I enjoy living in Hungary, however I’ve spent much of the last ten years working on projects focused outside of Hungary. For example one recent employer, Indextools, has built a thriving business selling Web Analytics services in North America and Western Europe, but until recently they didn’t have ANY business here in Hungary. The local market simply wasn’t ready.
So is Hungary ready now? I’ve been talking to a few people in the local market in an attempt to find that out. The answer is significant, because Web Analytics is an essential part of realizing the commercial potential of the Internet medium.
Continue reading ‘Is Hungary ready for Web Analytics?’
A key roadblock for innovative new businesses in Hungary is the relative lack of capital for early stage startup companies. One way this gap is filled in other countries is the ‘business angel’ - a wealthy individual who brings not only his cash, but often his expertise, contacts and elbow grease.
Here in Hungary I know a handful of business angels, and I’ve met similar people in the Czech Republic. They seem to be few and far between - at least in comparison to places like the United States and Britain. Yesterday I came across this study which, for the first time, offers a formal snapshot of the angel phenomenon in Hungary.
So how many are there? The answer depends on how you define a business angel.
Continue reading ‘The elusive business angel’
The Invest in France Agency (AFII) has recently published a report in Franceon Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) which reveals that foreign investors have much more confidence in France?s economic potential than French actors have themselves!
With FDI amounting to 40 billion euros in 2005, France ranks as the fourth most attractive country for foreign investments, behind Great Britain - which enjoyed an exceptional score thanks to an important merger in the energy sector (Shell) - China and the United States. Since 2002, France has positioned itself around the third rank after the United States and China. According to the AFII, completed inward investment projects in France have increased by 12.4 % over 2004 with a record 664 projects creating or safeguarding 33,296 jobs.
Continue reading ‘France remains one of the most attractive countries for foreign investments’
One of my favorite resources is the Wikipedia - the world’s free encyclopedia, written by its readers. I suppose I must have discovered it about two years ago when I began to regularly notice it in the search results. You might well argue whether the Wikipedia is accurate (here’s the pro, here’s the con). Regardless, I find it incredibly useful and fun to browse.
One thing I like is that the Wikipedia is so comprehensive. While watching DVDs I will inevitably search for Wikipedia listings on the film, actors and so on. And to think it used to take so much effort to be a film buff.
This morning I discovered that the Hungarian-language version of the Wikipedia is also coming up to speed. Sitting at my favorite Buda-side cafe I got into a conversation with the waitress about the music she was playing. She wanted to know more about Dave Brubeck and I discovered a Hungarian-language page. Compare this to the English-language listing for Brubeck and you’ll see it’s not as detailed - but, hey, it will do for a start.
Last week Budapest played host to the 13th annual International Electronics Forum, which brings together senior executives from the global semiconductor industry. The theme of the conference was ‘the Third Digital Revolution’ and apparently Hungary - and this region - are playing a leading role.
According to conference organizer Malcolm Penn, quoted in EETimes, Central Europe has emerged as a hub for electronics design and development - a hopeful sign that the region is moving up the value chain.
Continue reading ‘Central Europe recognized as electronics design hub’
Over the years, I have heard a lot of people say a lot of daft things about creativity. Some of those things, I hear again and again. What’s worse, a lot these daft notions - or myths - about creativity are detrimental to the creative process. So, let’s end this once and for all. Below are 10 creative myths. If you share these with everyone in the world, these myths will go away.
Continue reading ‘10 Creative Myths’
One of the underlying maxims of engineering is that of KISS, an acronym for ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’ or, as I prefer: ‘Keep It Simple Sweetheart’. And if you have ever watched a project evolve from concept to design to implementation, you will understand the importance of Kiss. When new ideas are at the drawing board, they are often simple, elegant concepts. But, as more people become involved, they all want to add features to the concept. As a result, the design must become increasingly complex in order so support all the proposed features.
However, many of those proposed features will prove useless. They will add complexity to the design of the project, they will make the finished product more expensive to purchase and maintain and they will offer no real benefits to the end user.
Continue reading ‘KISS: Keep innovation simple, sweetheart!’
A friend and longtime nowEurope reader recently emailed me to ask about an invitation he received from me to join my LinkedIn network: “I’ve never figured out what to do with LinkedIn and its like,” Nels wrote me. “How do you use it? Do people hunt for you there? Why? How do they know what to look for, apart from your name … and how do you look for people? By function? area of interest? location?”
Nels isn’t the only person asking - last month I sat down with a Hungarian newspaper reporter to explain the whole thing. And no wonder, with the recent sale of IWIW to T-Online, social networking is all the rage in Hungary. Here’s a brief primer for those who might feel left out.
Continue reading ‘LinkedIn, OpenBC & IWIW: Social networking in Hungary’
Launched in October 2005 by DG Enterprise and Industry, Europe INNOVA is an initiative for innovation professionals under the thematic “Structuring the European Research Area” of the 6th Framework Programme. It aims at providing policy makers, innovation intermediaries and enterprises with data and surveys on innovation. This project adopts a sector-based approach and tends to develop networking on innovation in the all Europe. More than 800 innovation professionals from 23 Member States are involved in this initiative.
Continue reading ‘Europe INNOVA has launched its website’
The Hungarian tech community is currently abuzz with the news that T-Online has purchased a local social networking site, IWIW, for EUR 4m. For some here, this feels a bit like the heady exuberance of the dotcom days. In fact, the success of IWIW has already inspired two imitators.
This news will certaintly provide encouragement to local tech entrepreneurs, and may be an important signal that the online ad market is beginning to mature. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons this deal is unlikely to create much in the way of long-term value. All the same, congratulations to Virgo Systems!
The good news is the IWIW deal signals that the Hungarian online ad industry is starting to matter. One reason T-Online paid the money was to acquire the advertising inventory. According to reports, IWIW attracts up to 400,000 visitors each day (although I can’t help wonder if those are actually visitor sessions). Another obvious reason is that T-Online wants to increase the value of their portfolio of websites.
The downside of this deal is that IWIW’s popularity is clearly a bubble. The service is primitive in comparison to international competitors such as LinkedIn and OpenBC (the latter is also available in Hungarian). Once a critical mass of users has connected to each other, there’s not much more for them to do unless T-Online is prepared to invest in expanding the service.
And that’s not likely. T-Online has neither the vision nor the will to further develop IWIW. Nor are there any clear models for commercializing such a service. The most sophisticated competitor, LinkedIn, now provides a number of useful services to job seekers, however the service is not yet profitable. Most notably, Google seems have to have given up development of its social networking service, Orkut.
The local tech community can take pride in the fact that IWIW’s valuation (EUR 4m) isn’t that far off from the sums being invested in similar US services - LinkedIn ($15m), Friendster ($13m), Spoke ($21m) and Tribe ($4.8).
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