Dr. István Szászi, head of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region, has been honored with the Manager of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious accolades in Hungarian business. The award was presented for the 31st time by the Hungarian Association of Managers at the Manager of the Year Award Gala. Following a nomination and selection process lasting nearly six months, the organization’s board decided on the winner by secret ballot. Each year, the Manager of the Year Award recognizes leaders who make a significant impact on their organization and the economy as a whole through their professional achievements, strategic thinking and value-based leadership approach.
Dr. István Szászi has been leading the Bosch Group in Hungary since 2021. The knowledge and experience he gained during his prior scientific career continue to serve as a key source of inspiration for him to this day. As a company leader, his strategic goal is to build an innovation ecosystem: to foster close cooperation between industry players, the academic world, the startup sector and the government, in order to strengthen Hungary’s innovative power. He considers it his mission to train future generations of engineers and to bring research networks and the academic community to the forefront of industrial innovation. The ELTE-Bosch Department of Artificial Intelligence and the Bosch-BME Innovative Vehicle Technologies Competence Center were established with his active involvement, and he was also instrumental in the creation of the BoschxRichter Industrial Innovation Award. Under his leadership, the Bosch Group in Hungary supports higher education students in acquiring competitive knowledge through university scholarships, internship programs and grants for professors, while for high school students, it has launched several awareness-raising initiatives, including AI education. Under the management of Dr. István Szászi, the second largest European research and development center of the company group, the Bosch Budapest Innovation Campus, was opened in 2022, further enhancing Hungary's role in the field of international innovation and industrial cooperation, as well as global automotive industry developments.
His management philosophy centers on openness, flexibility and a commitment to continuous improvement. He believes in cross-border collaboration and that true innovation is rooted in diverse thinking, where the convergence of different perspectives and fields of expertise gives rise to the solutions of the future. His vision is defined by long-term, consistent development, where technological progress is not a goal, but a means to create social value.
“The Manager of the Year Award is an honor, but it also a responsibility. For me, leadership is not only about strategic decisions, but also about building communities that create value. This recognition confirms that we are on the right track as we strive to connect the university, startup, industrial, corporate and government sectors into a single innovative ecosystem. This helps us strengthen Hungary’s position at the forefront of global technology and contributes to the multiplication of our country’s innovative power,” said Dr. István Szászi.
20 Years in the Service of Innovation
Dr. István Szászi has been part of the Bosch Group in Hungary for over 20 years: starting as a project engineer, he went on to become the head of the Budapest Development Center, and from 2021, the head of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region. He is responsible for more than 23,000 employees, including thousands of development engineers in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Engineering, serves as the head of the Central and Eastern European Engineering Cluster, holds an industrial professorship at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, actively participates in mentoring programs for managers and contributes to the work of several foundations and professional organizations.
His work has been recognized with several prestigious awards. In 2022, his outstanding achievements in innovation and the advancement of electromobility were recognized with the joint Blue Innovation Award of the Managers' Association and Volkswagen, and he received the Dénes Gábor Award in 2023 for his outstanding performance in technological innovation and in the field of technical and engineering research.
Zita Hella Varga
Phone: +36 70 667-6374
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 ten subsidiaries. In fiscal 2025 it had total net sales of 1.926 billion forints and consolidated sales to third parties on the Hungarian market of 303 billion forints. The Bosch Group in Hungary employs around 16,800 associates (as of December 31, 2025). 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 413,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2025). The company generated
sales of 91 billion euros in 2025. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. With its business activities, the company aims to use technology to help shape universal trends such as automation, digitalization, electrification, and artificial intelligence. In this context, Bosch’s broad diversification across regions and industries strengthens its innovativeness and robustness. Bosch uses its proven expertise in hardware, software, and services to offer customers cross-domain solutions from a single source. It also applies its expertise in connectivity and artificial intelligence in order to develop and manufacture intelligent, user-friendly, and sustainable products. With technology that is “Invented for life,” Bosch wants to help improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 500 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. Bosch’s innovative strength is key to the company’s further development. Bosch employs some 82,000 associates in research and development.
The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a limited liability company with a charitable purpose. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a company owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. It is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the company’s long-term existence and in particular its financial independence – in line with the mission handed down in the will of the company’s founder, Robert Bosch.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.hu, iot.boschblog.hu, www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com.