Bosch is Innovative Company of the Year in Hungary

Budapest – By decision of the independent jury of Figyelő TOP200, the Innovative Company of the Year Award for major research and development achievements over the last two years has gone to the Bosch Group in Hungary. At a ceremony on 14 November, Dr István Szászi, head of the Bosch Engineering Center Budapest, received the prize on behalf of the Group.

The Bosch Group is committed to innovation, as shows up in the resources it has recently devoted to development work in Hungary, creating technology of high intellectual added value in the fields of IoT and mobility. The Group spent a total of 126 billion forints on research and development in the 2017–2018 period. It has constantly been building up its research operation in Budapest, and ranks as one of the most innovative companies in Hungary. Of its nearly 15,000 employees, 2900 work in R&D. Most of them are associates of the Engineering Center Budapest, an increasingly important site for the development of electric and autonomous cars. In terms of the number of automotive engineers, it is the Bosch Group’s second largest development operation in Europe.

Dr Szászi said at the award ceremony, “It is largely through the activity of Bosch that Hungarian engineers are taking an active part in creating the technologies of the future. The Campus 2 building under construction in the Engineering Center Budapest is currently one of the Group’s largest capital projects worldwide. It will provide a creative and inspiring working environment for our associates.”

The Campus 2 project will provide 90,000 square metres of additional floor area for automotive research in the Engineering Center Budapest. The creative working spaces planned there include a conference hall, a large vehicle workshop and several laboratories, notably a special high-tech measurement chamber big enough to take a whole car. A key element of the project is a 10,000 square metre test track for ultrasound-, radar- and camera- based testing of driver assistance systems.

Daniel Korioth, Representative of the Bosch Group in Hungary, said, “Since its foundation in 1886, Bosch has looked on innovation as one of its prime values. Dedicated work by Bosch associates is always essential to meeting the new challenge. Their professional competence, hard work and enthusiasm are what have made this company successful. I would like to thank all of my colleagues for the part they have played in establishing and maintaining the success of the Bosch Group.”

The company has been engaged in development work since 2000. The original operation set up to develop software for automatic transmissions was expanded in 2005 to create the Engineering Center Budapest. With twenty-nine departments and 2700 employees the Engineering Center is now the Bosch Group’s largest European development site outside Germany. The development activity in the Engineering Center Budapest spans a wide range of electronic vehicle control systems and mechanical parts. These include ABS, ESP, airbags, engine management and automatic parking systems, and also electric drive systems and electric motors. Further development areas are dashboard and driver assistance systems, the latter pointing the way towards autonomous cars. The Engineering Center Budapest carries out all phases of the work, including system and algorithm development, electrical and mechanical design, simulation, safety checks and tests. In addition, there are another 200 engineers working in R&D at manufacturing sites in Hungary in the fields of power tools (Miskolc) and automotive parts (Maklár).