EU budget for Hungary R+D to double to EUR 2.1 bn, says govt official
(MTI) – Hungary will have 2.1 billion euros available for research and development projects in EU funding under the 2014-2020 financial framework, a senior Hungarian government official said on Friday.
It is twice the amount that was allocated for Hungary for R+D in cohesion funding during the previous seven-year period, Zoltan Csefalvay, chief negotiator for the Hungary-EU Partnership Agreement, said at a conference of economists in Nyiregyhaza in eastern Hungary.
Hungary will have the option to receive non-refundable EU funding to spend on research institutes and the development of international research infrastructure and “centres of excellence,” he said.
Funding will be available under a separate scheme for R+D projects carried out within the framework of cooperation between a university and a company, he said.
Csefalvay said that Hungary’s R+D spending increased from 1.17 percent of GDP in 2010 to 1.44 percent by 2013, and the aim was for it to reach 1.8 percent by 2018.
The European Commission announced on August 29 that it adopted the Partnership Agreement with Hungary on the strategy for using EU funding.
The agreement sets down “the strategy for the optimal use of European Structural and Investment Funds throughout the country”, paving the way for investing 21.9 billion euros in Cohesion Policy funding over 2014-2020, the EC said.
The agreement is expected to be formally signed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and outgoing EC president Jose Manuel Barroso in Budapest on September 11.
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters
