Prof. Dr. Cséfalvay Zoltán 2020 novemberétől az MCC Technológiai Jövők Műhelyének vezetője (Közgazdasági Iskola). Ezt megelőzően az Európai Bizottság Közös Kutatóközpontjának vezető kutatója, Sevillában (1999-2020), nagykövet Magyarország OECD és UNESCO mellé rendelt állandó képviseletén, Párizsban (2014-2018), a Nemzetgazdasági Minisztérium Gazdaságstratégiáért felelős államtitkára (2010-2014), a Gazdasági Minisztérium regionális gazdaságfejlesztési helyettes államtitkára (2000-2002), és elnöki tanácsadó a Magyar Nemzeti Bankban (1991-1995).1999-ben habilitált a Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetemen, Debrecenben, és 1996-ban védte meg PhD téziseit Földrajztudományból a Magyar Tudományos Akadámián. Tudományos kutatóként dolgozott a Cardiffi Egyetem Város és Regionális Tervezési Iskolájában (2008-2010), az Osztrák Tudományos Akadémia Város- és Regionális Kutató Intézetében, Bécsben (1997-1999), a Heidelbergi Egyetem Földrajzi Intézetében (1995-1997), a Ludwig-Maximilian Egyetem Gazdaságföldrajzi Intézetében, Münchenben (1987-1988), valamint a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Földrajzi Intézetében, Budapesten (1983-1990).A gazdaságföldrajz professzoraként tanított az Andrássy Egyetemen (2002-2008) és több mint két évtizede Kodolányi János Egyetem kinevezett egyetemi tanára. 15 önálló kötet és közel hetven – referált szaklapokban és szakkönyvekben angol, német, és magyar nyelven publikált – tanulmány szerzője. 2017-ben jelent meg ’A nagy korszakváltás’ (angolul: TECHtonic Shifts) című legújabb kötete, amely a globális gazdaságban jelenleg zajló technológiai forradalommal foglalkozik.
Dr. Cséfalvay Zoltán
Technológiai Jövők Műhely vezető
E-mail: csefalvay[pont]zoltan[kukac]mcc[pont]hu
Tudományos fokozat
Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetem -1999 - Habilitált doktor
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Doktori Tanácsa - 1995 - Földrajztudományok kandidátusa (PhD)
Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetem - 1986 - egyetemi doktor
Egyetemi végzettség
Európai Bizottság Közös Kutató Központja - történelem-földrajz - 1982
Egyéb akkreditált képzések
Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich - DAAD ösztöndíj - 1987-1988
Oktatási Tapasztalat
Kodolányi János Egyetem, Székesfehérvár - egyetemi tanár - 1996-
Andrássy Gyula Német Nyelvű Egyetem - egyetemi tanár - 2002-2008
Cardiff University - kutató - 2008-2010
Szakmai tevékenység
Európai Bizottság Közös Kutató Központja - vezető kutató - 2019-2020
Magyaroszág OECD melletti állandó képviselete - nagykövet - 2014-2018
Nemzetgazdasági Miniszterium - gazdaságstratégiai államtitkár - 2010 - 2014
Cardiff University - kutató - 2008-2010
Andrássy Gyula Német Nyelvű Egyetem - egytemi tanár - 2002-2008
Kiemelt kutatási projektek
The Rise of the Scaleup Cities in Europe - Mathias Corvinus Collegium - műhelyvezető - 2021-
Territorial Dimensions of Digitalisation and Their Policy Challenges for Europe - Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Seville - vezető kutató - 2019-2020
The Challenge of Private Urban Governance and the Rise of Gated Communities in Europe - Cardiff University - kutató - 2008-2010
New Segregation – Gated Communities in Hungary - Kodolányi János Egyetem - kutató tanár - 2002-2006
Competitiveness of the Large Urban Centres in Austria - Osztrák Tudományos Akadémia - kutató - 1997-1999
Öszöndíjak
Heidelberg University - Alexander von Humboldt ösztöndíj - 1995-1997
Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich - DAAD ösztöndíj - 1987-1988
Díjak
Lengyel Köztársaság - lovagi érdemrend - 2015
Corvinus Egyetem - Káldor-díj - 2004
Beszélt nyelvek
Angol, C2
Német, C2
Francia, A2
Spanyol, B1
Kutatási témák
The Rise of Scaleup Cities in Europe
Territorial Dimensions of Digitalisation and Their Policy Challenges for Europe
The Challenge of Private Urban Governance and the Rise of Gated Communities in Europe
From Prediction Machines to Superintelligence – How Artificial Intelligence is transforming Business?
