The voice of the Dronehub CEO echoed at the largest business and political event in this part of Europe

It’s always upbuilding, tickling, and motivating to keep working hard. CEO of Dronehub Vadym Melnyk was invited to share his knowledge and vision of digitization and cutting-edge technology during the 30th Europe of the Carpathians Conference, as part of the Economic Forum in Karpacz – the largest conference in Central and Eastern Europe.

This year, the event was especially attractive, as we returned to live meetings, eye-to-eye discussions, and hand-in-hand exchange of business cards. It is not surprising then that such an excellent cast appeared on the 30th edition of the Economic Forum – presidents and prime ministers of states, CEOs of the largest state and private companies, authorities in the field of economy, politics, social affairs, as well as top entrepreneurs and visionaries. It is a great honor for us that the CEO of Dronehub Vadym Melnyk was among the latter two.

The Economic Forum is the largest conference in Central and Eastern Europe. Every year the Forum, organized at the beginning of September brings more than 4000 guests. These are political, economic, and social leaders as well as approx. 600 journalists. The guests come from over 60 countries in Europe, Asia and America. The Forum’s mission is to create a favored climate for the development of political and economic cooperation between EU member states, and their neighbors.

Inviting Vadym to the largest business and political event in this part of Europe and giving him a floor in the discussion is a confirmation of the growing role of what distinguishes our company in the business world – innovative solutions, two steps ahead perspective, and standing in the technological avant-garde.

Vadym was invited to share his views during the 30th Europe of the Carpathians Conference, as part of the Economic Forum in Karpacz. Among the guests of the Europe of the Carpathians Conference were, among others: Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Grzegorz Puda, Minister for European Union Affairs Konrad Szymański, as well as Václav Klaus – former president of the Czech Republic.

Dronehub’s CEO took part in the panel “Digital Europe of the Carpathians. Security and economic leap, so why do we need new technologies? ”, led by prof. Andrzej Zybertowicz, a current advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland.

Check the most important statements of Vadym during the panel:

The creation and development of our start-up were different from that of most start-ups. We didn’t start with a fancy solution, an idea. We started with understanding the market needs and the problems our potential future customers have. We built our product on this basis

We went abroad right away. Today our sales in Poland are 5%. What is our sales strategy? First of all, market education. We have to prove to each customer that the drone will not fall on their heads and that they need it because it is the best tool for obtaining data. First, we show how Dronehub solves its problems, thanks to which we can sell and build a brand with such efficiency

The big trick is to openly admit to a potential client or partner what your solution cannot. It is not allowed to darken, paint the grass green and talk about the unrealistic possibilities of a given solution. Sooner or later, this spoof will come out, making you lose credibility in the eyes of an experienced partner immediately. With this principle in mind, we managed to convince the European Defense Agency, which is now our largest client, to long-term cooperation

Every Polish startup faces some basic problems. First of all – a lack of financing, especially in investment rounds. Start-ups from the USA, UK, and Western Europe achieve the most because they have access to financing. Secondly – Polish companies unnecessarily try to scale in our market. This is the factor that killed most Polish start-ups. We, as Dronehub, also went through it – we hit Polish entrepreneurs, small, medium, or large, such as Orlen, although with Orlen it worked well. But let’s look at Israel – it is a country that has 8 million inhabitants and is at the forefront of countries with the most unicorns. This is because they immediately treat their market as a springboard for making real money in Asia or the USA. In the West, the effort to be made in sales is much smaller than in Poland. I also have the impression that we in Poland, as Polish companies, stop too quickly – when we achieve a little success, it is enough for us

The focus of the technological world for the coming years will be on data privacy. We will fight for having back the data that corporations have ‘taken’ from us. We are already seeing tensions between large corporations and the European Commission or the American administration – governments have realized that citizens have become products. And it can’t be like that. So I think the return to regaining power over our data will continue in the coming years

During the 30th Europe of the Carpathians Conference, politicians, experts, and representatives of non-governmental organizations discussed the key problems of Central and Eastern Europe. The talks also concerned digitization, international politics between the USA – Europe – Russia – China, and the partnership between Poland and Ukraine.

At the same time as the participation of Vadym Melnyk in the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Kielce hosted the 3rd largest military equipment fair in Europe. Were our drone systems there? Of course. Read more here.