Complex responses to the challenges of the health industry – business breakfast at BME

The latest event in the BME Business Breakfast series placed the challenges and opportunities of the health industry and biotechnology at its centre. In his welcome address, Rector Hassan Charaf highlighted that BME can create genuine value for its partners when it offers solutions to industrial problems in a unified and multidisciplinary manner, spanning faculties and fields of expertise.

The university's aim is not to seek one-off forms of support, but to establish long-term, "win–win" collaborations from which both the university and the companies benefit, said the Rector. He also spoke about the BME 2032 strategy-development process, which aims to strengthen the university's role in the Hungarian and international innovation ecosystem along directions defined with the involvement of experts.

The first speaker in the professional programme, András Szarka, Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, provided a comprehensive overview of BME's competences in the health industry and biotechnology. In his presentation, he demonstrated 

how the University provides complex responses to global challenges such as an aging society, the shortage of healthcare workforce, rising care costs, and epidemiological risks.

András Szarka spoke in detail about the linking digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology, as well as the research and development areas at BME that span from fundamental research to biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical technology solutions. (Mr Szarka's presentation can be downloaded here.)

BME’s EELISA team was also present, emphasizing that, thanks to its resources and the involvement of partner universities, the alliance can respond to various needs quickly and effectively, even beyond the scope of BME’s own capabilities. These may include international research, structured and financially supported professional community work formed by the partner university community and market partners, international student recruitment, or support for the European visibility of events. Each partner can strengthen its academic presence not only through specific programmes but also by providing professional internship opportunities, thereby enhancing its international visibility, fostering the next generation of staff, and contributing to the development of higher education.

An important element of the event was the circular economy fair, where the University’s faculties demonstrated their research, projects, and industrial collaboration opportunities related to the health industry and biotechnology at separate stands. The participants were thus able to gain first-hand insight into BME’s diverse and complementary competences, as well as the specific areas where engagement between the university and industry can create new value.

In his presentation, Tamás Szamkó, CEO of Ceva‑Phylaxia, highlighted the activities of the veterinary pharmaceutical company, which has a history spanning more than a hundred years and is a major player internationally. The company is one of the most important manufacturing and research centres of the Ceva group: vaccines developed and produced here account for a significant portion of the group’s global revenue and contribute to the health of billions of animals worldwide. The company’s technology portfolio is particularly strong, ranging from inactivated and live vaccines to vector, DNA and RNA-based solutions – the latter considered pioneering worldwide in animal health.

The CEO also stressed the importance of the strategic cooperation with BME. 

A significant proportion of staff working in Ceva‑Phylaxia’s research and development and industrial development units are BME graduates, and in recent years, numerous students have participated in traineeship programmes and prepared their theses and diploma projects at the company.

An important element of the collaboration is the Ceva Horizon scholarship programme, which supports the most talented BME students and facilitates their long-term professional involvement, as well as the international graduate programme, through which young Hungarian professionals can gain experience at Ceva sites abroad. (Mr Szamkó's presentation can be downloaded here.)

The Business Breakfast confirmed that BME is a significant player in the health industry and biotechnology sector, not only as a knowledge centre, but also as an active innovation and industrial partner, where university research, education, and industrial application are tangibly interconnected.

Rector's Office, Directorate of Communications