While currently there is a lot of hype about Artificial Intelligence, the practical applications of these technologies (Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision) are rather narrow, particularly in businesses. Hence, the short course offers, first, a brief insight into the seven decades long history of AI (and its winters and summers). Following this, the short course provides examples how currently the AI is used to make (economic and business related) predictions, how cheaper and quicker predictions increase the value of data and humans’ decisions, and how business practically applies this kind of narrow AI. In detail, during the course we will make an attempt to identify the potential business opportunities of AI in different contexts. After that, the course critically discusses the future of AI, the possibility of Artificial General Intelligence, which eventually could surpass the human intelligence, but it seems to become reality only in a very distant future (if at all). Finally, the course offers a gist of the global race for AI supremacy between US and China.Innovation Economics
Innovation is probably the most important fact about the modern world, but one of the least well understood. Therefore, the course begins with the discussion about what innovation exactly means, the main types of innovation (incremental versus disruptive), and how innovation became crucial driver of economic prosperity. Then, via numerous practical examples, the lectures analyse the essential features of innovation, such as it involves trial and error, it is increasingly recombinant, is rather a team sport than the solely genius in the garage and prefers fragmented governance rather than centralised ones. We will critically discuss the role of the state, the entrepreneurs and the free market forces in innovation and the policy options for promoting innovation.Nudging: Theory and Practice
Nudging (meaning as any aspect of choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predicable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives) is now everywhere. Hence, this short course offers an insight into the theoretical foundation of nudging, and its practical implementation as well. The course investigates in detail the types and basic principles of nudging and its implementation, such as nudge should be Easy (e.g., by harnessing the power of defaults setting (auto-enrolments), or of loss aversion and scarcity biases), Attractive (e.g., using bold and striking colours for encouraging specific commercial products), Timely (e.g., prompting people when they are most likely to be receptive), and Social (e.g., encouraging people to make a commitment to others). Nevertheless, the course deals with practical experiences of nudging, with the question how governments, especially the British government applied the behavioural insights in different policies. Finally, we are going to discuss the ideology beyond, the so-called ‘libertarian paternalism’, and the advantages/disadvantages and limitations of nudging.Reading Seminar: Four books about the Fourth Industrial Revolution
While the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is now all over the world talked-of, little is known about how to be prepared for this transformation. Hence, the course provides a comprehensive insight into the dynamics, some basic narratives, and the driving forces beyond the 4IR via reading and analysing four bestsellers on these issues.Understanding the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Society & Geopolitics
The course offers a comprehensive analysis of the new General- Purpose Technologies and their business applications. Based on these insights the course investigates in detail the main narratives with regard to the impacts of new technologies on employment. Finally, it provides an insight into the current global race of technological superpowers (US and. China).Understanding the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Technology & Economy
The course offers a comprehensive insight into the dynamics of industrial revolutions (by applying the works of Carlota Perez, Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee, and Richard Baldwin). Based on these, we investigate in detail the main technological changes (robotics, 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, Industry 4.0) and their impact on business and economy. Then, we will discuss some basic narratives around the current industrial revolution, such as the productivity puzzle (Robert Solow, Erik Brynjolfsson), the intangible economy (Jonathan Haskel & Stian Westlake), and the platform economy (Geoffrey Parker & Alstyne van Marshall & Paul Sangeet Choudary).Kiemelt publikációk
As “robots are moving out of the cages” – toward a geography of robotization
Cséfalvay Zoltán (2023)
There is currently a great deal of confusion about the impact of robotisation, mainly due to the lack of clarity in research on timeframes and technologies. To overcome this, we distinguish between two basic narratives. The first - 'robots in the cages' - is an old story of automation which means that the industrial robots are pre-programmed high-precision machines that are used on a large scale but only in a few industries. In contrast, the emerging story - 'robots are moving out of the cages' - is about the more flexible and autonomous robots at present used on a small scale in the service sector, albeit the application areas are expanding rapidly.The objectives of this paper are first to analyse these two stories in terms of their technological, industrial and organisational characteristics, second, to examine the geographical pattern of global competition for robotisation in these narratives, and third, to discuss briefly the policy challenges involved. For the analysis, we use information from the International Federation of Robotics, the EPO Worldwide Patent Statistical Database (PATSTAT) and the Dealroom.co start-up database.
Robotization in Central and Eastern Europe: catching up or dependence?
Cséfalvay Zoltán (2020).
European Planning Studies 28.8 (2020): 1534-1553.
While in the most developed European countries the combination of falling robot prices and high wages boosts robotization, these driving factors do not sufficiently explain why we are experiencing today a sharp increase in deployment of industrial robots in European countries with low wages. Particularly, in Central and Eastern Europe where a decade ago industrial robots were almost non-existent but today more than 30,000 robots are at work. Hence this paper, by recalculating the data of International Federation of Robotics and EU-KLEMS addresses the main question: What drives and hinders the robotization in Central and Eastern Europe?
