A partnership between UCF’s business program and Hungarian innovation hub will bolster the pipeline of firms between the two sites.
The idea is to significantly increase the number of businesses that can expand into Central Florida through the school’s “soft landing program,” an initiative of UCF’s Business Incubation Program. That program, alone, has helped hundreds of businesses relocate to the region.
Carol Ann Logue, director of programs and operations for several business-minded groups at UCF, often hears from international firms about expansion.
“By working with (Hungarian Hub), we will be able to connect with entrepreneurs that are prepared to expand to the US and support them in standing up their US subsidiary the right way,” she said.
Building connections
Moving forward, the goal will be to build connections with emerging markets with rapidly growing clusters of tech companies. In addition, the regions will not have traditionally focused on economic development efforts.
At the center of the partnership with Hungarian Hub is the USA Accelerator project. For the past few years, the initiative has operated out of Hungary. The effort helped launch the Hungarian Summit in 2020 in Budapest. The event, which has alternated between Daytona Beach and Hungary every year, attracted about 200 attendees in 2022.
It returns to Daytona Beach on May 23.
“We believe bringing the UCF Business Incubation Program into a larger role will only make the summit and the connection between our countries even stronger,” said Piros Pazaurek, Honorary Consul of Hungary in Central Florida, in a press release. “Creating this relationship is more than just the event, however, it’s a long-term effort to build both of our economies.”
Hungary’s location and skilled workforce have helped draw companies like UPS, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM. These giants represent a small portion of the 450 U.S. companies there.