From September, the Hungarian Startup University Program (HSUP) will be available again in more than 30 higher education institutions. The two-semester course aims to broaden students' knowledge of innovation and to encourage them to create start-ups based on their own projects. From the 2024/25 academic year, the programme will be relaunched with a completely renewed curriculum and will be available in English, the international language of innovation, as successful start-up founders need to be able to pitch to foreign investors, customers and other partners.
"The Hungarian Innovation Agency is working to create more marketable, innovative businesses in Hungary, and to do this we need young people who are open to starting a business and equipped with the skills and competences needed to make an innovative business a success. A key to achieving this goal is to stimulate young people's interest and to equip them with the necessary skills during their university studies, which HSUP will support. As innovation is an international discipline, the English language is dominant in this world, and we therefore consider it of utmost importance that students learn and master the most important concepts and terms in this language, which will make it easier for them to enter the international market in the future", said László Bódis, CEO of the National Innovation Agency, which manages the HSUP programme.
The programme is an elective e-learning-based university course, which offers students the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurial careers and the skills and knowledge needed to start a business in two semesters. During the first semester, they will gain insights into the world of innovation management and start-ups through e-learning materials. Then, in the second semester, in addition to completing the theoretical modules, some students will have the opportunity to form project teams and develop an innovative business idea with the support of scholarship and mentors.
The programme will conclude with a Demo Day event, where the most promising teams will present their project to investors and receive an additional HUF 1 to 1 million per team.
In the past 4 years, nearly 15,000 students from 32 universities and one NGO across the country have participated in the programme, which will be renewed from the new academic year: in addition to the updated image, the course will be in English, with video (but the videos will also be available with Hungarian subtitles), and an Alumni programme will be launched to bring together and support the teams that have previously participated.
For more information: https://hsup.niu.hu/