Robotisation race in Europe: the robotisation chain approach
Zoltán Cséfalvay, Petros Gkotsis (2022),
Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 31(8), 693-710.
Who leads the robotisation race in Europe? For the answer, this paper develops a novel analytical framework, primarily by applying the concept of the global value chain to robotisation. By doing this, we investigate in detail the entire robotisation chain, from robotics developers over robot manufacturers to companies that deploy the industrial robots. For the R&D-intensive part of the chain (robotics development), we analyse robotics patent data from PATSTAT combined with firm data from ORBIS while for the capital-intensive part (deployment of robots) the source of information is the International Federation of Robotics. Our results show that the European robotisation landscape is fragmented into three groups. The first includes economies (Sweden, Germany, Austria, Denmark and France) that have the highest densities both in robotics development and in robot deployment. Countries of the second group (Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland) possess good positions only in some specific parts of the chain, while the lagging behind region (the majority of Central and Eastern Europe) is integrated into the robotisation chain solely by robot deployment. Hence, one of the main related policy challenges is to find ways for upgrading along the robotisation chain.
Gated communities for security or prestige? a public choice approach and the case of Budapest
Cséfalvay Zoltán (2011),
International journal of urban and regional research 35, no. 4 (2011): 735-752.
While in the mainstream narrative gated communities are regarded as incidental or deviate developments, this article attempts to offer, on the basis of public choice theory, an alternative answer to the fundamental question: why are people moving to gated residential areas? Drawing on the case of Budapest, it discusses the dominant theses and concludes that eagerness for prestige seems to surpass both fear of crime and the urge for self-segregation on the part of the affluent as the dominant motive. The search for prestige is particularly intense in Budapest, where local governments possess very weak fiscal autonomy and depend strongly on state grants, making them hardly able to provide the public goods and services that meet citizens' preferences. Consequently, in Budapest and to some extent rather ironically, the rise of gated communities, which in the literature is vehemently disputed as a socially problematic process, has become a manifestation of the revolt of the upper middle class against a grossly overcentralized government
TechTonic Shifts,
Cséfalvay Zoltán (2017),
Kairosz Kiadó
I originally intended this book to be a diary about my days at the OECD. However, as the entries mounted up I soon realised that we are experiencing a great transition. When does a new era start? Once our old notions do not work anymore, or if using them becomes so forced that we begin losing touch with reality. We continue to employ the concepts of the epoch of globalisation such as international trade, labour productivity or the SME sector, although they apply less and less to the world of robots, giant digital corporations, new global value chains, user networks hundreds of millions strong and dynamic start-ups. Perhaps we can better understand the transformation around us if we adopt a different perspective and start out from what we see, ie the features of a new age.
Gates or no gates? A cross-European enquiry into the driving forces behind gated communities
Zoltán Cséfalvay, Chris Webster (2012),
Regional Studies 46, no. 3 (2012): 293-308.
This paper addresses one of the biggest gaps in research on gated communities: why is the phenomenon so strong in some countries, but absent in others? After reviewing the mainstream explanations, it outlines an alternative thesis based on theories of public choice and fiscal federalism. To test the relevance of the theory, European countries are divided into two groups – those with a considerable number of gated communities and those with very few or none – and they are compared on fifteen indicators. The results indicate that beyond the visible manifestation of gates and walls, there are deeper institutional driving forces.
Kiemelt kutatások
Kiemelt Corvinák
Két ipari forradalom és döntéseink szabadsága
„Jönnek a robotok, hogy ellopják a munkámat” - egy narratíva haláláról
Johanyák Csaba
műhelytag, https://cntf.mcc.hu/person/csaba-johanyak
What role do accelerators play in the growth of startups? Local versus global venture capital: where do scaleups get their funding from?
Lázár Viktor
diákkutató, https://cntf.mcc.hu/person/viktor-lazar
Make an impact or chase profits? Characteristics of ESG and profit-oriented incubators and accelerators
Ujvárosi Máté
diákkutató, https://cntf.mcc.hu/person/mate-ujvarosi
The impact of large companies investing in R&D on European startup cities
Ilonczai Dávid
diákkutató, https://cntf.mcc.hu/person/david-ilonczai
The impact of Covid-19 on the CEE startup ecosystem. What are the main factors that build up the basics of a resilient environment?
Darcsi Barbara
diák
The role of universities in creating a successful startup ecosystem
Péter Veronika
diák
The role of universities in creating a successful startup ecosystem