In the EU development period 2014-2020, Hungary will spend HUF 110bn on improving research and development infrastructure, through -- for example -- the purchasing of special equipment, Minister of State Zoltán Cséfalvay said at a press conference organized to present the expansion of NEKIFUT project.
The Hungarian Research Infrastructure Survey and Roadmap (NEKIFUT) project was launched in 2008 to create a database of Hungary’s R&D infrastructure.
As Zoltán Cséfalvay stressed, in 2012 the country spent the equivalent of 1.29 percent of GDP on R&D&I, the highest figure in twenty years. The Minister of State pointed out that in 2014-2020 Hungary will be in the position to disburse HUF 7480bn from the structural and cohesion funds of the European Union and domestic own funds of which more than 10 percent, or some HUF 767bn, is planned to be devoted to projects related to R&D&I. The pivotal scheme for financing will be the Economic Development and Innovation Operative Programme with HUF 678bn set aside for the aforementioned objective, of which the larger part will be composed of non-refundable grants and the smaller one of refundable grants.
The other key resource will stem from the EUR 70bn fund of the Horizon 2020 Programme, which is provided by Brussels and will be directly available through EU tenders. Of this, according to projections, Hungarian tenderers may gain some EUR 350 million, the Minister of State stated. Some HUF 145bn, out of GINOP’s total of HUF 678bn earmarked for R&D&I, will be spent on rewarding R&D excellence and international cooperation, while within the latter chapter some HUF 110bn is planned to be allocated for R&D infrastructure, Zoltán Cséfalvay said.
As he was presenting the major chapters within the HUF 110bn fund the Minister of State pointed out that HUF 29bn is still outstanding of the ELI Programme, while HUF 15bn is allocated for assisting the joining of large European projects, HUF 15bn for developing the infrastructure of research projects of strategic importance and HUF 48bn for the general development of research infrastructure.
The amount of HUF 110bn will enable some researchers in Hungary to achieve breakthroughs and help high added value production come to the foreground, Zoltán Cséfalvay emphasised.
(Ministry for National Economy)
