CeBIT fair – Government aims to turn Hungary into ‘ideal’ place for R and D, says foreign minister – UPDATE

Hannover, March 20 (MTI) – Hungary has so far proven to be an ideal place for production, now it has to become an ideal place for research and development, the foreign minister said in Hannover, visiting the international CeBIT fair, on Monday.

Technological transformation has triggered a turnaround in the global economy in which the conditions of competitiveness have overall changed. In this new era the success of a national economy hinges on how effectively production is combined with digital development, Péter Szijjártó said.

The government has already taken steps to achieve that goal, including measures to facilitate a “switchover to a digital economy”, he said at the Hungarian stand.

Due to these efforts, “flagship businesses of that switchover” keep expanding their innovation capacities in Hungary, Szijjártó said.

UPDATE

Hungary opened its biggest ever national stand at the CeBIT technology fair, with twenty-one companies showing at the 400sqm stand. They include consumer advice application maker AISS Technologies, security printing company ANY Biztonsagi Nyomda, self-driving car test track operator Autoipari Probapalya Zala, digital storyteller BOOKR Kids, automated brewer maker Brewie, 3D printing and software developer Craftunique, enterprise analysis company Dat-Cor, cashless payment company Festipay, interview app maker Indivizo, mobile mapping company InterMap, digital vehicle management company Konetik, device designer Maform, mechanical and digital design company MechatroMotive, remote monitoring device maker MOHAnet Mobilsystems, IT consultant Mortoff, national infocommunications service provider NISZ, digital publishing platform maker PublishDrive, enterprise mobile application maker Scolvo, software maker SOFTIC, business-consumer communication facilitator Talk-a-Bot, and website and application designer Webapix.

Szijjártó, government spokesman Zoltán Kovács, Digital Welfare Programme commissioner Tamás Deutsch and state secretary for education László Palkovics all participated in the ceremony to open the stand.

Szijjártó told Hungary’s public media after the opening event that he had held talks with representatives of Deutsche Telekom, SAP and Vodafone. These are flagship companies for digitalisation and they are all continually expanding in Hungary, he added.

Kovács said the Hungarian government has several strategies for promoting digitalisation in Hungary. Deutsch said the Digital Welfare Programme was based on the realisation that “the digital revolution offers a great opportunity” and the aim is to make every Hungarian a winner of this global change. Deutsch highlighted the digital education strategy which involves teaching the principles of algorithmic thinking and basic programming skills. These are to become basic skills to be acquired in public education, he added.

More than 3,000 businesses are showing at the fair which is expected to draw over 200,000 professionals over five days.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI