It has been a priority for the Government of Hungary to assist the entry of innovative Hungarian startups into the international market, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said at an event organized by Startup Campus Singapore. In his keynote speech delivered at the event, which he opened jointly with Singapore FinTech Association President Hock Lai Chia, the Minister said Hungary was devoting a lot of energy to increase the number of innovative solutions in production and the services sector.

Progress in the world has been driven by inter-country cooperation, the sharing of best practices and common business achievements, Mihály Varga pointed out. And the Hungarian Government believes that innovative enterprises are a new tool to boost this process as well as economic growth. That is why several programmes, designed to develop Hungary’s innovation eco-system, assist the start of innovative enterprises and ease their entry to international markets, have been launched in recent years, he noted.

Hungary has been a European automotive industry hub, and this role may be further strengthened by the planned test-track for self-driving cars. The Government is also working to introduce 5G technology among the first world-wide after 2020, he added.

Through the establishment of Startup Campus Budapest, a major venue for the innovation-focused community, Budapest aims to become an international player in the startup and innovation eco-system. Today’s signing of MoUs in the field of fintech, concluded between the Singapore FinTech Association and Enterprise Hungary as well as the Hungarian National Trading House-Innotrade, is a milestone in this process, he said.

As Millenáris Nonprofit CEO Tamás Glézer added, the main objective of the Startup Campus Budapest project is to create a multi-functional venue at a symbolic location of Hungary’s capital city where innovative enterprises can come together, where the main public and private sector stakeholders of the innovation eco-system may connect, and which may become a working place for education and enterprise development purposes open for aspiring and practising young entrepreneurs.

(Ministry for National Economy)