Budapest
Budapest, capital of Hungary with 1.7 million inhabitants, thrives from its creative industries, with an employment rate that has been annually increasing by 18% since 2007. The city is considered as an incubator for start-ups in the field of design, making it the fastest growing sector of the local creative economy, with a threefold increase of its gross added value in the last decade. Budapest has a comprehensive vision of design, which is seen as a driving force for sustainable urban development.
While the city holds many major events dedicated to design, such as the Design Week Budapest and the Ajándék Terminál fair, the city mainly functions as a laboratory for innovation using design as a lever for fostering awareness towards urbanity and improving the quality of public spaces. The Design Terminal, the Hungarian University of Creative Arts (MKE) and the Moholy-Nagy University of Arts (MOME) are the most active in conducting programmes in this field with MOME implementing several transversal laboratories and research groups including Eco- Lab – sustainability, SocioLab – social construction, Design – tech and media, and Design – social sensitivity. In recent years, the city has also undertaken several research and mapping initiatives related to cultural industries.
The Municipality works in close collaboration with civil society to better foster a good quality of urban life. Among other multi-stakeholders initiatives, the “Your place, your success!” campaign, the “I’ll be right back” project and the Culburbproject demonstrate the particular dynamism of the city in terms of reshaping neighbourhoods and suburbs in difficulties through cultural facilities and creative industries.
As a Creative City of Design, Budapest envisages:
- implementing an incubation programme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the field of design, open to creative entrepreneurs from Budapest and other Creative Cities of Design;
- fostering networking through the Made in the City initiative, aimed at establishing cross-cutting activities between creative fields covered by the Network;
- involving other Creative Cities in Budapest’s major events, such as the Design Week Budapest, the Brain Bar Budapest and the Budapest 3D Printing Days, to share innovative ideas and experiences in connecting creativity, new technologies, and sustainable development; and
- increasing the quality of urban life through the Smart City Lab, serving as a platform between civil society and public institutions for the systematic improvement of municipal urban planning.
