipid Systems manufactures and introduces drugs and supplements to the Polish and global market. At Lipid Systems, M. Przybyło created both the technological line for the production of drugs and supplements, and is responsible for supervising the production and sales channels. Expert in the legal procedure related to the production and sale of supplements and drugs. She has also implemented numerous scientific and research grants. Deputy President of the IDN Scientific Council.

Marek Wołkowycki

R&D Manager Specialist

Senior scientific and technical specialist at the Department of Silviculture and Forest Utilization, Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, forester, expert with 35 years of practical experience in the field of forest botany and phytosociology, forest phytopathology and mycology.

Expert in the field of analysis and description of the processes leading to the disappearance of rare and protected species in naturally valuable habitats, included in the Natura 2000 Convention. Author and co-author of scientific publications, patents and patent applications. Expert in nature inventory and analysis, environmental impact assessment, environmental nature protection. Contractor of national and international research and teaching grants.

Current research projects:

• 1e-Forest. Podlaskie digital repository of natural science data ', Operational Program Digital Poland 2014-2020 - contractor
• Local expert in National monitoring project of habitats and priority species Natura 2000, conducted by the General Inspectorate of Environmental Protection - 2006 - now

Completed research and teaching projects:

• IRES: U.S. - Poland Student Research Experience to Study Plant Species Interactions in the Unique Ecosystem of the Bialowieza Forest ", National Science Foundation, US, 2015-2017.
• International Training School COST FP1401 GLOBAL WARNING - 2016.
• COST Action FP1406 Pine pitch canker - strategies for management of Gibberella Circinata in greenhouses and forests (PINESTRENGTH) - 2017.
• "Trilateral Summer Academy", German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), 2013-2016.
• Project management plan for the Natura 2000 site in Puszcza Białowieska; development of plant species from Annex II of the Habitats Directive and the Natura 2000 habitat for light oak forests in the area of the forest - 2004.
• Contractor of the project LIFE + Nature & Biodiversity (FPP); 2010-2014. "Restoring populations of Lesser Spotted Eagle at chosen areas of Natura" 2000 - Reference: LIFE08 NAT / PL / 000510, Acronym: LIFEAQUILA); 2010-2014: LIFE Public Database: LIFEAQUILA:
  https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/life/publicWebsite/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=3547 
  LIFEAQUILA: 2015 Award: Best LIFE-Nature Projects https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/life/bestprojects/bestnat2015/index.htm
  
• Work on the Plan for Protection of the Białowieża National Park. Co-author of the flora protection, non-forest habitats, fungi and invasive plants. - 2009-2010.

Member of the Polish Forest Society, member of the Polish Mycological Society.

Member of the "Medical Mushrooms" Consortium.

Co-founder of Fungi Extract Bank (www.fungiextractbank.com)

Team rewards:

• Podlaska Brand in the "Discovery" category (2020)
• Innovations 2018. social innovations. Category: Science for Life (2018).

The hero of the Podlaskie Voivodeship promotional campaign: "People powered by nature" (2020).

Eugene Yurchenko

(Yauheni Yurchanka)

IDN R&D Manager

Researcher, associate professor at Institute of Forest Sciences, Department of Silviculture and Forest Use, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Białystok University of Technology, Poland. PhD in biological sciences (botany and mycology), experience in obtaining pure cultures of the fungi from the environment, liquid-state and solid-state cultivation of mycelial fungi for producing biomass and secreted metabolites, storage of the cultures, fungi species identification based on specimens from natural habitats and based on cultures, scientific consulting of biotechnology laboratories design.

Author and co-author of about 120 scientific publications.

Current research project:

• 2022 - "Screening of basidiomycetes (Basidiomycota) for their biologically active metabolites" - fellowship from NAWA (Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej) in frames of the program "Solidarni z Białorusią - Solidarni z naukowcami", Poland

Completed research projects:

• 2018-2020 - "Study of anticancer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activity of the fungus Stereum hirsutum from submerged culture", financed by Belarusian Republican Fund for Fundamental Research - a member of the research team.
• 2016-2018 - "The features of proteolytic reactions of the mycelium of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus): the influence of manganese ions", financed by Belarusian Republican Fund for Fundamental Research - a member of the research team.
• 2011 - "Taxonomic studies of corticioid fungi of East Asia", financed from National Science Council, Taiwan - principal researcher.
• 2009-2011 - "Study of fungal biota of Scots pine in Belarus and the development of method for PCR diagnostics of selected pathogenic species", financed by Belarusian Republican Fund for Fundamental Research - project manager.
• 2005-2007 - "Molecular genetic polymorphism of corticioid fungi with biotrophic properties", financed by Belarusian Republican Fund for Fundamental Research - project manager.

Other information:

• A leading member of the scientific consulting team during the design works (2013-2016) of Biotechnological Center at Polessky State University, Pinsk, Belarus
• Participant of two regional meetings 'Pinsk-Invest-Weekend' (2014, 2017), Belarus, presentation of the projects for industrial production of Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium and fruitbodies.
• Founder member, council member, and life member of European Mycological Association