Hungarian Product Grand Prize: intellectual property in focus

The Hungarian Product Grand Prize was awarded for the 17th time this year to enterprises with innovative products or services. This year 66 entries of 66 companies were rewarded with the prize. For the first time one of the organisers was the Hipavilon Hungarian Intellectual Property Agency. The panel of experts evaluated more than 100 entries in several rounds, also taking into consideration whether a product or service has the potential to be competitive in foreign markets too. Winners earned the right to use the Hungarian Product Grand Prize logo for one year. Winning products and service can be categorised into 18 groups. Groceries and dietary supplements are in the highest number among winners (nearly 20 percent of them) and cosmetics products are the second most numerous at 16.7 percent. László Kövér, Speaker of the Parliament spoke at the award ceremony which was held in the Parliament building. Miklós Bendzsel, president of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office called attention to the importance of protecting intellectual property. He told that international companies are already spending more on brand building and product protection than on research and development. Viktor Botos, Hipavilon’s managing director expressed his delight at the fact that 70 percent of Grand Prize entries pay special attention to managing intellectual property protection.