CENTRAL EUROPEAN RESEARCH CENTER KORLATOLT FELELOSSEGU TARSASAG

Their core work

CERC is a Budapest-based technology SME focused on a single, highly specific product: a digitally controlled jet printing system for Braille text and tactile graphics. Unlike traditional Braille embossers that mechanically punch dots, their system uses a powder-dispensing and thermal fixation approach to print raised Braille and tactile images on demand. The company successfully took this technology through the full EU SME Instrument pipeline — from Phase 1 feasibility validation (2015) to Phase 2 commercial development (2016–2018). Their work sits at the intersection of precision manufacturing, assistive technology, and equal-access publishing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CERC's H2020 activity covers a single product across two successive funding phases, so their evolution is one of depth rather than breadth. In 2015 (Phase 1), the focus was on proving feasibility — the project carried no keywords, consistent with an early-stage concept validation. By 2016–2018 (Phase 2), the work crystallized into concrete engineering: powder dispensing, thermal fixation, and tactile image reproduction. There is no evidence of diversification beyond this product line within the H2020 period.

CERC appears to be a product-focused SME that built one technology and took it to market via the SME Instrument; future collaboration opportunities likely depend on whether they are expanding the BrailleJet platform into new materials, formats, or accessibility use cases.

How they like to work

CERC has acted as coordinator on all their H2020 projects — never as a participant in someone else's consortium. Their network is extremely small: just two unique partners, all within Hungary. This pattern suggests a company that develops and protects its own intellectual property rather than joining multi-partner research consortia. Working with them likely means engaging them as a technology provider or specialist, not as a collaborative research partner in a broad project.

CERC's H2020 network is minimal — two consortium partners, all based in Hungary. There is no evidence of cross-border collaboration, which is consistent with a product-development SME that keeps its supply chain and development team domestic.

What sets them apart

CERC occupies an unusually narrow but defensible niche: jet-based Braille printing using powder and thermal fixation, as opposed to conventional mechanical embossing. Successfully completing both phases of the EU SME Instrument for the same product indicates the technology passed independent technical and market validation reviews. For a consortium needing an accessible-format production or assistive-printing specialist from Central Europe, CERC has no obvious equivalent in the H2020 database based on this keyword set.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BrailleJet
  The Phase 2 project (€524,825, 2016–2018) is notable as a rare example of an SME taking a single assistive-printing technology through the complete SME Instrument pipeline, from concept to funded commercial development.
• BrailleJet
  The Phase 1 project (€50,000, 2015) validated market and technical feasibility for digitally controlled Braille jet printing — a prerequisite that unlocked the larger Phase 2 grant.