The NRDI Office, which is responsible for coordinating the use of EU RDI funds in line with Hungary’s RDI policy, strives to create a strategically sound innovation environment that promotes socio-political objectives, creates value and efficiently boosts long-term competitiveness. To enforce the above objectives in a system of competitive calls and to facilitate the compliant, practicable, coordinated and transparent use of RDI funds, in the framework of calls falling within the scope of the agreement concluded with the Managing Authority of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (EDIOP or GINOP) and the Competitive Central-Hungary Operational Programme (CCHOP or VEKOP), applicants have to obtain the endorsing RDI policy opinion of the NRDI Office for the submission of their project proposals. The requirement to obtain an endorsing RDI policy opinion is set in the call for proposals announced by the Managing Authority.

Manner of requesting an opinion

Applicants may only request RDI policy opinions on the eligibility of their project proposals through the electronic form available on the NRDI Office’s website.

Applicants may only request RDI policy opinions on the eligibility of their project proposals through the electronic form available on the NRDI Office’s website (hereinafter: request).

The request form can only be edited after registration on the website – and clicking on the link in the confirmation email.

The pages of the request form can only be finalised if all mandatory fields have been completed and all required documents have been attached. (CV of project leader, CVs of key participants in the project, declaration of the authorised signatory of the requesting organisation stating that he/she is aware of and supports the request.)

Only finalised forms are considered as successfully submitted requests.

The NRDI Office does not check requests for formal compliance. Finalised requests are assessed and notices of deficiency are sent out on the basis of the submitted data, so requests may not be completed.

Before completing the request form, please refer to and carefully read the Guide for completing request forms for EDIOP calls. Guides are available at kfivelemeny.nkfih.gov.hu.

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF REQUESTS

Requests for an innovation policy opinion may be submitted for:

• GINOP-8.1.1-16 Support of business RDI activities loan scheme
  period open for requests: continuously
  

Requests for an RDI policy opinion may no longer be submitted for the following calls:

• GINOP-2.3.3-15 Reinforcing the research infrastructure – internationalisation, networking
  period open for requests: 01 October 2015 – 15 November 2015
  period open for requests: 06 May 2016 – 13 June 2016
  
• GINOP-2.3.2-15 Excellence of strategic R&D centres
  period open for requests: 15 October 2015 – 22 November 2015
  period open for requests: 06 May 2016 – 06 June 2016
  
• GINOP-2.2.1-15 R&D Competitiveness and Excellence Cooperation
  period open for requests: 19 July 2016 – 30 September 2016
  
• GINOP-2.3.4-15 Centre for Higher Education and Industrial Cooperation – Research infrastructure development
  period open for requests: 01 February 2016 – 21 March 2016
  
• VEKOP-2.3.2-16 Excellence of strategic R&D centres
  period open for requests: 22 July 2016 – 15 September 2016
  
• VEKOP-2.3.3-15 Reinforcing the research infrastructure – internationalisation, networking
  period open for requests: 22 July 2016 – 15 September 2016
  
• GINOP-2.1.5-15 Innovation ecosystem
  period open for requests: 22 February 2016 – 25 April 2016
  
• VEKOP-2.2.1-16 Competitiveness and Excellence Cooperation
  period open for requests: 22 December 2016 – 26 January 2017
  
• GINOP-2.1.6-16 Support of exportable innovative product development for an innovation-driven export expansion
  period open for requests: 25 January 2017 – 20 June 2017
  

 

THE ISSUANCE OF RDI POLICY OPINIONS

The evaluation of the professional content of project proposals is performed with the involvement of experts acting within the competence of the NRDI Office. Requests received electronically by the NRDI Office are allocated to professional assessors.

The issuance of RDI policy opinions is regulated in detail by Presidential Instruction 20/2016 on the rules of procedure of issuing the research, development and innovation policy opinion of the NRDI Office. 

The general aspects of adopting an RDI policy opinion

• professional experience of the project leader;
  
• professional excellence of the applicant organisation(s);
  
• compliance of applicant organisation(s) with requirements on resources;
  
• professional soundness of the project;
  
• professional soundness of the project budget;
  
• direct or indirect alignment with one of the sectoral priorities or smart technologies identified in the National Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3).
  

Detailed guides on the assessment criteria for assessors can be download here: 

• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP 2.1.5.-15 Innovation ecosystem (start-up and spin-off) call PDF (148 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the VEKOP 2.3.3.-15 Strengthening research infrastructures – internationalisation, networking call PDF (120 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the VEKOP 2.3.2.-16 Excellence of strategic R&D centres call PDF (109 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP 2.3.4-15 Centre for Higher Education and Industrial Cooperation – research infrastructure development call PDF (236 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP 2.3.3.-15 Reinforcing the research infrastructure – internationalisation, networking call PDF (236 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP 2.3.2.-15 Excellence of strategic R&D centres call PDF (178 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP 2.2.1.-15 K+F R&D Competitiveness and Excellence Cooperation call PDF (205 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the VEKOP-2.2.1-16 Competitiveness and Excellence Cooperation call PDF (346 KB)
  
• Evaluation guide for issuing RDI policy opinions to applicants participating in the GINOP-2.1.6-16 Support of exportable innovative product development for an innovation-driven export expansion call PDF (105 KB)
  

GOVERNING BOARD

In the NRDI Office’s procedure, the Governing Board commissioned by the NRDI Office assesses the requests for RDI policy opinions on the basis of the related expert reviews and makes recommendations on the eligibility of the project proposals.

The Governing Board classifies requests into one of the following categories:

1. recommended for endorsing RDI policy opinion
   
2. recommended for negative RDI policy opinion with justification 
   

No complaint lies against the NRDI Office’s RDI policy opinion or notification of deficient request, however, another request may be submitted for an opinion in relation to the same project proposal in the next assessment round, subject to the prior correction of deficiencies.

Please note that the NRDI Office’s endorsing RDI policy opinion is no guarantee for a positive funding decision.

In the case of the relevant calls, project proposals may only be submitted to the Managing Authority if they have the NRDI Office’s endorsing RDI policy opinion, however, it is recommended that applicants start completing the electronic application form with the data of the project proposal parallel to requesting the RDI policy opinion. After the official receipt of the RDI policy opinions, the application forms can be finalised and submitted to the Managing Authority in the manner determined in the Call notice. 

Further information:

Managing Authority for Economic Development Programmes  (Ministry of National Economy)

Frequently Asked Questions

Customer Service of the NRDI Office  (nkfihivata@nkfih.gov.hu; +36 1 795 9500)