The package of measures aiming to lower tax and administrative burdens, which will make life easier for both new, innovative startups and their investors, is expected to be submitted to Parliament as early as this autumn, Minister of State Zoltán Cséfalvay said at the opening ceremony of the Central European Startup Competition, an event of Startup Spring 2014.

Zoltán Cséfalvay pointed out that the package of measures will be based on proposals tabled by the BudapestHUB working group which was established last year. The working group has been composed by representatives of domestic startups and experts of the Ministry for National Economy.

While the number of web or mobile application developers was practically zero in 2009, it was as high as 2 million in 2013, and the European Commission is estimating this figure to increase to 5 million by 2018, Zoltán Cséfalvay said adding that “a hidden revolution is taking place right in front of our eyes.”

The Minister of State noted that revenues generated by web and mobile applications total EUR 20bn in Europe, which amount is expected to increase to EUR 60bn – constituting two-thirds of Hungarian GDP -- within five years. This business covers more than only the downloading of music or games, he said.

He also emphasised that in this field the European Union has gained a remarkable position with 40 percent of global sales, on a par with the USA.

In the opinion of the Minister of State, there is a new generation of entrepreneurs in Hungary and Central Europe, those who work in newly founded startups and they are gaining ground in the production of applications, “the best business of the decade.”

The Government aims to boost the number of young Hungarian entrepreneurs as much as possible. Speaking about the startup competition he said that it differs from other similar events in the sense that this competition is not aiming to find investors but to facilitate the development of a startup and to ensure that not a single useful idea is lost. Zoltán Cséfalvay noted that the top ten contestants will automatically qualify for the Central European Startup Awards. He called attention to the fact that the jury is composed by experts of international reputation as it is not enough to be the best in Hungary or Europe: one has to excel on a global scale.

Endre Spaller, Chairman of the Hungarian Innovation Office (NIH) -- the institution organizing Startup Spring 2014 – said NIH has been pursuing the goal of turning Hungary into the startup centre of the region by, for example, launching a technology incubator programme and a mentoring programme, while they are also active within the BudapestHub working group. Although NIH is not in the position of directly assisting the development of enterprises, but the Office can be a matchmaker between startups.

(Ministry for National Economy)