Economy

Economic overview

Szeged is the business centre of the South Great Plain Region. Almost 19 per cent of the businesses in the South Great Plain Region and 53 per cent of the businesses operating in Csongrád-Csanád County are located in Szeged. The number of businesses has grown gradually in the past few years, thus 27,541 businesses were registered in the city in 2014. The 85 per cent of the businesses belonged to the service sector, 13 per cent to the industry, and 2 per cent to the agriculture. As for the service sector, the majority operates in the commercial, scientific and technical fields.

Company name Employee No.
Pick Szeged Zrt. 2 872
Szegedi Szefo Zrt. 957
Sole-Mizo Zrt. 893
Démász Hálózati Kft. 676
ContiTech Rubber Industrial Kft. 595
Szegedi Közlekedési Kft. 550
Démász Zrt. 516
Coop Szeged Zrt. 488
Égáz-Dégáz Földgázelosztó Zrt. 482
Hansa-Kontakt Kft. 479
Ikv Zrt. 382
Szegedi Vízmű Zrt. 361
Szegedi Paprika Zrt. 334
Hansa-Kontakt Inv. Kft. 330
Szegedi Környezetgazdálkodási Nonprofit Kft. 325
Suli-Host Kft. 322
Ligetfürdő Kft. 297
Flóratom Kft. 245
Szegedi Hulladékgazdálkodási Nonprofit Kft. 241
Eli-Hu Nonprofit Kft. 236

Source: PatnerRadar, 2017

1,786 industrial businesses operate in Szeged. 42 per cent of the industrial businesses belongs to the processing industry, 56 per cent to the contruction industry, and 2 per cent to other industries.

The significance of shared service centres (SSCs) and certain knowledge-intensive industries is increasing in the economy of Szeged. In addition to its SSC of 1,300 employees in Budapest, BP decided in 2016 to establish its new financial service centre in Szeged creating 500 new jobs in the city.

Recently, Information Technology (IT) and health industry have developed considerably among knowledge-intensive industries. Their development are supported by superb infrastructure, highly and widely qualified labour force with good command of several foreign languages and the excellent location of Szeged


R&D&I

The research and development activity in the South Great Plain Region is concentrated mainly in Csongrád-Csanád County, more precisely in Szeged. Almost HUF 20 billion was spent on R&D in Csongrád-Csanád County in 2014. Comparing the R&D expenditure to the GDP of the county, Csongrád-Csanád County has the second place after Hajdú-Bihar County. The number of R&D staff working for the business sector is the highest in Csongrád-Csanád County after Pest County, while the number of R&D sites is the highest in Hungary.

Number of research sites

 
Source: Central Statistical Office, 2016

Among the R&D capacities of Szeged, the following four fields are prominent:

  • Life Sciences
  • Biotechnology
  • Laser Technology
  • Information Technology

The University of Szeged is significant as a research base. The aim of the university is to create and utilize intellectual products by exploiting its educational and research activities. Leading research fields at the University of Szeged:

  • Neurobiology
  • Preclinical Pharmacology
  • Clinical Pharmacology
  • Genetics
  • Nanotechnology
  • Material Sciences
  • Laser Physics
  • Software Engineering
  • Biotechnology and Environmental Technology
  • Immunology

The Directorate for R&D and Innovation performs the R&D and innovation tasks of the University of Szeged under the control of the Vice Rector of Research and Innovation. The tasks of the Directorate are to manage and promote the R&D and innovation activities, industrial relations of the University of Szeged, furthermore to develop, manage and utilize the intellectual assets portfolio of the university.

For further information please visit the website: www.inno.u-szeged.hu/english

Gabonakutató Non-Profit Ltd.

Gabonakutató Non-Profit Ltd. is one of the largest agricultural research institutions in Hungary. It can currently provide 128 registered plant varieties and hybrids of 22 plough land plant species for cultivation in Hungary, and 60 ones abroad (in 20 countries).

The company with a history of nine decades functioned as a state-owned institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture from its foundation in 1924 to 2008. It was taken over by the Hungarian National Asset Mangement Inc., and due to mandatory restructuring, from 1st January 2009, it started to function as a non-profit public ltd. utilizing state property and managing the complete process of innovation.

Since September 2013 it has been operating with an unchanged research profile as a state-owned, self-financing non-profit ltd. under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and has belonged to the network supervised by the National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (NAIK). The company has made profit in recent years despite of the unfavourable economic tendencies.

The following plant species are currently improved at the company: winter and spring types of wheat, barley, triticale and oats; winter durum wheat and rye; corn, grain sorghum, silage sorghum and Sudan grass, sunflower, winter rapeseed, soybean, linseed, millet, red clover, Hungarian millet and buckwheat. The company is the variety owner of the following plant species: broomcorn, onion, garlic, pumpkin, melon and paprika.

Cereal Research Communications, a revised international quarterly in English was launched by the company in 1973 and has been published ever since. Scientific articles based on original experimental work involving researches in the genetics, breeding, quality and utilization, plant physiology and pathology, and production technology of cereals fit primarily the profile of this journal. The Impact Factor of the journal is 0.624 for 2013.

Website: www.gabonakutato.hu

Solvo Biotechnology Zrt.

The Solvo Biotechnology was founded in 1999 by a group of Hungarian businessmen under the leadership of the present CEO, Ernő Duda and by a group of researchers working in the field of drug transporters. At the beginning, strong research and development activity in the fields of transporter proteins and multi-drug resistance was the main activity of SOLVO with results achieved by outstanding Hungarian researchers. Based on its R&D activities, the company developed a versatile business strategy including registered medicinal and diagnostic developments, and entrusted research activities.

Due to shortage of investment capital in the Central European Region, the company decided in 2002 to focus on less capital-intensive fields like reagent production and entrusted research activities. First, membrane marketing gave the greater part of SOLVO’s revenue. However, the company gained reputation for conducting excellent entrusted research so it became the main revenue source for the company.

Having developed numerous products and services, SOLVO also remained committed to innovative research and development, which is the source of its present and future success. Foreseeing the future significance of transporters, the company established a new R&D site to widen its transporter knowledge in Budaörs (next to Budapest) in 2005. Its articles in several scientific magazines and its numerous patent technologies have given the great part of the present guideline of FDA and EMA on drug transporters.

SOLVO has made numeorus strategic partners during the past years to expand its product and service portfolio, and to increase its presence. The company established its American subsidiary company, the SOLVO Biotechnology USA Inc. in 2012 to be present in the North American market.

Besides the USA, the SOLVO also entered the Asian market in 2012 by appointing a sales manager responsible for the Asian markets, a sales head responsible for India and a Japanese business development manager working in Hungary.

Based on its successful service business unit, SOLVO launched its R&D project on developing an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test on multi-drug resistance prediction in 2008. This project gained further subsidy for the company increasing its financial resources.

The MDQ Kit became the first IVD clinical multi-drug resistance test with CE mark in 2011. SOLVO established a separate company, the MDQuest Kft. in 2014 to market the MDQ Kit. The MDQuest received investment capital from an institutional investor later to develop and market its diagnostic portfolio continuously.

The drug transporter research is a highly complex and dynamically developing field. SOLVO has a leadership in this market where customer decisions are based rather on consultant expertise than the pressure by the price model so typical for the other fields of entrusted research. SOLVO has been dedicated to this field for seventeen years. During this period, it organised conferences, appreciated highly by the industry, seven times in several locations in the world. It has been publishing the popular ’Transporter Book’ for several years. Thanks to this dedicated work the company is now called as the ’Transporter Company’.

SOLVO won the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize in 2005 for the development and successful commercialization of its unique transporter productline. The Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association acknowledged the company as the Company of the Year in 2007.

Website: www.solvobiotech.com


Automotive Industry

Partly, the geographical location of Szeged and partly the significant companies in the region make necessary the development of the automotive industry in Szeged. Any European city can be reached from Szeged by Motorway M5, and the airport of Szeged has a concrete runway suitable even for medium size aircraft landing.

As a significant automotive supplier company not far from Szeged, the Mercedes fulfills an integrating role in the region. The Kecskemét factory of Mercedes is 80 kms from Szeged enabling „Just-in-Time” and „Just-in-Sequence” transport from Szeged.

Several Hungarian medium enterprises are in Szeged including Elcometál Kft. and GLB Kft., the aim of the city to develop and enlarge these supplier networks.

The Industry 4.0 National Technology Platform was establieshed in May 2016 by the Ministry of National Economy and the Institute for Computer Science and Control, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Among Platform members are companies, research institutions, universities and organizations. Szeged also wishes to participate actively in present industrial developments, and to join new trends making information technology and automation more tightly intertwined.

Partnership with the Audi

Automotive industry related research and partnership are of primal importance for the University of Szeged. A strategic agreement on training and research partnership has been signed by the Audi Hungaria Zrt. and the University of Szeged on the Innovation Day. The aim of the partnership is to support each others’ innovation and training activities, and to launch joint research and development projects. The automotive company invites scientific students’ association and thesis topics at the university, with the company’s managers partaking in the process and also in the doctoral programmes.

Regarding the partnership the Vice Chancellor, Gábor Szabó emphasied: partnership between the university and automotive companies had more than a decade history. The earlier partners had been suppliers, the Audi was the first top industry manufacturing company. Elisabeth Knab, the Managing Director for Human Resources of Audi Hungaria said: the Audi had significant innovation capital, the premium quality of their products were ensured by the latest technology and the highly qaulified labourforce. The company is committed to train the future generation, and partnership with universities on trainig and research was of primal importance.

Major companies in Szeged and nearby

Elcometál Kft.
www.elcometal.com

Elcometal Kft. was established in 1989 to manufacture fasteners for the automotive industry. Its main activity includes manufacturing bolts, screws and other, special parts and components made by customers’ drawings for the automotive industry and electronics. Products are manufactured in very large quantities (of several thousands or million) by cold forming technology. They have their own tool making plant to satisfy the unique production technology needs. Their products are used in axles, gears, steering devices, seats, latches, brake systems, clutches, door-parts, and in many other vehicle components. They have been supplying large automotive, engineering, electronics and multinational companies for more than 15 years. They usually contract with Tier 2 or 3 customers for several years.

The manufacturing activity is governed by strict environmental quality (ISO 14001 ) and automotive quality (ISO TS 16949) standards.

GLB Alkatrészgyártó és Szerelőipari Kereskedelmi Kft.
www.glb.hu

GLB is a 100% Hungarian owned company focusing on tool, equipment and machine manufacturing.

