Panel III of think.BDPST 2016 started with a keynote speech delivered by Robert-Jan Smits, Director General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. Then, moderator Dr József Pálinkás, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary, invited panellists Éva Kondorosi, research professor at the Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Milena Vicenova from the International Cooperation Unit of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, Mateusz Gaczyński, Deputy Director of the Department for Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, Markus Dettenhofer, Executive Director of the Central European Institute of Technology, and Michael Kram, Director at Robert Bosch Ltd. Hungary, to discuss possible ways of building scientific and technological excellence in the Visegrad region.