Hungarian Academy of Sciences reaches agreement with ministry

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and the innovation and technology ministry (ITM) have reached a detailed agreement on the legal and financial foundations for the continued uninterrupted operation of the Academy’s network of research institutions, MTA said on Sunday.

The agreement was the product of talks between a working group of the Academy’s experts and experts from the ministry on September 12, MTA said.

The sides agreed that the conditions for financing the research institutions are in accordance with the budget act and the legal and administrative conditions for the implementation of the law will be established.

The budget of the Academy and its institutions for next year will be planned in the same way as in previous years, in a manner and with deadlines that are in line with regulations.

Financing for the institutions next year will be finalised in an agreement.

MTA’s currently active tenders for projects within the academy may continue with MTA’s support without interruption, and in accordance with the original decisions on the funding and the original funding periods. The ITM will ensure for MTA the necessary fiscal allocation for this.

There will also be an opportunity for the institutional incorporation of support for the research groups that operate at the Academy’s research bases in the framework of the Momentum Programme, in accordance with MTA rules applicable at present.

MTA’s tenders for university research called in June 2018 for funding in the period from July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2024 may be continued with the planned funding allocation.

After the agreement was reached, the ministry’s experts announced the restructuring of the innovation system. It is the ministry’s position that a review and assessment of institutions active in basic and applied research be conducted before the new system is introduced. The reviews and assessments will be carried out by the ministry for institutions within its own scope, and by the Academy for institutions that belong to its own network.

Decisions on the structures of institutions will not be taken before the reviews take place, MTA said.

The ministry wishes to continue talks on the timeframe and method for undertaking the reviews, it added.

As we wrote before, the opposition Jobbik party has called for a special session of parliament’s education committee to discuss the transfer of a portion funds for the research institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to the innovation and technology ministry in the 2019 draft budget. Read more HERE.

Also, we wrote before, the European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) opened a business incubation centre, ESA BIC Hungary, in Budapest on Monday, read more HERE.

Photo: Daily News Hungary- Alpár Kató

Source: MTI