Primarily, their activity is to supply specialized industrial parts in large quantity to large industrial customers. An increasing part of their activity is to serve EU customers, especially German and Austrian companies. Particular emphasis is placed also on serving the specific needs of small businesses from the surrounding area, even in very small quantities. Some of their activity fields are:

  • Tools manufacturing for the oil industry with special quality control
  • Metal cutting in piece or mass production
  • Locksmith works in piece or mass production
  • Pressure vessels or equipments manufacturing
  • Sheet metal works (flame or laser cutting, bending)
  • Building interior or facade sheets production

Machinery division using CAD systems

The University of Szeged and the Szeged Centre for Vocational Education and Training offers professional training to provide specialists for the sector.

Automotive industry related research and partnership are of primal importance for the University of Szeged. A strategic agreement on training and research partnership has been signed by the Audi Hungaria Zrt. and the University of Szeged. The aim of the partnership is to support each others’ innovation and training activities, and to launch joint research and development projects. The automotive company invites scientific students’ association and thesis topics at the university, with the company managers partaking in the process and also in the doctoral programmes

Automotive Competence Centre

The University of Szeged establishes an Automotive Competence Centre to concentrate its automotive industry related training competence and infractucture. The main element of the laboratory complex planned on the territory of the ELI Science Park is the one-axle-vehicle examining equipment for examing both hibrid and electric vehicles. This test equipment serves also further specific university R&D fields like testing and managing accumulator systems, or developing photoacoustic measuring systems to measure the exhaust gas emission objectively during the fossil fuel’s burning phase. Besides the present capacities/developments, new ones can be added to establish a complex automotive (training, R&D, measurement) service centre in Szeged to address the challenges of the age of electromobility. This centre is required both by the leading companies of the automotive sector and by the automotive companies/suppliers of the South Great Plain Region. This centre is essential for the development of the automotive companies in the South Great Plain Region, for satisfying their R&D&I needs, and also to reach urban mobility and clean transportation related goals of the government set forth for 2020.

Net area: 1,000 m2 on one floor
Start of Operation: Q2 2018
Investment value (building): cc. HUF 300 million

Estimated Number of Graduates from the Faculty of Science and Informatics

  • Physics BSc: 20 students/year
  • Engineering IT Specialist BSc: 40 students /year
  • Software IT Specialist BSc: 150 students /year
  • Chemistry BSc: 50 students /year
  • Materials Engineering BSc: 5 students /year
  • Environment Engineering BSc: 10 students /year
  • Physicist MSc: 15 graduates/year
  • Chemist MSc: 30 graduates/year
  • Engineering IT Specialist MSc: 5 graduates/year
  • Environment Engineer MSc: 5 graduates/year
  • Software IT Specialist MSc: 15 graduates/year

Estimated Number of Graduates from the Faculty of Engineering

Courses 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Mechanical Engineer BSc 35 40 45 45 45
Mechatronical Engineer BSc 40 35 30 30 30
Technical Manager BSc 10 15 20
Mechatronikai mérnök alapszak 15 20 25 25
 
Dual Engineering Training Programme at the Faculty of Engineering

With the launch of the dual engineering training programme, higher education and labour market’s demands can get closer to each other.

Undergraduate students participating in the dual training programme can acquire high level academic knowledge during their studies, and they can apply all that knowledge also in practice, making their knowledge really competitive.

The longer internship in this training gives not only practical knowledge to the students but also future business relationships.

Why to choose the dual training?

  • the practical application of theoretical knowledge can be learnt from senior managers of market leader companies
  • the pay is significant for students which helps to start independent life, to decrease family expenditure
  • dual training students can gain useful practical experience, knowledge in company environment, which has a beneficial effect on getting the theoretical knowledge
  • as a dual training students, company experiment makes engineering carrier easier to plan
  • easier to find a job, international labour market opportunities.

The Szeged Centre for Vocational Education and Training has two training types to train professionels for the automotive industry. One of them is a school type training based on the National Qualifications Register. The table below shows the number of graduating professionels in the next five years:

Estimated number of graduates in vocational training (person)

The other training type is the adult training, the number of graduating professionels in the next five years is the following:

Estimated number of graduates from adult training (persons)


IT sector

There are 538 companies with their main activity related to the ICT sector in Szeged.

Employment Distribution of IT Companies

 

The University of Szeged provides the educational and research background that is essential for info-communiaction technologies.

Thanks to the local, settled down and spin off companies, software industry has developed quite intensively in Szeged in recent years. The software R&D capacity of Szeged is a world leader in the fields of software quality assurance, cloud computing, mobile and embedded system applications, business administration information technology, artificial intelligence solutions (bioinformatics), Smart informatics and Big Data applications (more precisely medical signal and image processing).

New generations for companies are guaranteed by the high level education in the Institution of Informatics of the University of Szeged.

