Innovation minister visits CERN, IOB in Switzerland

He said the main aim of his visit was to further promote Hungary’s higher education, scientific research and innovation sectors on the international scene.

The minister noted that at his visit to CERN on Tuesday he met French Nobel laureate laser scientist Gerard Mourou and Jean-Pierre Revol, president of the scientific committee at nuclear energy developer Transmutex.

Csak said research was being carried in Hungary in close cooperation between the Extreme Light Infrastructure ELI National Laboratory and University of Szeged. “These are researches, inspired also by Mourou that are closely related to the issue of future energy,” he said. “The ELI centre in Szeged has achieved outstanding results in producing neutrons. There is now a technology at hand developed by our scientists and researchers which the Swiss partners are very interested in.”

Csak on Tuesday evening met Hungarian scientists and company leaders at the Hungarian embassy in Bern whom the minister said were glad to share their experiences gained in Switzerland with colleagues in Hungary.

Wednesday’s programme included a visit in Basel at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology (IOB) which has renowned Hungarian neurobiologist Botond Roska as its founding director. Roska received in 2020 the prestigious Korber European Science Prize for his achievements in vision restoration gene therapy research.