Andrea Kozma

Between 2016 an 2022 CEU InnovationsLab has been the Business incubator of the Central European University which helped teams to commercialize an innovative solution or help build successfull social enterprises.

As a Director of the CEU iLab Kozma created a method to generate, screen, co-develop projects for incubation. She designed and developed startup entrepreneurship curriculum jointly with various CEU Departments - including for example LLM Clinic with Legal Studies – as well as coaching methods and a mentor network to support the incubation program.  She designed and built the program from its launch and CEU iLab became the best incubation program in 2017 in Hungary within 18 months of its operation.  iLab has so far incubated more than 70 projects, it currently incubates 25 teams with projects from various industries including FinTech, EduTech, Marketing, Food, Health and others. iLab grows in size year on year, iLab teams generated more than EUR 8.5 million funding for their projects, and many of the projects are leading examples within their respective industries.  iLab teams regularly feature in Hungarian and international business and industry media, including Forbes Hungary and US. 

Andrea has worked in various senior legal and business positions in global companies in the CEE regions and the UK such as VP Legal and Business Affairs at  HBO Europe,  General Counsel at Central European Media Entreprises (a NASDAQ quoted public company operating televison channels in CEE), Squires,Sanders & Dempsey a global legal firm and others.  She is an MBA and an LLM alumna of CEU. Kozma is currently pursuing her PhD in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research area is early stage venture development.

Prior to joining CEU in 2016 Dr. Kozma worked as a corporate and media lawyer at global law firms, as well as General counsel at various global media companies in Hungary and in London, UK. Andrea was General Counsel of Central European Media Entreprises during the CME vs Czech Republic Bilateral Investment Treaty Arbitration in 2003, which CME won. The case remains a leading case in Bilateral Investment Treaty Arbitration literature. Andrea was Legal Director of Irisz TV and lead litigator for Irisz in the Irisz vs ORTT, RTL Klub litigation. Irisz won the landmark case which ORTT failed to execute.

"When I did my LLM in International Business Law at CEU in the late 1990s, Hungary and the region were in the midst of post-communist economic and social transition. A decade later, when I did my MBA at CEU, the world was in the midst of a global financial crisis. Uncertainty is part of our normal daily life, we need to develop skills that help us manage and excell in highly uncertain environments.  At the CEU InnovationsLab, we are open to ideas and talent. We are constantly experimenting. We work on projects that are trying to find answers to some of the most pressing global issues. Our student, alumni, staff and faculty teams are building solutions that put artificial intelligence to good use, support sustainable and healthy food production, or experiment with new educational or financial technology platforms.