Prague and Budapest to focus on automotive developments this October

Prague and Budapest to focus on automotive developments this October

2017. 10. 19.

Automotive Hungary HIPA

The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) organised its annual Supplier Forum with its partners at the Automotive Hungary exhibition. Hungarian small and middle-size enterprises had the opportunity to present their products and services to corporate purchasers at the HIPA-JETRO-MAJOSZ event, while at the HIPA booth they could get familiar with the wide range of services offer to them by the Agency. Prague also hosted and important automotive event this week, where key players of the Czech automotive sector came together.

The HIPA booth and CARola

Vehicle manufacturing has several decades of tradition in our country and is considered a strategic sector in the Hungarian economy. As a result of comprehensive investment promotion activities, our achievements in the automotive industry have been highly successful among both direct investments and reinvestments in the past years. The H1 2017 results of the HIPA also show well that the dominance of the automotive industry is unbroken in Hungary. It has a leading position in the number of projects, volume and the number of jobs created.

In addition to the booth, HIPA organised a Supplier Forum jointly with two of its important partners, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and the National Federation of Hungarian Vehicle Part Manufacturers (MAJOSZ) in the Conference Hall of Pavilion A of Hungexpo within the Automotive Hungary exhibition on Thursday 19 October. Pre-registered suppliers have the opportunity to showcase their products and services to large corporate purchasers looking for competitive Hungarian suppliers.

Christian Wolff, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Hungary and CARola

In addition to promoting foreign investments, a high-priority goal of the HIPA is to increase the role of domestic SMEs engaged in supply. On the whole, it can be stated that the more large international companies come to Hungary and develop projects in our country, the more opportunities open up for domestic small and medium-sized businesses to join supplier networks. In order to facilitate this, the HIPA provides supplier training, professional consulting and brokerage assistance free of charge. Supplier development cooperation between the HIPA and large companies allow potential suppliers to be purposefully trained in the knowledge of the requirements of large companies. Under this programme, joint training was implemented with Suzuki, the VW Group, Infineon and Videoton in H1 2017. The training sessions were attended by 100 employees of 27 SMEs.

Another important automotive event took place at this week in Prague: key players of the Czech automotive sector came together at the CEE Automotive Forum. HIPA also took part at the exhibition, promoting the competitive edges of the Hungarian investment environment and the comprehensive project management services of the Agency.