Following the approval of the National Science Policy Council, Balázs Hankó, Minister for Culture and Innovation, announced that under the 2026 call portfolio of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NRDI Fund), approximately HUF 120 billion will be available for research and innovation funding. New calls for proposals may be launched from this amount, and highly successful programmes such as the National Research Excellence Programme and HU-rizon may continue. These programmes serve Hungary’s long-term competitiveness, while continuing to provide balanced incentives for innovative enterprises, outstanding researchers and research institutions, as well as their international collaborations.
The 2026 calls of the NRDI Fund are aligned with the main objective of the John von Neumann Programme: Positioning Hungary among the top 25 most innovative countries in the world by 2030 and among the top 10 by 2040. To achieve the objectives, it remains essential to foster value-creating cooperation between businesses and universities and research institutions, to significantly increase the number of R&D professionals, to double the number of patent applications, and to substantially raise the proportion of innovative enterprises.
Next year, these efforts will be supported by funding schemes promoting both research activities and corporate innovation. In addition, as a third major priority area, greater emphasis will be placed on supporting missions that are of particular importance for economic development and for improving societal well-being. A structural innovation of the 2026 portfolio is that, in addition to non-refundable funding, venture capital funds co-funded by the state will also be introduced, thereby encouraging a stronger involvement of market-based sources in the financing of innovation.
For the details of the Programme Strategy of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund for the year 2026 see:
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund - 2026 Programme strategy PDF (3 247 KB)
A publication edited and released by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office.
Year of publication: 2025