HSUP

About the program

Many valuable research findings never make it beyond the university. HSUP Doctorate is here to change that: it offers entrepreneurial training to doctoral students in Hungary and abroad, so that your research or artistic work can grow into a market-ready innovation, or even a standalone startup.

How do we help? Through business training, mentoring, and financial and expert support, so that the only thing you have to focus on is refining your idea.

This online training phase is an important part of the program's first semester.

Once you have completed the modules, you submit a one-page summary (one-pager) of your idea. Based on the assessment of these summaries, we select the projects that move on to the mentored, scholarship-supported phase.

Who is HSUP Doctorate for?

It is for doctoral students who hold active doctoral (PhD/DLA) student status at a higher education institution in Hungary or abroad, or for doctoral candidates who began their doctoral studies after 1 September 2016, completed the required courses, obtained their pre-degree certificate (absolutorium), no longer hold doctoral student status, but have not yet completed the doctoral degree procedure.

If you already have a complete business plan, we're delighted! At the same time, if you don't yet have a worked-out concept but your doctoral topic — whether scholarly research or artistic work — involves an idea that could bring tangible, practical benefit, then this program is for you!

How the curriculum is structured

The curriculum consists of online videos and the related knowledge-check questions, across nine modules in total:

1. Idea generation
2. Market research and product development
3. Marketing
4. Sales strategy and business models
5. Financial planning
6. Legal basics
7. HR fundamentals
8. One-pager module
9. Entrepreneurial mindset
10. One-pager and Student Status Upload

Language requirements

The curriculum is in English, so you will need confident, B2-level English both in writing and in professional discussions.

The summary, the project pitch, and the related documents must be submitted in English.

The working language of the mentoring and the teamwork, however, is Hungarian.

Scholarships and project funding

After you successfully complete the e-learning curriculum and put your innovation idea to the test in the one-pager, we recognize the project work you do to realize your idea in the first semester (November 2026 – January 2027) with a scholarship of HUF 75,000 net per month. (Planned number of scholarship recipients: 50)

In the program's second semester (February 2027 – June 2027), the 10 best ideas get the chance to be realized. If your idea is one of them, you lead that project team. In that case, for five months you can receive a scholarship of HUF 300,000 net per month.

What happens if your idea does not make the shortlist (a planned 10 projects)? There's no need to worry: you can join other project teams and support their work with your expertise. In that case, for five months you can receive a scholarship of HUF 200,000 net per month.

A good idea and diligent teamwork are essential to bringing an idea to life, but without adequate funding, implementation can run into difficulties. That's why we provide project funding: in the second semester, up to HUF 3,000,000 per project can be spent on professional materials, equipment, or development costs related to the project.

The second semester closes with a Demo Day, where you can present your project to investors, industry experts, and potential partners — putting your idea to the test under real conditions, in a genuine business and investment environment.