Budapest, May 8, 2006

A new office of the European ‘Living Labs’ network is about to open in Budapest. Living Labs Budapest aims to create and diffuse new applications of mobile information and communications technology in the Hungarian capital. A joint declaration to this effect was signed on 3 May 2006 by Living Labs Europe, the Budapest Municipality, Budapest University of Technology, Central European University, Magyar Telekom Inc., Nokia Hungary Inc., and Futureal Pte Ltd.

Living Lab Budapest exploits the synergies generated by the trilateral cooperation of private investors in the info-communication sector, state and local governmental institutions, universities and research institutes. Living Lab Budapest actively relies on the creative potential of the metropolitan environment and the unique opportunities presented by sectoral and urban clustering. The project’s target group is constituted by users of innovative info-communicational technologies in urban communities. This group includes local companies, business enterprises, grassroots organizations, urban networks, representatives of civil societies, NGOs and the media as well as students and tourists visiting Budapest. Within a non-profit-oriented framework Living Lab Budapest will offer novel info-communication technologies and applications – e.g. new forms of content and information provision, innovative devices for enhanced internet access, new interactive applications, etc. – to inhabitants of urban spaces, analyze the resulting findings and identify new directions of development and policy on this basis.

As part of the so-called Podmaniczky programme, ‘Living Lab Budapest’ can improve the capital’s competitiveness and ease access to EU funds. There are currently eleven Living Labs operating or being developed throughout Europe.

Representatives of the local government, the co-operating companies and universities agreed to prepare an in-depth study on the needs and opportunities in the field of mobile information and communications technology in the Budapest area. This will be followed by a strategic decision concerning the list of players to be included and the project’s timetable. Preparations for the ‘Living Lab Budapest’ project are co-ordinated by the CEO’s office at the Central European University.