MCC Budapest Summit – speech
MCC Budapest Summit – speech
June 3, 2025
Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Guests!
I am delighted to welcome you to the latest international conference of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium! As is customary on such occasions, it is my duty to say a few words about our institution. I am confident that this task will become shorter with each passing year, as we are delighted to see that more and more people are becoming familiar with the name and activities of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, both in Hungary and abroad.
A few years ago, our institution started as a primarily Hungarian initiative, but by now we are present in several countries and even have an office in Brussels. The MCC reflects the unique nature of Hungarian thinking: it is a scientific workshop, a think tank, and an educational institution all at once.
Research, policy analysis, and education are mutually reinforcing and organically linked at our institution. Our programs reach over 7,500 students in thirty centers across the Carpathian Basin, from elementary school to postgraduate studies. Our students not only study, but also debate, attend camps, travel, and meet outstanding international speakers, not dissimilar to those who are here with us today.
The MCC Summit is part of this mission. This is not the first time we have gathered to share our ideas, and I hope it will not be the last. We have already discussed education and family, and now we are addressing a similarly important topic: the relationship between technology and society. I am very proud that the conference does not stop in Budapest: the programs will continue in twelve other cities. For we believe that at least two things have no administrative the boundaries: and these are the nation and ideas. In our case, these two things happen to coincide.
Dear friends!
Allow me to begin by sharing a personal story. Looking around, I see people of different generations, but I don’t think I’m far off the mark in assuming that for many of us, the original Jurassic Park was a defining cinematic experience.
I confess that I saw the film when I was seven years old, and it had a profound effect on me. The thrill of the roaming dinosaurs, the children caught in danger, and the tense and frightening scenes easily captivate the audience, but for a child, the experience may be a little too intense. Looking back, I don’t really understand why my parents let me see the movie. I remember my mother trying to cover my eyes several times in the theater and looking around to see if she could get me out of the room. I don’t think she expected this kind of experience either, but I made it clear to her that if she tried to take me out of the theater, I would make a huge scene. So, for the sake of peace, she let us watch the movie. One thing is certain, though: the movie and the cinema experience stayed with me. As an adult, I rewatched it several times, and these rewatches were no longer about the action, but about the message.
There is a scene where Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum—whose character is a mathematician and the moral compass of the film—expresses his concerns to Professor Hammond, the park’s visionary, and the investors during a business lunch. While the lawyer is already raving about the future revenues, Malcolm draws attention to another issue: the problem of responsibility and self-discipline.
He says: “You’ve discovered the greatest power the world has ever known, and you’re treating it like a kid who’s stolen his father’s gun.” We know how it ends: “that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming…”
The impact of technology on society is too easy to spot when, as in the book on which Jurassic Park is based, carnivorous dinosaurs actually land in Los Angeles. But the truth is that technology shapes society even when it goes unnoticed. This applies whether we welcome change or simply don’t think about it.
The extent to which technology affects society is well illustrated by a classic joke. In this one, a man proudly tells his friend that there is now an automatic razor in the department store – all you have to do is insert a coin, put your head in, and the machine shaves you perfectly. The friend starts scratching his head and says skeptically, “But everyone’s head is shaped differently!” To which he replies, “Yes, but only until the first time.”
This is one of the many lessons that Jurassic Park teaches us. Technology can easily overwhelm people. No matter how effective a solution is, it is worthless if it ultimately leads to inhumane results. That is why self-discipline and responsibility are essential in all technological innovations. It is true even if the danger is not obvious, immediate, or Hollywood-esque—because if self-discipline and responsibility are lacking, sooner or later there will always be “running and screaming”.
Dear Students!
Many people have contributed in countless ways to the development of modern technology, but if I had to single out one person to young people, it would be the British scientist and statesman Francis Bacon. He was not only driven by intellectual curiosity when he laid the foundations of modern science and technology. Bacon was a high-ranking official of the British crown, and by his own admission, he was motivated by “the desire to increase the power of his own nation and make his own country prosperous.”
He believed that to achieve this, we must uncover the secrets of nature and take the knowledge we gain into our own hands. “We must shape the knowledge we have acquired into power,” Bacon said. In this way, we must improve people’s lives and make our country stronger. The means to this end is technology. In other words, technological development in this system of ideas is not simply about technology, it is also a social program.
Today, almost four hundred years after Bacon’s death, we can safely say that the program he initiated is working and has achieved significant results.
Technology and science have revolutionized our lives. People live longer, healthier lives and, one hopes, with greater freedom and in better conditions than ever before. Countries with advanced technology are more successful, more prosperous, and more powerful because they can provide greater prosperity for their citizens.
