Keeping Innovation Hungarian

PROTECTING INNOVATION ▶▶▶

INNOVATION, R&D AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Many of today’s successful Hungarian businesses started with an innovation, a spark of what would become a well-known company abroad. But those innovations need to be protected so the owners can retain the revenues. How can this be achieved? Gyula Pomázi, President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, gives the Budapest Business Journal the answers.

By Balázs Barabás

BBJ: What are the main categories of intellectual property rights, and what do they protect? Gyula Pomázi: Patent protection ensures an exclusive right to exploit new and industrially applicable solutions involving an inventive step in any field of technology. For example, a product or piece of equipment and its application, as well as the processes related thereto, may be patentable. Patent protection is valid for up to 20 years in the country where it was granted. A patent valid in Hungary may be obtained via a national or European application or by an application submitted within the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Utility model protection is legal protection for new technical innovations not reaching the level of a patentable invention. A further difference is the duration of protection (limited to 10 years) and the fact that, currently in Hungary, only the configuration, construction, or arrangement of objects or their parts can benefit from utility model protection, not processes or chemical products, for example.

Trademark protection ensures an exclusive right to use any sign (such as words, including personal names and slogans; letters; images; two- or three-dimensional shapes,

HEALTH INNOVATION ▶▶▶

BUILDING EU-LEVEL HUNGARIAN EXCELLENCE IN MOLECULAR MEDICINE

The Hungarian Center of Excellence for Molecular Medicine (HCEMM), with its headquarters in Szeged, is building a world-class European-level facility for research and development related to healthy aging. Whether you are a medical researcher looking for challenging opportunities, or a company in need of the right partners, the answers you are looking for may well be found in the south of the country.

Supported by the European Union’s Horizon Program and the Hungarian National Laboratory and Thematic Excellence Programs, HCEMM is driving innovation in so-called translational medical research, which aims to convert basic research into medical applications.

With the backing of the Heidelberg-based European Molecular Biological Laboratory (EMBL) as its advanced partner, HCEMM is bringing tried and tested European-level institutional research and expertise to Hungarian life sciences.

R&D at HCEMM is carried out by Research Groups and Advanced Core Facilities (ACFs). The main focus is on healthy ageing. To administer the program, HCEMM Ltd. was incorporated by the Biological Research Center Szeged (BRC), the Semmelweis University in Budapest and the University of Szeged and took over administration for the so-called EU Teaming Grant from the National Research, Development and Innovation Office.

The Hungarian Center of Excellence for Molecular Medicine received National Laboratory status in Hungary in 2020. It is the third EMBL partnership in molecular medicine, meaning the center can access a network of partner institutes of excellence in the life sciences. Besides opportunities for scientific collaborations, the framework also allows HCEMM to participate in EMBL Partnership Conferences, open to partners only, as well as other events.

A vital component of the operational model for HCEMM is the development of its ACFs. The main goal is to ensure the efficiency of HCEMM’s research groups is increased in terms of excellence (output of high-quality scientific papers) and sustainability (ability to generate income by competitive grants, spin-offs, and technology transfer agreements), but each of HCEMM’s owners also utilizes the ACFs.

The core facilities present a range of services tailored to the requirements of the researchers. It also acts as an EU-level infrastructural, competence and training base that offers its capacities for any Hungarian and EMBL partner researcher, as well as external industrial users.

The ACFs connect with their European Molecular Biological Laboratory counterparts and work together on projects throughout the entire European network. The idea is to do as much as possible in Hungary but use the help of EMBL for specific specialized tasks for which the infrastructure is currently not available here.

Hungarian scientists travel to EMBL facilities regularly and several larger projects are now evolving that, over time, should be able to continue as EUfunded joint projects.