MIT professor’s meeting with BME’s leaders

Phil Budden, Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management was invited to attend BME’s Executive Meeting, held on 18 September.

Phil Budden, developer and lecturer of MIT's Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP), is attending the NATO Innovation Fund meeting in Budapest on 18-19 September 2023 and while here, he visited Budapest University of Technology and Economics to discuss the possibility of networking between MIT and BME.

Hungarian participants of the MIT REAP programme include the representatives of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), the National Research Development and Innovation Office (NKFI), the Design Terminal and various innovative businesses. The higher education sector is represented by BME with the participation of Heads of Department Zsolt Szalay and András Nemeslaki.  Péter Fáykiss, Director of MNB’s Digitalisation Directorate, one of the Hungarian members of the programme, also attended BME’s Executive Meeting.

Phil Budden stressed that the establishment of a successful innovation ecosystem requires cooperation between the government, large companies, universities, venture capitalists and innovative start-ups, in which innovative higher education institutions like BME play a key role. The professor acknowledged the achievements of the Hungarian team participating in the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme. He pointed out that the fact that the university requires maximum 5% ownership in the companies has also contributed to the success of innovation-based university spin-offs at MIT. This encourages the development of innovations into businesses, and then allow them to attract venture capital.

Prior to his academic career, Phil Budden served as a British diplomat at EU organisations, then as a liaison officer focusing on science, business and innovation, at the British Embassy in Washington and later as British Consul General to New England, based in Boston.

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Photo: B. Geberle