Hungary now houses central and eastern Europe’s largest startup center, it has been revealed.
The center to help facilitate the development of start ups and SMEs was opened in Budapest’s Millenáris Park as the first project in a 5 billion HUF (15.3 million EUR) program.
Mihály Varga, minister of Finance, said the initiative was aimed at “lending momentum to human assets” and improving conditions for businesses.
The minister also voiced the government’s readiness to support new ventures based on innovation and higher efficiency.
Gergely Gulyás, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the new center could become a “cradle for development promoting the Hungarian economy”. The center will contribute to the development of a “creative neighborhood in which many could create new and useful things”.
Millenáris Startup Center State Secretary László György said that the government had allocated a total of 360 billion HUF to “build an innovation ecosystem” and spend another 600 billion HUF on innovation and research and development projects under a seven-year program.
The state secretary revealed that Swedish and Polish ventures have already “signed up” for the new center and it was already in full swing.
The Millenáris Startup Campus, built using a 1.7 billion HUF budget, has 180 work stations, 24 offices and meeting rooms and three auditoriums.