Letter from the President of JSW Innowacje Tadeusz Wenecki

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am truly honored to invite you to participate in the International Mining Forum 2019, which will take place at the International Congress Center in Katowice on 11 - 12 April this year. This year's meeting is the next step in building and shaping a platform for the exchange of ideas, knowledge, information, opinions and, above all, practical experience of engineers and scientists in the technical, technological, organizational and legal possibilities of implementing the Mining 4.0 idea. The current Forum is a direct continuation of activities inaugurated during the IMF 2017. I do believe that this year's technical dialogue will answer the growing needs in the area of information exchange, knowledge, and especially practical experience in the field of new mining solutions, as well as in the environment of mining companies.

The idea of the "fourth industrial revolution" and the concept of Industry 4.0 as a breakthrough change in the production of goods is on the one hand a challenge and on the other a natural consequence of the development process. New technologies and the resulting new rules for the functioning of business entities that will systematically use ubiquitous information technologies, cyberphysical systems and modeling in an integrated manner, and ultimately new strategies in machine to machine and human-to-human communication, require action today that will, in the near future be a permanent element of a knowledge-based economy.

"The fourth industrial revolution" is a several-year process of intense transformations. At what point in the process are we today? What experiences have we already gained and what is still waiting for us in the implementation of Mining 4.0? Where is the mining industry and how does it use time? How does the role of man change and what will it look like in the Mining 4.0 era? What techniques and technologies appear in the longer term? Is digitization, big data and data mining an introduction to the Internet of All Things? Are we prepared to implement decision-making processes based on virtual simulations and using cyberphysical modeling? - this is only part of the questions that arise when we think about the future of mining. However, these are also questions that show that Mining 4.0 is not an issue concerning only one entrepreneur, but an area of cooperation, exchange of ideas and experiences of the whole group of entities operating in and around the sector. This kind of exchange of experience between producers, suppliers, recipients as well as with the social environment is an indispensable attribute of a knowledge-based economy. A new issue is clearly emerging - how to effectively and optimally manage all these changes, which by their impact on every area of business activity, are inherently multidimensional in their qualitative approach. At the same time, these changes have a very strong impact on the business environment and at the same time are under very strong pressure of signals, trends and phenomena occurring in this environment.

Dear friends,

as Wiktor Hugo said: There is nothing in the world as powerful as the idea which time has just come. Is it easier to imagine Smart mines today, where coal mining and processing processes run in an automated way through automatic modification of work parameters and through the use of communication between machines and entire production systems, which in turn leads to modification of final product configurations?

Two years ago, during International Mining Foum JSW 2017, we identified the areas and challenges that the mining sector faces in the next decade of the 21st century. Today, we would like to go further and exchange experiences in the field of undertaken activities for new technical, IT and organizational solutions in underground mining, thus updating the portfolio of knowledge concerning implemented and prepared mining research and development projects. The host of this great event will be Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. - one of the most modern producers of coking coal and coke in the world.I would like to cordially invite you to Katowice and to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa to the International Mining Forum 2019 on 11-12 April.

Tadeusz Wenecki, President of the Management Board of JSW Innowacje S.A. - Substantive partner