Tag Archive for 'budapest'

IBM CEE: Na shledanou to Vienna

Published
by
Guenther Krumpak
  on  June 27, 2008
  in  Austria, Czech Republic and Facts, figures & trends
. 0 Comments

Vienna’s position as CEE’s ICT capital has suffered quite a blow by IBM’s announcement to move its CEE headquarters to Prague. Beware: I love Prague, I live there, but the decision’s wording “to move growth market activities to growth markets” sounds rather shallow if applied to the Czech Republic. Sure the country has growth potentials that the EU15 have lost long ago, but then why not move IBM CEE to Ukraine or Russia right away?

Continue reading ‘IBM CEE: Na shledanou to Vienna’

Observations on Framework 6 in Hungary

Published
by
Steven Carlson
  on  January 14, 2005
  in  EU funding programmes
. 0 Comments

The goal of NETIES is to help small technology businesses (SMEs) get started with Framework 6 (FP6, and part of that mission, we’re working to identify barriers to participation.

The business people I bring together at my First Tuesday events here in Budapest are well aware of European Commission funding, but have little idea how to get started. Those who have describe a steep learning curve.

One First Tuesday attendee told me he had been approached by a Greek company to take part in an EU tender. The problem, he explained, is he doesn’t know this company and the relationship is open ended. Applying for the grant is an investment of time, but the return is unclear.

Others are baffled by the language of the European Commission, which includes calls, instruments, specific support actions, networks of excellence, and acronyms such as IST, EVA, FP6 and SME. (I found a useful FP6 glossary here.)

At my December First Tuesday event, we spent a good 45 minutes discussing step by step how FP6 works. Many people simply didn’t understand why the European Commission is offering money, and what they would be expected to deliver.

I was particularly pleased to have at my event, Dorottya Pék and her colleague Barbara from Care Consulting, who make a business of helping businesses apply for these grants. Dorottya was able to explain more of the specifics of the current calls published on Cordis.

As it turns out, there’s a whole network of people and institutions here in Hungary that provide information, training and consulting to businesses wishing to take part in FP6 and I’ll introduce some of these actors in future posts to nowEurope.

The next big thing

Published
by
Vlastimil Vesely
  on  November 11, 2004
  in  Business innovation and Current events
. 0 Comments

NETIES is not going to map the ICT sector “only” (well - it goes across other industries anyway). One of the emerging fields still more attractive for investors is biotechnology including genetic modifications, bioinformatics, medical devices and many others.

In October we had in Brno one of the “Best of Biotech” events. The next ones were organised also in Bratislava and Budapest. They are a part of the international initiative awarding the best biotech projects and the tour covering Austria, Slovenia, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. The third annual international business plan competition, Best of Biotech - get your business started! is organised by Life Science Austria (LISA), a programme run by Austria Wirtschaftsservice on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour. The mission has been described as encouraging the development of the biotech scene in Austria, but also to improve cross-border collaboration between Austria and its neighbours.