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Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
Date of announcement: 20 november 2020
Modified:
Next deadline for submission:
Deadline for E-submission: 01 march 2021 16:00
01 march 2021
Deadline for application via post office: 4 March 2021
Submitter of proposal
Budgetary institution, Non-profit organisation
Beneficiary groups
Institution of higher education, Other budgetary research institution, Non-profit research organisation, Institution of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH)
Budget
HUF 3 000 000 000
Number of applications
10-12
Funds available per project
HUF 300 M
Project duration
5 years
Field of research activity
Fundamental research
Evaluator of proposals
NRDI Office
The “Forefront – Research Excellence Programme” provides substantial grant for up to five years to excellent researchers in their most dynamic and creative career phases, belonging to the top of the international scientific community, for research activity in a Hungarian research centre.

The programme follows a funding model that supports forefront discovery research while offering grant opportunities to internationally top-performing researchers for implementing their projects at a Hungarian host institution in connection with European Research Council (ERC) calls. This way, the Forefront programme enhances Hungary’s efforts to become a regional hub for research, development and innovation.

This call for proposals aims to help internationally acclaimed researchers to prepare for and succeed in ECR calls.

The KKP_21 call is only open to researchers for discovery research projects without any thematic restriction, provided that the applicant’s scientific track record and research plan meet the requirements set out in the call. Applicants have the highest chance if they have achieved internationally outstanding scientific results in the past ten years and can be reasonably expected to continue this level of performance on the basis of their research plan.

The call is financed from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

Eligible applicants

Applications are eligible if submitted by any of the following types of organisations having a legal personality and a registered seat in Hungary:

  • higher education institution, research centre, research institution, budgetary organ or a budgetary organ institution with legal personality if it qualifies as a research facility under the RDI Act;
  • non-profit organisations qualifying as research and development organisation according to its core activity

(hereinafter: host institution) jointly with a Hungarian or foreign citizen researcher with a PhD/DLA degree (hereinafter: principal investigator), provided that he or she meets with one of the following conditions:

  • has led an ERC-funded Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, or Synergy Grant project which was successfully closed after 1 January 2017, or is currently leading one such project and it is scheduled to be closed before 1 October 2021;
  • applied for an ERC Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, or Synergy Grant after 1 January 2017, and the application made it to the second round of evaluation but was not selected for funding;
  • was involved as a principal investigator in an individual basic research project with a budget of at least HUF 100 million, financed from a major international research fund (e.g. Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health – NIH, Australian Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council – BBSRC, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG), and the project was successfully closed after 1 January 2017.

Throughout the entire project implementation period the principal investigator must be a full-time worker of the host institution under an employment contract, civil service contract or other contract aimed at performing work.

Eligible objectives and actions

Those actions are eligible which aim to achieve the key objectives developed on the basis of the research and work plan specified in the “Forefront – Research Excellence Programme” call and set out in the research project plan submitted to the NRDI Office.

Duration of the project

The project must start between 1 June 2021 and 1 October 2021, and must be implemented within 60 months from the start date. Eligible project costs can be declared from the start date of the project specified in the grant agreement.

Total available budget and maximum funding per project

The total budget earmarked from the NRDI Fund for the implementation of the programme between 2021 and 2026 is HUF 3 billion, including HUF 600 million to be disbursed in 2021. The maximum amount of grant for the maximum duration of 60 months is HUF 300 million per project (i.e. an annual average of HUF 60 million) as non-refundable funding. Funding intensity is 100%.

Submission of project proposals

All applications must be submitted in English irrespective of the field of science. Project proposals must be prepared and submitted electronically through the Online Application Portal of the NRDI Office by 16:00 CET on March 1, 2021 in line with the Guidelines for Applicants.

The call notice lists the documents required to be submitted to the NRDI Office by regular mail or electronically provided with electronic signatures. Applications may not be submitted in person.

The documents to be submitted by regular mail must be sent in one copy, provided with original signatures and seal, to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than March 4, 2021. In this case, the submission is successful if the application was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by March 1, 2021, and if the documents required by the call to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signatures were sent to the Customer Service of the NRDI Office postmarked no later than March 4, 2021.

Complying with its legal obligation, the NRDI Office enables applicants to submit their applications exclusively electronically. In this case, the documents required by the call to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature must be signed electronically, as specified in the call, and must be attached to the application on the Online Application Portal by the deadline for electronic submission, that is, by March 1, 2021 at 16:00 CET. In this case, the submission is successful if the proposal was finalised electronically by the applicant and approved by the head of the host institution by March 1, 2021, and if the electronically signed versions of the documents required to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature were submitted through the Online Application Portal.

