Speakers – Hungary Innovation Summit

András Balogh

Speaker

Session: Corporate
Organization: Thyssenkrupp

András Balogh graduated from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics with an IT engineering degree in 2004 and earned his Ph.D. in 2010. His research focused on model-based design and verification of high-reliability systems, applied in R&D projects in the automotive, railway, and aviation industries. In 2008, he co-founded a spin-off company that developed an automotive design tool. Since 2017, he has been CTO at thyssenkrupp Steering, leading global hardware and software development for the Steering division.

Denes Ban

Speaker

Session: Closing Thoughts
Organization: RAISE.com

A serial entrepreneur and serial investor; Denes Ban is the Founder of RAISE, a leading global fundraising and VC advisory. As a managing partner of OurCrowd, a $2.5 billion VC fund and having personally raised over $1 billion, run 3 startups, and won TechCrunch, Denes has a track record assisting 1000s of founders close fundraising rounds, win pitch competitions, and drive sales. Denes has personally invested in over 100 companies of which 15 are already unicorns. His exits include Uber, Lemonade, Beyond Meat, and many more. He has lectured at Google, Citi, Harvard, Cambridge, and has been featured on Forbes, Wired, and CNBC.

Réka Barabás

Moderator

Session: Workshop
Organization: Hungarian Innovation Agency (NIÜ)

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.

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András Benczúr

Panelist

Session: Future of Technology
Organization: SzTAKI

András Benczúr is the technical director of the National Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence, which brings together essentially all artificial intelligence research of Hungary – the work of hundreds of researchers in 11 institutions (universities and research institutes). He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997. In pursuing research with networks, his interests turned to data science and artificial intelligence. At the HUN-REN Research Institute for Computer Science and Control (SZTAKI), he has been the topic leader for several industrial projects, national and international proposals. Member of the program committees of leading international conferences (WWW, WSDM, SIGKDD, ECML/PKDD). Chair of the Data Science Working Group of the Hungarian Artificial Intelligence Coalition.

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József Bokor

Panelist

Session: Oxford Debate
Organization: SzTAKI

Prof. Dr. József Bokor received his MSc and PhD degree in electrical engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). Since 2002 he is a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he served as vice-president for natural sciences from 2017 to 2020. Besides his wide-spreading research and academic career he is the scientific director of the HUN-REN Institute for Computer Science and Control, teaches at BME’s Department of Control and Transport Automation and is also the director of the Vehicle Industry Research Centre at the University of Győr. He has held visiting positions at the Imperial Collage of Science and Technology, London, U.K.; at the University of Delft, The Netherlands; MIT LIDS, Cambridge, MA, USA and the Department of Aerospace and Mechanics, University of Minnesota, MN, USA. His main research interests include multivariable systems and robust control, system identification and fault detection with application in power systems safety operations and also in the control of mechanical and vehicle structures. Professor Bokor is an IFAC-fellow and IEEE life-fellow.

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László Bódis

Speaker

Session: Opening Speech / European Strategies
Organization: Hungarian Innovation Agency (NIÜ)

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 2024.

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Todd Davey

Panelist

Session: UIIN workshop
Organization: UIIN

A/Prof. Todd Davey (Associate Partner, UIIN), an accomplished consultant, has advised European, Australian and Vietnamese governments, multiple universities, and authored ‘Entrepreneurship at Universities’. Formerly with Deloitte Australia and a strategic manager for a high-growth startup, Todd transitioned to academia. He’s now an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School, Paris, and a visiting researcher at Imperial College, Technical University of Vienna, and the University of Adelaide, specialising in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Ivo Denemark

Panelist

Session: European Strategies
Organization: Czechinvest

Ivo Denemark is a macroeconomic historian and educator. After selling his own educational company, he has focused on supporting and financing innovative projects. In 2020, he began working as Business Development Manager at CzechInvest’s ESA Business Incubation, and in 2022, he became Director of the division of startups and VC. He chairs the board of the Prague Innovation Institute and is the National Focal Point for the European Startup Nations Alliance. He co-founded a charity festival, plays curling, and is a volunteer firefighter.

