Ability, pride and creativity of our compatriots are for Hungary the fundament of progress and the only spring-board into the future.
(Count István Széchenyi 1842)

Fields of activity:

As a significant professional body and learned society in the Hungarian IT community, the John von Neumann Computer Society (NJSZT) is dedicated to preserving values that can be included in today’s knowledge-based society as well as to setting new directions that meet the requirements of the age and to actively forming the IS world of the future. The primal activities of our Society are IT support, ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) Hungary, Hungarian Smart Card Forum, Organization of International and National Conferences.

John von Neumann Computer Society
Neumann János Számítógép-tudományi Társaság

Neumann János was born in 1903 in Budapest, he received his secondary education in the capital of Hungary. In 1925 he obtained his degree in chemistry from Zurich University and in 1926 graduated at Budapest University as a mathematician. By 1930, when he arrived at Princeton University (USA) he was already recognized as one of the outstanding mathematicians of this century. From then on he called himself John von Neumann. Participating in the design work on ENIAC he made essential contributions to the theory and architecture of computers. John von Neumann died in 1957 in Washington.

Founded: 1968
Membership: 2300 individual members, 100 corporate members (Legal Entity Membership Agreement for download)

Aims and goals

• Studying computer technology
• Informing computer specialists about the development of theory, about useful practical results and experiences made by users.
• Disseminating practical applications and results, helping to solve current problems
• Spreading the culture of computing, providing regular further education for computer professionals
• Pronouncing the views and representing the professional interests of the computer community

Scope of activities of the Society

Our Society is a scientific organisation in the first place but we consider as a very important task of us of playing a leading role the nation-wide dissemination of “computer literacy”. Our Society is member of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Foundation to disseminate ECDL in Hungary. Our Society coordinates the ECDL activity all over Hungary.

John von Neumann Computer Society supports the activities of leading personalities and companies of the industry by staging conferences and running workshops as well as by virtue of regular events of its technical working units aiming at promoting the exchange of experience and information among computer professionals.
It also belongs to our tasks to organize company presentations and to coordinate joint events abroad for them.
We put our support behind new ideas in informatics and provide the necessary institutional framework for them to materialize. It was through the initiative taken by our Society that the first Copyright Act, protecting also the authors of software was passed in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. We initiated setting up a law on data base security. Furthermore, our society has compiled a Code of Ethics binding on all our members.
Of special importance to our Society are young people's education. To this end we have set up special standing committees. Many times over, we have acted as initiators and organisers of nation wide contests in programming and we prepare the Hungarian team participating in the International Olympiads in Informatics.

The governing Board of the Society consists of the President, five Vice-Presidents, Supervisory Board, the Managing Director, the Past-President and the Honorary Presidents.
Daily business of the Society is run by the Managing Director
A number of standing committees have been established to aid the decision-making of the Board:

• Ethics Committee: IFIP Committee
• Prizes and Award Committee: Committee for Information Policy
• Committee for National Contests: Committee for Software Policy
• Education Committee: ECDL Committee

Regional branches of the Society operate in 19 counties and another five major townships. In the technical working units experiences and results are exchanged.
Based on common hardware and software platforms used by them, User Groups have established themselves as forums to discuss experiences made in the application of such systems.

• The presidium of the Society consists of the president, 5 vice presidents, the managing director, members of the supervisory board, the previous president and honorary chairmen.
• The supreme forum of the Society is the annually convened meeting of representatives.
• The affairs of the Society are conducted by the secretariat headed by the managing director.
• The work of the presidium is supported by standing committees and professional communities.
• The Society has 14 regional organisations and 5 other regional organisations are active in the five major cities of Hungary.
• Most up-to-date experience and results are made public through various professional events.

Problems arising in connection with specific software and hardware systems are discussed in the framework of relevant professional programs, for example user groups are created for the application of special software and hardware systems, where users may exchange experience.

(National and International)

Being the most important Hungarian conference in informatics, the Neumann Congress is held tri-annually by the Society.

