As part of the Hungarian Science Festival program series, on November 16, 2022, the embassy organized a panel discussion on Hungary's role in New Space Industry, at which Hungarian companies presented their projects and results. Although in the public mind, space-tech, the industrial use of rockets and satellites are not within the reach of small businesses, our speakers saw the situation differently and painted a completely new vision of the future for the participants.
Dr. Prof. Mátyás Bence, the CEO of Genesis Sustainability Future Ltd., spoke about how his company is working on the agricultural use of space-tech, which allows clients to measure the nutrient needs of plants with the help of mini-laboratories, counter possible diseases, even before the plant would produce any visible symptoms. He pointed out that although the space industry is an extremely expensive sector, it promotes the development of many technologies that later pay off in more traditional fields of industry as well.
The event was opened by Ambassador Klára Breuer
Norbert Tarcai, the co-founder of the Ephemersys startup, told us about how it has become possible for even small and medium-sized businesses to access the benefits provided by satellites, of which agricultural use is an excellent example. He said that while previously calculating the orbit of a satellite was the task of a team of 10 engineers, today the size, orbit and other parameters of satellites for simple corporate use can also be calculated using software, for which his company has developed its own program. He added that today it is not such an impossible task to put a small satellite into orbit around the Earth, and this can open new doors in terms of increasing the efficiency of smaller companies.
The timing of the event played a role in the fact that, through the embassy, the two companies received an invitation to the 5th birthday celebration of ESA BIC Finland held on November 17, 2022, which was an accompanying event of Slush, one of the world's biggest startup events. Attendees included startups from several European countries that participate in the local programs of the ESA BIC.
Dr. Prof. Bence Mátyás's and Norbert Tarcai's discussion was moderated by Róbert Kovács trade attaché
The managing director of Genesis Sustainability Future also undertook a short introduction to the audience (a two-minute pitch) at the ESA BIC event. The representative of Ephemersys visited Aalto University on November 18, where he discussed research cooperation opportunities.
The embassy’s program was implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Department of Cultural and Scientific Diplomacy. Our embassy plans similar programs in the future, and is happy to be at the interested parties disposal.
