Katalin Sebők, Vice-President for research and development of the Office, emphasised: the TIP network was established in order to promote regional organisations all over the country, which are based on University knowledge bases providing, on the one hand, access to direct information on innovation policy, and an opportunity to forge cooperation between the actors of the local innovation ecosystem and lay down new professional foundations, on the other.
According to the Vice-President,territorial innovation platforms shall be established this year in Győr, Pécs, Szeged and Budapest as well, after Miskolc and Debrecen.
According to Katalin Sebők, the platform shall be organisations where the actors have a simple, easy, permanent, even thematic access to information on professional work, cooperation related to a specific area, which might as well make them more successful when submitting project proposals to Hungarian or foreign calls for proposals.
The Vice-President also mentioned that a condition of access to European funding in the period between 2021-27 is that Smart Specialisation strategic priorities be set in the area of research-development and innovation (R&D&I). Proposals are expected in respect to such priorities from the founders of the platforms and those joining these organisations - she added.
At the conference in Debrecen, a Start call for proposals targeting small- and medium-sized enterprises was also discussed, this would provide financial assistance of smaller amounts to a broad range of participants to promote innovation - said Katalin Sebők.
She also added: innovative SMEs are only few in number, which is a competitive disadvantage for enterprises. The platforms are to provide solution to this by providing access to the “huge pool of knowledge” - human resources, infrastructure capacity - that exists at universities.
Katalin Sebők also said: an initiative has been launched in order to map the knowledge assets universities dispose of, which they would like to make accessible for enterprises through a one-stop shop.
She underlined: the strong cooperation between universities and economic actors also contributes to a significant strengthening of the innovation ecosystem, the capacities of SMEs to innovate, the degree to which universities’ knowledge capacity is utilised, which finally shall increase the economic and social benefit of innovation.
Zoltán Szilvássy, Rector of the University of Debrecen, added that their institution forged a close relationship with the local chamber of commerce and industry and the municipality about one-and-a-half decades ago, and this trilateral cooperation laid the foundation of outcomes that also include innovation.
He elaborated on the clusters operating successfully for years in the area of pharmaceutical and agri-industry with the participation of the University and enterprises, and also mentioned that departments which are assigned to companies also contribute to the efficient cooperation. At the same time, he identified the innovation capacity of the SME sector as a weak spot, which could significantly be improved in the future through the opportunity provided by the innovation platforms.
Zoltán Bács, the Chancellor of the University of Debrecen added: as a result of a public procurement procedure expected to be completed successfully soon, the innovation plaza might be constructed in the Science Park of the University providing working space for the actors of the territorial innovation platform.
Csaba Deák, the Chancellor of the University of Miskolc said that it was an honour for the University of Miskolc to be the first venue of the series of events, as the University has always placed great emphasis on innovation. The Territorial Innovation Platform has provided a new momentum for the University to strengthen its position as an actor of decisive importance in the area of innovation. He considers it their mission to broaden their portfolio to be able to provide services for SMEs in order to benefit from innovation as much as possible.
Source: Hungarian News Agency