Not only does the program work, it is also advancing at an ever-increasing pace. One study suggests that there have been 24 technological innovations in human history that have fundamentally transformed our lives. Twelve of these were invented between the beginnings of civilization to the 1700s. Over the past three hundred years, another 12 innovations have emerged. The most remarkable thing about this rapid development is that half of these innovations, six to be exact, have appeared in the last 50 years. So development is not only continuing, it is accelerating. I think that both the example of Bacon and the warning of Jurassic Park are crystal clear: technology is not just knowledge, it is much more than that. If we treat it recklessly, it can have serious consequences. If, on the other hand, we reject it, we only weaken ourselves. The world is moving forward, and those who do not keep up will be left behind.
One of the most important areas of debate surrounding digital technologies today is education. A laptop can help with learning, but it can also distract attention. Artificial intelligence can accelerate development, but it can also prevent us from acquiring traditional knowledge. In my opinion, it is ultimately up to society itself to answer these questions. In our political system, this decision is made by the voters. In a democracy, it is not an algorithm or a distant office, but the community, the community of voters, that decides what to do with technology and how to use it. This is their prerogative.
That is why it is important that the nations of Europe, including Hungary, preserve our sovereignty against both technological trends and attempts at supranational regulation. If we do not want technology to tear society apart, but we also do not want to be left behind in terms of development, then we must retain the right to democratic decision-making. Because without democracy there is no freedom – but there is no progress either.
It is no coincidence that the European Union is performing poorly in terms of both freedom and democracy, but also in the areas of technology and innovation. Brussels is both an opponent of democratically organized decision-making on a national basis and stifles innovation through overregulation. According to the Draghi report on the difficulties facing the EU economy, far fewer engineering graduates emerge from European universities than elsewhere. Of the world’s top 20 clusters, eight are in China, six in the US and only one in Europe.
If the European Union continues to respond to challenges with centralization and overregulation, the future will not be built here in Europe. And where the future is not built, stagnation and backwardness will remain.
Hungary cannot afford stagnation and falling behind. That is why we oppose these efforts. We do not support overregulation, just as we often fight vigorously against spending funds intended for European innovation on war or on keeping countries outside Europe afloat.
We believe that Hungary will be able to find a balance between prosperity, technological development and social peace in the coming decades. Not every country will succeed in this, but we will.
I would like to highlight five points that make Hungary one of the countries that will be able to maintain this balance and succeed.
First, we shall develop our universities so that both institutions and students can hold their own in the new technological environment. Hungary spends 2% of its gross domestic product on higher education, ranking among the top countries in the European Union in this respect. In addition, we have reformed the institutional and legal framework for university operations in recent years. The new system gives Hungarian universities greater professional freedom and enables closer cooperation with market players. As a result, the proportion of students enrolling for technical and IT courses in Hungarian higher education has increased.
Second point: we have made public education innovation-friendly. We have modernized training structures and placed greater emphasis on practical knowledge. In 2024, the Hungarian government allocated 96 billion forints to the technological modernization of 31 vocational training institutions. The results are already showing: Hungary is the 33rd most innovative country in the world and is among the leaders in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies.
The third factor that could guarantee Hungary’s success is that our economic policy is based on connectivity. Today, we can say that Hungary has become a meeting point for Western and Eastern technology. Our open and balanced economic policy allows us to attract both Western and Eastern investors. This brings not only an economic advantage, but also a political and cultural one: it creates connections, dialogue and cooperation. Close East-West cooperation has now been established in Hungary in the automotive industry, battery technology, the information and communications sector, the pharmaceutical industry, the chemical industry and the food industry.
The fourth factor is that Hungary’s energy supply is stable and diverse. This is also essential for innovation, as the most innovative technologies are often the most energy-intensive. That is why we rely on both established and state-of-the-art technologies. Paks II is under construction, while we are also cooperating with Azerbaijan and other Central Asian partners. A new green corridor is being built under the Black Sea, while domestic solar panel capacity is breaking records: by spring 2025, we will have reached 7,800 megawatts, with the Sun already providing a quarter of our domestic electricity.
Finally, the fifth factor is that we have created an innovation-friendly regulatory and economic environment. Research and development spending has been growing steadily since 2010, rising from 1 percent of GDP to 1.4 percent, and has increased nearly three and a half times in nominal terms. The Hungarian state now spends more than two and a half times as much on innovation as it did a decade and a half ago. This achievement is no accident, but the result of conscious decisions made by Hungarian economic policy: in our country, innovation is not an obstacle, but an opportunity.
Ladies and gentlemen!
It is often said that “what the mind can conceive, it can achieve.” In other words, right action always begins with right thinking.
We can only maintain our sense of orientation in this fast-paced world of technological change if we can make sense of what is happening around us. If we listen to each other. If we dare to debate about the way forward. Because there is something that no artificial intelligence, no advanced system can replace: and that is human thinking, which is most effectively cultivated in a community.
This is what we believe in at MCC. This is why we created the MCC Summit: to provide a platform for dialogue, debate, and collective thinking — and, through that, collective action— year after year. I wish you all a pleasant atmosphere, interesting presentations, and meaningful discussions.
Thank you all for listening!
