33 institutions are now participating in the National Innovation Agency's university start-up programme, which has attracted nearly 14,500 students over the autumn semesters
The Hungarian Startup University Program (HSUP), run by the National Innovation Agency (NIA), has entered its fourth academic year with 14384 university students enrolled so far. This academic year, 33 institutions have joined the programme, more than ever before, and 4,232 students have enrolled in the modern entrepreneurship course. In addition, from this year, the best teams will receive up to HUF 20 million in funding to launch their start-up.
László Bódis, Deputy Secretary of State for Innovation at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, clearly appreciated the numbers as a result of the programme. "In order for Hungary to become one of the top ten innovators in Europe by 2030 and one of the top ten innovators in the world by 2040, we need to introduce more young people to the concept of innovation and the skills needed to start a start-up. These are the goals that HSUP is successfully pursuing for the fourth year running."
Innovation thinking cannot start early enough
The Hungarian Startup University Program aims to promote innovation and the knowledge needed to found startups among students in order to create more innovative businesses in Hungary. Launched in 2020, the e-learning-based higher education programme introduces students to the basics of innovative thinking over two semesters. During the training, they will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge that they can use later to implement their own ideas and businesses.
The structure of the Hungarian Startup University Programme is based on the interacting building blocks of the innovation ecosystem and encourages successful synergies between them. In designing the scheme, the National Innovation Agency has placed great emphasis on giving young people a first-hand experience of the process of an innovative idea unfolding; from idea to project to project, preparing young people for the market challenges and opportunities so that they can enter the business world with confidence.
Mátyás Kutni, Director of Education at the National Innovation Agency, considers it particularly important to instil a culture and mindset of innovation among university students: "The seeds of innovation need to be planted in university students so that they become brave, creative and up-to-date entrepreneurs when they leave university."
Innovative curriculum, new types of business mentors and an expanding scholarship scheme
The programme evolves year on year based on feedback from participants.
This academic year, the role of participating mentors has been expanded to support HSUP students even more effectively. Ad-hoc mentors help students solve a business or technology problem, while key mentors engage with the teams through regular meetings, weekly video-conferencing and emails. In addition, the range of services provided by universities to HSUP students is expanding.
At the heart of the renewed HSUP scholarship scheme is the recognition of the quantity and quality of the work invested over the two semesters, as well as its effectiveness. The 15 best performing teams in the second (spring) semester will receive a special scholarship of 1 million HUF per team. And the 4 most promising teams to become start-ups will receive additional non-repayable grants of up to HUF 20 million per start-up, if they establish their business and successfully raise capital from the market after the end of the spring semester. Another important innovation is that, taking into account the typical number of startup founders, up to 3 people in a team can receive grants.
The range of services provided by universities for HSUP students is expanding. In order to meet the needs of participants and mentors, universities can extend their optional in-kind services to students: provision of premises, including non-specialised lab use, by prior arrangement; purchase or provision of project-related equipment (e.g. tools, 3D printer).
HSUP prepares students for the real market
In the four years of HSUP so far, more than 10,000 project ideas have been submitted. In the first semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, 3,471 project ideas were submitted by students, an 8% increase compared to last year. Projects from previous academic years have resulted in a number of successful start-ups, such as Scraping Robotics, HoloSapiens, PetWiseCare and ReFilamer. Young people were supported through online workshops, face-to-face meetings and Introduction Days and Demo Days to showcase their projects. The training is supported by a scholarship programme and nearly 100 mentors nationwide, and the HSUP app, which offers a wide range of opportunities, has become the second most popular educational app in Hungary.
