The event was opened by Mr. Péter Szijjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, followed by the speeches of Mr. Tae-Hee WOO, Deputy Minister of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Mr. József Pálinkás, PhD, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Mrs. Zsanett Ducsai-Oláh, CEO of the Hungarian National Trading House and Mr. Jung Gwan Kim, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea International (KITA) respectively.
The diplomatic and economic relations between Korea and Hungary have a history of 25 years and their joint activities in research, technology and trade are growing stronger. In the past few years, foreign investments coming from Korea reached 2 billion USD and Korean enterprises employ approximately 23 thousand people in Hungary. Mr. Szijjártó emphasized that today’s forum is a perfect opportunity for the participants to mutually share their experiences and to foster co-operation in technology, investment and trade.
In his speech, Mr. József Pálinkás, the President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, welcomed the fact that the co-operation is becoming more intensive between the Korean and Hungarian researchers, developers and innovators, as the Korean Republic started to establish its European foothold in Hungary in the domain of research with the creation of a Korean-Hungarian research laboratory. The National Research, Development and Innovation Office intends to facilitate the process of setting up co-operations between each link of the innovation value chain through value-generating development and innovation programmes. To ensure success, the office will launch a bilateral call that funds research exchange between the two countries. EUREKA and EUROSTARS programmes – this year co-financed by Hungarian programmes coordinated by the office – also provide excellent opportunities to enhance Korean-Hungarian co-operations, and to launch joint innovation projects – stated Mr. József Pálinkás in his opening remarks.
A good example of the earlier established fruitful collaboration is the success of a Hungarian start-up enterprise, Optoforce Ltd. in the Korean Republic. The main profile of the enterprise is the research and development of optical force sensors; the company delivers precision sensors to numerous South-Korean institutions. Optoforce Ltd. currently intends to deliver the manufactured sensors to one of the largest South-Korean electronic concerns; these devices will be built-in in next-generation industrial robots.
Photo: Márton Kovács KKM