The start-up ecosystem has developed a lot in Hungary and courtesy of the JEREMIE programmes and a new tender opportunity the sector has such potential for growth that is unique in the region. DBH Investment was among the bidders in a tender invited for the establishment of business incubators, for seeking out novel ideas and supporting start-up businesses. The company, which operates several offices across Central and Eastern Europe, said there is major interest from the region’s start-up world too.
Source: portfolio.hu

One of Hungary’s most traditional economic sectors is medical technology, a sector that has seen almost 100 years of widely acknowledged innovation, highly specialised technical development and notable exports to the global market. Several Hungarian companies have achieved international recognition with cutting edge products and technologies. A growing number of innovative domestic SMEs as well as several international medtech producers take advantage of the favourable environment and productive workforce in Hungary.
Source: hita.hu

The European Commission has today started the search for the first European Capital of Innovation, or iCapital. The prize will reward the city which is building the best “innovation ecosystem”, connecting citizens, public organisations, academia, and business. Given that 68% of the EU population now lives in urban areas, it is these areas that will contribute the most to making Europe more innovative. Cities foster innovation in their own provision of services, but the key is to create the right environment for others to innovate and to allow the public and private spheres to connect. An independent panel of experts will select the winner in spring 2014, with the city chosen receiving €500000 towards scaling up its efforts. The deadline for applications is 3 December 2013.
Source: europa.eu

Academic spin-offs are very special start-up companies that are founded by an academic inventor with the aim to exploit technological knowledge that originated within a university setting in order to develop products or services. During the last two decades, academic spin-offs have received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their ability to advance industrial application of scientific knowledge.
Source: kaleidoszkop.nih.gov.hu

One of the winners of the „distinguished visiting professors" programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), a highly acknowledged geochemist of the University of Colorado Stephen J. Mojzsis joined the research activities of MTA's Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences in April. Professor Mojzsis enjoys collaborating with his fellow Hungarian researchers, plans to give scientific lectures, and has already started working on articles to publish their joint research findings.
Forrás: mta.hu

Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization co-publish The Global Innovation Index (GII), now in its sixth edition. The GII recognizes the key role of innovation as a driver of economic growth and prosperity and acknowledges the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation that is applicable to both developed and emerging economies, with the inclusion of indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation (such as the level of research and development in a given country).
Source: globalinnovationindex.org

Research Ministers of the G8 countries who met on 12th June 2013 in London discussed global scientific challenges and notably antimicrobial drug resistance, climate change, energy security and neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer. After the meeting they signed an agreement in which they suggest new areas of joint work for the G8 countries including global research infrastructure development and free access to research data.
Source: gov.uk

The competitiveness of the national economy can be enhanced by the new knowledge, improved continuously in the whole economy. The social-economical based technological and knowledge oriented development has more persistent and bigger impact on the economical development, than the simple increase of the resources.

Hungarian startups are advancing on the learning curve and getting help along the way to turn ambitious ideas into global success stories. If an idea is global and satisfies a basic need, any startup can make it on the international stage as several companies stemming from Budapest have already shown, speakers at the Budapest Business Journal’s Going Global conference pointed out.
Source: bbj.hu

Twenty-six highly acknowledged researchers including three winners of the Momentum programme became corresponding members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at the election held on the first day of the General Assembly. According to the Statutes of MTA, members can be elected from among scientists who hold Doctor of the Academy or other equivalent scientific degrees and "who cultivate their fields of science on a well-recognised, extremely high and creative level."
Source: mta.hu

The 5-day World Class Manufacturing training mission (WCM) provides an in-depth analysis of Japanese manufacturing methodology and is aimed exclusively at EU Executives and Managers with knowledge of WCM and an engineering background. It assists the participants to acquire a better understanding of TQC (Total Quality Control), TQM (Total Quality Management), TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), JIT (Just In Time), TIE (Total Industrial Engineering) practices and the current KAIZEN manufacturing methods (continuous improvement).
Source: eu-japan.eu

The AmCham Board (American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary) has decided to introduce a new membership category for start-up businesses with a moderate membership fee. The goal is to help newly established small companies grow and find networking opportunities within AmCham.
Source: amcham.hu

National Development Minister Zsuzsanna Németh and Azerbaijan's minister for communications and information technology Ali Abbasov discussed bilateral IT and ICT data transmission development opportunities in Baku on Sunday, state secretary Vilmos Vályi-Nagy told MTI after the talks.
Source: bbj.hu

The Directorate General Enterprise and Industry of European Commission published the „Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013” document on 26 March 2013. Innovation is crucial if we want to maintain our global competitiveness and restore growth in Europe. The Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013 provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance of the EU27 Member States and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems. It helps Member States assess areas in which they need to concentrate their efforts in order to boost their innovation performance.

As part of its strategy to combat global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, the European Union (EU), in 2009, agreed the Renewable Energy Directive with ambitious targets for the use of renewable energy. This Statement arises from concerns about the use of biomass for producing road transport fuels and about the arrangements for ensuring that such fuels provide a real climate benefit while not harming the wider environment. It has been generated as an output of a study by a Working Group of experts on biofuels and biodiversity established by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) in 2011.
Source: easac.eu

The Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA) acknowledged eight companies that have recently made big investments in the country at a ceremony late Tuesday.
Source: bbj.hu

"Hungary has considerable scientific traditions, it has outstanding scientific infrastructure, its distinguished scientists are acknowledged all over the world, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) has recently renewed its research institute network in terms of efficiency and competitiveness," President of Max Planck Society Peter Gruss said explaining why he had chosen MTA as the venue for introducing his initiative.
Source: mta.hu

EIT ICT Labs Budapest Associate Partner Group on Tuesday said it launched a HUF 1 billion research programme that will run until mid-2014. The programme involves developments in four broad areas that will have "everyday" applications for users, the group said. EIT ICT Labs Budapest Associate Partner Group is led by the Eötvös Lóránd University of Sciences.
Source: bbj.hu

The Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency on Thursday said it is setting up a database of certified suppliers. The database aims for quality, not quantity, said HITA deputy department head Tamás Kokas. HITA will offer assistance to companies that fail to meet the certification criteria.
Source: bbj.hu