About The Simonyi Center for Entrepreneurship, Applied Education and Regional Development

The Simonyi Center in Pécs, Hungary facilitates the transformation of Hungarian and Eastern European economies from a post-socialist to a western capitalist approach. The Simonyi Center offers business development and assistance services to entrepreneurs and organizations in the fields of cultural arts, sciences and innovation as well as business. Services are offered to Pécs and the surrounding region.

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Our Mission

We facilitate the transformation of Hungarian and Eastern European economies from a post-socialist to a western capitalist approach consequently better positioning the region within the European Union, as well as the global market place. This transformation entails changing mind sets and the ways people do business, educating students and entrepreneurs on alternative capitalist ways of doing business and providing hope and business opportunities to upcoming generations. It is a long process throughout which the continuity of entrepreneurial support programs is vital. This is what makes our initiative different from previous, one-time programs and projects. By operating year-round, education and business services and programs create a presence in the community and region. Here entrepreneurs and businesses in need of assistance rely on our services and return for help in the future as well. Furthermore, we will educate the upcoming generation of students providing them invaluable applied business competencies, client interaction and problem solving skills and, more importantly, uncovering hidden opportunities in the region.

Our Signature Areas

Cultural Arts, Science and Innovation

The Simonyi Center in Pécs, Hungary focuses on transforming innovation into practice and creating a framework of commercialization. A support system for the arts will make existing and new arts accessible to citizens of the region, as well as help artists gain more exposure. Furthermore, this support system will inspire the public to pursue arts on a greater level.

Applied Education

Applied education integrates classroom curriculum with real world application of knowledge via exposure to working with real businesses, artists, scientists and other clients. Educational impacts can be seen through language development, applied business skills, negotiation skills and cultural exposure of students. The training and assigning of student teams provides regional businesses with solutions to real-world problems and has enabled almost 400 students to develop entrepreneurial and business skills.

Entrepreneurship and Regional Development

Providing in-depth business assistance services to more than 80 businesses through 18,000 hours of intensive consulting, the program is fostering entrepreneurship and a spirit of capitalism in the Pécs area, as well as, all over Hungary.

Our History

The Simonyi Center is hosted at the University of Pécs, Hungary, which is one of the largest Universities in Hungary. As well as being recognized for its quality education practices, the University of Pécs and its region are rich in cultural arts and science and innovation. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA has shared a relationship with University of Pécs since 1989. Originally focusing on student/faculty exchange and research the relationship evolved in 2005 with contributions from the Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and various donors to create the Simonyi Center for Entrepreneurship, Applied Education and Regional Development. The programs offered have been successful at leveraging Ohio University’s progressive approach to education. Ohio University’s integrated educational economic development model, which educates students as well as impacts the surrounding community, is now being implemented in Hungary. The learning, which is mainly focused on western capitalist ways of thinking, has extensive outreach that truly goes beyond borders by transforming the mind sets of all participants.