What is the goal of creating the New Generation Centre London? What established the demand for it?

The New Generation Centre London, which is an umbrella organisation of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, opened in February of 2016. The initiative was created as part of the Hungarian Governments wide ranging National Talent Programme.

The Community Centre & Youth Office in London has the primary goal of building a bridge between Hungarian youth in the United Kingdom and in Hungary, expanding their knowledge and nurturing their talent through different professional, community based and competence enhancing programmes. It is important that young Hungarians living in the UK are aware of existing, or just starting professional opportunities, mentor programmes or projects concerning Hungarians both in the UK and in Hungary.

The youth office in London has become a functioning, active community space, through which Hungarians living in the UK can be inspired in Hungarian communities or can spend their free time. Beyond aiming to build a community, it is also important to establish a supporting framework that can help young talented Hungarians for years to come through bilateral programmes. Our programmes in the UK and in Hungary enable building professional relationships. Furthermore, we support the integration of Hungarians living in the UK into Hungarian professional life. We also aim to pay attention to those Hungarians who have been educated in Hungary, but have not been able to find employment within their sector of expertise.

How often do you organise workshops, is there any success you are proud of?

Thanks to the National Talent Programme, we are able to organise many programmes, and I can proudly say we are able to offer young Hungarians something every week. By the end of June, over 30 programmes were organised in different topics. Besides workshops, we held community building activities, academic lectures, conferences, talent and skill developing events catering to Hungarians. The “Central & Contemporary – Hungarian artists without borders” workshop aimed to create a pathway & point of contact between the artistic scene in the UK and in Hungary. But we had several study trips; in April, 9 entrepreneurs travelled to London, who were able to have a debut in the UK thanks to the Hungarian support system & mentorship, thereby obtaining a new customer base and cooperating partners abroad. I could also mention our successful Talent Zone programme series, through which young Hungarians, 30 from the United Kingdom, 12 from Cluj, 6 from Budapest and 2 from Debrecen had the opportunity to experience the creative, innovative and professional sectors including multinational companies and renowned institutions, as well as the Brain Bar Conference in Budapest. On the 24^th of April, in collaboration with the Cambridge University Hungarian Society, the “Future: Hungary” conference connected the most talented Hungarians in the UK, with multinational companies in the financial, consulting and technology sectors with ties to Hungary, who were able to showcase their opportunities in Hungary to over 100 Hungarian students. Our mentor programme was able to connect Hungarian students with mentor professors during this event, who will help and assist them in their academic careers, research work and in the future British professors will also be included in this partnership.

Have there been instances of non-Hungarian students, talented young people turning to you for help?

The target audience of the project is Hungarian students and young professionals working in the United Kingdom, thus most of our events are in Hungarian. Nonetheless, we have had English language talks and programmes, which have also drawn interest from young students & professionals in the UK.

The project is made possible through the National Talent Programme; is this only financial support?

The project, “In London for talented Hungarians” is carried out by the New Generation Centre Not-for-profit Company, which is an umbrella organisation of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, through the National Talent Programme, which provides the necessary funding.

In the near future, over 60 events shall take place, including professional and social events, competency enhancing training, talent nurturing events, workshops, as well as music concerts and theatre performances.

Do you have Hungarian strategic partnerships? If yes, which organisations?

Yes, we receive substantial interest towards our events and ourselves aim to find partnerships. We are in connection with many UK based Hungarian organisations, and our Hungary based partnerships include Design Terminal, the National Association of PhD Students (DOSZ), the Antall József Knowledge Centre, the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the National Students Union (HÖOK).

Furthermore, during our programmes, we are able to cooperate with Hungarian student societies in the UK.

How is it possible to find entrepreneurial young Hungarians in London? What can you offer them?

We aim to reach as many talented young people as possible, through trainings, events and programmes. Information about these is available online on the different outlets of New Generation Centre London

• (http://newgenerationlondon.com/;
• https://www.facebook.com/newgenerationlondon/;
• https://uk.linkedin.com/in/newgenerationcentrelondon).

For our competency enhancing, and professional events we invited companies & speakers in each sector whose activities, profile is interesting to Hungarians in the UK, which we aim to survey continuously.

We will have several entrepreneurial workshops for young people aiming to develop their ideas, led by internationally experienced professionals. Our currently running programme is Startup Campus London, which helps participants start their own company, then develop it through different business models. Some have joined to acquire business knowledge, whilst others focused on networking and learning opportunities. On top of all this, participants were able to present their ideas on the 22^nd of October during a Demo Day to a panel professionals.

Soon launching is our Speak Academy series, during which participants will be able to master the skills of confident public speaking.

The Community Centre & Youth Office of the New Generation Centre London is always open, and it is our utmost pleasure that we have had continuous interest, as we do not only aim to organise various events and programmes, but to serve as an information point, not only in person but also online. Luckily, many have found us through these channels, and we also send out newsletters, which can be subscribed to at london@unp.hu.

photos: facebook.com/newgenerationlondon