Brussels, Thursday 23 May 2024 (MTI) – Hungary spends a total of HUF 34 billion a year on internationalisation programmes that fund research anywhere in the world that will advance our economic interests, Balázs Hankó, State Secretary for Higher Education, Innovation, Vocational Training and Adult Education of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM), said in Brussels on Thursday.
The OTKA programme, which has been supporting Hungarian scientific research for almost four decades, continues from 2024 under the name of the National Research Excel-lence Programme (NKKP), renewed in line with the highest international standards. For this purpose, following last year’s allocation of HUF 13.5 billion, this year a significantly increased grant fund of HUF 19 billion is available, which exceeds the previous amount by over 40%. The distribution of these funds will be decided by the newly established Re-search Council of Hungary, led by Hungarian Nobel laureate physicist Ferenc Krausz, based on the recommendations of international professional evaluation committees.