The establishment of the Pharmapolis Innovative Pharmaceautical Cluster represents the general intensions of the economic sectors dominantly present in Debrecen and the stakeholders of the pharmaceautical industry as well as the City Council of Debrecen of County Rank, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hajdú-Bihar and the University of Debrecen on the basis of which they wish to cooperate on the promotion of industrial networking supported by the makings of the region. The name of ‘Pharmapolis’ has been clearly apparent in the collaborations between the city and the university since 2005 when the City Council of Debrecen and the University of Debrecen together with several small and medium enterprises brought about the Pharmapolis Debrecen Ltd. This economic company together with the Richter Gedeon Pharmaceautical Company, which is the most important pharmaceautical stakeholder of the cluster, carry out closely aligned R+D activities in the field –primarily – clinical researches. The name of ‘Pharmapolis’ is also used to refer to the Debrecen Pole Program.
The objective of the Pharmapolis Cluster is versatile; it wishes to strengthen the less developed elements in the innovative chain of the Hungarian pharmaceautical industry as it is required by the export interests of economic stakeholders and on the other hand, it also wishes to contribute to the improvement of European innovative capacities. They wish to reach these goals by adopting the pharmaceautically-specified elements of the European Technological Platforms.
The vision of the Pharmapolis pole cluster is to establish a remarkably outstanding pharmaceautical cluster even by international standards that considerably contributes to the intesification of economic achievements as well as to the further improvement in the field of employment. With its positive foreign effects the cluster has a favourable impact on Hungarian economy, too.
The statements laid down in the strategic and activity plan of the Pharmapolis Innovative Pharmaceautical Cluster is largely in line with the overall purposes of the Pole Program in Hungary.
- the promotion of the establishments of internationally competitive clusters
- specialization in high value-added, innovative activities
- strong cooperation between the enterprises in the interest of holding competitiveness on the long run, and additionally, between city councils and universities
- strengthening the regional central roles of pole cities thus supporting the development of their business environments and their general competitiveness in a broader sense
The contacts between the pharmaceautical and the biotechnological enterprises of the cluster strengthened by cooperations with university experts and researchers will reach beyond a size that is necessary for competitiveness in Europe and through the development of value-added, export-oriented activities it will remarkably improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy on the whole. It will also add up to the development of universities and educational institutions as well as health-care and cultural services strictly in line with the purposes of the Pole Program.
In the course of R+D cooperations the Pharmapolis Debrecen Innovative Pharmaceautical Cluster puts a great emphasis on the development of new, innovative products as well as getting around the results of R+D+I activities carried out by the member organizations in a wide circle. The Pharmapolis Cluster Ltd. acting as the embodiment of the Pharmapolis program as well as management of the cluster has clearly defined its basic principles; to strengthen the pharmaceautical innovative chain in Hungary; to establish and operate internationally competitive platforms and to develop the cluster of the particular branch. The most progressive, unrivalled characteristic feature of the Debrecen cluster that it has created a networking process of propulsive industry of national importance based on the pharmaceautical-biotechnological innovative axis – apparent in the cluster - connecting Szeged and Debrecen. As a remarkable endeavor, among other Hungarian clusters it uniquely combines the industry-developing efforts of universities, city councils, chambers, innovative university spin-off and start-up enterprises and middle and large enterprises of considerable means.
