The National Science Policy Council (NKFI) has approved the programme of Hungary’s Research Development and Innovation Fund for 2024, János Csák said in a video posted on Facebook.

“We are going to spend 147 billion forints (EUR 383m) on those [three] areas, 60 billion more than in the previous year,” the minister said.

Allocations will be tailored to support big companies and SMEs, spin-off companies promoting innovations and patents developed at universities, as well as startups developing new, innovative solutions, said Csák.

The fund will also provide support to researchers in research institutes and universities, he said, noting the establishment of the Research Excellence Council led by Hungarian Nobel laureate Ferenc Krausz.

Financing will be also provided to support two new university programmes which include the Pannonia Programme for international student and teacher exchanges and the HU-rizont Programme for promoting international research cooperation, Csák said.

Innovation Minister Visits CERN, IOB in Switzerland

Heading a delegation, Innovation Minister János Csák paid a two-day visit to Switzerland and held talks in the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, in Geneva and at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology (IOB) in Basel, he told MTI.

He said the main aim of his visit was to further promote Hungary’s higher education, scientific research and innovation sectors on the international scene.

The minister noted that at his visit to CERN on Tuesday he met French Nobel laureate laser scientist Gérard Mourou and Jean-Pierre Revol, president of the scientific committee at nuclear energy developer Transmutex.

Csák said research was being carried out in Hungary in close cooperation between the Extreme Light Infrastructure ELI National Laboratory and University of Szeged.

“These are researches, inspired also by Mourou that are closely related to the issue of future energy,” he said.

“The ELI centre in Szeged has achieved outstanding results in producing neutrons. There is now a technology at hand developed by our scientists and researchers which the Swiss partners are very interested in.”

Csák on Tuesday evening met Hungarian scientists and company leaders at the Hungarian embassy in Bern whom the minister said were glad to share their experiences gained in Switzerland with colleagues in Hungary.

Wednesday’s programme included a visit in Basel at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology (IOB) which has renowned Hungarian neurobiologist Botond Roska as its founding director.

Roska received in 2020 the prestigious Körber European Science Prize for his achievements in vision restoration gene therapy research.

MTI Photo
 

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