Please note that all documents required to be submitted by regular mail/with electronic signature must be submitted in the same way; that is, all documents must be submitted to the NRDI Office either by regular mail or electronically provided with electronic signature.

Customer service contacts:
email: nkfialap@nkfih.gov.hu 
phone: +36 (1) 795 9500

Personal appointments (pree-booked only): H-1077 Budapest, Kéthly Anna sq. 1. (2nd floor)

Customer Service hours of operation: Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m to 4 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 12.00 a.m.

Forefront – Research Excellence Programme (KKP_21), funded projects

Eight research team leaders have been awarded a total of HUF 2.23 billion in funding, HUF 200 to 300 million each, under the Forefront – Research Excellence Programme launched on 20 November 2020, managed by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, with the policy support of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology. The research funding will enable the applicants to carry out a world-class research project in Hungary over the next five years, which will help it to participate successfully in the European Research Council (ERC) research funding programmes.

As in previous years, one of the selection criteria for the call was that the team leaders should have at least one previous successful international project. The programme received 11 admissible proposals with a funding demand of more than HUF 3 billion. 64% (7) of the proposals focused on life sciences, 18% (2) on medical and biological sciences , 1 on humanities, and 1 on ecology.

The funding decision was based on the assessment of an evaluation panel appointed by the NRDI Office and on the applicants’ personal project presentations. The evaluation panel examined the proposals against the selection criteria of the call and invited all 11 applicants to present their project proposals in a personal interview. Following the presentations, the evaluation panel ranked the proposals and recommended 8 proposals for funding to the minister responsible for science policy coordination.

Based on this recommendation, the deputy state secretary for innovation, acting on the instructions of the minister responsible for science policy coordination, has decided to support the following 8 outstanding research proposals with a total amount of HUF 2.23 billion:


FUNDED PROJECTS

Funding organisation: Ministry for Innovation and Technology
Source: NRDI Fund
Date of decision: 3 June 2021

Evaluation panel
Project code
Principal investigator/Project title/Research organisation
Project period
(month)
Amount of awarded funds
(in HUF thousands)
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 137373 Péter Dombi: Nonlinear plasmonic phenomena and devices (Wigner Research Centre for Physics) 60 300 000
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 137490 Balázs Gerencsér: Smart random walks and smart new links (Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics) 60 232 908
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 137491 Enikő Kubinyi: Pet keeping from an evolutionary perspective: A novel approach for improving human and animal health (Eötvös Loránd University) 60 299 400
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 137523 László Molnár: Asteroseismic laboratories (Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences) 60 299 795
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 138144 Levente Tapasztó: Novel phenomena in artificial crystals built from 2D materials (Centre for Energy Research) 60 277 200
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 138270 Endre Csóka: Randomized Local Algorithms on Sparse Random Graphs (Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics) 60 218 366
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 138726 Botond Roska: Novel approaches to restore vision and to retard the loss of vision (Semmelweis University) 60 300 000
'Forefront' Research Excellence Programme 139502 Miklós Abért: Groups and graph limits (Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics) 60 299 583
Updated: 12 September 2022
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To ensure value-based professional evaluation of proposals arriving in large quantities from the fields of discovery and applied research and innovation, to assess professional reports of funded projects and to prepare policy opinions, the NRDI Office intends to expand its expert pool in all fields of expertise.

Professionals who have registered in the database of the NRDI Office can become responsible contributors, as independent peer-reviewers, to the evaluation process in which the professional quality, novelty content and commercialisation perspectives of the proposals as compared to the requested funding should be assessed as core considerations.

The registration process can be initiated through the registration form of the NRDI Office’s website. Registration is continuously open.

Requested data within the expert registration form include:

  • personal data, contact details (necessary for contracting review assignments);
  • classification of professional skills and competencies and research areas (to get review invitations fine-tuned to your field of expertise);
  • topics of the previously reviewed proposals;
  • present and past jobs, interest networks (in order to pre-screening of conflicts of interest in a given rview assignment), education, scientific titles, most important publications and intellectual works demonstrating your professional experience;
  • language skills.

Professionals once registered in the database of experts may be invited by the NRDI Office to review submitted proposals, to assess professional reports of funded projects and to contribute to policy opinions.

