The National Quantum Technology Programme is implemented with the collaboration of academic, university and business research centres and receives a state subsidy of HUF 3.5 billion (EUR 11 million) over a four-year programme period – said József Pálinkás, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office on Wednesday at a press conference in Budapest.

Swiss and Greek research groups are the first foreign users of the laser facility in Szeged where laser equipment is already operational. The experiments may lay the foundations for the development of new applications in medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences. As the operating costs of the laser research centre will be covered to a large extent from the membership fees of countries partnering with the consortium to have access to the research capacities, it is essential to effectively communicate the research opportunities of the equipment to potential research groups.

Promising new opportunities may arise for Norwegian–Hungarian research cooperation in climate research, machine learning technologies and medicine, including cancer research, which will be the central topic of a two-day conference organised by the National NRDI Office and the Research Council of Norway (NRC) on 15-16 February in Budapest.

The Presidents of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office) and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) in their joint letter encourage institutions and businesses implementing research and development projects to provide statistical data in compliance with professional standards and in a credible manner.

Through increasing resources and new calls announced to support research excellence and projects of researchers below the age of 40, the NRDI Office has delivered on its 2017 promise to renew the system of calls for discovery research proposals – announced József Pálinkás at the RDI Calls Forum on 25 January. Such events are regularly organised by the NRDI Office to improve the quality of research and innovation proposals by sharing assessment experiences.

Businesses in Hungary have launched 2,000 new research, development and innovation projects since 2015 with domestic and EU funding of HUF 300 billion (EUR 1 billion). Annual funding provided to businesses from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund to promote innovation doubled in 2017 as compared to 2015.

The NRDI Office held an information day for researchers and developers interested in the call related to the Szeged laser centre (sub-programme “A” of the National Excellence Programme) on 30 January. The HUF 1 billion (EUR 3.2 million) call of the NRDI Office will support 3-4 research projects.