János Latorcai, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, highlighted in his welcome speech that domestic intellectual capital and knowledge are available in Hungary. He deemed it important to create a link between the state, companies, universities and the civil sector, and praised the Hungarian Association for Innovation for its contribution to economic growth and social welfare.

János Csák, Minister for Culture and Innovation and chairman of the jury, stressed the importance of cooperation between companies, universities and research institutes in the Hungarian innovation ecosystem. He said that the focus should be on the areas in which Hungarian science and innovation have a tradition, as well as on the digital transformation of society, the economy and on green transition.

A presented by the Minister, 33% of companies in Hungary are innovative, compared to 53% in the European Union. 11% of Hungarian innovative businesses cooperate with universities.

János Csák pointed out that in Hungary only 53% of the total added value is generated by domestic companies, which is a very low proportion, and therefore it needs to be changed.

At the ceremony, the winners were presented with their awards.

Karsai Holding Zrt. was awarded the 2022 Environmental Innovation Award, sponsored by the Ministry of Energy, for the development of the Karsai grass grid.

AgroVIR Kft. was awarded the 2022 Agricultural Innovation Award, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, for the AgroVIR 4 Connect digital service package.

The 2022 IT Innovation Award, supported by the Ministry of Economic Development was awarded to MÁV-START Zrt. and MÁV Szolgáltató Központ Zrt. for the digital transformation of the START Europa - international ticketing system.

The representative of AGM Beton Zrt. received the 2022 Industrial Innovation Prize, sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development, for a reinforced concrete water tower of a capacity of 1000-1500 m3 made of prefabricated elements.

AGM Beton Zrt. was also awarded the 2022 Innovation Award of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office for its particularly active intellectual property protection activities.

The National Research, Development and Innovation Office’s 2022 Innovation Award “From Basic Research to Market” has been awarded to TargetEx Kft. for the development of a protein expression and protein purification platform.

Three applicants, namely Sensirion Kft., the University of Pécs together with Piatnik Budapest Kft. and Bábolna Tetrapak Kft. received special recognition by the jury of the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prix for their innovation performance.

The 3rd General Assembly of the Hungarian Association for Innovation in 1991 decided to establish the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prix. The Grand Prix is awarded once a year to companies registered in Hungary that have managed to achieve significant business benefits through outstanding technical and economic innovation performance in the year preceding the award.

The Board of Trustees of the Hungarian Innovation Foundation first announced the Innovation Grand Prix Competition on 21 January 1993 to recognise innovation achievements in 1992.

Out of a total of 1379 applications submitted upon the thirty competition calls announced so far, 1204 were successfully implemented and of these 233 received various innovation awards.

37 applications were received for the 2022 Hungarian Innovation Grand Prix by the deadline of 3 February 2023. The jury of 27 qualified 35 applications as effectively and successfully implemented innovations in 2022, the Hungarian Association for Innovation announced.

Source: MTI - Hungarian Press Agency

János Csák, Minister for Culture and Innovation, Gergő Bagaméry, Director Preclinical Product Development at Mediso Kft., János Latorcai, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly