Universities and research institutions have a key role to play in strengthening Hungary’s economic competitiveness, said László Bódis, Deputy Secretary of State for Innovation of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation at a press conference on Thursday in Budapest.

The event marked the launch of the kooper platform, initiated by the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office to improve cooperation between universities and companies. The new tool went live on Thursday.

The deputy state secretary explained that kooper provides a single interface to showcase the skills available at universities and relevant for businesses. Its significance lies in the fact that the vast majority of Hungarian SMEs lack the innovation capacity needed to bring new products, services and technologies to the market. László Bódis added that when linking knowledge generating systems and businesses, one has to pay attention, among other things, to funding, highlighting that the National Research, Development and Innovation Office announces calls for applications to the tune of tens of billions of forints every year to promote such cooperation. And this is what kooper was set up for; to inform businesses about the skills available at universities.

László Lengyel, Vice President of the NRDI Office, informed that both universities and businesses will need to register for the kooper platform, which is available at kooperlabs.hu. The initiative has already attracted nine universities including the University of Miskolc, Óbuda University, the University of Pannonia, the University of Pécs and Széchenyi István University.

At the press conference participants were also informed that the new niche platform is a joint development of the NRDI Office and SDA Informatika Zrt. Kooper is a virtual marketplace designed to help connect universities with businesses for an efficient flow of knowledge.

Please watch the short film about the kooper platform:

Source: MTI