Balázs Dobos

Panelist

Session: Innovative Financing
Organization: Századvég

Balázs Dobos is a senior public policy expert with a specialization in SME development, innovation, and sustainability. As the former Deputy State Secretary for SME Development in Hungary, he has played a crucial role in shaping and advancing policies to support small and medium-sized enterprises. Balázs’s expertise lies in creating and implementing strategies that drive innovation and sustainability within the SME sector. He is currently the Head of Innovation and Sustainability Consulting at Századvég.

Péter Fáykiss

Panelist

Session: Best Place for My Startup
Organization: HOLD Asset Management Ltd.

Peter Faykiss, PhD – Director, International Business Development, HOLD Asset Management Ltd. Peter Faykiss is the Director of International Business Development at the HOLD Asset Management Ltd. Before entering the digital finance area, he gained experience in financial stability and macroprudential policy. In 2014 he was appointed as the Head of Macroprudential Policy Department of the MNB, from 2017 he served as the Director of Macroprudential Directorate and from 2019 as the Director of Digitalization Directorate. Mr. Faykiss graduated in 2009 from Corvinus University of Budapest and he holds a PhD in Finance from Corvinus University of Budapest.

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István Greiner

Panelist

Session: Corporate
Organization: Gedeon Richter Plc.

István Greiner, a chemical engineer (M.Sc.) from Technical University of Budapest (1984), has been with Gedeon Richter Plc. since graduation. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the same university and an MBA from Open University in 1997. Greiner began as a research scientist, later becoming Deputy Head and then Director of Chemical and Biotechnological R&D. He has also led the Intellectual Property Department and overseen API R&D, including new chemical entities and biosimilars. He played a key role in developing cariprazine, a blockbuster drug. Promoted to Research Director in 2014 and R&D Director in 2022, he co-invented eight patents, has over 140 publications, and received several honors, including the “Knight’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.”

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Rūta Grėskaitė

Panelist

Session: Startup Ecosystem
Organization: Startup Lithuania

With over six years of experience, Rūta is a key figure in both the Lithuanian and global startup ecosystems. As the Investors Guru at Startup Lithuania, she excels at creating valuable connections and fostering collaborations that drive startup growth. Rūta’s deep knowledge of networking opportunities and strategic partnerships has helped countless startups secure the resources, mentorship, and investments they need to succeed. Her extensive network and passion for the startup community make her an invaluable asset. Join us to gain insights from Rūta’s expertise and discover how her guidance can elevate your startup to new heights.

Balázs Hankó

Speaker

Session: Opening Speech
Organization: Ministry of Culture and Innovation

Professor of Pharmacy, former Vice-Rector for Strategy and Development at Semmelweis University. He started his career in the public administration as a pharmaceutical consultant, and between 2017 and 2020 he was the Ministerial Commissioner for the Development of Higher Education Institutions for Medical and Health Sciences at the Ministry of Human Resources and then at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM). From 2020 to 2022, he was Deputy State Secretary for Higher Education at the Ministry of ITM, then at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM), and from December 2022 he was State Secretary for Higher Education, Innovation, Vocational Education and Adult Education. From 1 July 2024, he is the Minister of Culture and Innovation.

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Katalin Herczeg

Panelist

Session: Social Innovation
Organization: evosoft

Katalin Herczeg has been working at evosoft Hungary since 2017. Within the course of her evosoft career of over 7 years, she has been involved in marketing communications, and coordinating university relations and social responsibility activities as part of the company’s CSR activity. She participates in the development of the platform for corporate volunteering initiated by evosoft. She graduated in 2005 from University of Pécs Faculty of Business and Economics. During her university years, she managed the volunteer work of student organisation and wrote her thesis on the social responsibility of multinational companies.

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Benedek Hermán

Panelist

Session: Best Place for My Startup
Organization: Voovo

Benedek Hermán a former medical student and the founder of Voovo. During his studies, he struggled with memorizing large amounts of information, so his friends and him created a tool to help students turn content from various formats into digital flashcards. In February, Voovo was accepted into the Techstars Accelerator, and they raised nearly €600,000 and got to 10,000 active users. That’s when he decided to leave medical school and fully dedicate himself to building Voovo.