Each proposal is reviewed by several independent experts at the same time. Experts selected from the database to review proposals, to assess professional reports and facilitate expert opinions will be contracted by the NRDI Office on a case-by-case basis. When concluding such a contract experts must declare that the review assignment is not obstructed by any conflict of interest whatsoever. Depending on the competition type, written expert reviews must be prepared in 15-28 work days and submitted electronically via the online review portal of the NRDI Office.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information contact at phone +36 1 795 9500 or email at szakerto_regisztracio@nkfih.gov.hu

The NRDI Fund’s Programme Strategy 2024 supports the implementation of the John von Neumann Programme, which focuses on connecting universities, research institutions and the economy. The priority objective of the Programme Strategy 2024 is to contribute to improving the Hungarian performance in the areas of human resources (number of researchers, number of PhD students, number of STEM students in higher education), number and share of innovator enterprises (number and share of SMEs implementing product and/or process innovation) and intellectual property (IP) (patents, trademarks, designs).

The table below shows the calls planned and launched under the NRDI Fund for the period 2021-2024 and their amounts, broken down by year.

  2021 2022 2023 2024
NRDI budget
(Bn HUF)
189,844 89,838 63,779 176,263*
  Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2021)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2022)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2023)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Name of the scheme/
Call for proposal
(2024)
Budget
(Bn HUF)
Innovation
Sub-fund

2021-2024
Support for market-driven RDI projects
Support for market-driven RDI projects
2020-1.1.2-PIACI KFI
59,06     Support for Innovation Projects in Focus Areas
Support for Innovation Projects in Focus Areas
2023-1.1.1-PIACI_FÓKUSZ
30,149 SME Focal Area Innovation Programme
SME Focal Area Innovation Programme
2024-1.1.1-KKV_FÓKUSZ
50,00
Fast track programme
Fast track
2020-1.1.5-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
3,00 Fast track programme
Fast track
2021-1.1.4-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
12,85 Fast track programme
Fast Track
2023-1.1.2-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
2,00 Spin-off Programme: bringing research results to market
Fast track
2023-1.1.2-GYORSÍTÓSÁV
7,00
Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,40 Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,40 Intellectual property
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,50 Industrial property tender
Support of activities fostering the domestic and international protection of intellectual property with the aim of facilitating the utilisation of such intellectual property
2020-1.1.3-IPARJOG,
2021-1.1.1-IPARJOG
0,50
International programmes
Support for participation in the ECSEL joint EU initiative
2019-2.1.3-NEMZ_ECSEL;
Support for participation in joint EU initiatives
2019-2.1.2-NEMZ;
Funding for Hungarian Summer Internship programmes for hungarian university students studying in the UK, Germany or Austria
2020-1.2.1-GYAK;
Support for Hungarian participation in EIT KIC
2021-1.2.1-EIT-KIC;
Support to bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperations
2021-1.2.4-TÉT;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Russian cooperation
2021-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-RU;
Call for proposals: Support of Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international ERA-NET COFUND and EJP COFUND programmes
2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2020-1.2.3-EUREKA;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call
2021-1.2.2-EU_KKV;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Moroccan cooperation
2021-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-MA
3,50 International programmes
Call for proposals: Support of Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international ERA-NET COFUND and EJP COFUND programmes
2019-2.1.7-ERA-NET;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2022-1.2.4-EUREKA;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call
2021-1.2.2-EU_KKV;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian-Turkish cooperation
2022-1.2.6-TÉT-IPARI-TR;
Support for summer internships for Hungarian students studying abroad
2022-1.2.3-GYAK;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Uzbek cooperation
2022-1.2.2-TÉT-IPARI-UZ;
Support for Hungarian participation in the applied research and development programme in Hungarian–Korean cooperation
2022-1.2.5-TÉT-IPARI-KR
6,00 International programmes
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
Support to bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperations;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2022-1.2.4-EUREKA;
Support for participation in the Horizon Europe Key Digital Technologies (KDT) partnership
2022-1.2.8-KDT;
EUROSTARS: Support for Hungarian participation in the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs
2022-1.2.7-EUROSTARS;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international calls for proposals of ERA-NET COFUND, EJPCOFUND and other multilateral programmes
2023-1.2.1-ERA-NET;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in the joint international calls for proposals of European Partnerships in Horizon Europe
2023-1.2.2-HE_PARTNERSÉG;
Call for project proposals implemented in bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperation
2023-1.2.4-TÉT
6,10 International programmes
HU-rizon Programme
2024-1.2.3-HU-RIZONT;
Call for project proposals implemented in bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperation
2024-1.2.5-TÉT;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in joint international calls for proposals of ERA-NET COFUND, EJP COFUND and other multilateral programmes
2024-1.2.2-ERA_NET;
Call for proposals to support Hungarian organisations successfully participating in the joint international calls for proposals of European Partnerships in Horizon Europe
2024-1.2.1-HE_PARTNERSÉG;
Support for Hungarian participation in the EUREKA programme
2024-1.2.6-EUREKA;
Support for participation in the Horizon Europe Key Digital Technologies (KDT) partnership
2024-1.2.4-KDT;
EUROSTARS: Support for Hungarian participation in the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs;
Call for proposals to foster Hungarian participation in the Horizon Europe programme and other joint programmes of the European Union
2021-1.2.3-EU_KP;
Horizon Europe Accelerator booster call (EU_KKV);
Support for active participation in international professional organisations for researchers and research managers (Networking+);
Booster call for the Teaming of Excellence 2025 call;
International cooperation in preparation.
17,155
Announced under international programmes.
(Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures 2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI)
  Announced under international programmes.   Announced under international programmes.   Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
Support for the use of international and national research infrastructures
2021-4.1.2-NEMZ_KI;
0,10
            Large Company Focus Area Innovation Programme
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
15,00
            Innovation Venture Capital Programme
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
9,50
            Development of applied research and innovation services
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
2,50
Investment in the future Fund
Investment in the future
2020-1.1.6-JÖVŐ
7,00            
Development of an applied research network
Participation in the National Network of Applied Research Institutes
2021-1.1.2-AKH
1,63            
University Innovation Ecosystema
University Innovation Ecosystema
2019-1.2.1-EGYETEMI ÖKO
2,46            
KKV Start programme
KKV Start Innovation
2020-1.1.1-KKV START
12,00            
    Centres of excellence
Establishing and developing centres of excellence
2022-1.1.1-KK
20,60        
    Startup Programme
Startup Programme
2022-1.1.2-STARTUP
4,06        
        Incubator Support Scheme
STARTUP FACTORY 2023
2023-1.1.3-STARTUP
5,75    
Research
Sub-fund

