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Opening the event, Zoltán Gerendy, managing partner of BDO Hungary, placed R&D within a long historical trajectory. The civilizations that dominated their eras, he argued, succeeded because they transformed discovery into strategic advantage—across military capability, infrastructure, and systems for preserving and transmitting knowledge. Formal accounting captured neither innovation costs nor intellectual capital until the 20th century; that recognition alone signals how central R&D has become to national competitiveness.
Gerendy mapped this evolution against the four industrial revolutions—from steam power to electrification, digitalization and today’s interconnected AI age. Each technological leap raises not only the value of innovation but also the importance of transparent reporting and public policy. He pointed to China, the United States, Germany, Japan and especially South Korea as examples of how coordinated state incentives can rapidly push a country up the global innovation rankings.
The government perspective was delivered by Deputy State Secretary Ádám Nagy, who called the green and digital “twin transition” the defining challenge for Europe’s industrial base. While the United States and China have already surged ahead in cleantech investment, the EU—Hungary included—is now responding with a more focused competitiveness agenda.
Nagy said Hungary’s newly approved 2024 Industrial Strategy replaces the eight-year-old Irinyi Plan and reflects direct consultation with companies. The shift from volume-driven industrial expansion to high value-added activity is clear: stronger university-industry links, 15 regional science parks, and the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) all aim to shorten the journey from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Hungary’s role, he emphasized, is not to direct private decision-making but to co-invest and coordinate—anchoring not just production but entire value chains, as seen in emerging clusters like the Zala Zone automotive R&D ecosystem.
Representing the academic and institutional side, Gábor Alexovics presented HUN-REN’s expanding role as a central pillar of the innovation system. Operating on a EUR 100 million annual budget, the network supports more than 2,500 high-impact scientific papers and more than 300 patents per year.
To accelerate commercialization, HUN-REN established dedicated innovation managers at each research institute and recently launched HUN-Tech, a technology-transfer company designed to support corporate partnerships. The network’s “AI for Science” initiative—built on four pillars spanning efficiency tools to fundamental discovery—offers firms direct collaboration opportunities in emerging digital research.
One of Hungary’s leading homegrown innovators, Lightware Visual Engineering, showcased how local R&D can gain global traction. CEO Gergely Vida traced the company’s rise from a small Budapest apartment to deploying world-first AV technology for clients including Apple, LinkedIn and NATO. The story also underscored risks: superior engineering alone does not always secure market access without strong global alliances.
Afterwards, Marcell Tatai-Szabó, partner at BDO Hungary, presented an “Aid Analysis Toolkit” to help executives locate the right funding sources—grants, tax credits or soft loans—based on project maturity and impact. Early planning and strategic bundling of instruments, he argued, can reduce capital costs and accelerate innovation.
More information about the event is available here.
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