Weboldal: www.inf.u-szeged.hu

IT Companies in Szeged

1997
R&R Software Zrt.
Hungarian

  4% 

2006
GE Hungary Kft.
American

  2% 

2008
EPAM Systems Kft.
Danish, American

  26% 

2010
OCÉ Software Hungary R. Kft.
Dutch

  3%  

2000
GriffSoft Zrt.
Hungarian

  4%

2006
Zengo Kft.
Hungarian

  3%

2008
LogMeIn Kft.
Irish

  6%

2013
Evosoft Hungary Kft.
German

  6%

2006
IT Services Hungary Kft.
German

  11%

2007
Monguz Információtech. Kft.
Hungarian

  3%

2008
CAS Software Kft.
German

  5%

2015
NNG Kft.
Luxembourg, Cypriot

  5%

Software Innovation Pole Cluster

The Software Innovation Pole Cluster was established with 19 members on 21st September 2007 as the result of the common effort of the leading software research centres, companies and technology transfer organisations based on the industrial partnerships of the University of Szeged and the operation of the e-Szeged Consortium.

Based on their earlier partnerships, the cluster members realized that more competitive technologies, products and services can be developed by harmonising their developments. The cluster ensures the strengthening of high value added R&D activities, related trainings and education, establishing infrastructure of knowledge intensive activities by extending partnerships and coordinating cooperations more effectively.

Website: www.infopolus.hu

IT Talent Care and Out of School Training

Géniusz Informatikai Tehetséggondozó Egyesület (Genius IT Talent Care Association)

The Génius Informatikai Tehetséggondozó Egyesület is a non-profit social organisation established to promote talent care of the young interested in information technology and to support talented information technology students. The aim of the association is to fulfill IT talent care tasks on high level, contribute to its innovation. Further aim is to offer new opportunities to talented IT students to develop their knowledge and to study from each other and from IT experts by organising contests, lectures, worshops, programmes, and by establishing and operating scholarship programmes, clubs and other community areas. The association aims to cooperate with secondary and higher education institutions in IT talent care. The association also aims to support and popularize IT talent care by establishing national and international relations in the fields of counselling and research.

CodingAcademy Training: www.gite.hu/codingacademy-kepzesek

Checkpoint IT Education Center (CITEC)

The InfoPólus 2009 Kft. offers new services (training, labour force mediating, IT recruiting) to new and existing parners under the brand name of Checkpoint-IT from autumn 2017.

Practice-oriented training is offered in modular system under the name of Checkpoint-IT Education Center (CITEC) to be flexible in satisfying needs.

The Checkpoint-IT Education & Recruitment supports stable IT professional carrier in Szeged and the region. We help graduates to find job at companies working for international markets who provide outstanding working environment and quality payment conditions.

Offered courses

  • Web Developer: Groups start with 12 persons
  • Java Developer: Groups start with 12 persons
  • System Administrator: Groups tart with 12 persons

Courses starting in 2018: Training modules
More information on training: Our Training
Weboldalunk: www.checkpoint-it.hu

Flow Academy

Courses starting at Autumn 2017 at Flow Academy:

Junior Java Developer

  • 7-800 hours, 5 months (full time, eight hours a day)
  • Expected knowledge: English B1, cognitive test
  • Group of 5-15 persons
  • Start on 18 September 2017
  • Practice oriented professional training
  • Strong softskill training
  • Communication in English
  • HR support

Website: www.flowacademy.hu/kepzesrol

International Education Center

The International Education Center (IEC) has been offering out of school training since 2011. The IEC was among those who had started their own apprenticeship programme before the state introduced such a programme. Several hundred students study at IEC every year, 40-50 graduating in Szeged annually. Their courses are 45 minutes long, four times a day, one or two times a week, the course duration varies (depending on intensity), they are usually from five to twelve months long.

Permanent Training

Web Communications Skills Development

  • 145 hours
  • Precondition: completed sixth grade
  • Estimated number of graduates: 12

Multimedia-developer and Webdesigner

  • 185 hours
  • Precondition: successful tests
  • Estimated number of graduates: 10

Internet Application Developer and Programmer

  • 225 hours
  • Precondition: successful tests
  • Estimated number of graduates: 16

C# Programmer – JAVA Mobile Application Developer

  • 130 hours
  • Precondition: successful tests
  • Estimated number of graduates: 8

Website: www.iecinfo.hu/egyeb-kepzesek


Processing Industry

Traditionally, the agricultural sector in the South Great Plain Region is stronger than the national average due to the good soil and the high number of sunshine hours, primarily. The companies processing both good quality Hungarian raw materials purchased from local farmers and import materials, are key players in the food industry of the city.

An outstanding example is the Pick Szeged Zrt. of Hungarian ownership, which has a world-famous and also a unique Hungarian product, the PICK Original Wintersalami. The Pick Szeged Zrt. was founded by Márk Pick, an agricultural trader in Szeged in 1869. As a member of the Bonafarm Group, the company is one of the largest meat manufacturing company in Hungary and Central Europe today. The company has production workshops in Szeged, Pécs, Baja and Alsómocsolád, and it also has an own chain store. Customers find its quality meat products on shelves of more than 200 chain stores in 35 countries.

The other important player of Szeged’s food production is the SOLE-MIZO Zrt. with seat in Szeged. As a member of the Bonafarm Group, it is the market leader dairy industry company of Hungary. The company was made by the merger of Sole Hungária Zrt. and Új-MiZo Zrt. in 2006. The SOLE-MIZO Zrt. produces milk-based food products marketed on national, Central and Eastern European and Middle Eastern markets. The company provides work to almost 800 employees. Production runs at the sites of Szeged, Bácsbokod, Csorna and Marcali.

