For the fifth time, members of the DDGK cluster—Aquacut Kft., Büttner Kft., Fórum-Plussz Kft., MATRO Kft., and SOMAPAK Kft.—as well as other businesses from the Pécs-Baranya region: Contrall Kft., KONTAKT-Elektro Kft., Techniq Kft., Z Elektronika Kft., and the University of Pécs. At the event held at Hungexpo in Budapest, the goal of the collective presentation at a 110 m² shared booth was for the participants to showcase the region’s technical portfolio, the value of the university’s knowledge base, and related research. The joint booth strengthens ties among the co-exhibitors while also showcasing the partnership between the university and the business community.
Szabolcs Rabb: Pécs stands for high-quality companies and a high-quality university
– At this exhibition, with the participation of local companies and university leaders, we are jointly showing the world—since this is an international exhibition—that Pécs stands not only for culture, the mosque, and wine, but also for high-quality companies and a high-quality university.
Baranya, Pécs, and the surrounding region offer the world’s best conditions for citizens to enjoy a high quality of life in terms of nature, history, culture, healthcare, and other aspects of the environment. However, one thing is sorely lacking: the economy. We have the tools to set the economy—and one of its key players, the University of Pécs—on a shared path. One example is participating in the Industry Days exhibition, says Szabolcs Rabb, Secretary General of the Pécs-Baranya Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
– What is the guiding principle for inviting companies to the booth?
– One of the most important guiding principles is that the company must be a voluntary member of the chamber; the other is that it must operate as a company that provides quality, good jobs. The University of Pécs has ten faculties, and among these, the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology is one of the most important for the economy. Our mission is for the Pécs economy, Pécs industry, and the university’s Faculty of Engineering to join forces, collaborate, and help ensure that young people stay in the area, while also encouraging a return migration to the region. That is why we are reaching out to companies involved in the high-tech and manufacturing industries.
– What opportunities are available on-site for businesses, the chamber, and the university, and how should they present themselves?
– For companies, the approach to this exhibition is twofold: first, they support the chamber’s work pro bono by attending the event. Let’s face it, this is a significant burden, as it ties up the time of sales staff, as well as that of company owners on the first day, since they attend the event in person. The other perspective, however, is that they are also showcasing their companies; salespeople—and often the owner-managers themselves—establish partnerships and collaborations. They get to know each other, walk around the fair, hand out their brochures and business cards, and seek to establish business relationships—perhaps even to become suppliers to larger companies, and so on. It has become a tradition that on the first day, the company owners and the university chancellor are present, and in the evening we go out to dinner together at a simple restaurant, where we can talk to each other in a private setting, build partnerships, and exchange ideas about what each party expects from the other and how we can improve the economic situation of the city and the county.
– What is the significance of these companies exhibiting at a joint booth?
– The Pécs Chamber of Commerce’s booth is exemplary; the entire national chamber system is watching us, so Somogy and Nógrád counties have also been participating in this exhibition with a joint booth alongside companies, based on our methodology, for years. The message of the joint booth is that companies must recognize the potential for collaboration and the opportunity for benchmarking, as well as the fact that companies themselves are learning organizations. In the learning process, it can be very helpful for them to adopt best practices and experiences from others—even from competitors. This is one of the reasons we organize clusters. As for the outside world, I can summarize the most important message of the joint booth in three points. First, Pécs is showcasing itself, its technical capabilities, and its ambitions. Second, Pécs offers a glimpse into the attitude for which it has become famous: that competing companies are capable of collaborating with one another, which is why they are sharing a booth. And third, we’re showing how we think about ourselves and our future. Under the chamber’s leadership, a strategic development process is underway that involves various activities. This is one such activity. We need to go where life is happening, where debates take place, and where ideas are exchanged. Incidentally, our participation is jointly funded, and companies can take part in the exhibition at a discounted rate. We’re already planning next year’s participation, which will extend beyond the country’s borders: we’d like to showcase companies from Baranya at a new venue—Switzerland’s largest innovation exhibition, Bern Innotech.
SOMAPAK: The shared booth provides greater visibility for companies from Baranya
– We’ve been exhibiting at the chamber’s shared booth at the Industry Days exhibition from the very beginning. Beyond business development, our goal with this participation is to support the chamber’s effort to demonstrate that there are excellent companies operating in Pécs and Baranya County, and that by joining forces, they can make their presence felt at such an event. I value this unified presence more than the business opportunities themselves,” says Balázs Bognár, owner and managing director of SOMAPAK Kft. – This initiative is definitely worthy of support, since the exhibiting companies from Baranya are, after all, long-established, well-run businesses that are good partners to one another; in many cases, they’re bound not only by business ties but also by friendships, and it feels great—and carries added significance—to show the “world” that Baranya certainly has an economy of its own.
– What did you showcase at this event?
– We showcased the know-how and knowledge base we’ve acquired over the past 40 years. SOMAPAK is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and over the past decades, we’ve developed a unique, comprehensive body of knowledge in the fields of machine manufacturing and component production. We showcased this unique, specialized expertise, as well as our ability to adapt to individual needs as we serve our customers.
– This isn’t the first time you’ve participated in this event. What insights have you gained from both this year’s and previous Industry Days?
– I consider it important to participate because it gives us a greater chance to increase our visibility, enter the professional consciousness, and—even if not immediately—people may seek us out later because they’ve already seen what we’re capable of. Industry Days is a general exhibition, a very broad showcase of domestic industry. We’re not talking about a trade show where company representatives go specifically to find clients, but we can still pique the interest of many visitors by showing them what we’re capable of. Obviously, everyone wants to make a sale, but that’s not the main focus of this exhibition; having a presence is much more important.
– How does the shared booth contribute to your presence?
– The shared booth creates an opportunity: if a prospective client starts talking to a representative from one of the exhibiting companies, specific needs and ideas can easily emerge, and based on these, we might even be able to make a recommendation right away. In some cases, we might recommend a company from Pécs or Baranya County exhibiting at the neighboring booth if the request doesn’t fit our own profile—and this approach works well within this community. Visitors will certainly find it interesting that so many sectors are represented in one place and that such a wide variety of industry segments can be found in Pécs. Most of these businesses aren’t companies founded just last year, but rather well-established, stable firms with decades of experience, many of which are family-owned businesses.
There is another aspect to the shared booth: the companies exhibiting there also get to connect with one another; we often ask our neighbors how they’re doing and what they’re currently working on. These few days also serve as a great forum for sharing information, because it’s rare to have the time for this otherwise. It’s worth noting that several members of the Southwest Hungarian Engineering Cluster are exhibiting at this shared booth, and while there are, of course, ongoing forums within the cluster, the exhibition still provides this community with an excellent opportunity for discussion and gathering information. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that the shared booth serves as a kind of incentive for companies to participate in the exhibition; individually, they might not necessarily rent a space at Industry Days.
K. T.
Source: DDG Magazine
09.07.2026.