The foundation stone of a Science Park, valued at some HUF 4bn, was laid ceremonially at the Debrecen production site of National Instruments (NI) Hungary Ltd.

As NI Hungary CEO László Ábrahám said, the company received funding of some 2 billion forints for the implementation of the 6000sqm Science Park project by winning a New Széchenyi Plan tender. At the facility, 300 people – mainly research and development professional engineers – will be employed, he added.

Minister of State for Employment Sándor Czomba of the Ministry for National Economy called it a sign of confidence in the future that the Texas-based company, which in 2001 established its first overseas factory in Debrecen, is about to embark again on a development project in Hungary.

In the opinion of Sándor Czomba, “the technology and knowledge represented by NI may materialize through vocational training, professional retraining and tertiary education.” The Minister of State added that these factors may serve as the foundation of Hungary’s future, therefore the reform of the vocational training and adult education systems aims for a more practice-oriented knowledge.

The Minister of State expressed his appreciation of the activities of NI, because they – as he said – “offer jobs for many-many highly skilled professionals in Hungary”. In view of Debrecen Mayor Lajos Kósa, the development of industrial services requiring high added value is the best way for Hungary’s economic progress, a process facilitated by Debrecen’s local taxation policy.

“At National Instruments human brains earn profits,” Lajos Kósa said, adding that the enterprise spends 20 percent of its total revenues on development, while this figure averages hardly 1.5 percent in Hungary. NI Executive Vice President Alex Davern stressed that picking the location of their first overseas production facility was not an easy process. The management opted for Debrecen after having assessed several locations in Europe, South-East Asia, South Africa and other sites in Hungary, the Vice President said.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Government of Hungary and the city of Debrecen for supporting NI. Speaking about the company he informed the audience that the advanced control and monitoring systems produced by NI are used in almost every type of means of transport, from airplanes to cars and Debrecen produces 85-90 percent of the company’s total hardware output, of which 90 percent are exported, he added.

At the ceremony, a box was also cemented into the foundation stone which transmits signals of the ongoing construction work and thus the entire construction process can be followed on a monitor.

(Ministry for National Economy)