Besides the traditional food industry, other important sectors of processing industry are also present in Szeged. The ContiTech Rubber Industrial Kft. started production in the city in 1996, and it has been producing almost the same range of products ever since. The company has been the member of the ContiTech Group since 2004 and in contrast with the other Hungarian member companies, local production serves also several ContiTech’s business units. The modern mixing plant produces compound not only for the Szeged operation but also for the other member companies. The company manufactures and markets industrial hoses and textile-reinforced conveyor belts. The products manufactured here are delivered through the domestic and international trading network to all parts of the world.

Besides the above, there are plenty enterprises in the local processing industry which have an important role in providing work for the people in Szeged and in the surrounding settlements. 


Startup ecosystem

Startups in Szeged

BannerBoom

We make exciting eyecandy banners together with cool advertising agencies.

We are a creative HTML5 banner development team always aiming for perfect results, to whom accurate planning and an eye-catching final outcome is extremely important.

We have been developing digital advertisements since 2011, BannerBoom’s current structure was created in early 2016. Your banner project is in safe hands with us, we guarantee to deliver the finished, spectacular banner, accepted by a pleased customer before the deadline.

Website: www.bannerboom.site

Capturly

Capturly is an online analytics tool aiming to give to their user first hand feedback on how their visitors use their websites and, besides data, continuous feedback to support the optimization of their conversion processes.

Website: www.capturly.com

Jóbérlő.hu

Primarily, the joberlo.hu is a community with the human side of renting, the tenants and the landlords in focus. Secondly, it is an online platform to help community in solving all problems related to renting quickly and effectively. The tenants can put advertisements in the present version. If more persons wants to rent one flat, they can find roommates based on different personality traits.

Website: www.joberlo.hu

RoboRobo

We have been developing bots since Messenger’s announcement of Chat Bots. We search what fields the technology can be used most effectively. The different phases of the development is managed by different specialists so we can ensure that each subtask is done perfectly.

Website: www.roborobo.hu

Organisations

Sundealab Startup Studio

The idea of the startup studio is from America, namely from Hollywood. It works similar to a film studio almost from every aspect. The studio searches for an idea, checks whether it is marketable, or other have done something similar to it, or whether there is a trend showing to this direction.

Successful studios make money worldwide so they do not wait while inventors meet, find money and people for implementing the idea, instead, they have a centralized team – developers, marketing specialists, business developers, salesmen, market analysts – who develop the prototype from the idea.

These studios have several dozens of idea per week, month and year, then they start building them up, practically, on a production line. It is the precise operation of the studio why it is much more effective than an independent startup team.

Our studio was established in 2017 to achieve all this in the South Great Plain Region.

Website: www.sundealab.com

Input programme

As a ’superfacilitator’, the Input Programme finds and joins all startup ecosystem stakeholders who can and wishes to support rising startups. Our goal is to facilitate the establishment of such national, quality expert network that includes all stakeholders of the ecosystem, namely mentors, business angels, international experts, incubators, universities, town management and government officials.

An area coordinator supports the development of both the ecosystem, and the local and regional startups in twelve university cities including Szeged.

The programme has three pillars to support inventors:

Taylored development, complex knowledge base – we organise lectures and workshops covering different startup topics, we give e-learning materials and training, we search for the latest trends and evaluate them together.

Mentoring – we believe that knowledge is the greatest advantage. Therefore renowned, excellent experts help startups. Our pro bono mentoring team is ready to share their experience and knowledge so innovators joining us can make the best of it.

Go global – we work hard to build strong ties between our international partners and Hungarian startups. We believe that one plus one is more than two and when Hungarian innovation meets international market expertise – that’s when magic happens.

Website: www.inputprogram.com

Creative Accelerator

Founders of the Creative Accelerator Incubator have successful business past. During their career, they have built up and have financed several, influential companies (e.g. SAP America, Lombard Lízing Csoport, Solvo Biotechnology, Copy General, antikvarium.hu, MediaMass Kft., Omixon, Laser Skills, Nanocolltech etc.), so they can support start-up companies by practical experience, international connections and effective management. Since they are likely Hungary’s biggest team with life science investment and company building experience, they expect application of projects and start-up companies related to this field (biotech/medtech/medical IT), first of all. Besides life sciences, they are open to other fields as well, if they meet a well-prepared team with strong business potential and innovative initiative.

They believe that technology and science stregthen the progressiveness of our society, and start-ups contribute to the improvement of our life quality and environment in the long run. Their mission is to find the most promising initiatives, and to support inventors in developing into influential players of the market by counselling and investments. Their goal is to establish high value added companies competitive also abroad and creating crucial social value by their products or services. They find important to build strong ties with their managed teams because the productive, collaborative work is based upon confidence in their partners.

Website: www.creativeaccelerator.hu

Dél-alföldi Inkubációs és Szolgáltató központ (DISZK) (South Great Plain Incubator and Service Centre)

Besides offering favourable renting fees, the Dél-alföldi Inkubációs és Szolgáltató központ provides different services to support enterprises directly. Their goal is to support the development of new and existing micro and small enterprises on this site located favourably from logistics and business aspects through offering basic infrastructural, IT, office and professional services.

