Hungarian Embassy Hosts Smart City Tech Event in Dublin

Just last Wednesday, I attended the “Smart City and Tech Business Networking Event” at the Hungarian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland. After some brief introductions, including Dr. Gergely Banhegyi, Hungarian Ambassador to Ireland; I made my way into a well attended presentation area.

Katalin Negyessy, Trade Commissioner for the Hungarian Embassy, opened the event and introduced Ambassador Banhegyi. The Ambassador’s opening speech gave a concise itinerary of the evening. He then introduced Zsolt Horvath, Senior Advisor at the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA).

Hungarian Smart City Tech in Dublin

Zsolt gave us background to the international presence HEPA has on behalf of businesses in Hungary, along with his agency’s EU affiliations. He then presented the speaking agenda. Twelve speakers from smart-city and technology businesses would conduct speed rounds, presenting their services and goals for the evening.

First up was Benedek Hock, Director of International Relations for V-Hid plc. He summarized what his business does, including the circular railway line in Budapest. Benedek also stressed his wish to look for suitable business opportunities from the event.

Next up for Vasutlabor Ltd was its Managing Director, Tihamer Vadkerti-Toth. Infrastructure and railways are the target market for their systems and services. Tihamer stressed his wish to find BIM consultants in design and construction, along with suppliers of specialized equipment.

Zagoni Istvan, from Synerinsoft, took the floor to talk about their IoT based solutions, IT consulting, and also their security solutions. This includes SOC-as-a-service, or v-SOC services for cybersecurity professionals. He is looking for businesses in need of this broad range of solutions.

He then passed the floor to the AI training provider, Scademy. Gyorgy Forgacs spoke about his companies’ embracement of AI research and training; along with his wish is to find business partners, new talent and collaborate in AI related areas.

Greenwashing monitoring solution provider, NeoCon was next to take the floor. Bertalan Simon, from this enterprise asset management company, took us through sustainable goals. He also explained how his company’s systems are effective trackers of a company’s asset lifecycles and eco-goals. He is seeking funding opportunities and pilot projects to reduce emissions.

Tihamer Vadkerti-Toth retook the floor to talk about Fortera. He talked about this civil engineering consultancy’s position in the Hungary’s construction industry. They are actively seeking business partners in the civil engineering field, and look to tackle sustainability issues in their practice.

Lilla Bartuszek, from Fenntarthato Kozossegek Kozpontja, took the floor on her company’s work in sustainable urban development. This urban management consultancy is a member of the Center for Sustainable Communities and seeks urban management and funding opportunities.

Next up was Zoltan Balogh from Elektro-Kamleithner KFT. This smart building and energy management company offers smart building solutions, including digital twin like modelling and hardware installations. They also seek new construction projects, and projects existing buildings that require energy saving solutions.

The IT consulting firm Druit was next to take the floor. Tamas Rabakozi, CEO of Druit, summarized their 20 year lineage in IT consulting. He leveraged his company’s near shore consulting experience in the seeking of clients looking for cost-effective solutions in IT staffing. He also offers virtual team additions to in-house IT teams.

The software company specializing in waste management monitoring solutions, BlueSpot, then took the floor. Borbely Roland talked about his waste management software using IoT devices on waste trucks and bins, along with their smart parking and cemetery navigation solutions.

BlueSpot is looking to partner with city authorities and waste collection companies interested in smart technologies. If, like me, you have loved ones that passed away, then you know navigation to their graveside becomes a challenge during the first couple of visits. An automated navigation solution provided by your local council or municipal would be a welcome relief through such challenging times.

Daniel Szollosi, CEO of Allwin, was the penultimate presentation for the evening. This well established digital transformation and IT consulting firm has over 70 employees in Germany, Norway, and the United States. Daniel advised he is looking for collaborative project opportunities with local software and IT consultancy businesses.

Szabolcs Benkoczy, from the image recognition company Adaptive Recognition, took the floor as the last speaker to talk about their image recognition systems. The sales director shared a story about a prospect who offered a list of 500 licence plates for tacking through their systems.

His operations team ran the list of plates, returning hits on 400 of the 500 provided. He told us they got the contract on the spot; as the prospect’s current vendor could trace none of the 500 plates through their systems. Szabolcs advises he is looking to partner with those in need of traffic monitoring, vehicle recognition, port or terminal management systems.

Katalin Negyessy, concluded the presentation phase, where we entered the networking area. The Hungarian Embassy provided fine food and drinks; where attendees, speakers, and officials talked about the tech topics of the evening. Many there exchanged cards and handshakes, rounding off the evening’s events as a success for all present.

Niche tech events from experience are hard to plan, even harder to implement, and can often fail on the turn of a penny. Ambassador Banhegyi and his team at the Hungarian Embassy deserve credit for pulling off this success at their Dublin location. They did it in the shadow of Dublin Tech Summit, which was only a 10-minute walk away. This, in my opinion, makes it a noteworthy success for all involved.

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