BUDAPEST
The Municipality of Budapest was established in 1990 by the Act on Local Governments and it is in charge of public services (public transport, waste collection, sewage system, etc) and shares competences in the fields of education, health care, culture, social care, housing with the districts of Budapest. Tasks related to energy, environment, economic development are carried out by the Municipality as well. The Municipality established the Budapest Enterprise Agency to support SMEs and this institution is the coordinating body of the three poles of the Budapest INNOPOLISZ Development Pole Programme . Budapest is one of the eight development poles designated by the Hungarian government and financially supported by the Structural Funds through the different operational programmes. At the instigation of Budapest City Council, and with the aim of increasing Budapest’s competitiveness, the region’s foremost universities and market players have joined forces in collaboration with HAS (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) Regional Research Centre to create three competitiveness bases for the capital: ‘Information Society Technology Pole’ (ITTPólus), ‘EcoPole’ (ÖkoPólus) and ‘MediPole’ (Medi- Pólus).
These programmes are encapsulated in the strategic concept that is the Budapest Innopolis Development Pole Programme, which is an economic development programme concentrating on strengthening the knowledge economy by supporting the creation and operation of clusters.
