Hungary proud on scientists, increased R+D sector funding significantly

Hungary has created a model showing its commitment to research and development, and raised funding for the R+D sector threefold in the past decade, the minister of culture and innovation said on Saturday, at the closing event of the World Science Forum.

“The number of research and development professionals in Hungary has doubled since 2010, that of students in graduate studies doubled in five years, and some 30 percent of them are international students,” Balázs Hanká said at the event held in Parliament.

The government is supporting the sector by creating a company-friendly environment with the lowest corporate tax, 9 percent, in the EU, and tax cuts for R and D, investment and for employment, he said. Further, it set up a National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, and is supporting joint R and D programmes. “We support the growth of science campuses and technology transfer companies to bolster innovation.”

Balázs Hankó. Photo: MTI

The government is focusing on cutting-edge sectors such as digitalisation, the green transition, healthy lifestyle and security, he said. Noting the Nobel Prizes awarded to biochemist Katalin Kariko and physicist Ferenc Krausz, Hankó said Hungary was proud of its scientists. “I am convinced that Hungary is one of the best places on earth to organise scientific conferences as well as to conduct scientific research.”

The conference was attended by Azzedine El Midaoui, Morocco’s minister of higher education, research and innovation, Patricia Gruber, science and technology adviser to the US Secretary of State, Lidia Brito, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, and Sudip Parikh, the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), among others.

Later on Saturday, Tamás Freund, the head of the organiser Hungarian Academy of Sciences, announced that the next World Science Forum will be organised by Indonesia in 2026.

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