Practical experience
Landing a job takes more than talent, it takes action. Demola gives you the chance to tackle real challenges, collaborate with others, and build proof of what you can do even when things are uncertain. By actively participating in a Demola project, you can turn your skills into competencies and concrete experience.
Partnered with Innovative Companies
Our platform, created together with leading companies and professors, connects you to real-world innovation projects. You’ll work as part of a team on an innovation and development project, guided by Demola’s expert facilitators. Participating in a project will give you practical experience and the confidence to deal with complexity in any job.
At Demola, innovation projects are built around real-world project topics co-designed with companies and public-sector organisations. If selected, you'll join an innovation team working to develop meaningful solutions that respond to validated needs.
Our projects tackle complex, relevant problems grounded in industry and societal needs. You'll work in a team to design and demo solutions, benefiting from the insights and findings of previous Demola projects. Most Demola projects last around two months, but the exact duration depends on the programme they are part of.
Each team benefits from expert guidance through coaching sessions and facilitated community events. Demola's facilitators bring years of experience in innovation and adapt their support to match your ambition and commitment. You are expected to take an active role, both individually and as a team.
You'll co-create with other teams and Demola's experts, and validate and test your solutions with real stakeholders to continuously refine your approach. High-performing teams gain access to a network of professionals from Demola's industry partners for further input and exposure.
You'll build in-demand, career-ready skills in creative problem-solving, AI-assisted innovation, project management, international collaboration, and resilience - all while working in an environment that mirrors real innovation practices.
Your team owns the outcomes created during the project. Use them in job interviews, your portfolio, a Master's thesis, or even as the foundation of a startup. In some cases, your work may also earn you academic credit (ECTS) if you are a student.
The impact
Ready to turn your skills into competence? Our claims are backed by feedback from our community of participants and alumni.
Strongly agree (49.3%)
Agree (43.6%)
Neither agree or disagree (5.3%)
Disagree (1.3%)
Strongly disagree (0.5%)
2 272 people took part in the survey.
New skills
65.6%
Valuable work experience
63.9%
New friends
51.5%
Startup ideas
34.4%
International teamwork experience
30.5%
Industry contacts
23.9%
Self-esteem
23.9%
New motivation to study
22.8%
Confidence in career choices
20.3%
Researcher contacts
17.6%
Better position in the labor market
13.5%
Other
1.5%
Based on Q4/2022 survey
If you’re currently studying at or near one of our Demola locations or partner universities, you’re welcome to join a Demola project.
In our partner cities, the projects are also open to graduates and professionals who are exploring new career paths or interested in co-creating and launching startups in the future.
Many alumni have participated in more than one Demola project – the current record is seven. For active alumni, we facilitate further development in their academic studies or future careers:
Explore or fine-tune your Master’s thesis topic through a Demola project and find a potential industry collaborator for your Master’s thesis after the project.
Develop an expert profile that highlights your project contributions, as well as innovation and interpersonal skills. Top-performing participants will have their expert profiles shared and recommended within Demola’s partner network, verifying their skills and proactive mindset.
Build on your project results, connect with like-minded teammates, and use your entrepreneurial mindset to lay the groundwork for a startup.
Get onboarded with Demola
Create a Demola profile.
Browse project in your location and apply to those that interest you.
If you get selected, confirm your seat and start the teamwork.
Apply to one or more projects today!
Budapest
Human Beings in the Modern World
Urban traffic systems are increasingly influenced not only by infrastructure constraints but by individual decision-making under dynamic conditions (pricing, congestion, incentives, information). While dynamic pricing is widely discussed as a tool for congestion management, its real impact depends on how individuals actually respond to changing conditions.Recent advances in agent-based modeling and AI-driven simulation suggest that complex system-level outcomes can emerge from the interaction of many individual decisions. Concepts such as swarm-based predictive systems (e.g., the so-called MiroFish approach) highlight the potential of modeling decentralized behavior to understand better and influence large-scale dynamics.This project builds on these ideas in a technology-agnostic and application-driven way, focusing specifically on urban mobility.To what extent can dynamic pricing actively reshape traveler behavior—and can it be used as a controllable lever to optimize urban traffic systems in real time?The project develops a behavior-driven simulation framework that captures the interaction between pricing signals and traveler decisions. It models how different pricing strategies influence individual choices and how these decisions collectively shape congestion, efficiency, and system stability at the city scale.The outcome includes a simulation prototype, scenario-based insights, and a strategic framework that can support real-world implementation of adaptive mobility pricing solutions.
Apply by 19 Apr
Budapest
Healing the Planet
The shift toward sustainable mobility has brought a range of powertrain technologies — ICE, hybrid, BEV, FCEV, CNG, and synthetic fuels — yet a comprehensive, system-level understanding of their total lifecycle energy efficiency remains fragmented. Decision-makers and policymakers need a transparent, comparable framework covering the full chain from energy production to end-use.Efficiency and environmental impact are region-specific. The same technology can perform very differently depending on:National energy mix (renewables vs fossil-based electricity)Fuel production pathwaysInfrastructure maturityIndustrial and supply chain characteristicsThere is no universally optimal solution — but stakeholders currently lack the tools to assess these regional differences clearly.The team is expected to build a quantitative, engineering-focused model that analyzes the full energy conversion chain of different powertrains — from source to wheel (source → processing → storage → conversion → drivetrain → wheel) — under region-specific conditions. Special emphasis should be placed on energy storage technologies (batteries, hydrogen, fuel systems) as key drivers of system efficiency and losses. The project should identify efficiency bottlenecks at each stage, evaluate real-world performance across key use cases, and integrate local factors such as energy mix and infrastructure. The outcomes can include solutions and frameworks that help stakeholders choose and optimize the right powertrain technology for their specific region.
