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Ministry for Innovation and Technology: new funding opportunity to boost Hungarian-German research relations
01 October 2021
Modified: 01 October 2021
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Budapest, Thursday, 30 September 2021 (MTI) - The call for proposals, which is the result of a joint effort of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the German Ministry of Education and Research, aims to strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises in the two countries and to promote research and development cooperation.

In the call for proposals announced under the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, Hungarian companies and research institutions can win a total of around HUF 2.5 billion for the implementation of their cross-border projects, the ministry said on Thursday.

According to the statement of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, the Hungarian-German sub-programme launched under the EUREKA programme supports market-oriented cooperation between companies and research institutions from the two countries. The primary goal is to create innovative products, services and technologies as a result of joint efforts. The involvement of universities and research institutes is also a basic requirement for companies. The Hungarian and German governments are contributing EUR 7 million, each to the funded projects – nearly HUF 2.5 billion from each side – and their national calls for proposals were published simultaneously.

Launched in 1985, EUREKA focuses on strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. By stimulating international industrial and technological cooperation, the programme has become the largest European R&D network. Since Hungary’s accession in 1992, 125 EUREKA projects with Hungarian participation have been completed with nearly EUR 78 million in funding, and around thirty more are ongoing. Around a third of them involved German partners, and in addition to 41 successfully completed projects, nine are still running in the fields of materials and production technology, infocommunications, biotechnology, energy and the environment.

The statement quotes Minister for Innovation and Technology, László Palkovics who emphasized that: “the latest joint call, with a larger budget than ever before, encourages the combination of Hungarian and German knowledge and skills to create real innovation. The call will stimulate collaboration in key, forward-looking areas from artificial intelligence to quantum and biotechnology to autonomous manufacturing systems”.

He added: “the joint programme is another spectacular example of the continuing expansion of excellent Hungarian-German governmental, economic, industrial and research institution relations. Next spring, a Lynx armoured vehicle factory, a joint investment of the Hungarian state and the German Rheinmetall, will be built in Zalaegerszeg. The first phase of the off-road test environment has already been completed at the ZalaZone automotive test track, located next to the plant. Parallel investments are creating world-class conditions for defence industrial and security research. The Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the Fraunhofer Society, which manages the German research network, agree that bilateral research, development and innovation cooperation can be further expanded in the fields of quantum computers, artificial intelligence and food safety”, László Palkovics recalled.

Source: MTI

Updated: 01 October 2021
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