Our team

The NIÜ team is made up of professionals driven by a passion for creativity and development. They have experience in technology, business, policy and academia, and work in synergy to support and promote innovation across the country. Each team member contributes unique expertise to projects ranging from funding to supporting innovative ideas and development, mentoring and resources. Our common goal is to create a supportive environment where ideas and entrepreneurs can thrive, and where a culture of innovation and innovation permeates society as a whole.

 

The management

László Bódis

CEO

László Bódis is a highly accomplished professional with a diverse background in economics, innovation and policy.  His economics background is based on a Master's degree in Finance (MSc) and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Economics (BSc) from Budapest University of Technology and Economics. 
His professional career started as a researcher at the Századvég Politics Foundation and at John von Neumann University. His strong interest in economic strategy and innovation led him to the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, where he was the Chief of Staff for the State Secretary responsible for Economic Strategy and Regulation. In 2022 László Bódis assumed the role of Deputy State Secretary for Innovation at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation. In this role, he has initiated a number of regulatory changes for creating a better climate for startups and also a numbers of changes to modernize innovation funding and calls management. In addition to this role, he has been leading the Hungarian Innovation Agency as CEO since 2023.

 

prof. Robert Somogyi

Deputy CEO

Robert Somogyi was born in Lindau on Lake Constance, Bavaria, and spent most of his life there. After completing his secondary education at the Bodensee-Gymnasium in Lindau, he pursued studies in Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Augsburg, earning a degree as Diplom-Kaufmann Univ. During his studies, he founded his first start-up, laying the foundation for his successful entrepreneurial career. Throughout his career, he has initiated and led numerous start-ups to success, achieving several successful exits.
With over 25 years of experience, Robert Somogyi is a seasoned manager and consultant specializing in strategy, brand management, international sales, and digital transformation. High standards of quality, ethics, and innovation mark his professional journey. He has held C-level positions in renowned domestic and international companies and has gained extensive experience in numerous national and international projects with consulting firms. Somogyi is known for his hands-on approach and his ability to successfully manage complex international projects.
A significant milestone in his career was his appointment as a professor, based on his contributions to academic education. He has taught at various universities, focusing on strategic management and premium brand branding. In his work, he emphasizes structured processes, continuous digital transformation, and the pursuit of qualitative upscaling.
Privately, Robert Somogyi is married to a lawyer and is the father of two sons. One of his sons has already successfully completed his studies in Business Law at the University of Mannheim, while the younger son is still attending secondary school.

 

Erika Jámbor

Deputy CEO of Finance

Erika Jámbor is an economist specialising in finance, an accountant and financial auditor, a chartered accountant specialising in business, and a social security consultant.
During her nearly 40-year career as a senior financial executive, she has gained experience in the public corporate sector, but has also worked for foreign and domestic private companies.
His responsibilities have included the management, organisation and control of the entire back-office apparatus (finance, accounting, controlling, procurement, facilities management, legal, HR, IT, occasionally customer service)
The range of companies in which she has been involved is extremely wide, and as a result she has been involved in a number of specialised tasks (foreign food trade, film production, motor vehicle sales, exhibition construction, biodiesel fuel production, housing estate management, water and sewerage, tourism, defence manufacturing, construction quality control and innovation). 
The professional objective is always to provide the stable economic and service background necessary for the effective performance of the companies' activities, and to achieve balanced management.
It attaches the utmost importance to the high-quality, well-regulated and efficient operation of the specialised areas under its supervision. 
Her motto: "Order is the soul of everything".
She has been employed by NIÜ since mid-December 2023, initially as Chief Economic Adviser to the CEO, and will take up the position of Deputy CEO of Finance in March 2024. 

 

dr. Orsolya Tarlós

Chief Executive Officer

Orsolya Tarlós is a legal expert, graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest and Eötvös Loránd University. During her career of more than two decades, she has worked in various management positions in several public administrative bodies, ministries and state-owned enterprises. In the past period, she held various management positions in the field of economic strategy and innovation policy. Since January 2024, she has been coordinating the day-to-day operations of the Hungarian Innovation Agency Zrt. as Chief of Staff of the CEO.

 

Réka Barabás

She holds a degree in economics from Corvinus University and a degree in psychology from Eötvös Loránd University. She is currently writing her PhD thesis on the analysis and evaluation of corporate relations in Hungarian higher education institutions, focusing on technology transfer processes. As the Director of Knowledge Exploitation at the Hungarian Innovation Agency, she and his colleagues support academia in the market exploitation of knowledge by translating theoretical knowledge into practice. Her work experience helps her to do this; she has managed strategic planning processes and strategy implementation in several universities, municipalities and companies. On the funding side, she has been involved in the design and implementation of R&D-related proposals, both at programme and project level.

 

Georgina Gyulasi

Director of Communications

With a degree in economics and humanities, she started her career as a journalist and continued as a television reporter and editor. She left the media world behind in 2010 and has typically worked as a press officer in public administration and public services (municipalities, ministries, back offices). She also ran the conference section of Napi Gazdaság.
She joined the NIÜ team at the beginning of 2024. At her area the use classic communication methods and modern techniques and channels as well, but also makes a point of keeping up to date with current trends in event management, which makes it even more exciting to deliver information to ecosystem actors.

 

Mátyás Kutni

Director of Education

Mátyás Kutni, director of education at the Hungarian Innovation Agency. He is responsible for the promotion of STEM disciplines, entrepreneurial mindset and business development skills among children and young adults. 
He finished his studies in the United Kingdom and then moved back to Hungary and held various leadership positions in educational management, government administration and research and innovation policy.
He believes that children and young adults are the key to a country's long-term success and considers it a great opportunity and privilege to be able to shape their path and motivate them towards rewarding careers and brighter futures.

 

dr. Nóra Rodek

Director of External Markets

Nóra Rodek is the director of external markets, a university lecturer and researcher, and a mother of two boys. She graduated from the University of Pécs with a degree in English Language and Literature and a Master's degree in Humanities, followed by a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Pécs, where she continued my studies in doctoral studies. She obtained her PhD in 2018 in the field of Economics and Management. She was the Head of the Department of Sustainability and Awareness at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology. As a university assistant professor and head of department, she has provided professional leadership in several international projects and represented our country in the international arena. She has been working in the field of sustainability for 14 years, and her doctoral research and numerous publications has been aimed at understanding and promoting the practical application of the subject. In addition to completing her PhD, in 2017 she completed the Sustainability Expertise training organised by the Sustainability Academy in London. She was the technical coordinator of the Circular Economy Technology Platform (CETA), which was established on 11 March 2022.
Her research interests include sustainability, ESG and the circular economy. She has published 87 papers to date.
In her free time, she enjoy hiking and running in nature and cooking for her family and friends.

 

Antonella Tosetto

Director of RRF Project

Antonella Tosetto graduated as an agricultural engineer in economics at the University of Kaposvár, then obtained a degree in health management at the Semmelweis University Centre for Health Management and a degree in dietetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences. She has more than 20 years of experience as a project manager and project leader in the planning and implementation of EU and national budget projects. She has worked mainly in the implementation of tenders for the development of health and higher education in public authorities, their support institutions, hospitals and higher education institutions. Since 2023, she leads the Hungarian Innovation Agency's RRF project on curriculum development in higher education.