National Instruments Hungary Ltd (NI) is building a Science Park for some HUF 4bn at their headquarters in Debrecen, for which the enterprise has won EU funding of HUF 1.9bn through a New Széchenyi Plan tender, NI CEO László Ábrahám said at the topping out ceremony of the project. As the CEO stressed, some 300 people, mostly research and development engineers, are planned to be employed at the 6000sqm Science Park.
Minister of State for Employment Policy Sándor Czomba said that Hungary has in the past years made significant headway in establishing a knowledge-based society, and it has also achieved substantial results in the field of public education, vocational training, tertiary education and adult education. “Hungary is performing better also in this issue,” the Minister of State added.
Sándor Czomba said he is overjoyed that National Instruments, a company representing high added value production, has picked Easter Hungary as the site of a development project. “Knowledge is power,” he said and called it important that the extension and promotion of a knowledge-based society has been prioritized in Hungary.
“We have the knowledge,” Fidesz MP and Deputy Mayor of Debrecen Zoltán Pajna said, referring to the fact that NI began with an assembly line in Debrecen and now – through the establishment of the Science Park -- they are creating kind of a knowledge centre.
He expressed appreciation that NI spends a significant share of total revenues, some 16-18 percent, on research and development. The Hungarian economy is far away from this figure, he added, but Debrecen could become the growth engine of the country, as it is mainly pursuing a knowledge-based society and economic development. Zoltán Pajna emphasised that along with the NI Science Park, the Science Center of Debrecen, part of the Debrecen University, will also be completed this year.
National Instruments Corporation CFO and Executive Vice President Alex Davern and NI Hungary CEO both mentioned that the company’s Hungarian history dates back to 2001, when the bulk of the corporation’s hardware production was relocated to Debrecen. Thanks to the company’s dynamic growth over the past years, currently some global and regional service centers can be found in Debrecen, such as the informatics development center, the division for processing consumer orders as well as the R&D engineering team, László Ábrahám pointed out.
He added that the utilization of NI products range from the control of educational and toy robots, diverse medical precision instruments and wind turbine testing systems to the operation of the world’s largest physics experimenting facilities, such as the particle accelerator of CERN.
László Ábrahám also stated that the company is planning a laboratory within the Debrecen site which would be open to assisting SMEs.
(Ministry for National Economy)
