About GAK

GAK was established in 1995 by the Gödöllő University of Agriculture – today St. Stephen University
(largest agricultural university in Hungary) as well as by the major agricultural production companies
in Hungary. Among the members we can also find a well-known Hungarian insurance company, the
Hungarian Farmers National Society (MAGOSZ), the city of Gödöllő, etc.
 
The main aim of creating GAK was to develop a so called umbrella type of organisation that is
capable of bridging the gap between university research, development, and the technical
implementation and utilisation of the scientific results, in other words, maintaining the transfer of
know-how and technology. The University (as service provider) and the profit oriented agro-food
companies (as possible users and transmitters of results and services of the University) thus became
"share-holders" in the same company. GAK was also established to fulfil certain non-profit activities
that facilitate the development of the agro-food sector and the life of people living in the countryside.
Its activities now efficiently support the production and sales activities in agriculture, play a significant
role in the development of human resources, in the national and international flow of information, and
the modernisation of innovation process in agriculture. GAK is operated under the relevant Hungarian
company law, and its legal organisational type is "public benefit company".
 
GAK’s main task is the development of relationship between national and international agro-food
industry production, user and trading units as follows:
  • providing agricultural extension services, professional and scientific advises
  • establishing and operating agro-information networks and databases
  • organising national and international exhibitions, fairs, shows, presentations, conferences
  • providing intermediate and advanced level postgraduate training programmes
  • managing innovation in the agro-food industry (research-development-demonstrationcommercialisation)

The main task of the GAK Management Unit is to formulate and implement programmes that can be
successfully carried out in accordance with the above objectives by the active involvement of the
university departments and individual experts of the University.

GAK is also responsible for managing the educational and demonstration farms of the university.
The number of employees in the total organisation is close to one hundred.
 
The three main areas relevant to knowledge transfer are: 1) adult education, 2) farm advisory
services and 3) farm demonstration (peer-to-peer practical knowledge exchange) activities.
 
1) GAK has been involved in the provision of adult education programmes for over two decades,
organizing mainly further trainings for village agents, farm advisors and plant protection experts. A
more systematic and active period was started in 2011, when GAK became officially accredited and
state approved as an adult training institute and many of the training programmes also licenced and
offered for the agricultural sector. GAK was successfully enrolled to participate under the Rural
Development Programme (ÚMVP) trainings, many programmes compulsory for farmers to attend.
Besides national activities, GAK participated in numerous projects at the EU level targeting
innovation transfer and training development.
• Partner in AgriTeach 4.0 Erasmus+ project, 2017-2019, responsible for key activities, including
surveys, development of learning materials, dissemination.
• Coordinator of the ECOMOTIVE Erasmus+ project between 2015-2017.
• Sub-contractor in Leonardo da Vinci Q-BICON (Competences for tomorrows energies: A
Qualification scheme for BIomass CONsultancy) project, 2013-2014.
• Partner in ECOVOC (Vocational Training in Organic Vegetable and Fruit Production) Leonardo da
Vinci transfer of innovation project, 2011-- 2013
• Partner in ITACA (IT Administrator Competences Development) Leonardo da Vinci transfer of
innovation project, 2012-2014.
Besides international projects, GAK has gained experience in developing training for farmers in
Hungary, for example the "GAZDA NETREKÉSZ" (Farmer NetReady) project (2008-2009),
organizing GAZDANET (FarmerNet) trainings (2013-2014), several GAZDAHÁLÓ (GazdaNet)
conferences, and provided communication and conflict management training for the village agents
network (2015).
 
2) GAK has been functioning as a territorial and technical advisory centre ("TSZK") in Hungary since
2007, being among the three largest centers at the peak of operation of the sector, administrating
subsidies for advisory fees, offering a range of tools for advisors, as supplement to their provision of
services for farmers, many of the tools are ICT aided, such as the farming logbook, cross compliance
checker, soil nutrition planner, smart insect trap etc. Some of the projects from the many are listed
below:
• SOMOCO-V4WB Visegrad Fund project: Soil moisture content management as a tool for climate
change mitigation in wb based on v4 practices, , 2017-2018
• AEWB-ICT Visegrad Fund project: Agricultural extension in WB and V4 countries, 2017-2018.
• Developing climate change farm advisory system and web platform in national NKTH project, 2013
• Coordinating the development of the IT platform for the Hungarian National Farm Advisory
Information System (a project run by NAKVI) in 2011-2012.
• Preparing background studies and specifications for a national food safety enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system developed under a national project (Operational Programme for Developing
the Economy), 2012-2013.
• Working as an external advisor to the CAP Paying Agency formulating e-government services, the
e-Claim project, between 2006 and 2010.
• Coordination of eFarmer EU e-Content project between 2005-2007.
 
3) GAK manages the educational and demonstrations farms of St Istvan University, using over
600ha of land, which provides experimental and demonstration plots for students and farmers. Using
this background, and on other locations at the national level, GAK has experience in organizing farm demonstration events.