The mission of the Hungarian Innovation Agency (NIÜ or Agency) is to increase Hungary’s innovation performance and capacities. NIÜ pursues this goal by enhancing the pipeline of innovative entrepreneurs and researchers, facilitating the access of innovative SMEs and startups to international markets, fostering an innovation-driven environment and enhancing the global visibility of the ecosystem. Taking on the role of a catalyst, the Agency prioritises the promotion of cooperation between ecosystem actors and provides up-to-date, data-driven information on the innovation ecosystem, its actors and achievements.

The Hungarian Innovation Agency has been set up to complement the activities of the NRDI Office, being a funding office and also an agency in active and continuing contact with the innovation ecosystem actors, to further strengthen innovation results. Among others, NIÜ helps innovators to find their way around the many organisations that support innovative projects both professionally and financially: for example, if someone needs funding for an idea, it can point them to public and market support that may be relevant to them.

The NIÜ's organisational units are structured along different strategies to ensure that services to promote innovation reach and support the widest possible range of the ecosystem. The Agency supports a culture of innovation across all sectors of society through a wide range of initiatives.

EDUCATION

The Hungarian government has made it a priority to support young people’s career choices in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), which are key to the advancement of knowledge economy and innovation. The Selye János Student Laboratory Network, run by NIÜ, offers primary and secondary school students the opportunity to work on experiments in laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment outside school hours. Interest in science and technology should be encouraged already at this age.

The Agency is also committed to increasing the number of marketable, innovative businesses in Hungary, and to do this we need more young people who are open to starting innovative businesses and equipped with the skills and competences needed to make a business a success. A key to achieving this goal is to attract young people and equip them with the necessary knowledge during their university studies, which is supported by the Hungarian Startup University Program (HSUP). The programme is an elective, e-learning-based university course, which provides students with two semesters of learning about entrepreneurship and the skills and knowledge needed to start a business. Over the past 4 years, nearly 15,000 students from 32 universities and one NGO across the country have participated in the programme, offering them an insight into the world of innovation management and start-ups through e-learning materials in the first semester. Then, during the second semester, in addition to completing the theoretical modules, some students will have the opportunity to form project teams and develop an innovative business idea with scholarship support. The programme ends with the Demo Day event, where the most promising teams will present their projects to investors and each team may receive an additional HUF 1 million in scholarship.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, SCIENCE PARKS

To achieve the objectives of the John von Neumann Programme, it is crucial to develop cooperation between universities and companies by strengthening joint innovation performance. Looking at international practices, a university-owned company could be the basic element of a structure to support technology transfer processes, responsible for the exploitation of the knowledge developed in the institution, forming a bridge between companies and the university.

At national level, over the past decade, a number of programmes and grants have encouraged the development of academic schemes for technology and knowledge transfer and their temporary funding. A university-owned company, in charge of the commercialisation of the knowledge generated in the institution, is the cornerstone of the structure facilitating the technology transfer process. Currently, five universities (University of Debrecen, Óbuda University, Semmelweis University, Széchenyi István University, University of Szeged) are launching and operating independent technology transfer companies (TTCs) under the coordination of the Hungarian National Innovation Agency.

Science and Innovation Parks (“Science Parks”) are widely used at international level to develop the innovation ecosystem, aiming at a more efficient economic utilisation of scientific results and accelerating innovation by bringing universities and businesses together physically in one space, thus encouraging a better understanding of each other’s needs and processes and the development of long-term, close cooperation. Science parks thus help the growth of Hungarian SMEs and large companies, start-ups and spin-offs in promising technology areas, and create an environment rich in knowledge sharing, innovation and collaboration, with a combination of universities, research institutes, high-tech companies, industrial enterprises and start-ups. In 2023, six higher education institutions (University of Debrecen, Óbuda University, University of Pannonia, Semmelweis University, Széchenyi István University, University of Szeged) were granted HUF 500 million in funding to develop the professional concept of Science and Innovation Parks.

DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE MATERIALS

The regional and international significance of Hungarian higher education is gradually increasing, but there is a need to align higher education output more closely with labour market needs. The content of course materials available in the higher education system is not keeping pace with the rapid pace of industrial, social and scientific change, and is not sufficiently digitised and thus accessible. Developing these areas is crucial to ensure the country’s competitiveness and to adapt to the dynamically evolving digital requirements of the 21st century.

A key objective of higher education course material development is to increase the range of digital training programmes available to higher education, and in addition, to develop a uniform development and playback environment for the development of digital materials for Hungarian higher education institutions. The immediate objective is to set up the infrastructural and methodological background, which is currently lacking, on the basis of which concrete course developments can be launched.

As a result of the project, Hungarian higher education institutions will have access to a state-of-the-art, tailor-made learning management system environment that will enable the delivery of digitally organised forms of education and related effective training content, both for university and adult education activities.

