Post by Daren Tang

As part of WIPO’s work, we try to understand each country’s IP and innovation ecosystem. And sometimes it is quite hard to put a finger on why certain countries punch above their weight in the sheer number of game-changing inventions and brilliant scientists. Hungary is one such country. Just take a few examples. Tivadar Puskás invented the telephone exchange. Sándor Just and Franjo Hanaman developed the tungsten filament light bulb. Albert Szent-Györgyi discovered Vitamin C. László Bíró – the ballpoint pen. Dennis Gábor pioneered holography. John von Neumann, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner are all legends of maths and physics. More recently, Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz. A similar pattern appears in music, with greats like Ferenc Liszt, Béla Bartók, György Ligeti and Ernő Dohnányi. I have no scientific evidence for this, but I feel that places where there is mixture tend to be more stimulating and Hungary has been a crossroad of peoples and cultures for centuries. Even its language reflects this, one of the very rare in Europe belonging to the Uralic family rather than the Indo-European. The background to these reflections is the 130th anniversary of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala – HIPO), which brought me to Budapest last week. HIPO has not only seen all these amazing inventions cross its Registries but is an example of a dynamic IP office, not just remaining a registry of IP rights, but evolving to become an innovation agency. It brought copyright under its roof in 2011 (not that common in Europe), and expanded its role to build IP awareness, provide IP services and was one of the four to found the Visegrad Patent Institute. Hungarians have also played a critical role at WIPO for decades, including Dr. Árpád Bogsch, who led WIPO for over 25 years from the 1970s to the 1990s. To celebrate this milestone, HIPO organized a conference on the theme: “From idea to value, from value to future.” I had the chance to reflect with heads of European IP offices on how their offices are no longer just passive recipients of IP applications, but increasingly shapers of innovation and creative ecosystems. Discussions also centered on the use of IP as a business and financial asset, and ensuring that IP connects with economy, finance, trade and competitiveness. I also met with the Budapest Stock Exchange to discuss a pilot on the disclosure and valuation of intangible assets as well as the senior management at Obuda University – a vibrant research university – where I was excited to learn about their plans for the commercialization of R&D. WIPO and HIPO will be working closely to continue supporting the extraordinary innovation and creative talent within Hungary. Photos: Balázs Mohai. #WIPO #Hungary