The last one: VIII. Neumann Congress, October 2003, Budapest

A number of other conferences with tradition are arranged periodically, e.g.:

• Computer Technology in Medical Sciences: from 1969 on
• CON (Austrian-Hungarian joint conference) from 1984 on
• Governmental and Municipal Information Systems '87, '91
• Networkshop from 1991 on
• LOGIC PROGRAMMING '93
• HISEC '93, '94, '95 '96
  · International Olympiad on Informatics '96
  · European Conference on Artificial Intelligence '96
• · HISEC '97
  · EuroLOGO '97
  - XV. IFIP World Computer Congress (Wien-Budapest, 31.Aug.-4.Sept. 1998)
• HUSITA5 Information Technology in the Human Services, 1998
• Central European Olimpiad in Informatics, (Zalaegerszeg, August, 2001.)
• XVII. International Congress for Medical Informatics 25-29 August 2002
• VIII. Neumann Congress and centenary celebration of John von Neumann’s birth, October 2003 - www.neumann-centenarium.hu

The Society represents Hungary in a number of international organisations of high prestige. It thus gains access to sources of precious professional information and its members, and can benefit from participating in international projects.

As regards bilateral ties, a sustained close cooperation with ÖCG has been pursued since 1984 including an annual joint conference.

Neumann Medal
This medal, bearing the name of our eponym, has been since 1976 awarded to a maximum of three persons annually who have rendered outstanding services in or for the Society or have otherwise gained distinction in the dissemination of computer culture.

Kalmár Prize
Awarded since 1976 the Kalmár Prize bearing the name of László Kalmár, the late Professor at the Science University of Szeged, generally recognized as the father of cybernetics research in this country. This prize is conferred on outstanding experts in practical aplications of computer sciences

Tarján Prize
Early on, the Society recognized that both basic and further education in informatics play a very important role in the development of science and economy.

John Kemény Prize
This prize is conferred on young scholars under 30 years of age for their professional works and publications. The prize was founded in 2000. (vagy: Year of foundation: 2000) John Kemény - professor of Darthmounth College (USA) - was one of the developer of the BASIC language, and was also a pioneer in inventing time-sharing systems.

Neumann plaquette and certificate
The Society awards the plaquette and certificate to those illustrious computer specialists from abroad who contribute to the development and foreign recognition of Hungarian computer science.

Presidium and leading officials of NJSZT

President:

Prof. Gábor Péceli
E-mail: peceli@mit.bme.hu

Vice Presidents:

Árpád Bedő
E-mail: sba@pilismedia.hu

Prof. Péter Hanák
E-mail: hanak@inf.bme.hu

Ferenc Tóth
E-mail: ferenc3.toth@audi.hu

Miklós Nagy
E-mail: nagym@niif.hu

Prof. Dániel Varró
E-mail: varro@mit.bme.hu

Managing Director:

István Alföldi
E-mail: istvan.alfoldi@njszt.hu

Prof. Miklós Herdon.
E-mail: herdon@agr.unideb.hu

Prof. Inzelt Péter
E-mail: inzelt@sztaki.hu

Prof. Lajos Száva.
E-mail: szava.lajos@t-online.hu

Prof. Péter Bakonyi
E-mail: pbakonyi@sztaki.hu

Prof. Bálint Dömölki
E-mail: domolki@nhit.hu

Miklós Havass
E-mail: havass@szamalk.hu

Prof. Dezső Sima
E-mail: sima@bmf.hu

Prof. Tibor Vámos
E-mail: vamos@lutra.sztaki.hu

Professional communities of the Society

• Professional working group for embedded and ambient systems
• E-learning Professional working group
• Professional working group for supporting disabled people
• Scientific and Educational Forum for Business Information Systems Professional working group
• Human Computer Interaction & Design For All Professional working group
• Hungarian Smart Card Forum Professional working group
• Forum for History of Informatics Professional working group
• Professional working group for popularization of research and education of informatics
  Junior Professional working group
• Professional working group for Image Analysis and Pattern Recognition
• Professional working group of Public Education
• LOGO Professional working group
• Hungarian Fuzzy Society Professional working group
• Artificial Intelligence Professional working group
• Micro Worlds Logo Professional working group
• Multimedia in education Professional working group
• Biomedical Professional working group
• Robotics Professional working group
• Professional working group for Computer Grafics and Geometry
• Software Quality Management Professional working group
• Professional working group to Improve Highly Talented Students
• Professional working group for developement of web applications