AI Strategy: Preparing Hungary to Take a 21st Century Lead

As a result of the cooperation between the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Coalition, which gathers more than 250 organizations and is run by the Digital Success Program, Hungary’s AI Strategy was launched recently. It foresees gross domestic product and SME efficiency to soar by 15% and 26%, respectively, within the next 10 years. Additional objectives are to offer society large-scale educational and awareness raising programs with the aim to adjust to AI transformation, help a for-profit approach take root in research processes, support responsible management of national data assets, and find effective responses to the challenges posed by automation. The Budapest Business Journal talked to Roland Jakab, head of the AI Coalition (and MD at Ericsson Hungary) about the details of the new plan.

By Zsófia Végh

BBJ: What is the importance of the adoption of the strategy from the viewpoint of the economy, the companies and the job market?

Roland Jakab: The Hungarian economy must be prepared for the AI transformation, and that requires raising awareness among citizens and businesses alike. The labor market will be altered to a great extent with up to 900,000 jobs to be affected by 2030, according to a recent PwC study. This means that both employees and employers need to do their own homework. Our package of measures aims to set up the educational and institutional framework that can accelerate the widespread adoption of AI-driven solutions. As a result, an AIready workforce and the large-scale use by SMEs of AI are set to create better paying jobs, and boost overall competitiveness.

BBJ: How will the strategy affect these areas in the next five-10 years?

RJ: The secondary use of data will become commonplace, so regulated trade in corporate records will allow domestic businesses to profit from their own data sets as well as develop solutions based on third party records.

Corporate cooperation with research is expected to be taken to a whole new level. The newly established National AI Lab is commissioned to facilitate applied research, while the AI Innovation Center’s task is to help SMEs adopt tech in large numbers. The latter effort will be backed by the AI Coalition too as it serves as an engine for ecosystem and market building. Thanks to targeted training programs, at least one quarter of the workforce is bound to find higher value-added jobs. Getting things done in customer services should be automated in 60% of cases nationwide.

Other concrete desired benefits include that 2.5 million citizens should enjoy AI-supported education, two million citizens should actively manage their own data with the help of a data wallet, Hungary should become the main European center for the development and testing of self-driving vehicles, and 70% of the scheduling of renewable energy production should be carried out by smart technologies by 2030. Also, the emission of ammonia in agriculture is expected to decrease by 32%, and three million citizens will be able to benefit from AI-based services through a digital healthcare system.

BBJ: What development will take place this year?

RJ: The language tech project has been launched already, but the strategy’s appendix contains a detailed schedule for each planned measure. In some cases, such as competence and infrastructure development, or research, concrete results should be within reach in one or two years. Certain issues such as establishing the regulatory framework should see initial progress as early as this year. A prototype of the data wallet is also expected to be revealed by the end of 2020, and a new powerful High Performance Computing (HPC) facility should be up and running in Debrecen [Hungary’s second city, 231 km east of Budapest] by 2022. Since tech is evolving at break-neck speed, measures have been scheduled just for the next five years. The plan is to adapt them on the go.

BBJ: How much funding will be provided for the implementation of the strategy?

RJ: As has been said by Minister [for Innovation and Technology] László Palkovics before, some HUF 10 billion has been earmarked to ensure appropriate computing power and to set up the National Data Asset Agency (NAVÜ). The AI Strategy, related projects and the supporting institutions are going to need HUF 170 bln through to 2030. Certain measures laid down in the strategy are not entirely new, though, as they might be under way already, or are about to be implemented anyways, under sector-specific plans. It’s worth noting, however, that since we’re talking about a very fast-changing environment, the strategy needs to be updated from time to time, and that applies to the budget as well. The scale of the resources dedicated for those measures must match the economic weight of the strategy.

BBJ: What fields will be given special attention (and funding)?

Roland Jakab

“Certain issues such as establishing the regulatory framework should see initial progress as early as this year. A prototype of the data wallet is also expected to be revealed by the end of 2020, and a new powerful High Performance Computing facility should be up and running in Debrecen by 2022.”

RJ: We identified a few industries where Hungary could stand the best chance to prevail in the global AI race. Accordingly, healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, and government administration will be treated as priorities. Apart from that, transport, logistics and energy are also among the sectors with special focus. These are all areas where Hungary has strengths traditionally, it’s worth intensifying research, and state involvement is key for success. Developing trustworthy AI and making the Hungarian language ready for the age of AI are also part of the effort.

BBJ: What is National Data Capital Agency and what purposes it has?

RJ: NAVÜ’s main task is to make local stakeholders aware of the importance of the national data assets, and make secondary data use widespread throughout the economy, thus set the data economy in motion. Hungary’s digital sovereignty is at stake here, and we must do everything in our power to create an environment where not only Big Tech but also Hungarian businesses can benefit from the power of data. Collection of data needs to be well-regulated, but rules should be there to let data trade thrive on data marketplaces.

Some such marketplaces will be available on our new website on AI, www.ai-hungary.com, where you can find all related information including news, events, and training programs as well.