Petr Horák

Panelist

Session: Measuring Innovation
Organization: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic

Petr Horák holds a PhD from the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, specialising in innovation and regional systems. Since 2014, he has been an economist at the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR), where he develops impact evaluation methodologies and participates in evaluating programmes like ALFA, OMEGA and ÉTA. He has published several scientific papers focusing on the impact of interaction between regional innovation systems and global production networks.

Kitti Jakab

Moderator

Session: Measuring Innovation
Organization: Lunar Program

Kitti Jakab have started her career as a strategy and management consultant at McKinsey – where she specialized in data analytics, digitalization and multichannel journey design of retail banks. Since 2021 she started using her skills to support early stage tech companies annd startups when with her co-founder she have launched Lunar Program, a small, early stage startup incubator. Kitti’s specialization is supporting startups with market and business validation, designing user journeys that provide outstanding customer experience and building a data driven systems and operation from the very beginning. At the same time Kitti also leads a boutique consultancy focusing on the same principles of multichannel journey design for both internal (team) and external (customer) processes and introducing data driven decision making and controlling systems to companies.

László Korányi

Moderator

Session: European Strategies
Organization: Hungarian Innovation Agency (NIÜ)

László Korányi, deputy CEO of the Hungarian Innovation Agency, a government owned company, responsible for providing innovation services for startups and SMEs, helping knowledge transfer between academia and industry and promoting the values of entrepreneurship and innovation. He has an MSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Budapest University of Technology, a Master in Economics from the Karl Marx (Corvinus) University of Budapest. He is an alumnus of Ashridge Management College (UK). He has worked as an R&D engineer for medical device development, later founder and CEO of several software companies. He served five years as a Science & Technology counselor at the Hungarian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Later, he has served in different government and university positions, all related to innovation. He shares his experiences as a devoted university lecturer and author of many articles. He believes in the importance of constantly innovating our innovation policies and systems.

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Adorján Korényi

Panelist

Session: Corporate
Organization: Nokia

Adorján Korenyi is the Head of Engineered Systems at Nokia, with 25 years of experience in the company. He leads the integration of Nokia’s 5G core systems, driving several R&D transformations and executing complex programs across multiple sites. As the founder of Nokia Core’s internal innovation framework, Innoboard, Adorján is recognized for his innovative approach and strong leadership, playing a crucial role in driving technological advancements and nurturing a culture of excellence.

Thomas Kösters

Panelist

Session: Startup Ecosystem
Organization: DEEP Ecosystems

Thomas Kösters is building ecosystems in Europe since more than 12 years. He has set up and run numerous international startup programs, including for Microsoft Ventures in Germany and EIT Digital in pre-seed stage in 20 countries in CEE and Southern Europe. As managing director of DEEP, he is co-creating a global community of innovation leaders and ecosystem builders

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Péter Langmár

Moderator

Session: Innovative Financing
Organization: STRT Holding

Throughout his life, Péter Langmár has built his own companies instead of working for others, starting with Brickflow, a SaaS company that operated for four years and provided him with important foundations. After the closure of Brickflow, most of the team stayed together and founded the Lab.Coop group, from which successful ventures like Green Fox Academy and SmartWare.tech emerged. As a co-founder of Green Fox Academy, he established one of the region’s leading IT bootcamps in 2015. Through SmartWare.tech, he focused on seed investments in hardware startups, and recently, he earned an MBA from CEU. Today, as a founder at STRT Holding, he leads the investment activities and coordinates capital raising.