Apply by 19 Apr
Budapest
Human Beings in the Modern World
Addiction is present in every large organization — nicotine, alcohol, social media, pornography, gambling — draining productivity through absenteeism, turnover, and lost performance. Most HR directors sense this. What they lack is two things that would make action possible: a number that justifies intervention, and a language that makes it safe to start the conversation. Without a quantified cost, there is no business case. Without a communication framework, silence holds — because nobody knows how to raise the topic without causing harm or stigma. Organizations are stuck not from indifference, but from the absence of the right tools.What cost categories should a comprehensive addiction cost model cover across major addiction types, and what Hungarian and EU-level data can make it defensible enough to build a real business case from? How should an ROI calculator be designed so that HR directors and university wellness offices can actually use it to unlock budget and commitment? And once the case is made — what does effective internal communication about addiction look like, what approaches backfire, and what would a ready-to-use organizational playbook need to contain to take a manager from awareness to action?In this project we are looking to develop a tool that helps HR and wellness offices calculate ROI, or solutions around improving internal communication on addiction.
Apply by 19 Apr
Budapest
Value Creators of Tomorrow
Cashless, platform-driven commerce has dramatically lowered the barrier to running a micro-business — but banking infrastructure for these users has not kept up. Creators, freelancers, gig workers, and small-scale e-commerce sellers operate financially like businesses, yet they are poorly served by both consumer and corporate banking products. Their income is irregular, their financial needs are entangled with the platforms they work on, and traditional bank products were built for neither. Meanwhile, BigTech platforms in e-commerce, delivery, and the creator economy are already filling the vacuum — offering credit, BNPL, and revenue-based advances directly to micro-entrepreneurs, bypassing banks and capturing the primary financial relationship.What specific financial pain points do micro-entrepreneurs face that existing bank products fail to address — and where is BigTech already filling the gap? How could a bank design a product that combines personal and business finance in a way that fits irregular, platform-driven income flows? What would it take for a bank to remain the primary financial relationship for a creator or gig worker — and how can its regulated status and institutional trust become a competitive asset rather than a liability against faster-moving platform finance?In this project, we are looking for concepts that explore what a bank built for the one-person business could look like — one that meets micro-entrepreneurs where they already work.
Apply by 19 Apr
Budapest
Value Creators of Tomorrow
Retail banking customers have more choice and transparency than ever — yet satisfaction with banking services is not improving. Instead, digitally active consumers are growing fatigued by complexity: multiple apps, multi-step authentication, and the cognitive load of managing fragmented financial products. The gap is not in information or options. It is in action. Customers want financial outcomes — save more, pay less, switch better — without the effort of achieving them. AI agents now make it plausible for a bank to close that gap: acting on a customer's behalf before they even formulate a request.Which everyday financial decisions — savings allocation, subscription cancellation, loan refinancing — are customers most willing to delegate to an AI agent, and where do they draw the line on trust? How should proactive, agent-driven banking be designed to feel safe, transparent, and reversible rather than a loss of control? What data signals and permission models would make delegated financial action viable within EU regulatory frameworks?In this project we are looking for concepts that explore what a proactive banking experience could look and feel like — where the bank initiates beneficial actions on the customer's behalf rather than waiting to be asked.
Apply by 19 Apr
Budapest
Value Creators of Tomorrow
Banking is increasingly moving out of bank-owned apps and into the platforms where people and businesses actually spend their time — e-commerce tools, logistics dashboards, HR software, real estate portals. For SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs, financial services fragmented across multiple providers create constant context-switching: jumping between operational tools and separate banking apps just to handle payments, invoicing, credit, and cash flow. The most disruptive opportunity in financial services isn't a better bank app — it's making banking invisible inside the workflows where these users already operate.In which non-banking digital platforms do SMEs most urgently need financial capabilities embedded, and what would those capabilities actually look like in context? How can a bank design and deliver API-based financial services that feel native to a partner platform rather than bolted on? What value exchange model makes embedded banking work for platform operators, end-users, and the bank alike?In this project, we are looking for demos and prototypes that explore how banking functionality can be seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms serving SMEs and self-employed individuals.
Apply by 19 Apr
See how Demola has helped students around the world succeed in their careers and personal lives.
Master’s Degree student in Research and Innovation in Higher Education
Excellent
20/04/2023
“I enjoy connecting with other people who are not from the same area and field, and creating new things. I think Demola is a very great platform and, since I’m interested in education, I think this is a great idea to help students and other people to learn in a different way and to be closer to the work life.”
Master’s Student in Public and Global Health
Excellent
20/04/2023
“I joined Demola for the third time already, since I enjoy how my personal skills are developing here and I love the feeling of freedom of thoughts, to be able to think, feel and express anything.”
Master’s Student in Sustainable Digitalisation
Excellent
20/04/2023
“I wanted more experience in interdisciplinary project work and real-life, tangible development of solutions with external stakeholders. I also wanted to practice what the design process is like in the real world and how to present novel ideas in an attractive, business- oriented way. And Demola delivered!”
Master’s Degree Student in Engineering and Technology
Excellent
10/06/2022
“In Demola we focused on creating solutions that can and should be applicable and should happen in real life, concrete and implementable solutions that can have an impact. Those type of solutions that go way beyond than just making a new website or a nice social media page.”
Master of Business
Excellent
17/04/2023
“If you have successfully completed the Demola project, it is proof of your passion and that your mindset is inevitably customer-oriented. Demola is definitely an experience I can recommend to all students.”
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