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Horizon Europe on the horizon: a series of webinars helps Hungarian applicants get prepared
03 February 2021
Modified: 10 February 2021
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Horizon Europe, the framework programme of the European Union with an unprecedented EUR 95.5 billion budget, kicks off in April and will provide substantial funds for domestic research and innovation already this year. In order to increase the success rate of Hungarian businesses, knowledge centres, universities and research institutes, a new series of practice-oriented webinars is launched in February – József Bódis, state secretary for higher education, innovation and vocational training of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology announced.

With the biggest budget among the directly managed EU programmes, Horizon Europe is the immediate successor of Horizon 2020 (H2020), the framework programme of the previous seven-year cycle. Hungarian participants won around EUR 350 million for 1400 projects in the past seven year, accounting for only 0.6% of the total budget of H2020.

József Bódis explained: the government aims to increase Hungary’s share in direct-access EU funds to 2.18% by 2027 which would be proportional to the country’s population. This is partly the reason why the Innovation Ministry is creating large knowledge centres around universities and national laboratories focusing on specific priority research areas. Consortia aligned with the priority areas of the framework programme and combining domestic scientific and technological excellence will hold a better chance to win the funds.

Horizon Europe is expanded with a number of new elements, including in particular clusters enhancing cross-sectoral cooperation, missions addressing major societal challenges, and strategic initiatives co-financed by the EU, Member States and industries. The direct social or economic benefit of the awarded funds will be considered an important requirement in the upcoming calls.

As the coordinator of the funding programme in Hungary, the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office has extended its complex portfolio of services with a series of practice-oriented webinars, starting on 11 February 2021. The participants will get first-hand information on the novelties, the rules of participation and the content of the upcoming calls for proposals. The thematic webinars will focus on specific Horizon Europe sub-programmes to provide up-to-date information and advice to domestic applicants for the planning and preparation of proposals. For more information and registration for the webinars please visit the website of the NRDI Office.

József Bódis added: “Expenditure on research, development and innovation (RDI) has been rising steadily for years, reaching HUF 703 billion in 2019. This amount exceeds all previous budgets and is more than double the expenditure in 2010. Last year, public spending on RDI rose by HUF 43 billion from HUF 133 billion year on year. The government is working to make Hungary a strong innovator with outstanding performance, and higher success rate in the competition for EU funds is key to this goal.”

Budapest, 3 February 2021
Ministry for Innovation and Technology

Updated: 10 February 2021
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