Course material development has a direct impact on 66 higher education institutions, nearly 300,000 students and 25,000 teachers.

SUPPORTING COMPANIES, START-UPS

The corporate division of the NIÜ is a strategic partner for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, helping them to harness the power of innovation for growth, competitiveness and sustainable development. It facilitates relations between corporate partners and relevant innovation resources within the Agency, including technology experts, research facilities and funding opportunities. The division provides corporate partners with guidance and expertise on innovation strategies, including technology adoption, product development and market entry, through innovation consulting.

• IMPULSE Program
  The aim of the Hungarian Innovation Agency’s IMPULSE programme is to promote the market exploitation of innovative products and services with high market potential from Hungarian companies. Applicants can get group and personalised advice and mentoring on project development, innovation financing, business development, intellectual property protection and other topics through innovation support service packages. Our strategic goal is to ensure that as many Hungarian products and services with high added value as possible are commercialised, thus contributing to the economic impact of innovation and, through this, to the growth of Hungarian GDP.
• Event Support Programme
  The Hungarian Innovation Agency also attaches importance to strengthening the innovation and start-up ecosystem through events. Therefore, as in the past, it will continue to support events with these objectives and, from the second half of 2024, it will launch a call for proposals open to all stakeholders, in partnership with ecosystem actors, to contribute to the success of the area. The call is open to businesses; non-profit organisations; budgetary organs and budgetary entities and non-profit companies. The proposals are evaluated by a panel of experts, most whom are independent of the NIÜ, and the NIÜ CEO decides on the award of funding on the basis of their recommendations. The evaluation will focus primarily on the relevance of the concept of the event, its professionalism and international links.

ENTERING FOREIGN MARKETS

It is designed to facilitate the entry of firms, companies, SMEs and innovative start-ups to international markets and to support their activities in international programmes, in particular Horizon Europe. Our international division helps to build partnerships with SMEs and corporations, and seeks to provide funding for innovation projects. The NIÜ contributes to a more prominent presence in the international innovation ecosystem both through its own proposals and by providing assistance to applicants. These promotion efforts are essential to foster cross-border cooperation and amplify the impact of innovative initiatives at global level.

• XPAND Program
  The NIÜ’s Foreign Markets Directorate helps innovative companies at different levels to enter the international market. In addition to general guidance, experts will also help you to understand the specific market and validate your products. The Agency also offers the opportunity of selected companies to participate in business tours in priority target countries. By broadening the range of opportunities for external exposure, it encourages participation in (local) programmes to support international market entry and fosters access to international accelerators through its advisory services and contacts.
• Enterprise Horizon
  The Agency’s Enterprise Horizon service provides information to help innovative businesses successfully participate in Horizon Europe, the world's largest RDI programme, and build international consortia. The NIÜ aims to help Hungarian innovative businesses to participate more successfully in this EU framework programme for research and innovation, not only by broadening the horizons of domestic RDI resources, but also by connecting them to European innovation networks.

ECOSYSTEM ANALYSIS

The main objective of the Directorate is to monitor the Hungarian innovation ecosystem on a data-driven basis and to assess the impact of the results (in particular of government programmes). Its main task is also to produce individual and regular analyses, reports and publications, thus presenting the current situation and results of the Hungarian innovation ecosystem. The development of the NIÜ's data analytics capability is clearly a paradigm shift from the way it has been operating so far: it will also enable a higher level of technology to support data-driven decision-making processes, complex information services and more precise, flexible planning. In addition to solving Hungarian research and analytical tasks, the data analysis team of the division maintains active professional relations with the Hungarian Central Statistical Office and, among others, is part of several comprehensive international scientific projects in cooperation with the OECD, thus helping the continued implementation of national and international good practices.

NIÜ Insights, available on NIÜ’s social media platforms, presents short, easy-to-understand analyses, data and graphs on the processes taking place in the Hungarian and international research and innovation landscape. In addition, the collaboration with Dealroom has resulted in the creation of the first and only comprehensive and searchable database of the Hungarian innovation ecosystem, available through the NIÜ website (in English). The data and analyses show where Hungary stands in terms of innovation in international comparison, how the Hungarian start-up ecosystem is developing, or which are the Hungarian innovative companies, how many of them there are and how can they be characterised.

COMMUNICATION

In its communications, NIÜ focuses on making innovation a central and comprehensible topic in Hungary: to this end, the Agency organises as many international and Hungarian events as possible, produces publications and analyses to disseminate the results of the innovation ecosystem in Hungary and abroad. The world of innovation is not an abstract, intangible concept, but a clear and attractive medium for all – NIÜ aims to raise awareness of successful innovation stories across society and to promote a vibrant, collaborative and active ecosystem. The agency works with opinion leaders, industry experts and emerging innovators to create an environment that fosters the realisation and spread of ground-breaking ideas.

More information about Hungarian Innovation Agency: https://niu.hu/en