The Hungarian economy is changing dimensions, focusing on higher value added jobs, services, research and development, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the “Invented and made in Europe” conference held at the Permanent Representation on 9 December.
Catherine Estrampes President and CEO of GE Healthcare Europe highlighted that cooperation between Hungary and General electric looks back to 30 years and is an excellent illustration of transatlantic innovation partnership, in which the recent Catalyst Programme launched between University of Debrecen and Massachusetts Institute of Technology represents a new milestone.
The event included a roundtable discussion with the participation of Kurt Höller, Director of Business Creation at EIT Health Mathias Goyen Chief Medical Officer of GE Healthcare Europe, Ernest Lara Catalyst Europe Manager at MIT, Zoltán Szilvássy rector of Debrecen University, István Szabó Vice-President of National Research Development and Innovation Office and Bjoern Eskofier from Friedrich Alexander University. The panellists agreed that close cooperation is needed between academia and business sector with due support from the governments in order to ensure market uptake of innovative solutions.
Ildikó Horváth minister of state for health underlined that we need innovation that brings adequate answer to the challenges our healthcare system is facing today.
In his closing remarks, Jean-Eric Paquet director general of DG Research and innovation of the European Commission gave insight in the planning of future EU funds to support innovation.
