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The Anthropocene Case Competition, organized jointly by the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) and the Bonafarm Group, has come to a close. Over the course of three days, international and Hungarian student teams competed to determine who could best develop solutions to real-world agri-food industry and sustainability challenges. At the final event held in the Aula of MATE, Zoltán Kovács, Vice-Rector for Science and International Affairs at MATE, and István Barok, Strategic Business Development Director of the Bonafarm Group, shared their ceremonial remarks with the audience.

The unique student case competition took place at MATE’s Szent István Campus between May 13–15, 2026. A total of 13 teams from 11 countries — including one team from MATE — competed for victory, valuable prizes, and professional recognition.

In his opening speech at the final, Vice-Rector Zoltán Kovács emphasized that: “Over the past few days, this campus has become much more than the venue of a case competition. It has transformed into a vibrant innovation hub where talented young people from all around the world gathered to seek answers to one of the most urgent questions of our time: how can we build more sustainable, innovative, and responsible agri-food systems for the future? Although this is the first MATE–Bonafarm case study competition, it has already become a true international milestone. The 85 teams applying from 26 countries created an exceptionally strong field of competitors. The quality of the submissions was so outstanding that selecting the final 13 teams who earned their place here in the Gödöllő final was an extremely difficult task.”​​​​​

In his ceremonial address, István Barok highlighted the professional significance of the competition and the inspiring work of the young talents: “It is a true honor for our corporate group to have provided a real business challenge for a competition in which so many outstanding young people have worked over the recent period. I can honestly say it has been incredibly inspiring to witness all of this. It was fascinating to observe how talented young people from different parts of the world are addressing the very same challenges that we, as a major food industry company, face on a daily basis. In agriculture and food production, sustainability is not only about what consumers see on supermarket shelves. It is equally about everything happening behind the scenes — and that is exactly what makes this industry truly exciting. Real innovation is not born under perfect circumstances, but when smart people find solutions to difficult, complex, and often messy real-world problems.”​​​​​​

On the third day of the competition, during the superfinal, the four best teams presented their projects, which were evaluated by a professional jury. The jury included Zoltán Kovács, Vice-Rector of MATE; István Barok, Strategic Business Development Director of the Bonafarm Group; Róbert Vigh, Director of the By-Products Division of the Bonafarm Group; Tamás Éder, Corporate Relations and Communications Director of the Bonafarm Group; Gergely Pókos, Member of the Supervisory Board of OTP Mortgage Bank; and Péter Kollár, Associate Professor and Deputy Director for Education at MATE’s Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics.

Based on the jury’s decision, the Catapult Consulting team from Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania) received a special award. Third place went to EcoNomads KZ from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakhstan), while Athena’s from Taylor’s University (Malaysia) won the silver medal. The overall winner of the competition was the BioResources & Technology (BRT) team from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic).

The aim of the competition was to connect university knowledge with industry needs, promote international collaboration, and encourage the development of practical and sustainable innovations for the future of the agri-food industry.

We sincerely congratulate all award winners!​​​​​​