As of Friday, 13 October, the government is restarting the Startup Factory programme, with a budget of approximately five billion forints provided to incubators that assist Hungarian startups with mentoring and capital investment, the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) announced today.

The government’s aim is to provide space and support for Hungarian creativity and innovation, thereby promoting the growth of the Hungarian economy, added the KIM.

With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, the National Research, Development, and Innovation Office has been running the Startup Factory programme to support the development and incubation of technology startups since 2013, now for the fourth time, KIM reminded.

The most important feature of the programme announced with a five billion forint budget is that state support reaches innovative startups through incubators. Incubators support early-stage startup companies in bringing their products based on new technologies to the market and in acquiring the necessary additional financing. Since the incubator also risks its own capital, it is in its best interest to select startups that show promising long-term results. This way, state support is placed in the best possible places, the statement detailed.

The ministry emphasized that the current call for proposals aims to provide established technology incubators from previous Startup Factory programmes with the opportunity to continue and grant entry opportunities to others. Based on previous experience and opinions from participants in the startup ecosystem, the programme will be announced in more detail this year in a total of four categories: ‘Old Incubator,’ ‘Specialization Incubator,’ ‘New Incubator,’ and ‘Defence Incubator.’

So far nearly 200 ideas have been funded through the Startup Factory programmes,

and about 90 of them have also received additional investments, mostly from private sources. There are more than ten startups that have received foreign investments, and their combined revenue exceeds ten billion forints, the KIM statement said.

The goal of the John von Neumann Programme, announced this spring, is to provide space and support for Hungarian creativity and innovation, State Secretary for Innovation and Higher Education Balázs Hankó noted in the announcement. He added that with this programme, the government provides significant support to young Hungarian entrepreneurs to help them bring their ideas to the market through mentors.

The winners of the Startup Factory are required to use the support to develop the domestic startup environment and increase the business opportunities of young innovative entrepreneurs. The detailed announcement of the programme is already available on the website of the National Research, Development, and Innovation Office, as highlighted by the KIM.

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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/KIM/MTI