The fact that construction work on BMW’s future Debrecen plant is to start in the spring of 2020 was announced on Tuesday morning in Kölcsey Convention Center, Debrecen. The occasion for the announcement was the signing ceremony of the purchase contract about the site for the BMW plant to be built in Debrecen’s Északnyugati Gazdasági Övezet [verbatim: Northwestern Economic Belt]. The contract was signed by representatives of the German automotive company as well as those in the Hungarian national and the Debrecen municipal government.

At the event, addresses were delivered by László Papp, Mayor of the City of Debrecen, Michele Melchiorre, Managing Director the Debrecen-based BMW plant, Levente Magyar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and László Palkovics. The Minister for Innovation and Technology expressed his gratitude to Rector Zoltán Szilvássy and Chancellor Zoltán Bács for the openness of the University of Debrecen, an otherwise traditional institution of higher education, to establish a state-of-the-art foundation for its technical programs in order to contribute to the general development of the economy of Hungary.

“The central government intends to invest a total of HUF 35 billion for the upgrading of the system of education in Debrecen. A significant portion of this amount is going to be devoted to promoting and improving the engineering programs available at the University of Debrecen.  Our objective is to make UD one of the top technical institutions of higher education in Hungary, generating 400 to 500 new graduates in engineering every year, including international students as well,” said László Palkovics.

The Minister for Innovation and Technology also added that, in order to support the cooperation between universities and business corporations, the central government would establish as many as eight so-called science parks nationwide, one of which could be located in Debrecen.

Press Office
Photography: MTI - Zsolt Czeglédi, János Miskolczi