Website: www.diszk.com

Communities

SzegedBoost

Szeged Boost is an attitude. Their community with different professional backgrounds and sharing the same values decided to launch a movement. Their goal is to consolidate the concept of collaborative value creation. Their community was organised and made the first steps towards their vision on an ad hoc basis. They believe that they are able to create an open system that links the members of the ecosystem and affects its development as a catalyst operating in a crowdsourcing manner.

Besides Boost community development, they are organisers of SzegedBoost meetups. The aim of the meetups is to introduce local young enterprises and ideas, and to show practical examples inspiring the development of the community. Their guests included the teams of Prezi, LogMeIn and Bridge Budapest so far.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SzegedBoost

Szeged GYEEK Club

Szeged GYEEK Club was established with the intention of creating a strong and stabile IT community in the city. Our non-profit association gives opportunity to the interested to broaden their knowledge, develop professionally and build relationship at our different events (meetups, workshops and hackathlons).

Besides IT lectures, they also focus on the startup world now, thus supporting the local enterprising community. The participants of their events can learn about the latest technologies and future trends from the best professionels, or about what a startup launch needs. Moreover, startups and companies can introduce themselves at these events.

Their mission is to facilitate the development of the biggest startup ecosystem of Hungary in Szeged.

Website: www.gyeek.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SzegedGYEEKClub

CodingClub

Their association operates in Szeged now, and it organises useful professional programmes within the CodingClub for talented IT students of the University of Szeged, recently graduated or working IT professionals in the IH Event Center in Szeged.

Their aim is to broaden the knowledge of young IT specialists with interesting topics beyond their university studies.

For this purpose, they launched the CodingAcademy programme with training on topics not or just slightly covered by university studies, and may be interesting for IT specialists.

Weboldal: www./gite.hu/eloadasok

GameDev

GameDev Szeged is a group for video game developers aiming to provide both offline and online free community surface for the interested.

They organise meetings on weekdays in two or three week’s time, or at least once a month, and developing events for the weekends. Participants are given information on present game development trends, or they can try themselves in collaborative task solution.

Members, no matter being first visitors or old members, can develop own or common games at our events.

Cloudess

The non-profit community of Cloudess was created, among other, to offer a marketable alternative and support for students and recently graduated women to plan their carrier. It may be a good option for them to join the world of startups and IT with a different, more feminine attitude and accredited professional knowledge. Nobody addressed these women specificly, or tried to find answers to their problems, so it has become our main goal. At our events, we present opportunities offered by technologies through creative examples. Besides we wish to inspire participants to form their ideas in an own enterprise. To collaborate with the other tech and startup communities, we also wish to contribute to creating a well operating ecosystem in Szeged.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cloudesscommunity

Hackerspace Szeged

Hackerspace is a real (not virtual) space operated by a community where science, technology, digital or electronic arts fans can meet, make friends and collaborate. For us it is a playground.

Several hundred successful studios operate worldwide based on the hackerspace concept. Though the word hacker may imply that the focus in these studios is on information security, in fact they hack anything from bioresearch to rocket experiments in similar studios.

Visitors in the space of Hackerspace Szeged can try out several things starting from opening techniques of locks and combination locks through IP coffee makers to innovative application of GPS technology. Visitors can meet the latest technologies at monthly workshops.

Website: www.hackerspace-szeged.org


SSC Sector

It is a global trend that global companies establish Shared Service Centers (SSCs) to bring cost and process effectiveness. Following the automotive industry, the second most significant sector in Hungary is the SSC sector. There are more than 90 national SSCs operate in Hungary at present, employing almost 42,000 people. The majority of the domestic shared service centres are located in Budapest. But the sector’s demand for labour force is so intensive that companies can fill open positions with increasing difficulty in the capital. In recent years, there is a growing interest in other, university cities including Szeged. Partly new SSCs, partly subcentres of SSCs in Budapest have been established.

Szeged can provide an excellent background for shared service centres (SSCs) wishing to settle down here.

…because Szeged is the second largest educational and research centre of the country right after Budapest.

The educational and research background of the city is remarkable, particularly concerning the regional role played in innovation and technology transfer. The number of the appr. 50 thousand students equals the population of a middle-sized Hungarian town, while the number of teachers equals that of a village.

City of Schools

30% of the city’s population is presented in the educational system (50,930 students)

Distribution of Students

 

The number of graduates with university/college degree is very high in Szeged, it is almost one fourth of the population have a degree.

2nd best educational indicators in Hungary

13% of the
population are
university students

2nd highest
number of English speakers
in Hungary
(26% of the population)

Every 4th
person own
college/university degree
(23% of the population)

In addition to the dual language primary and secondary schools operating already in the city, September 2017 the Szeged International Primary School was launched, which uses the IPC (International Primary Curriculum) as methodology to develop students’ personality, language skills and academic knowledge.

The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is the fastest-growing curriculum in the world today. It is taught in 1,800 schools in 90 countries. The curriculum is designed for 3-12 year olds with 130 exciting, fascinating and worldwide applicable thematic units of learning. It has a clear process of learning with specific learning goals for every subject to focus on a combination of academic, personal and international learning for children.

…because the University of Szeged has achieved excellent results in national and international rankings.

Among domestic universities, the University of Szeged is the first according to the British QS World University Rankings of 2017/2018. The university is the 501-550th on the list meaning that it belongs to the top 2 per cent of the almost 26,000 higher education institutions in the world.

