The Simonyi Center is accepting applications for both the May 20-July 20, 2013 Cohort and the June 10-July 20, 2013 Cohort. Send your name and letter of interest to simonyicenter@gmail.com.
Five times eve
ry year University of Pecs and Ohio University students convene in Pecs for two 6-week consulting programs working with start ups, existing businesses, non-profits, and the university intellectual property. Both Ohio and Pecs students receive internship credit for the experience.
The Hungarian, American, and International students are assembled into teams and assigned clients. The clients consist of high technology businesses, start-ups, local and international companies. Students need to immediately bond and creatively work together to understand these businesses, define problem(s) and then propose recommendations/solutions to the businesses.
• 6 weeks of extensive consulting experience in a multicultural environment
• Exposure to a wide variety of business problems in an international setting
• Exposure to the world of innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship
• Client interaction with real businesses and entrepreneurs
• Real-world application of your business knowledge and skills in the afternoons with regional business
• The basics of business planning, feasibility studies and structuring companies for financing
• Work in teams with students from University of Pecs and the US
• A great resume building experience
• Lifelong friendships, international business contacts and references
• Fun cultural activities outside of work (international culinary festival, music festivals, short weekend trips)
What we want:
• Sophomore/Junior/ or Senior students
• Students interested in application of classroom learning to real businesses.
• Highly motivated conscientious people
• Good academic standing with their college
• Strong interest in entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization
• Positive attitude
• Hard workers who also enjoy fun
• Students that are open-minded and open to new experiences
• Students eager to get real-world business experience
• Students who want to learn about doing business in a foreign country
• Flexibility to work outside you field of interest
• No previous consulting experience required.
Application to the Program:
Students interested should send a brief email stating their interest in the program, along with a resume to INFO@simonyicenter.com immediately. Students will be selected based on criteria above and an interview with the Program Director.
Across the crowded room a Romanian software engineer is agitatedly pointing out a venture capitalist to his business partner; nearby, struggling to be heard above the babble, two Czechs sip wine with a British entrepreneur and compare notes on marketing start-ups; to the side, everyone seems to want to meet a young German.
Read more here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/577ae07c-1c44-11e2-a63b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ESQYQWm9
The 8th Annual Summer Innovation & Commercialization Initiatives Launched June 13 with the arrival of US Professionals, Executive Mentors from California’s Silicon Valley, and Students from Ohio. The initiatives partner with Hungarian Start-ups, Entrepreneurs, Research & Innovation, and Students from University of Pecs to turn ideas into opportunities and then into the commercial market place. This world class program has been recognized as the model for commercialization in under served areas such as Hungary and other areas of Eastern Europe that lack a capital continuum. The model has been widely used in the United States and the Simonyi Center has assisted with the implementation in India, Nicaragua, Botswana, and Slovakia. More information to follow as the program progresses.
The current and the permanently returning global economic and social crises suggest that usual handling of the problems does not provide long-term solutions. Scientists, researchers, politicians and social networks became aware of this situation and now are trying to work out models for the future.
The Alternative Economics Summer School is introducing these ideas to the participants and will discover some in-depth details behind the surface. Our aim is to establish a new way of thinking of the current and new generations of business professionals.
In 2012 the program will focus on the concept of the Blue Economy formed by Günter Pauli which is a radically new way of looking at business. The 100 models of different innovations were presented as a Report to the Club of Rome in 2009.
Read more here.
It says that seven countries (Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Wales, plus the Flemish part of Belgium) have launched specific strategies to promote entrepreneurship education.
Others (Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey) include it as part of their national lifelong learning, youth or growth strategies, it says.
Half of European countries are engaged in a process of educational reforms which include the strengthening of entrepreneurship education.
A total of 31 European countries and five regions were surveyed for the report, entitled “Entrepreneurship education at school in Europe”.
Reaction came from Androulla Vassiliou, EU commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, who said, “Entrepreneurship education is a driver for future growth and will help us to inspire the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
“If Europe wants to stay competitive, it must invest in its people, in their skills, in their ability to adapt and in their ability to innovate.
“This means that we need to encourage a real change of mind-set in Europe towards entrepreneurial attitudes and this starts by instilling a spirit of entrepreneurship from early education onwards.”
The report states that entrepreneurship education is explicitly recognised in the primary education curricula of two-thirds of the countries surveyed.
While entrepreneurship is not taught as a separate subject in primary schools, half of the countries have defined learning outcomes which relate to entrepreneurial attitudes and skills such as sense of initiative, risk-taking and creativity.
In secondary education, half of the countries integrate entrepreneurship into compulsory subjects such as economics and social sciences.
Two countries (Lithuania and Romania) teach entrepreneurship as a compulsory separate subject. Practical entrepreneurial skills are specified by four countries (Lithuania, Romania, Liechtenstein and Norway).
