Last year, the NRDI Office renewed the terms of its innovation calls targeting businesses in line with the objectives of the John von Neumann Programme (NJP), the set of strategic innovation actions adopted by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) in 2023. Accordingly, the Focus Area Call aimed to support RDI projects that focus on clearly identifiable social and economic benefits, while developing marketable products, technologies and services.

Some 350 experts from academia and business took part in the review, in an assessment system updated based on best international practices (Israeli, Singaporean government innovation funding programmes and Horizon Europe’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation). The projects above the limit were also presented orally by the reviewers to the newly set up Focus Area Innovation Panels. The next step for the applicants who passed the peer review process was to submit their grant applications to the NRDI Office in January 2024, and a final awarding decision has now been taken.

The applications selected for funding were aimed at innovative developments with potential for international success in all three focus areas. Below is a short presentation of some of the winning applications.

• Funding for preventive, therapeutic and care services intended to preserve healthy life
  
  New robotics and software solutions to speed up and reduce the costs of drug discovery research
  
  Among the greatest challenges in drug discovery research are the very long lead times and the associated huge development costs. This winning application aims to provide an effective tool to address this. The development, led by Mcule Kft., listed by the Financial Times among the fastest growing companies in Europe, aims to develop a platform for small-scale testing of compounds of various structures in the early stages of small-molecule drug discovery research. This solution can make drug discovery research much faster and more cost-effective, benefiting not only pharmaceutical companies, but also patients, who can get the innovative medicines they need more quickly and at cheaper prices. By combining software and robotics, millions of different compounds can be produced quickly and cheaply.
• Funding for green transition of the economy and the development of a circular economy
  
  Addressing antibiotic resistance by developing a range of feed supplements containing bacteriophages
  
  The development aims to respond to the growing global challenge of antibiotic resistance, which is a major threat to animal health and food supply security. To address this a possible solution is the development of a range of products using phages in the project. (Phages, i.e. viruses that live in bacteria, can kill pathogens even when other methods, such as antibiotics, are ineffective.) The project, carried out in consortium by Ebesi Pulykahizlaló Kft., UBM Feed Zrt. and the University of Debrecen, aims to research and develop a feed supplement product line, unique both in Hungary and in Europe, containing multi-component bactericidal virus strains, which is able to kill Salmonella strains, resistant to antibiotics and dangerous to humans, in various species of meat and egg-producing poultry throughout their life cycle.
• Funding for the digital transition of the economy and society
  
  Artificial intelligence to identify manipulated audio and video content
  
  One serious side effect of the use of artificial intelligence is the proliferation of deepfake video and audio manipulation techniques that are unrecognisable to viewers.  The project aims to develop an artificial intelligence-based system that will help detect in real time if a participant is manipulating an audio or video conversation using deepfake technology. CARIN Deepfake Guard will be integrated into TC&C Kft.’s internationally recognized and successful product, the CARIN “smart” call answering system, to protect exposed organizations and their customers from this type of fraud. CARIN Deepfake Guard will apply advanced deep learning algorithms to analyse audio and video content and text messages, enabling the identification of signs of manipulation related to deepfake technology.
  

The graph below shows the submitted project proposals by technology area.

Breakdown of funded applications by technology area, HUF billion

The list of winning projects is available on the website of the NRDI Office at:
https://nkfih.gov.hu/english/nrdi-fund/funded-projects-2023-111-piaci-fokusz