Stepping Up from Drifting – just published
Our volume summarizing the results of one of the important research projects of recent years has now been published in print, edited by Akadémiai Kiadó.
Edited by: György Boda
Akadémiai Kiadó, November 2024
ISBN: 978 963 664 051 4
Amid the pressure of the changing world economic order and the increasingly strong domestic socio-economic problems, analyses that unbiasedly and comprehensively reveal how we have exploited our opportunities so far and how we can choose a more productive path are of exceptional value.
The work of György Boda and his co-authors deserves special attention from three very important aspects, and the simultaneous validation of these aspects makes the book one of the most valuable situation-assessment readings of recent years. It acknowledges the results achieved since the change of regime, but points out why these have fallen short of expectations and possibilities. The focus of its analysis is on the real economy, the corporate sphere, but through this the effects and problems of social governance and regulation also come through. It shows what the main reasons are for the competitiveness deficiencies of companies, and how these necessarily lead to the failure of the expected macroeconomic and social convergence.
Another merit of the book is that it supports its message with very extensive statistical material, data, and calculations. It uses well-chosen databases, and handles these with demanding and mostly easy-to-follow calculation methods. It should be emphasized that while the authors use many controversial concepts in the book, they create clear situations by clearly providing their own interpretation and, where necessary, their thinking related to measurement.
A third important feature of the research is its historical and social embeddedness. It does not stop at exploring the direct causes of the phenomena, but points out the influential, often determining role of the ancient and recent past, and their interpretation. It uses statistical analysis and historical experience together to outline the possibilities for moving up from the current situation. As a conclusion, it defines the establishment of a political mechanism supporting the development and increasing the role of human capital as a fundamental condition for this move up.
Attila Chikán
Best Exhibitor Award on Chinese – Hungarian AI Innivation Summit, 2024
Over 40 AI-focused tech exhibitors gathered at the AI Transformation Conference & Innovation Summit 2024, alongside leading Chinese and Hungarian companies, research groups, technology leaders, innovators, startup incubators, and investors from Hungary and Shenzhen. Together, they will explore collaborations and forge partnerships, driving groundbreaking projects and future business opportunities.
Our research proposal ’AI based somato mapping’ presented by Ferenc Kiss and Sándor Vincze won Best Exhibitor Award.
https://scitope.com/ait24/
Entrepreneurial thinking and creativity development workshop
In the framework of the cooperation between the IKE2020 Innovative Initiatives Association and the Una-Sana Cantonal and University Library (Bihać, Bosnia-Herzegovina), supported by the Hungary Helps Program, on behalf of Infota, Dr Ferenc Kiss, on December 14-15, 2022, entrepreneurial thinking and creativity held a development workshop for high school and university students. The co-presenter of the course was from the University of Bihác. assoc. prof. dr. sc. Kenan Mahmutović.
In addition to on-site training, Infota also provided video and electronic learning materials for online trainings in project management and tourism fundamentals.
The summary video:
András Jávor 1937-2021
At the age of 84, our dear friend, colleague and mentor, Professor András Jávor has died.
András Jávor graduated from the Technical University of Budapest and received his M.Sc.E.E. followed by his Ph.D. degree in computer science. He received his D.Sc. from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The Value of Cultural Tourism. How can we enjoy and remember our trip?
The presentation jointly prepared by dr. Lia Bassa and dr. Ferenc Kiss “The Value of Cultural Tourism. How can we enjoy and remember our trip?” was delivered at the UNESCO UNITWIN Conference in Leuven, now it is published in the proceedings:
https://ees.kuleuven.be/unitwin2019/proceedings
Learn about World Heritage by eLearning
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and 30 member universities of the „Culture, Tourism, Development” UNITWIN Network has reported the great success of their up-to-date, high level internationally prepared eLearning material complying with all UNESCO requirements. INFOTA has also contributed to the establishment of this excellent MOOC, Tourism Management at World Heritage Sites by a chapter Technical Systems Contributing to Cultural Heritage Monitoring written and presented by R&D Director Dr. Ferenc Kiss and Managing Director dr. Lia Bassa.
The launching took place in January 2018., it consists of 8 modules, or chapters, opening one of them per week, so the entire course is delivered in 8 weeks. (It can be learned by your own pace, of course, by about 3 hours work invested for each lesson), and is being restarted until the end of the year. The course can be accessed: https://www.fun-mooc.fr/courses/course-v1:Paris1+16008+session01/about
If you create an account on the site and register to the MOOC, you are ready to go! If you want to receive a certificate, the next and last certificates will be issued at the end of December.
The current version operates till December 2018. Then after a little pause, MOOC Volume 2 will appear from 1 April 2019. until the end of the next year extended by 6 new chapters: Marketing Tourism (Madrid, Barcelona), Site Management System (Leuven), Loving destinations to Death (MidSweden), Behaviour and satisfaction on World Heritage Sites (Salento), Historical Memories and Tourism on WH Sites (Externado), Tourism in WH Cities (Paris). Whereas parallelly, from June 2019, MOOC Volume 1 will also be available in a rebooted, corrected version until the end of 2019.
INFOTA participated in UNESCO UNITWIN eLearning material
Based on the initiatives of the UNESCO UNITWIN „Culture, Tourism, Development” Network, with the active contribution of its members, professors of heritage management and tourism from more than a dozen countries, under the leading coordination of Professor Maria Gravari-Barbas Paris Sorbonne 1 and Professor Lorenzo Cantoni, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), the MOOC “Tourism Management at UNESCO World Heritage Sites” started officially in January and opened all its eight chapters by the middle of March.
The Foundation for Information Society has been leading extensive researches for more than a decade regarding the enhancement of technical tools for elaborating an appropriate and up-to-date heritage management at world heritage sites. (See the starting project called ICHEPIS.) The outcomes of our projects are delivered as our contribution to the MOOC eLearning presentation as an independent chapter. Our R&D Director, Dr. Ferenc Kiss and Managing Director, dr. Lia Bassa, both teaching at the Budapest Metropolitan University, Member of the UNITWIN Network are the authors of the teaching material.
We, the authors, are very happy and proud to have had the opportunity to create and share a constructive and dynamic learning environment: 4.044 learners from 154 countries, and 1.091 threads were registered in the forums. Moreover, 2.472 have joined the dedicated Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/119125402154753).
It is a special occasion for our Research Institute to reach such a great and extensive public through eLearning and be connected to so many interested researchers and learners. We do hope that their interest will lead us to the establishment of new connections and further cooperations, tender participations in the following period of time.
The course, with all its materials and discussion threads, will remain open and available for enrolled students until December 31, 2018. https://www.fun-mooc.fr/dashboard So, everybody will have time to complete watching the videos, reading and downloading the texts and additional materials for further in-depth learning, answering the quizzes and doing the suggested activities.
Students can find presentations, videos, ad-hoc written texts, quizzes, recommended activities and additional materials for in-depth learning. It was a great pleasure and honour for us that so many are interested and get involved in following us and participating in the MOOC. From all over the world (maps and accounts have been made about the location of the activities that were touching crucial topics of the subjects during these dynamic eight weeks of eLearning! It has been a very enriching experience for the teachers and we hope it has been or will be the same for the students, too.
Tourism and Cultural Landscapes: Towards a Sustainable Approach – Conference
This was the title and aim of the 4th International Conference of the UNITWIN Network that took place at the Budapest Metropolitan University and was implemented by the INFOTA Research Institute from 12 to 16 June, 2016. From 5 continents, more than 60 presentations, posters have reported about the most recent research achievements of a highly delicate and often discussed cultural heritage, the cultural landscapes – we also have 3 of them: Tokaj, Hortobágy and Fertőtáj.
The video message from the Deputy Director General of UNESCO, Francesco Bandarin is available on the following link.
The most recent volume of the Alma Mater series has been published
The most recent volume of the Alma Mater series has been published with the title “Tourism and ICT Aspects of Balkan Wellbeing – a Balkán jóllét turisztikai és IKT vonatkozásai”
The book provides us with a general overview on the touristic and ICT concerns of the Balkan wellbeing. The book can be ordered under the Publications point of the menu.
Since 2001, the Alma Mater series has been a primary Hungarian scientific publication forum for information and knowledge management, besides – because of the interrelation of scientific areas and by the opportunity of cross competences present in the workshops – having also rightly gained attention in international professional communities as a book series of scientific studies.
The present volume – in the course of our thematic publications – is a summary of the most recent regional well-being researches carried out in the widely interpreted Balkan area from the aspects of tourism and the info-communicational technologies.
