In 2018, Hungary’s National Research Infrastructure Roadmap was prepared to provide a picture of the major research infrastructures in Hungary and their operations, to describe the nature and diversity of capacities, to raise the interest of the Hungarian and international research community in Hungarian research resources and opportunities, to provide background information to lay the foundations for further development of research infrastructures, and to show the links to European research infrastructures and collaborations.
In the autumn of 2020, the survey of the domestic research infrastructure portfolio continued, resulting in the first publication of the Research Infrastructures for Excellence in Hungary, an online publication in English. In the spring of 2021, a deeper analysis and evaluation of the work of the research infrastructures began, and the National Research Infrastructure Committee selected Hungary’s most outstanding and promising research infrastructures, which were presented in a new publication, now available in Hungarian and in print. On the initiative of Dr. István Szabó, Vice President of the NRDI Office, the “Excellent Research Infrastructure” and “Emerging Research Infrastructure” awards were presented to the research infrastructures and infrastructure networks featured in the publication at a ministerial event.
The work on the international positioning of domestic research infrastructures reached its next milestone in November 2022 with the launch of the researchinfrastructures.hu website. The primary target audience of the website is the international research community, with its modern, clean visuals, fast search engine and easy to navigate interface. Its main goal is to stimulate international research cooperation, to enhance interactions between Hungarian and foreign researchers and research institutions through the up-to-date presentation of high-quality research facilities and their scientific activities available in Hungary. To achieve these goals, the website was primarily designed in English, although a Hungarian version is also planned for the future.
To ensure that researchinfrastructures.hu reaches the widest possible professional audience, the NRDI Office plans to promote the new website in 2023 through an online campaign.
More information on the new website and the importance of research infrastructures can be found in an interview with Dr. István Szabó, Vice President of the NRDI Office, published in the Budapest Business Journal online in English.