György Lévay

Panelist

Session: Future of Technology
Organization: Széchenyi István University

György Lévay works with Infinite Biomedical Technologies, a US company specializing in upper limb prosthesis components, and is project lead at the Széchenyi István University. Originally from Hungary, In 2010 he contracted a bacterial meningitis infection which led to quadrilateral amputations and a self-driven rehabilitation process. Lévay completed his Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering on a Fulbright scholarship at The John Hopkins University. There he conducted research in machine learning-based control algorithms and digital signal processing strategies for upper-limb prostheses. He continues to develop assistive technologies with a focus on end-user needs in the prosthetic and other spaces. As technology and research advances, upper-limb prosthetic control systems involve increasingly complex mathematical and engineering concepts that make it harder and harder for end-user, whether practitioners or amputees, to understand and adapt to their limbs. As these advances occur, they simultaneously require development of better user experiences. Easy to understand visualizations, explanations, and parameterization options for control systems such as pattern recognition provide users not only with better experiences, but also with better outcomes. In the talk I will be discussing and demonstrating user-interface tools that help facilitate better user experiences.

Gabriella Liptay

Moderator

Session: Corporate
Organization: KPMG

Gabriella Liptay has served as the Marketing and Communications Director at KPMG in Hungary since 2017. In a career spanning 30 years, Gabriella has spearheaded communication strategies for national and international companies, including Ericsson, Magyar Telekom , T-Mobile, Libri and KPMG. Her extensive experience encompasses the creative and innovation sectors, social enterprises, as well as tourism, cultural and non-profit fields. As an initiator, curator and mentor, she is actively involved in numerous cultural and educational projects and has contributed to organizations such as the Egyenlítő Alapítvány, Highlights of Hungary, Independent Media Education Centre (IMEC), Art Market Budapest, Design Terminal, Nonprofit Információs és Oktató Központ (NIOK) Alapítvány, Skool, Hungarian Business Leaders Forum (HBLF). In 2024, Forbes Hungary recognized Gabriella as the 12th most influential female executive in business.

Jon Medved

Speaker

Session: Keynote Speech
Organization: OurCrowd

Jonathan Medved is the Founder and CEO of OurCrowd. Named by the Washington Post as “one of Israel’s leading high tech venture capitalists” and by the New York Times among the “top 10 most influential Americans who have impacted Israel,” Jon is a serial entrepreneur and investor, and one of the pioneers of Israel’s venture capital industry. Jon is a regular television guest on CNN, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and SkyNews, and is frequently quoted in major business publications. Start-up Nation, the best-selling book on Israel’s high-tech economy, describes him as “one of Israel’s legendary business ambassadors.

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Arno Meerman

Moderator

Session: UIIN workshop
Organization: UIIN

Arno Meerman (CEO and Founder, UIIN) has expanded UIIN into one of the world’s leading organisations in the field of university-industry engagement. Arno has been actively involved in research on the role of universities in our society and the opportunities external engagement provide to enhancing the impact of education and research. An experienced facilitator and consultant, he works with UIIN’s global community to train and advise university leaders and professional staff to become more entrepreneurial and innovative, develop strategic partnering approaches and enhance their impact.

Zoltán Németh

Panelist

Session: Oxford Debate
Organization: Wigner Research Centre for Physics

Zoltán Németh received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from ELTE in 2008 and works as a Senior Research Fellow at the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics. His research work is dedicated to exploratory studies using state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques, both at the laboratory scale and in large-scale facilities. In addition to his research, he has founded a spin-off company to commercialise a novel lab-scale X-ray spectrometer technology. This latter effort has been awarded an EIC Accelerator Grant in 2023.

Margit Noll

Panelist

Session: Innovation Strategies
Organization: FFG

Margit Noll is Head of Department for European and International Programmes at the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. She is thus in charge of services for the Austrian research and innovation community to strengthen their participation in European Programmes. Margit is also Coordinator of the European Partnership Driving Urban Transitions, an intergovernmental research and innovation programme on sustainable urban development. She has more than 20 years of experience in research management and strategy development in organisations and networks. Margit has a PhD in physics and a MBA in general management.

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Tímea Pálvölgyi

Panelist

Session: Measuring Innovation
Organization: E&Y

Tímea Pálvölgyi has over 15 years of experience in public sector consulting and leads the Government & Public Sector Consulting Services at EY. Tímea holds an MA in Economics from the University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration in Budapest, as well as BAs in International Economics from the Budapest College of Economics and in European Business Administration from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, UK. She has played a leading role in managing projects for Hungarian ministries and EU institutions, with a special focus on R&D. She has extensive project management experience in conducting evaluations and impact assessments.

