Vice-Rector General of the University of Debrecen Károly Pető noted in his welcome speech that the University of Debrecen has always been committed to promoting innovation, supporting researchers and students with innovative ideas and fostering innovative thinking.
“Our Science Park and its driving force Innovation Center, provide a favorable and inspiring environment and infrastructure for our innovators, while the unit called Innovációs Ökoszisztéma Központ [Innovation Ecosystem Center], which operates in the manner of startups within the university, offers them a wide range of programs and continuously developing support services, even in cooperation with network partners,” said Károly Pető.
According to Chancellor of the University of Debrecen Zoltán Bács, Science Park and innovation will be the fourth pillar of the University of Debrecen alongside research, education and patient care.
“Over the past ten years, we have worked extremely hard to push on and move the field of innovation forward. We have set up the Innovation Ecosystem Center to spot and collect ideas coming from researchers and students that are worth working on. More than one hundred and fifty students have entered this innovation competition, but it is quite noticeable that Hungarian students need to get encouragement. The innovation process incorporates stamina to take the first step and showcase the new ideas, which is what the i-Days for Life Debrecen hackathon is all about,” said Chancellor Zoltán Bács.
Director of the University's Innovation Ecosystem Center Lilla Jutkusz highlighted that one of the objectives of the conference and innovation competition in general is to strengthen the innovation mindset and to promote the involvement of university students and researchers in the innovation community to help provide solutions to societal problems through their ideas. The focus of this conference and hackathon was on health, with special emphasis on prevention and diagnostics, as well as sustainability.
“Through its Innovation Ecosystem Center, the University of Debrecen runs a number of innovation programs for and in collaboration with all of the units of the institution to strengthen the innovation mindset of students and researchers and support the development of their ideas. In addition, the complex network and support system of EIT Health and its EIT Health Innostars network, which is a health industry-focused network in the European Union, can also be of great help to idea generators,” said the head of the center.
In his speech delivered at the opening ceremony, Deputy Executive Director of EIT Health InnoStars Ferenc Pongrácz also stressed the importance of finding and supporting young innovators.
“The most significant discoveries have always been made by scientists under the age of 25. Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein achieved their greatest accomplishments at a very young age. The number of neurons in the brain starts to decrease following the age of 27; therefore, the ideas of young people are very important to us. My experience is that young people are highly motivated and we need these new approaches, lately also supported by artificial intelligence and information technology tools, to solve our problems. Complemented with the results of basic research, these innovations represent the best way to help people,” said Professor Maurizio Ferrari, Medical Director of SYNLAB Italia. The professor presented the most recent trends that determine the future of laboratory medicine: the digital transformation of healthcare processes and the challenges facing diagnostics.
The first place in the 24-hour competition and the $2,000 grand prize offered by EIT Health was awarded by the international jury to a team of students called HIT from the University of Debrecen. This team also won the right to participate in the international grand final in Budapest. The team members developed a new idea for hormone therapy applied in the course of artificial insemination.
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