The Ministry pointed out that the new requirements grant exemption from mandatory procurement of the purchase of goods and services that are directly related to RDI activities up to the EU procurement threshold. The regulation based on the initiative of the Economy Protection Operational Group is designed to improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian research sector.

In the press release, Minister for Innovation and Technology, László Palkovics emphasized that: “In 2021, we will spend over HUF 160 billion from national funds to stimulate research, development and innovation. In EU co-financing, further calls worth several hundred billion HUF will be opened only this year alone, for the Hungarian RDI ecosystem. The relaxation of public procurement rules will make the utilisation of the substantial extra funds more efficient. This supportive financing and regulatory environment will contribute to the improvement of the competitiveness of universities and research institutes.”

The Minister also pointed out that the administrative burdens on state-funded research, development and innovation must be reduced to also enable public sector institutes to react flexibly to socio-economic challenges and to dynamically handle the market demands. Owing to the specificity of research processes, the consumption of the various materials, assets and services in a project cannot be foreseen, therefore, quite often, certain purchases need to be made in a prompt or rapid manner.

Thanks to the changes brought by the Economy Protection Operational Group, research, development and innovation can now be even more efficient in supporting economic growth. The professional preparatory work of the related modification of the public procurement law was done by the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, and the decision thereof was made by the Parliament in December 2020, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology writes in its press release.

Source: MTI