Ferenc presented the importance of research and innovation at an informal meeting of the EU Presidency in Budapest on 17th September. Several European Union ministers for higher education and research attended the event.
“Research and innovation are at the heart of the European Union’s economy and its competitiveness, which is the basis for prosperity,” stressed the CEO of CMF. Ferenc called the issue of human health and more effective medicine one of the most critical challenges of the 21st century. He said we must act to ensure that access to health care does not differ radically between different parts of the world. “Every year, 17 million people under the age of 70 die of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. 86% of them live in low or middle-income counties. As a result, newborns have a perspective for a healthy lifespan, some 10 to 20 years shorter than their counterparts in developed countries. More than 3 billion people live in such countries. The only glimmer of hope for a cost-effective health screening is the capacity to catch the most prevalent killers in the early stage when treatment is much less expensive and has a much higher success rate. Such as the transformation of health care from its current reactive mode to a proactive preventive mode of operation which would not only benefit low-income countries, but it would also save many lives in Europe.” – said Ferenc.
He said it’s essential for Europe to encourage its best scientists and research institutions to help make this effort a success for the benefit of future generations of Europeans and the world. In the second part of his presentation, he talked about the ongoing research carried out at CMF.
It was also reported on Tuesday that Ferenc had accepted the invitation of Balázs Hankó, the Minister of Culture and Innovation, to serve as a top advisor on science policy with the aim of advancing Hungarian science.
