- How did you become known as the "pope of diesel"?

- The first time they called me this was at a conference, given that I had worked with everything from boats to lorries through to cars. I carried out lots of scientific work which was also noted in professional literature. I wouldn't have become famous at BMW and I would never have become a leading developer there if my name had not already been known in the profession.

- As a former top man at the BMW Diesel Development Center what does innovation mean to you?

- In Hungary people call everything innovation which represents something new or a kind of renewal. What you are writing about in this magazine is not innovation either since innovation also means a measure of success in the market. An idea and a new invention is just an invention, which is the first step in innovation. Long ago a single invention launched an entire branch of industry on the road to development but these days, one person cannot fully realise an idea. Two types of people have developed out of this. A flash of inspiration can lead an inventor to a discovery. This doesn't mean that he has the material means to implement his idea. It is rather the innovators who implement ideas as a team.

- So you are an innovator?

- I worked in the field of diesel motors for forty years and it was my job to decide which ideas were suitable for implementation. There are thousands of ideas in every factory and the main task is to filter out what is worth implementing. I couldn't have developed engines without a team.

- Yet, it was you who was awarded a prize for innovation. 

- I was the first Hungarian to receive the Ernst-Blickle Innovation Award in 1995 and I regard this as the greatest achievement of my life. They didn't give me this because I developed something, but rather because with electronic diesel control we opened the door to the development of modern diesel engines before other manufacturers.    

- Is this recognised in Hungary?

- Not really. In this respect jealousy and mediocrity are typical of Hungarian society. As long as this doesn't change the country won't make any headway. There is no climate of innovation in Hungary.   

- What do you mean by that?

- An idea should not be snuffed out, and during the innovation process, everybody has to be conversant with their own role. Inventors in Hungary have their own federation and there is a state institute for innovation. In Germany inventions are assessed by specialist lawyers and engineers in private companies that try to launch them onto the market.  

- Does innovation link up with the economy in this respect?

- The usefulness of the ideas that big companies receive by the thousands have to be compared and only the most promising should be implemented. Hungary can choose if it wants to invest money in constructing motorways or in education. In Germany they have recognised the deteriorating PISA results and opted for huge amounts to be invested in education, and this enabled them to fight their way back into the first rank. They realised that if the country loses its expert knowledge, it will have no future. Hungary is facing the same problem now.  

- So should we develop our education instead of building motorways?

- There is unemployment in many fields of expertise in Hungary, while at the same time the country will eventually reach the point where nobody knows how to use a screwdriver. The only thing they don't teach at technical universities is how to innovate. The way to resolve such problems would be to teach students how to handle contradictory requirements.  

- Would all of this be enough for small- and medium-sized companies to develop?

- Unsuccessful policies were elaborated in Hungary after the change in the system. Industrial parks were built that were only good for attracting cheap hired labour to the country. The more complicated the expertise required to carry out work in a factory is, the more value will be added to a given product and the company will enjoy all the more prestige. The only thing that can lead to a prosperous society is an economy based on innovation and on the high level integration[B1]  of products.    

- Does that mean we should get rid of the tyre factories and embrace the automobile industry?

- It's more a case of replacing industrial parks with clusters. Studies in Germany have already demonstrated that the industrial parks established in the East German regions did little to reduce unemployment. Austria took a different path. They set up a committee before their EU accession, to which I was delegated by BMW. We had to come up with a way of creating a competitive Austrian industry. In clusters multinationals, education and the supplier SMS's can come together in one centre. This enables them to carry out the whole process of development together and small companies can get access to technology with which they are able to cater to the multinationals and thus, they can secure a market for themselves.

- How can potential partners be brought together? 

- The big companies that established themselves in Austria received support in exchange for their help in bringing SMS's up to a competitive technological level. GDP per capita in Austria has now overtaken that in Germany and it is one of the ten wealthiest countries in the world. In contrast, the prevailing view in Hungary is that capital follows a cheap work force and wherever motorways are being constructed.   

- I assume that Audi would like to expand the factory in Győr partly because of the cheap labour there.

- I don't believe so since these days, one of the most expensive factors in automobile production is the construction of factories. In a country where the law allows several shifts to be worked, a smaller factory can be built for the same production capacity.

- A Chinese worker can do the same job and even cheaper.

- China's attraction lies in its huge market and that's why car factories go there. However, in Hungary's case it would be important to attract development here in addition to manufacturing.

- This would mean job losses in Germany.

- This is not really the case. Two thirds of European industrial investment is carried out in Germany despite having the highest salaries. It is important for multinationals to establish themselves near to research centres and to work in cooperation with them. Germany is compelled to continually innovate in order to be able to pay high wages and to create new workplaces. They only export outdated technologies. Innovation is born out of cooperation in clusters and multinationals must be encouraged to diffuse competitive technologies in Hungary. That is why development must be brought here and partner companies need to be provided with technology. It's not enough to simply give money to entrepreneurs within the framework of the Széchenyi plan - technology transfer is also needed, which is something only the multinationals can provide. Hungarian multinationals should be built up in addition and processing must not be placed into the hands of foreigners since that has the greatest added value.    

- Coming back to your work in automobile manufacturing, how do you see the future for cars?

- I think the fashionable hybrid cars of today are a dead end. The sun is also setting on internal combustion engines because of the dwindling supply of fossil fuels and the increasingly severe emission requirements that make new constructions more and more expensive. Hydrogen-powered engines are the future; however, first we need to invent a way of cheaply producing hydrogen in large quantities. As a temporary measure, a simple duel-cylinder engine will be fitted into cars, the only purpose of which will be to produce electricity and the electric motor will drive the wheels. In any case change will come; if the price of petrol reaches a certain level, the economy might grind to a halt.

FERENC ANISITS - Born in Szolnok on 23 December 1938. At the beginning of 1957 he made an illegal attempt to cross the border. He graduated from the Technical University of Budapest in 1962 but was harassed by the police because of his political activities in the past. After this he left the country and worked for MAN in Mannheim and later at the Swiss company Adolph Saurer. After a short time working for MWM in Mannheim he became the head of BMW's diesel development and research centre. His engines received several professional awards and BMW was the first to win with a diesel engine in a 24-hour race. Since 1999 he has been actively retired.