2021-2024
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_21, FK_21, K_21, ANN_21, SNN_21
12,90 Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_22, FK_22, K_22, ANN_22, SNN_22
13,50 Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
Postdoctoral and Young researchers’ excellence programme and Call for thematic research projects ("OTKA")
PD_23, FK_23, K_23, SNN_23
13,50 Excellence-based research funding
Call for EXCELLENCE research proposals
EXCELLENCE_24
Call for ADVANCED research proposals
ADVANCED_24
Call for STARTING research proposals
STARTING_24
Call for proposals for research projects based on Hungarian-Austrian and Hungarian-Slovenian cooperation
ANN_24, SNN_24
19,00
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
KKP_21
3,00 Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
Forefront – Research Excellence Programme
KKP_22
3,00    
New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-21-1, ÚNKP-21-2, ÚNKP-21-3, ÚNKP-21-4, ÚNKP-21-5, ÚNKP-21-6
4,00 New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-22-1, ÚNKP-22-2, ÚNKP-22-3, ÚNKP-22-4, ÚNKP-22-5, ÚNKP-22-6
0,828 New National Excellence Programme
ÚNKP-23-1, ÚNKP-23-2, ÚNKP-23-3, ÚNKP-23-4, ÚNKP-23-5, ÚNKP-23-6
0,710 University Research Scholarship Programme
(scholarships announced by higher education institutions)
10,00
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
KDP-2021
4,894     Cooperative Doctoral Programme
Cooperative Doctoral Programme
KDP-2023
5,070
Patronage Programme
Science Patronage Programme
MEC_21
1,00         Science Patronage Programme
Science Patronage Programme
MEC_24
1,00
            Research Grant Hungary
Research Grant Hungary
RGH_S_24, RGH_L_24
6,00
            Pension - matching fund
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
0,244
            Own contribution - matching fund
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
0,264
            Proof of Concept: development potential assessment
(Call for proposal will be announced later)
3,00
Thematic Excellence Programme
(National-Health-Defence)

Thematic Excellence Programme 2021
TKP2021
(The budget includes the HUF 1 billion budget of the National Defence Subprogramme of the Cooperative Doctoral Programme (NDPCP-2021), which is closely linked to the National Defence, National Security Subprogramme of the 2021 Thematic Excellence Programme.)
75,00            
    Building the Selye János Student Lab network
Building the Selye János Student Lab network
2022-3.1.1-DIÁKLABOR
2,00        
National Laboratories Sub-fund
2022
    National Laboratories
Establishment and complex development of the National Laboratories
2022-2.1.1-NL
26,60        

* The total budget of the 2024 Programme Strategy.

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