The 2026 Jedlik Ányos Awards were presented on Tuesday at the Museum of Fine Arts, one of the most prestigious awards of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (SZTNH), recognizes outstanding inventive activity and exceptional quality and efficiency in industrial property and copyright work. The 2026 awards went to electrical engineer Gábor Bayer, Széchenyi Prize-winning research professor Balázs Gulyás, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ferenc Krausz, copyright lawyer Péter Lábody, and electrical engineer and economist Zsolt Szalay.
The Ányos Jedlik Award was first presented in 1996, the centenary year of the Hungarian patent system, and this year marks the 30th time the award has been presented.
Szabolcs Farkas, president of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, emphasized in the announcement that a total of 147 professionals, including the five outstanding individuals recognized this year, have received this prestigious award since its inception.
They explained that Gábor Bayer, an electrical engineer, specializes in optical measurement technologies, intelligent evaluation algorithms, and the development of medical devices based on these technologies. He has been the development director of 77 Elektronika Kft. since 2004. As a leader and inventor, he played a key role in the development of automatic and semi-automatic urine sediment analyzers and the underlying UriSed Technology, a product family that received the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize in 2016.
Balázs Gulyás, Széchenyi Prize-winning research professor and president of the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network, has done pioneering work in the field of visual neurology and functional brain mapping using PET imaging. His research later expanded to molecular neuroimaging, neurological and psychiatric diseases, and humanized animal models, and he is currently investigating the neurobiological basis of the extraordinary capabilities of the human brain. He has published more than 300 scientific articles, written or edited 14 books, and contributed to more than 20 patents.
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ferenc Krausz’s research focuses on the generation and measurement of attosecond light pulses.
His findings not only contribute to a deeper understanding of how electrons work, but also open up new possibilities for the further development of modern electronic devices and data storage technologies. He is the inventor of patents registered in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia, several of which are still in force in Hungary today. His work opens up new dimensions in the world of quantum physics and laser technology.
Péter Lábody is the Vice President for Legal and International Affairs at the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office.
He teaches, publishes in English and Hungarian, regularly lectures at domestic and international conferences, and is a researcher at the Information Society Research Institute. He is a member of the board of the Copyright Expert Committee, and his work was recognized with the NEW EUROPE 100 award in 2016. Since 2019, he has been vice president of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and will become its president in December 2025. His activities are influential at both European Union and international level, and his work places him at the forefront of copyright policy-making.
Ferenc Krausz. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
Zsolt Szalay is an associate professor and head of the Department of Automotive Technology at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, an electrical engineer and an economist. He has been shaping the future of the automotive industry for nearly 30 years and is the co-owner of several patents. As a leader, he participated in the development and implementation of the ZalaZONE automotive test track concept, which provides a globally unique research and development infrastructure. With more than 200 scientific publications and his role in modern automotive developments, he is a leading figure in the domestic and international automotive industry.
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Via MTI; Featured image: Mohai Balázs/sztnh.gov.hu
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