The Joint Committee meeting of the Hungarian-Korean Science and Technology cooperation took place on 28 March 2018 in Budapest, where parties agreed to the project based development of their bilateral cooperation and approved a working programme for the coming years. The Korean delegation was led by Chang Whan Ma, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), his Hungarian partner was József Pálinkás, President of the NRDI Office.

Claims for funding exceeded twice the HUF 10 billion (EUR 32.8 million) budget of the call closed on 12 March, supporting innovation activities of micro and small enterprises from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. Funding requests submitted to the thematic calls and cooperation programmes announced with a total budget of HUF 31 billion (EUR 101 million), amounted to over HUF 50 billion (EUR 164 million).

The submission stage of the 2018 calls for the discovery research projects and the postdoctoral excellence programme was closed in mid-February. The total funding request under the call for researcher-initiated projects was almost triple than the HUF 9.4 billion (EUR 31 million) budget, with one third of the applicants being young researchers under 40 years of age, whereas the total funding request was twice the available budget of HUF 1.5 billion (EUR 4.9 million) in the postdoc programme.

In the next two years it is inevitable to double the annual budget of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund by 2020 from the current HUF 83 billion, that is, “the state should contribute the same amount as businesses to the Fund which facilitates research, development and innovation” – József Pálinkás urged in an interview with Portfolio.hu.

The British Embassy and the NRDI Office organised a round table discussion about enhancing cooperation between the industry and research organisations, with the involvement of RDI experts from the Visegrad Four (V4) countries and the UK. The event was opened by Zsolt Monszpart, vice president for innovation and general affairs of the NRDI Office.

Researchers and research groups whose findings generate major international impact can apply for support to their work. The call for proposals to increase the international visibility of Hungarian scientific results is announced again by the NRDI Office. After HUF 1 billion (EUR 3.3 million) last year, the call in 2018 spends a total budget of HUF 1.2 billion (nearly EUR 4 million) from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund to help domestic research groups with internationally recognised scientific achievements.

The Campden BRI Magyarország Nonprofit Kft. and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Chamber of Agricultural and Food Enterprises with the support of the European Commission Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and in cooperation with the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Hungary) are pleased to invite you to the Central European Cooperation in Smart Specialisation on the Application of ICT and Advanced Manufacturing Solutions in the Food Supply Chain workshop on 4-5 April 2018 in Budapest, Hungary.

The French Embassy in Hungary is funding up to 5 scholarships for a one-month scientific research stay in France as an accelerator for the best projects led in the frame of the BALATON program. The funded research stays have to take place in a French institution in France and are addressed to Hungarian Master students, PhD students, post-doc researchers or young investigators (< 40 years old). The stay has to be scheduled between the 1st of July and the 31st of December 2018. This is an opportunity to boost the scientific results of your project and develop its perspectives.

Enterprise Hungary is organizing the first Startup Campus Regional University Idea Battle in professional collaboration with Hiventures. The unique program connects universities, market participants and investors with students from 10 European countries. The winning startup idea can receive an investment offer of up to 500.000 euro. Enterprise Hungary Nonprofit Ltd. launched the Startup Campus University-based incubation program with the support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office.