Sustained economic growth requires ambitious enterprises that take a positive view on the future, Minister for National Economy (NGM) Mihály Varga stated at the ceremony for presenting the February Awards for Successful Enterprises in Budapest.

He stressed that it is also necessary to optimize the utilization of EU funding allocated for Hungary in 2014-2020 and the Government wants enterprises to spend these resources on improving quality, job creation and innovation.

Funding of some HUF 2900bn is about to be made available, of which the NGM will in the coming months publish calls for 68 tenders worth -- as a whole -- HUF 830bn. Mihály Varga pointed out that refundable aid is a new element in EU funding schemes, as the European Commission urges the re-using of funds. Therefore, the amount of non-refundable grants will in this period be “relatively smaller” than those of refundable ones, so enterprises must more diligently evaluate tender options, he added.

The Minister said that what happened last year had been unprecedented for the past twenty years: the volume of Hungarian exports exceeded EUR 100bn and exports grew by about 1 percent for several quarters.

In February 2015, the “Investor of the Month” award went to B Braun Medical Ltd; while UniTrade M&M Ltd was awarded the “SME of the Month” title, and in the category of “Startup of the Month”, the Minister handed the award to Intellisense Ltd.

B Braun Medical Ltd, a 175-year-old company, has been one of the largest economic operators within the Hungarian healthcare sector; it has invested some HUF 60bn in Hungary since the year it was founded, in 1991, and it currently has some 2000 employees. The company’s production facility, which manufactures medical instruments in Gyöngyös, is the second largest employer in the region. B Braun also runs an international medical software development centre in Budapest, which operates in close cooperation with the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the University of Óbuda in the education of students through the subject Product Development of Medical Devices.

Kunszentmárton-based UniTrade M&M Ltd was established in 1996 as a family enterprise and it has become a company with 140 employees. Revenues at the group totalled HUF 1.5bn last year, up by 20 percent compared to 2013. UniTrade operates its own R&D centre which provides practical training for apprentices and it has joined the dual vocational programme initiated by Mercedes in Kecskemét.

Intellisense Ltd is a maker of customized, attractive and interactive education solutions, which fit in well with digital education processes. The company’s flagship product, WebCam Laboratory, has been used by millions of people all over the world. This device enables students to use webcams as digital microscopes for natural science observations.

(Ministry for National Economy)