Sustainability the focus of 2022 Regional Startup and Innovation Day
The region’s most prominent startup networking event, the Regional Startup and Innovation Day, was organized for the fifth time by Hiventures on June 2, with climate change and sustainability at its core.
Alongside presentations from industry and climate experts, Access4you won the Best Impact Award title for the most significant environmental, social, and governance impact.
Nearly 340 startups and 100 investors attended the event, which aims to create new opportunities for innovative startups with high growth potential by providing financial support. The long-term goal of Hiventures is to develop a sustainable and competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hungary and the region.
“When we first organized the RSID, we were not just trying to create an extraordinary international startup event in Budapest: we wanted to create more space and opportunities for Hungarian startups to become known and at the same time to put Hungary on the international startup and innovation map,” said Bence Katona, CEO at Hiventures.
Hiventures, part of the MFB Group, says it has become the most active investor in the European region, with HUF 60 billion investment into nearly 500 companies in the past five years.
Top billing among the expert presenters went to Dieter Dahmen, who specializes in disruptive technologies and industry trends, and spoke about the role startups play in initiating global changes.
Dieter Dahmen
“Big problems give birth to heroes, and heroes can initiate big changes. However, for the biggest changes, we need to infringe certain rules,” he explained.
His presentation was followed by a speech about the profound impact humanity has on our planet by the internationally-recognized climate researcher Diána Ürge-Vorsatz. Zsolt Bertalan, the group-level technological innovation director of MVM Zrt., and Zsolt Balog, managing director of Supp.li, which connects producers and restaurants, also gave presentations on the parallels between corporate and societal responsibility.
One of the event’s highlights was the presentation of the Hungarian Startup and Innovation Awards in four categories. Best Impact Startup was won by Access4you, for the positive social and environmental impact it has made by improving accessibility and helping people with special needs.
Best Emerging Startup went to ENERGo, a solar system developing company, while SEON, a FinTech startup developing a fraud prevention system, scooped the Best Scale-up award. The fourth category, Founder of the Year, was given to Zsolt Szigetlaki, founder of YawVR, the producer of Yaw1 and Yaw2 Virtual Reality Motion simulators.
The RSID, which showcased startups from the Hiventures portfolio, also included the regional final of the Get in the Ring energy innovation competition, sponsored by Hungarian energy company MVM. Hungarian startup Haris Digital, founded by Péter Perecz, won the award for it user-friendly and cost-effective production process optimization mobile application. The firm will now go through to the 2022 Global Get in the Ring! finals.
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