The report says that a dozen countries support initiatives related to entrepreneurship education such as enhancing closer cooperation between education and business, and setting up small-scale firms run by students.
However, specific teacher training in this area is available only in the Flemish community of Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Only one third of European countries provide central guidelines and teaching materials for entrepreneurship education.
The EU promotes entrepreneurship as a ‘key factor’ for competitiveness and has highlighted the importance of promoting a European entrepreneurial culture.
The need to improve the entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities of citizens is also underlined in three of the flagship initiatives in the Europe 2020.
As part of this, the commission set up a working group on entrepreneurship education in November 2011. The aim is to support efforts by member states to implement entrepreneurship education.
Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics, State Audit Office head Laszlo Domokos and Chief Prosecutor Peter Polt signed an anti-corruption agreement on Friday morning.
Supreme Court president Andras Baka had signed the agreement at an earlier date.
Corruption is the greatest danger to Hungarian democracy and such an agreement is unprecedented not only in Hungary but also around the world, Navracsics said. The agreement respects the independence of the affected institutions, he added.
The signing ceremony was also attended by the ambassadors of the US and the UK.
The Global Entrepreneurship Week gives an excellent opportunity to bring together the brightest young entrepreneurs in order to work on the most challenging global issues together with the world’s leaders. It’s our honor that Hungary will be the first host of a Kairos event that is orgnized during the GEW. Our hope is that the Hungarian Kairos Summit will begin a series of Kairos events that will be organized in association with GEW and hosted by varying Kairos chapters year by year.
The first day of the Summit will be held in beautiful Le Meridien Hotel in the heart of Budapest. The second day will be held in Győr (West-Hungary) in the InnoNET Innovation Technology Center:
The Kairos Society is an international, student-run, not-for-profit foundation based in the United States. Kairos fosters a culture of innovation-driven entrepreneurship by engaging our diverse fellows with a variety of industry and thought leaders surrounding a wide range of global challenges.
The Hungarian Kairos Summit is dedicated to support the endeavor of Kairos Society, e.g. to catalyze an economy of innovation by fostering a global community of top student entrepreneurs and change makers, driven to individual and collective action towards a better future.
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.
On September 23, 2011 Ambassador Kounalakis opened an exhibition titled “From San Francisco to Woodstock – The Golden Age of the American Rock Poster 1965-1971” at the KOGART House. The show’s unique mission is to introduce this particular segment of modern American art history to the Hungarian public as well as to highlight the cultural links between the two countries.
Ambassador Kounalakis explained in her remarks that “During the Cold War, rock music gained a following around the globe and was even able to break through the Iron Curtain. In the United States and in Hungary, we shared in the messages of the music, in the desire to question authority and to change the status quo.” She added that “it had, and still has, the power to bring nationalities and generations together. It has the power to move people, and it serves as a window into understanding western and American culture.”
During the opening ceremony Mr. Simonyi, and columnist of San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Leah Garchik explained what rock music and this era meant to them. Ms. Garchik also shared memories of Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead and Country Joe McDonald whom she interviewed.
The U.S. Embassy supported the organization of the exhibit with a grant that provided help for transportation of the works, printing of information materials and publicity. The chief curator of the exhibit is former Hungarian Ambassador to the U.S. and enthusiast rock fan, András Simonyi. The show was created in cooperation with generous American private collectors from Denver, the Denver Arts Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
The exhibit showcases 150 rock posters and about 50 cultural relics (instruments, costumes, etc.) from the 1960s and 1970s, reflecting the rock and roll legacy of that era in the San Francisco Bay Area. The posters are engaging reflections of the musical events and the musicians they once promoted, and also are unique works of visual art reflecting pop culture of that era.
Representatives from the Hungarian business and art community as well as members of the diplomatic community were present at the opening ceremony and at the uniquely American reception following it.
The exhibit will be open to the general public until December 31, 2011. (hours: Monday thru Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; address: 112 Andrássy út)
Statement by Secretary Clinton on the Occasion of Hungary’s National Day
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Hungary as you celebrate Saint Stephen’s Day this August 20th.
This June I visited Budapest to participate in the inauguration of the Lantos Institute and reaffirm the commitment of the United States to Hungary’s future. Americans and Hungarians share a history of mutual respect and values. Today, we are NATO allies, strong economic partners, and we are working to protect and promote democracy and human rights. Together we are working to foster greater stability in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries around the world. In your own country you are continuing to work toward reforms that will help strengthen your economy and eliminate corruption. The United States stands with you as you strive to preserve democratic institutions and set an example for other countries as they work to establish their own democracies, create open and pluralistic societies, and promote human rights.
As you honor your rich history on this special day, know that the United States sends best wishes to all Hungarians for continued peace and prosperity in the year to come.
