The National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office) and Campus Codeworks Zrt. set up the Kooper platform (www.kooperlabs.hu) to strengthen the Hungarian innovation ecosystem and make knowledge and technology transfer more efficient. The initiative meshes well with the goals of the John von Neumann Programme, highlighting the key role of higher education institutions in bringing scientific results to market.
Under the University Innovation Ecosystem (2019-1.2.1-EGYETEMI ÖKO) programme, 22 universities joined to set up result-oriented organisational units aimed at the practical application of research results that foster the commercialisation of scientific results produced at universities. Owing to this, the innovation ecosystem has seen considerable development, as more and more types of cooperation are taking place in Hungary between the university and corporate sectors. Building on this development, Kooper was launched in 2024 with the aim of further strengthening the process by offering a common digital platform for universities and companies to facilitate cooperation.
One of the main motivations behind the development of Kooper was to make more efficient use of the knowledge and capacities available in Hungarian higher education. The platform functions as a digital platform that enables Hungarian university students and companies seeking employees to find each other, while it also connects the research, development and innovation services available at universities with the demand from businesses. The central database of Kooper is free to use and open to all stakeholders, but is essentially based on two pillars: companies and universities.
The platform plays a particularly important role among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hungary that often lack the necessary internal innovation capacity to develop new products, services or technologies. Kooper offers a solution and enables them to take advantage of a complex service package that provides access to university laboratory infrastructure as well as related professional expertise and research results. In addition to providing a platform for the practical use of research results, Kooper also serves as a source of income for universities through the services it sells.
One of the platform’s unique advantages is that it brings together the diverse range of services offered by Hungarian higher education institutions in one place. The functions available to users include registration, direct contact with university representatives, expressing interest in advertised services, requesting quotes, and evaluating services already used. To facilitate searches, the platform enables users to filter the more than 600 available services by industry, discipline, region and institution. So far, the following 12 Hungarian universities have joined the platform:
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics
- University of Debrecen
- Eszterházy Károly Catholic University
- Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- University of Miskolc
- Moholy-Nagy University of the Arts
- Óbuda University
- University of Pannonia
- University of Pécs
- Semmelweis University
- Széchenyi István University
- University of Szeged
Kooper is an innovative and promising initiative that is instrumental in furthering cooperation between Hungarian universities and companies. The NRDI Office is actively engaged in promoting Kooper both inside and outside Hungary.