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Zoltán Patai

Panelist

Session: Failed Startups
Organization: Eversync

Zoltán Patai is an executive with a proven track record in scaling technology businesses, using a combination of business strategy, product & IT expertise. Most recently, he was Co-founder & CEO of Eversync, a global B2B SaaS platform that automates business operations through no-code technology, for which he raised over $3 million from international investors. Previously, he was Managing Director at foodora Hungary, where he grew the team from 100 to over 400 employees and increased the revenues tenfold, and Project Manager at McKinsey & Company where he consulted Fortune 500 technology companies. He holds a Master’s in Strategy & International Management from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Amiram Porath

Panelist

Session: Innovative Financing
Organization: Porath Consulting

Dr. Amiram Porath is an expert in the interface between research organizations, industry and the role the government plays for economic growth. Dr. Porath has published several books based on his expertise and is now working for a large multinational in scouting for new technologies and collaborations. He has been awarded with honorary titles by the Italian republic in 2008, and the Hungarian republic in 2024.

Jonathan Potter

Panelist

Session: Measuring Innovation
Organization: OECD

Jonathan Potter is Head of the Entrepreneurship Policy and Analysis Unit in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE).  He leads OECD work to advise governments on policies to support innovative start-up and scale-up enterprises and on the evaluation of the impact of entrepreneurship policies. He has undertaken OECD reviews of SME and entrepreneurship policies in more than 15 countries and prepared key OECD publications such as the OECD’s International Compendium of Entrepreneurship Policies, The Missing Entrepreneurs 2023 and the Framework for the Evaluation of SME and Entrepreneurship Policies and Programmes 2023. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has published in many international academic journals.

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István Szászi

Panelist

Session: Corporate
Organization: Bosch Group

Dr. István Szászi is the Representative of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region, head of the Middle and Eastern European Engineering Cluster and general manager of Robert Bosch Kft. He is responsible for more than 23,000 employees in the region, including thousands of engineers in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Engineering and of the Board of Trustees of the Rudolf Kálmán Foundation for Óbuda University. He is an honorary associate professor at the Budapest University of Technology and a research professor at Széchenyi István University.

Samu Szemerey

Panelist

Session: Social Innovation
Organization: Megakom

Samu Szemerey is an architect and urbanist. He is an expert of technologies and the built environment, and of cultural and brownfield developments. As a strategist and consultant he has worked with cities, institutions and private clients, and directed several programs, events, research projects and exhibitions in Europe and Hungary. He is co-founder and content director at KÉK Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre. Since 2024 he is partner and director of planning and architecture at DANU.

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Ádám Szigeti

Panelist

Session: Social Innovation
Organization: Evosoft

Ádám Szigeti was appointed in 2023 as Head of University Relations at Evosoft, a Siemens software company. In recent years he was Head of Research and Development at AVL Hungary. He has over 10 years of experience in public administration in the field of research, development and higher education, last time assigned as deputy Secretary of State for Innovation. He is a macro economist, graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

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David Trayford

Host

Session: Best Place for My Startup
Organization: educator, creator of talkware

David Trayford works with individuals, startup teams, companies and organisations, large or small, on their communication and innovation strategies. For 5 years he was Team Project Coach at Singularity University in Mountain View, California helping to create teams and projects intended to positively impact 1 billion people. For 9 years he has been the lead mentor for the UK’s National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs. For 10 years communication trainer @ Startup Braga, Portugal.

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Miklós Zorkóczy

Moderator

Session: Future of Technology
Organization: Zorkóczy Legaltech

Miklos Zorkoczy is a lawyer, lecturer, mentor. As a Partner of Legalaise Zorkoczy Law Office he is recognized as a legal and technology expert with over 15 years of experience in the financial sector. As a medical law expert (LLM) with technical skills, he understands and supports the developments of AI and machine learning tools. He is also a university lecturer and educator, bridging the gap between law and technology. His research work is well-regarded and featured in numerous publications. As a start up mentor he supports projects in the fields of LegalTech, HealthTech and Ai powered innovation projects.