Miskolc was the guest of the first autumn BUM Business Breakfast.
On September 8, we launched the autumn BUM Business Breakfast series at the Művház Café. Our first guest was Miskolc, but the morning's topics went well beyond a single city: there were discussions about entrepreneurial communities, city marketing, local collaborations, and the autumn programs that offer new networking opportunities for businesses.
The breakfast was opened by Antal Attila, the managing director of BUM Nonprofit Kft., who presented the experiences and goals of the Living Downtowns program. The program started in Miskolc and Sopron this spring with focus group discussions, surveys, and location analysis. From the feedback of entrepreneurs, several familiar challenges emerged, including decreasing foot traffic, changing consumer habits, vacant storefronts, the necessity of parking, and strengthening entrepreneurial collaborations.
One important lesson from the Living City Centers program is that the problems are similar in many cities, but the working solutions must always be found based on local conditions and communities. Therefore, the program does not offer ready-made recipes but emphasizes strengthening local businesses, encouraging collaborations, joint marketing, and events, as well as development based on research. In the long term, the goal is to support the emergence of more competitive local businesses, livelier city centers, and stronger urban communities.
Miskolc: Increasing Results and Recognition
The host city was presented by Kassay Tamás, representing Visit Miskolc. In his presentation, he spoke about the recent tourism and city marketing results in Miskolc, as well as the recognitions the city has received. Miskolc's tourism offerings and certain attractions have recently received national attention multiple times; for example, in 2026, the Miskolc–Lillafüred narrow-gauge railway topped a national online survey's popularity list.
The experiences from Miskolc are important for us because one of the goals of the Living City Centers program is for participating cities not only to seek their own solutions but also to learn from each other's good practices and create new professional and entrepreneurial relationships between Budapest, Miskolc, and Sopron.
Collaborations on Bartók Béla Boulevard
Returning to Budapest, Nagy Richárd, representing Bartók Béla Boulevard, reported on the current developments in the cultural quarter and the collaborations aimed at further strengthening the relationship between the local community and urban space.
These included discussions about the cooperation with the Castle Command concerning the Citadel, as well as the jointly held Alive Autumn event with BKK this year. The festival, taking place on September 25–26, focuses on connection; in the "On the Way to Art" initiative, in collaboration with BKK, the intersection of urban mobility, sustainability, livable cities, and art is also highlighted.
Nagy Richárd also addressed a less visible, but crucial issue for the neighborhood's daily life: the potential solution to the homelessness situation affecting Gárdonyi Square and its surroundings in recent years. This also illustrates that the role of a functioning urban community extends far beyond event organization and communication.
City Marketing and Entrepreneurial Visibility
The next speaker of the breakfast was halász norbi, the founding leader of A Stáb communication and production workshop, who spoke about city marketing and his newly published book A város működik (The City Works). The book addresses city marketing, integrated communication, local media, identity, and community building based on several years of practical experience, and how these can be managed in a unified system.
Halász norbi also announced the mini training titled "Business Spotlight – Get Online Focus" on October 7, organized in cooperation with BUM. The central question of the program is simple: what does someone see of you when they search for your business today? The 2.5-hour practical session covers, among other things, online presence, Google profile, social media, reviews, visual communication, and online discoverability of businesses.
Three Days of City Connection
At the end of the professional program, Király Gabriella, the shopping street manager of BUM, called the attention of businesses to join the III. BUM Workshop Festival, taking place from November 6-8.
This year, the festival connects not only Budapest but also Miskolc and Sopron's workshops, shops, creative spaces, and community venues. The goal is for local businesses to showcase their values through their knowledge and experiences while reaching new audiences and building professional connections. In the workshops, visitors are not merely spectators: they can also try something, create, learn, and personally engage with the respective business or creator.
There is also an extended opportunity for registration: we have extended the application deadline for the III. BUM Workshop Festival to September 29.
The Business Breakfast concluded with a joint conversation and networking. The morning's topics, although approached from different angles, led back to the same conclusion: for a lively city center, good businesses or good programs alone are not enough. There is a need for entrepreneurial and urban communities capable of collaborating, exchanging experiences, and initiating joint efforts.
At the next autumn BUM Business Breakfast meeting, on October 20, Sopron will be our guest in the Margit quarter at Margaux Café.
