In 2018 the NRDI Office, the manager of the Fund, has announced various calls with a total budget of HUF 80 billion. The calls provide a balanced support to discovery research, business innovation and cooperation between businesses and research centres.

Project proposals for NRDI Fund calls must be submitted through the proposal administration and evaluation systems in line with the conditions set out in the given call for proposals and its integral part, the application guidelines. The call for proposals may also require applicants to submit certain documents and statements in hard copies.

In addition to observing the deadlines, proposals also must comply with all criteria set out in the call, the application guidelines and the relevant laws. Lack of compliance with some of these criteria (the so-called admission criteria) cannot be remedied upon a notice of deficiency. Proposals are checked against these basic criteria by the Office’s staff and are automatically rejected if found non-compliant. Typical admission criteria include:

1. the proposal must be submitted by the set deadline;
   
2. the requested amount of funding may not exceed a predefined maximum;
   
3. funding intensity may not exceed the maximum funding intensity set out in the call documentation;
   
4. the applicant is eligible as defined in the call documentation;
   
5. all other admission criteria set forth in Section 69(2) of Government Decree 368/2011 (XII. 31.) are met.
   

Once a proposal has been checked against the admission criteria, the applicant is notified of the results.

The first step of assessment is formal assessment where the admitted proposals are checked against the formal and eligibility requirements. If remediable deficiencies are found at this stage (list of non-remediable deficiencies is provided in the call), the applicants are called in a notice to remedy all identified deficiencies (supply missing information or documents, make modifications etc.) within the deadline specified for this purpose in the call documentation. Non-compliance with this deadline results in the rejection of the proposal. If the deficiencies are remedied in time, the applicant is notified of this fact.

A complex multi-stage assessment process based on a transparent system of criteria and the involvement of review panels and anonymous peer reviewers ensure the selection of the most promising projects. The specific type of selection procedure is determined by the given call; for detailed rules please refer to the rules of procedure of the NRDI Office.

The evaluation of the professional content of proposals verified against the formal requirements are carried out by review panels using a set of criteria known to applicants. The review panels are assisted by anonymous peer reviewers having professional experience in the relevant field of science, selected by the NRDI Office from a database of 15,000 experts based on their expertise. Each proposal is assessed by 2 to 5 reviewers (depending on the type of the call) independent from each other. The designated review panel assesses all proposals in the given assessment stage considering the anonymous reviewers’ reports on the individual proposals, but comparing them to the overall quality of proposals, to independently create its own assessment and ranking.

In the case of proposals with international relevance, a professional coordinator appointed by the Head of the Department of International Affairs of the NRDI Office attends the review panel meetings with right of consultation to present the international background of the specific projects (partnership, funding opportunities in the partner country).

After the review panel’s meeting a combined proposal and motion is prepared for the Disciplinary Councils in the case of research and development proposals, and for the Innovation Board in the case of innovation projects. These bodies make the final proposals to the President of the NRDI Office for adopting the funding decisions and for determining any additional criteria they consider reasonable for the conclusion of the funding agreements (reduced budget, unique terms and conditions etc.) Funding decisions are made by the President of the NRDI Office.

Applicants are notified in a letter about the funding or rejection of their proposals. For funded projects the notification is followed by the conclusion of the funding agreement. The announcement of funding decisions and updated information on the specific assessment stages are published on the NRDI Office’s website. 

Further information:

Assessment process of proposals submitted to NRDI Fund calls

Frequently Asked Questions

Customer Services of the NRDI Office  (nkfihivatal@nkfih.gov.hu; +36 1 795 9500)