Innovation Days 2024

This year, the UP Innovation Days is taking place between 14 and 15 May at the South Transdanubian Regional Library and Knowledge Centre. The special feature of this year's event series is that it is organised by the University of Pécs together with Deutsche Telekom (DT) IT Solutions Hungary. The focus of the lectures and round-table discussions will be on artificial intelligence, its impact on education, research and development and our everyday lives.

The aim of the event is to showcase the research results generated in the university innovation ecosystem, to promote their business and social exploitation, to build academia-industry partnerships and to create networking opportunities for participating companies, researchers and staff. 

The University of Pécs is one of the largest universities in Hungary with a comprehensive scientific profile, and its mission is to be the leading training and research institution in higher education in Hungary, and a knowledge centre providing significant research services to business and other organisations supporting the climate goals of Central Europe. 

The institution is in contact with companies in its wider environment and with its partners in the field of research, development and innovation on many fronts. One of its flagship events is the Innovation Days, which this year focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The presentations and discussions will focus on several aspects of the role and challenges of AI, including its societal impact, legal, information technology and medical aspects.

In his opening speech, Dr. Attila Miseta, Rector of the University of Pécs, emphasized that the university has been working throughout its long history and is still working to be at the forefront of innovation, research and development, and education at both domestic and international level.
„When we were younger, we read about artificial intelligence in many scenes in Asimov's works. Who would have thought that we would be here now, living this vision? Yet here we are, and our task is to apply all the knowledge elements available at the University of Pécs and those we can acquire from our partners to this new field of science," said Dr. Attila Miseta in his ceremonial welcome speech.

Örs Cseresnyés, Managing Director of Telekom IT Hungary, pointed out that AI poses a number of technological challenges for society, not only in research, but also in the labour market and education.
„This event is closely linked to our cooperation with the university. We hope that these two days will give us the opportunity to further expand this collaboration along a new milestone.... For us as a technology company, innovation is not an option but an opportunity, it is the key to our survival in the short and long term market. And AI is one of the technologies that fundamentally challenges what we have thought about how to work in IT, how to develop.

It's very important to assess the impact of AI on the labour market, on education, and on the methodologies we use. 

I hope that the conversations that will take place here today, the presentations that we will listen to, will give us the opportunity to come to a common understanding, an opportunity for the city, for Hungary, and for companies to be at the forefront of this change", said Örs Cseresnyés.

„Innovation is a cry for practical application from those who work in science", began Dr. József Bódis, President of the Board of Trustees of the Universitas Quinqueecclesiensis Foundation, and added, „My approach has always been to see the problems in the field where I work, find answers, find partners with whom we can solve the problems."
The chairman of the board also said that although AI is already pervading our lives, we need to be very careful about how we use it, and make sure that it is still the wisest, smartest people who dictate, not AI. „Artificial intelligence is of course not just a technology, a new era that must be addressed at all levels, including university level, which is why strategic teams are being formed to place it in the institution's education and research programmes," said Dr József Bódis. In the field of new technological challenges, it is extremely important for the University of Pécs to cooperate with major market players, which is why it is of great significance that the university was able to organise this year's Innovation Days together with an external partner, Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Hungary - among other aspects, István Decsi, Chancellor of the University of Pécs, spoke about this.
"With a company that is renowned locally, nationally and internationally, and is an excellent expert and user of artificial intelligence" - said the Chancellor about the telecommunications company, who also said that "in addition to the high-quality lectures and discussions, we also aimed to invite as many guests as possible from the academic world and the corporate segment, who could meet and connect during the background discussions, and form partnerships along common themes."

Following the opening, three technical presentations were given:
The key to Hungarian competitiveness - László Bódis, Deputy State Secretary for Innovation, Ministry of Culture and Innovation
Péter Racskó, Head of the Department of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Budapest, Hungary
Selling AI solutions to large enterprises - András Dobó T-Systems International, Commercial Director, Hungary

The UP Innovation Awards, which focus on artificial intelligence, were also presented in three categories:
Bence Kiss, assistant professor at the UP Faculty of General Medicine, won the UP Inventor Innovation Award. The topic of his application is Immunogenic epitope selection using deep learning 3D antigen visualization.
The UP Research Innovation Award went to Dr. Ashraf Amir Reza, Assistant Professor at the UP Faculty of Pharmacy. The topic of his application is: Artificial intelligence-based drug recognition model and mobile application for safe use of medicines
The Up Student Innovation Award went to Csenge Tóth, a student at the UP Faculty of Economics. Her entry was DeskStrech - the mobile studio.

The awards, which in addition to moral recognition also included a gross cash prize of HUF 200,000, were presented by Dr. Attila Miseta, Rector of the University of Szeged.
The special prize for Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions was also awarded, which was presented by Árpád Jorzsits, Director of Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. The 200,000 HUF voucher and certificate were awarded to Richard Durczy, a student of the PTE University of Applied Sciences, for his application on the topic of the presumption of faultlessness of autonomous vehicles.
The special prize of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pécs-Baranya - Chamber of Commerce was also awarded to Bence Kiss, assistant lecturer at the PTE University of Applied Sciences, for his innovative activity oriented towards the economy. Immunogenic epitope selection using deep learning 3D antigen visualisation.

The Innovation Day is also available via live streaming.