To institutionalize and elevate to a higher level the mutually supportive, joint, and reciprocal knowledge development related to sustainable development that began five years ago.
Kodolányi János University (KJE) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Magyar Innováció és Hatékonyság Nonprofit Kft. (MI6), which operates Central and Eastern Europe’s most significant sustainability framework program (see: VEP). The goal of the agreement is to expand the cooperation—which began five years ago with the establishment of a joint climate protection and sustainability research institute—to the areas of education, research and development, innovation, and shaping public attitudes, where the parties can jointly contribute—in a mutually beneficial and supportive manner—to the domestic and international advancement of sustainable development, the carbon economy, and energy efficiency.
The University’s mission is to provide educational, research, and innovation services in disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields capable of advancing the sustainable economy, the knowledge economy, and peripheral regions. A defining element of its vision—and a key tenet of its recently launched renewal—is the expansion of knowledge that supports sustainability and sustainable development.
Hungarian Innovation and Efficiency Nonprofit Ltd., which has successfully operated the Virtual Power Plant Program (VEP)—a sustainability model project that won the European Commission’s Sustainability Grand Prize and was presented as a model project at the UN Global Climate Summit—for more than 15 years, It is one of Hungary’s most significant knowledge centers and movement organizers dedicated to green energy and sustainability, whose primary goal is the innovation-catalyzed development of knowledge-based, best-practice-driven, integrated, and comprehensive—yet one-stop—models for energy awareness, energy efficiency, climate adaptation, and the carbon economy.
The foundation of the partnership between the two parties—and one of its key elements to this day—is the coordination of research, development, and innovation activities. The parties intend to collaborate in the areas of the circular economy, ESG systems, carbon market solutions, and social innovations that support sustainable development. With the new agreement, preventive, awareness-raising, and educational programs—as well as corporate training initiatives—that serve to strengthen energy awareness, the circular economy, corporate carbon strategies, carbon management, and carbon market products will soon receive special attention, in part based on the aforementioned R&D results.
Under the agreement, Kodolányi János University will support the implementation of joint training programs with its professional and educational infrastructure, while MI6 will contribute to training and research activities with its knowledge base, innovative educational content, practical experience, programs, and innovative digital solutions. As part of this collaboration, the parties will also organize joint professional events, conferences, workshops, and academic competitions in the future.
A key objective of the partnership is to engage the younger generations and strengthen the focus on sustainability among students in both public education and vocational training. To this end, the partners will also launch competitions and educational initiatives linked to MI6’s nationally known and recognized student programs—in one of these existing programs, students can even earn additional admission points.
“We will build primarily on our new, up-to-date, and practice-oriented knowledge and experience gained in the areas of market-based instruments supporting sustainability, energy-efficiency financial products, as well as our new, up-to-date, and practice-oriented knowledge and experience gained in the field of innovative carbon convergence adaptation tasks—we aim to pass on knowledge that can be applied more effectively in practice than the ‘general ESG and other green knowledge’ commonly found in the market, building on the University’s foundation, to the professionals of today and tomorrow,” —emphasized Dr. Ferenc Molnár, managing director of Hungarian Innovation and Efficiency Nonprofit Ltd. and recipient of the VEP National Climate Award, highlighting the most important goal of the collaboration.
“Our university’s long-term goal is to become a leading national knowledge center in the field of sustainability, building on our collaboration with MI6. With MI6’s professional expertise and nationwide network, we can establish a collaboration that will create significant value for our students, researchers, and partners alike,” emphasized Prof. Dr. Csilla Obádovics, Rector of Kodolányi János University.
The parties are confident that this collaboration will soon lead to the implementation of new educational programs, innovative research projects, and wide-ranging initiatives to shape public awareness—all of which will contribute significantly to achieving Hungary’s sustainability goals.