In September 2020 the National Research, Development and Innovation Office will start a quality assured, two-semester e-learning course, developed in collaboration with the Ministry for Innovation and Technology (ITM).

In the first stage, the training course is planned to start in the higher education institutions that are participating in the university innovation ecosystem, and have their own operating TIP (Territorial Innovation Platform). The commercialisation of the R&D results of higher education institutions and the entrepreneurial approach acquired by the teachers, researchers and students are enabled by the management of technology transfer and innovation at institutional level. The course aims to drum up university students’ interest in innovation and entrepreneurship, and to encourage them to start innovative businesses.

Unlike other management courses already existing and running, the Hungarian Startup University Programme (HSUP) focuses on developing an innovative approach in students and raising their interest in innovation. The course explains the structure and operation of the innovation ecosystem and offers an opportunity for students to get involved. In order to encourage Generation Y and Z to join the innovation ecosystem, the university training course involves several startup experts to get students familiar with a solution-focused mindset, this way connects generations to evolve “the generation of innovation”.

In the first semester the course focuses on developing innovative thinking, while the second semester teaches students how to build a business and prompts them to elaborate their ideas in project groups. The course is supported by a fellowship programme and business mentoring to enable the best project ideas to get prepared for the real market environment. At the end of the course participants are examined by a jury of top managers from incubators, business angels and venture capital funds.

The course is open to students with an active student status in any higher education institution that participates in the university innovation ecosystem. Applications are welcome regardless of the level or plan of one’s higher education studies (whether it is BSc, MSc, undivided training or PhD, full-time, part-time or distance learning). Within the training course, project groups may get funding from a budget of nearly HUF 4 million.