“This year, in the third call of the HU-rizon Programme, we are once again providing a funding amount of HUF 8 billion for research proposals”, the Minister of Culture and Innovation announced at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.

“Despite all the scheming, underhanded manoeuvres and exclusion, Hungarian universities and research groups have risen to the forefront of the global academic community. The first two calls under the HU-rizon Programme were successful, as we launched 53 research collaborations with a total of HUF 20 billion in funding. The HU-rizon Programme is more successful than the EU’s Horizon Programme, because Hungarian universities are not mere subordinates but consortium leaders, collaborating with the world’s best universities,” said Balázs Hankó.

In 2026, an amount of HUF 400 million will be available per research project under the HU-rizon Programme. Project proposals may be submitted until 29 May.

Balázs Hankó recalled that, over the past two years, the funded projects were implemented by Hungarian higher education institutions in cooperation with universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Oxford, National University of Singapore, and RIKEN, the Japanese National Research and Development Agency. The research programmes were led by Hungarian universities.

As highlighted, in 2024, in the field of digitalisation, Óbuda University launched a collaboration with Stanford University and the National University of Singapore – both ranked among the world’s top 10 universities – with the aim of combining medical robotics and artificial intelligence.

In the field of healthy living, University of Szeged cooperates with the University of Cambridge and Ulm University, the former ranking second in the QS World University Rankings. The joint research aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of micro- and nanoplastic particles on human health.

The Minister also referred to two collaborations launched last year. In one of them, Semmelweis University initiated a joint research project with University College London in the field of the prevention and treatment of dementia; in another, the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in cooperation with the University of Birmingham and the Helmholtz research institute, is examining the effects of microplastics in water.

“When it comes to universities and innovation, we are thinking on a scale that encompasses the entire Carpathian Basin. Last year, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania and Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University also successfully applied for funding under the HU-rizon Programme. Sapientia is conducting joint research with University of California, Los Angeles in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, while the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University submitted a successful proposal in the field of the digitalisation of Transcarpathia,” the Minister added.

Source: MTI