… because the excellent university education reproduce the highly qualified labour force in the city: nearly 6,000 students graduate from the university annually, including a great number of graduates from the faculties of arts and economics speaking foreign languages at a high level, who represents a potential labour force for the employers of the sector.

There were 5,534 university graduates in 2016.


Labour Market Overview

As a centre, Szeged offers favourable labour force management opportunities for companies employing large staff. The majority of any special labour demand can be satisfied by people commuting from smaller settlements or neighbouring towns e.g. Hódmezővásárhely and Makó, or even from the neighbouring countries of Romania, Serbia. Investors’ demand for qualified labour force can easily be met with the help of the local training institutions and the National Employment Service.

Right after Budapest, Szeged is the second largest educational, research and cultural centre of the country. A large number of qualified labour force is available in the city. As for the education level, Szeged has nationally outstanding indicators. Among cities of county rank, 23 per cent of the 25+ population have a college or university degree. The degree rate is the highest in Szeged, thus Szeged is an excellent place to implement educational or R&D&I plans.

Almost 40 per cent of those actively employed speak at least one foreign language at advanced level in the city. English, German, French, Italian and Spanish are spoken most frequently. Due to health training, many learn Latin; in addition, Russian, Romanian, Slovakian, Ukrainian, Greek and Serbian are also spoken due to nationalities living in the county or in the border zone. Almost every faculty of the University of Szeged offers foreign language training, thus approximately 3,200 foreign students study in the city. Thanks to the advanced level and high reputation of foreign language training established three decades ago, students arrive in Szeged from more than hundred countries of the world, including the USA, Germany, Belgium, France, China and Japan, which makes city life vivid and colourful.

Nearly 5,000 students graduate from the faculties of the University of Szeged annually, who enter the labour market as potential workforce.

Number of Graduates in 2017

 

Employment data on Szeged (July 2017) 

0

Number of registered job seekers

0

Unemployment rate (%)

Number of registered job seekers by gender

 
Number of registered job seekers by level of education

 Source: Csongrád-Csanád County Government Office


Local Government Subsidies

To develop the economy and to increase employment, the Local Government of Szeged City of County Rank may support the investments of companies establishing new workplaces by non-refundable grants. The grant may be used for procuring tangible or intangible assets, or for financing the estimated wage costs of the workplaces created by the investment. The grant can be used with the stipulation that the applicant shall provide private resources of minimum 25 per cent for the investment, and shall employ minimum 100 residents of Szeged. The aid application should be submitted in Hungarian to the Development Office of the Mayor’s Office. The Assembly of the Local Government of Szeged City of County Rank shall decide about the amount of the grant.

The Local Government Decree 52/2017 (XII.19.) by the Assembly of the Local Government of Szeged City of County Rank on the local subsidy program of businesses to encourage investments and to raise workplaces is available both in English and Hungarian.

 Decree in Hungarian

Tax Base Exemption due to Employment Increase134

39/D. §135 (1)136  The tax base of permanent business activity may be decreased by one million forints per person based on the increase in staff number of the average fiscal year statistic number of permanent staff calculated on the months of the fiscal year operation compared to the average previous fiscal year statistic number of permanent staff calculated on the months of the previous fiscal year operation.

(2)137  Tax base exemption is not applicable if state subsidy contributed to the staff increase. State subsidy here means subsidy paid from the National Employment Fund with stipulation of new job creation.

(3)138  The average statistic number of permanent staff shall be calculated with two decimal accuracy in accordance with the rules valid on 1st January 2015 of the Central Statistical Office’s Guide how to provide statistical information on employment. When calculating the average fiscal year statistic number of permanent staff, those shall be ignored who generally belongs to statistic number of permanent staff but prior to that they belonged to the average statistic number of permanent staff of an associated company by law on corporation tax and capital return tax.

(4)139  In case of entreprises established without a predecessor in a fiscal year (or private individul enterprises not being enterprises in the two preceding years), the previous fiscal year’s statistic number of permanent staff shall be taken zero. In case of enterprises established by transformation, joining or splitting in a fiscal year, the previous fiscal year’s statistic number of permanent staff shall be the statistic number of permanent staff of the predecessor enterprise. In case of enterprises established by splitting (demerging, spin-off), the previous fiscal year’s statistic number of permanent staff shall be the proportion of the statistic number of permanent staff of the predecessor enterprise that corresponds to the asset value shares in the final balance sheets compared to their total asset value. In case of enterprises established by joining (fusion, merger), the previous fiscal year’s statistic number of permanent staff shall be the total statistic number of permanent staff of the predecessor enterprises.

(5) Tax base exemption may be claimed in the tax return of the fiscal year following the fiscal year.

(6) If the average statistic number of permanent staff of a company decreases in a fiscal year by more than five per cent compared to the average statistic number of permanent staff of the previous fiscal year, the tax base as defined in the Paragraph (1) Section 39. in Act on Local Taxes shall be increased by the amount of the tax base exemption received for the preceding fiscal year.


State Subsidies

The Hungarian state may grant the following subsidies to investments implemented in Hungary:

 Summary of the subsidies 


Local Taxes

Similar to other cities in Hungary, the Local Government of Szeged City of County Rank introduced four types of local taxes: local business tax, building tax, real property tax and city tax. The Local Government receives the most substantial revenue from the local business tax among taxes. The rate of the tax, two per cent of companies’s revenue, has not changed for years. The local business tax revenue increases in Szeged from year to year because the performance of the companies has improved, their turnover and tax base have increased.

Local business tax

Only business purpose buildings are subject to building tax in Szeged. The base of the tax is the net floor space in m2 of the building. The highest amount of the building tax is HUF 1,845 per m2

  Building tax

Among assets taxes, the real property tax was introduced in Szeged, which has to be paid for vacant lots exceeding 500 m2 determined in decree. The rate of the tax is HUF 100 per m2 in 2016 and it increases by HUF 50 per m2 annually in the next two years.

  Real property tax


Organisations

Chambers

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Csongrád County

The Chamber is devoted to promoting the development and self-organization of the economy, to establishing and maintaining the security of business turnover. In addition, it is dedicated to contributing to satisfying the high quality expert demands of the economy, first of all through operating the dual vocational training system by fulfilling a coordinating role.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosts the local office of the Enterprise Europe Network, which provides a wide range of business development services for enterprises free of charge. Through its business and innovative partner searching services, it provides support for enterprises in operating more competitively on foreign markets.

Website: www.csmkik.hu

The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture

Csongrád-Csanád County has a climate and soil excellent for agricultural production, therefore the proportion of agriculture from the GDP is significant, it is above the national and regional average. Despite its strength the region has lost its traditional functions, economy is concentrated in cities. Agriculture of the region is described by split up company structure, weak cooperation intentions, serious shortage of capital, late and slow economic growth. The chamber supports agricultural organisations by counselling and running a rural economist network.

Website: www.nak.hu

Clusters

Software Innovation Pole Cluster

The Software Innovation Pole Cluster is an accredited, silver label cluster in the field of software development, the members’ operation area covers whole Hungary, and their seats are in Szeged on the South Great Plain. The cluster has 40 members: the majority is small and medium enterprises, three universities (University of Szeged, University of Pécs and University of Debrecen) and one chamber (Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bács-Kiskun County).

Since its establishment in 2007, the Software Innovation Pole Cluster has been the catalyst of plenty of business and research collaboration.

Main results in recent years:

  • 100+ business collaborative projects, cluster members have won almost HUF 15 billion subsidy by GOP and GINOP developments from 2007 to 2016.
  • The cluster has accredited innovation cluster certification since 2008.
  • In 2009, the cluster has won a special prize on the Prestige Gala appreciating the results of local economic life.
  • The Cluster has “Cluster Management Excellence Label Silver – Striving for Cluster Excellence” certification from the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) international organisation.
  • The Software Innovation Pole Cluster has joined international clusters community by becoming the member of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform which opens collaboration opportunities into the value chain of emerging sectors.

The core focus areas of the cluster:

 Collaboration areas and services offered to our members:

  • Matchmaking, establishing and coordinating collaborations
  • Sector representation
  • Promoting open innovation (RDI competences)
  • Supporting communication and HR development areas
  • Quality assurance, accreditation, excellence
  • Market research based on products and services
  • Innovation and competence database, development of innovation platforms
  • Organising events (thematic, meetup, conferences, exhibitions, missions, site visits)
  • Building international and national business cooperations
  • Marketing and communication actions, branding
  • Representation of the cluster on different decision levels (Employment Pacts etc.)
  • Developing IT trainings based on members’ demand and relying on market recruitment demand
  • Project generating, development, partner search (international, national, EEN system)

Memebers: www.infopolus.hu/tagok

Further information:
Mónika Gortva-Kónya,
Cluster Manager

E-mail: konya.monika@deakszeged.hu
Mobile: +36 20 509 4629
Website: www.infopolus.hu

ArchEnerg International Innovative Cluster for Renewable Energy and Building Trade

ArchEnerg was established in March 2007 with the aim of creating an economic and social model based on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency that moves green economy enterprises and society towards a more sustainable future. ArchEnerg International Renewable Energy and Building Trade Cluster has won the certificate of „Accredited Innovation Cluster” five times.

The cluster has 79 members at present. There are 73 SMEs, experts in their fields, 5 big companies and an academic institution, the University of Szeged. During its operation, the Cluster has developed an extensive activity network. The primary task is to support its members participating in the strategic industrial sectors. This includes infrastructure development, lobbying, marketing and generating demand for their products and services. It also aims to increase public awareness regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Our tasks include development of knowledge based economy in Hungary, where knowledge necessary for development is the result of collaboration of more players and organisations. Our age is the age of knowledge based economies, which is the consequence of the organic development exceeding previous systems. Realizing this, we decided to continue our activity within cluster framework in 2007. This means a network really, where companies develop new type, close collaboration models to promote their innovative activity.

Our cluster develops effective partnerships among companies, educational institutions, research organisations, local governments and stakeholders based on common interests. Bottom-up, well-organised collaborations of cluster members based on their common interests significantly increase the efficiency, competitiveness of members, which also appears on local and national economy level later.

Services of the Cluster

  • Generating projects
  • Cluster Marketing
  • Searching for financial solutions
  • Tender watch
  • Partner search
  • Demand assessment
  • Needs assessment and mediation of trainings
  • Organization of professional courses, presentations, lectures

Further information:
Máté Dezső
Cluster Manager

Mobil: +36 30 461 9769
Website: www.archenerg.eu