Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary was among ten European countries that improved on the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) rankings, based on around 80 indicators, József Bódis, the ministry of innovation and technology’s (ITM) state secretary for higher education, innovation and vocational training said in a statement.

Switzerland, Sweden, the US, UK and South Korea topped the list, while Hungary is in 34th place overall and 22nd among 39 European countries, ahead of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Slovakia. In terms of knowledge creation and technological results, Hungary was in 20th place overall.

Bodis said Hungarian universities were also advancing in various higher education rankings and, more broadly, the WIPO result indicated that Hungarian innovation policy was on the right track.

The government, he said, was steadily increasing RDI spending, which exceeds 700 billion forints (EUR 2bn), over twice as much as in 2010. 

This year, government support totals 182 billion forints for RDI tenders, he said.