Budapest, 12 February 2025 – Based on the decision of the National Science Policy Council, this year’s Programme Strategy of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund has been adopted and is now available in detail. Last December, Balázs Hankó, Minister for Culture and Innovation, announced that by 2025, the combined domestic resources of the NRDI Fund and the GINOP Plus innovation calls will provide around HUF 215 billion in support for the Hungarian research and innovation ecosystem.

This budget will enable the launch and continuation of research and innovation programmes in Hungary.

The NRDI Fund’s 2025 calls for proposals are aligned with the main objective of the John von Neumann Programme: to make Hungary one of the world’s top twenty-five innovators by 2030 and one of the world’s top ten by 2040. “The goals remain the same, and achieving them will continue to require universities, research institutions and businesses to work together to create value. This is the third major target area in this year’s budget of the NRDI Fund, which includes a priority part of resources to support research and innovation missions that are important for the development of the economy and the growth of the well-being of society,” emphasised Ádám Kiss, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, which manages the NRDI Fund.

The most remarkable development of the 2025 Programme Strategy is that the budget of the National Research Excellence Programme (NKKP), which was created following the restructuring of the OTKA, will more than double from HUF 19 billion to HUF 40 billion, which means that even with the stricter requirements, many more excellent researchers and research groups will be able to win funding. “For Hungary’s development and economic competitiveness, it is vital to have a stable supply of researchers and developers and to support domestic research of international quality. That’s why we’re making scientific careers more attractive and predictable, with more scholarships building on each other and more support for research projects than ever before. We strongly encourage the involvement of young researchers in research projects, which will allow up to 800 doctoral students and postdocs to join the research in Hungary,” said Péter Domokos, President of the Research Council (KKT), who as a practicing physicist and quantum technology research leader knows the world and problems of Hungarian researchers at first hand. In addition to the NKKP, the University Research Fellowship Programme (EKÖP), which will continue with an additional HUF 6 billion, will also support a long-term, predictable research career.

The innovation proposals and programmes will support businesses, industry-university collaborations and international cooperation projects, with a particular focus on strengthening the so-called deep technology ecosystem. This will be complemented by continued efforts to strengthen the innovation capacity of SMEs, mainly through the EU co-funded GINOP Plus proposals.

• Last year’s open innovation call for large companies is still open to applicants, which earmarked HUF 15 billion to support RDI projects based on business needs in the framework of cross-sectoral cooperation.
• The Fast Track programme, which has been a great success in previous years, will continue with an additional HUF 5 billion to help commercialise research results.
• This year, the Industrial Property Rights competition to promote intellectual property protection is launched again.
• Programmes to support international cooperation and networking, including effective participation in Horizon Europe, will continue.
• After last year’s successful launch, another HUF 8 billion will be allocated to the HU-rizont Programme, which will be used to carry out large-scale research led by Hungarian researchers and involving the world’s top universities abroad.
• More new funding opportunities are focusing on health and medical research. In the three calls of the 2025 Programme Strategy, the government will provide a total of HUF 12 billion for targeted support for health innovations.
• As a structural change compared to previous years, the NRDI Fund will also offer reimbursable support in 2025 in response to market needs. The new venture capital programme is planned to invest HUF 10 billion in early seed-stage financing for SMEs with high growth potential, alongside market investors as co-investors.

The third new element of the 2025 Programme Strategy is the dedicated HUF 10 billion budget, which will support mission-driven research, building on the experience of previous large-scale programmes, i.e. the National Laboratories Programme and the Thematic Excellence Programme. The “missions” are defined along the lines of outstanding economic, social and environmental challenges and seek to combine the best Hungarian RDI capacities in the given thematic area to find solutions, aiming at scientific breakthroughs and innovations that will benefit Hungary as a whole.

Overview of the 2025 Programme Strategy of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund