Budapest – With the support and partnership of the Bosch Group the first industrial department of Artificial Intelligence in Hungary was handed over at the ELTE Faculty of Informatics, with the participation of Minister of Innovation and Technology Dr. László Palkovics. The future-oriented innovation activity of the ELTE-Bosch Artificial Intelligence Department makes the strategic relationship between domestic higher education and industrial research and development even more tangible. “We are convinced that cooperation between the most innovative international companies and higher education is of paramount importance for Hungary, as we can be present in the economic value chain with increasing added value, and the country's ability to retain jobs can also grow significantly in the global competition for investment” – said Dr. István Szászi, Representative of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region.
Unique innovation ecosystem in Hungary from Bosch
The establishment of the ELTE-Bosch Artificial Intelligence Department is part of the strategy of the Bosch Group and ELTE. The company considers Hungarian universities as an important partner not only in the field of engineering and IT training, but also in the area of joint research and development. As one of the largest employers in Hungary, the Bosch Group in Hungary has developed a close, long-term professional partnership with several universities nationwide in recent years. Within the framework of Bosch's higher education cooperation, Hungarian universities can directly participate in the international processes of industrial innovation, so the academic sector can participate more actively in shaping the technology of the future.
At the ELTE Faculty of Informatics, innovation and an application-oriented approach have been organically integrated into and become the main catalyst for excellent basic research. This provides a solid professional basis for knowledge-intensive companies interested in innovation, such as the Bosch Group, increasing business competitiveness in a rapidly changing technological environment.
“The modernisation of universities is one of the key questions of our time, and as a Faculty of a long-established Research University, we consider it a particularly important mission and responsibility to create social and economic value in terms of 3rd generation university model. Faculty of Informatics shows internationally recognised innovation results in this framework. Our highly traditional artificial intelligence research, our IT training ranked among the 500 best in the world, and our R&D&I cooperation with the Bosch Group have created the basis for the inauguration of the ELTE-Bosch Artificial Intelligence Department today” said Dr. Zoltán Horváth, Dean of the Faculty of Informatics of ELTE in his greeting speech.
Future-oriented knowledge base and a research centre
Bosch builds complex higher education collaborations and innovation ecosystems in Hungary and internationally, which bring mutual benefits to both university partners and the company. In cooperation with Bosch and ELTE, university students can acquire even more relevant and competitive knowledge and innovation-business development knowledge in practical terms, while Bosch's research and development work is enriched with many valuable results, and ELTE's artificial intelligence training programs are adapted to changing industrial needs.
Bosch is proud that the first Artificial Intelligence Industrial Department in Hungary at ELTE was opened today with the active involvement of the company. This is a new knowledge base and a research centre that will benefit the whole of Hungarian higher education, where the participants will be able to shape the future of science and industry together.
From automated cars to industrial robots
At the ELTE-Bosch Artificial Intelligence Department, internship, scholarship and doctoral programs will be implemented, including in the field of self-driving vehicles, industrial automation, machine vision or neural networks mapping human brain function. One of the most exciting joint research areas of Bosch and ELTE is the development of Level 4 and 5 self-driving systems, where machine intelligence can take over the safe management of vehicles completely without human supervision and intervention.
Modern university space along Bosch's philosophy
Bosch not only provides industrial background and knowledge for the new department, but also has helped in its physical implementation. Thus, on the Danube bank of Lágymányos, an unprecedented, modern research environment and a new type of university space were created in Hungarian higher education, in line with Bosch's "New Way of Working" approach. In the renewed 400-square-meter department, classrooms, flexible research workstations, collaboration space, workshop room and library were also established. The most important aspect of the creation of a new department site based on Bosch's principles of spatial organization was to have most of the functions easily accessible in one place, as well as to facilitate cooperation and common thinking among students, lecturers, university and industrial research and development professionals.
Zita Hella Varga
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Bosch has been present in Hungary since 1898 with its products. After its re-establishment as a regional trading company in 1991, Bosch has grown into one of Hungary’s largest foreign industrial employers with currently eight subsidiaries. In fiscal 2020 it had total net sales of 1,497 billion forints and consolidated sales to third parties on the Hungarian market of 238 billion forints. The Bosch Group in Hungary employs more than 15,500 associates (as of December 31, 2020). Figures of fiscal 2021 for the Bosch Group in Hungary will be available from May 26, 2022. In addition to its manufacturing, commercial and development business, Bosch has a network of sales and service operations that covers the entire country.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 402,600 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2021). The company generated sales of 78.7 billion euros in 2021. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 128 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 76,100 associates in research and development, of which more than 38,000 are software engineers.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.hu, iot.boschblog.hu, www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPresse