Hungarian universities and research institutes accumulate a wealth of knowledge, experience, and original ideas, yet only a small portion is transformed into marketable, high value-added products or services that benefit their inventors, the universities, the Hungarian economy, and ultimately the Hungarian people. With the Fast Track programme, the Hungarian government aims to give a boost to scientists and researchers to further develop their innovative results and bring them to market.

Under the 2024 Fast Track programme, a total of HUF 5.6 billion in funding was awarded on November 13 to 22 innovative technology start-ups from universities and research institutes. The strategic goal is to identify and support researchers who have the ambition to transform their results into practical applications and business success, following the example set by the world’s leading universities and research institutions.

The Fast Track scheme aims to bridge the gap between science and business, and to encourage scientific researchers to think across the whole value chain and successfully bring their innovations to market.

The process is as follows:

• foster an entrepreneurial mindset in academia;
• improve the competitiveness of the economy;
• launch fast-growing, deep tech companies that are successful in international markets;
• generate further applied research topics;
• create solutions to address key societal challenges.

The openness to innovation among researchers and its steady growth is reflected in the fact that the original HUF 2 billion call for proposals saw a six-fold increase in demand in a short period of time, with a total of 52 proposals submitted for peer review. In order to ensure that all high-quality projects receive support, the Ministry for Culture and Innovation (KIM) has decided to increase the budget to HUF 6 billion. Out of the 52 proposals submitted, the Focus Area Innovation Boards recommended 22 projects for funding, amounting to over HUF 5.6 billion, with the final decision on these projects made on 13 November.

The vast majority of the eligible project proposals, more than 90%, came from the focus areas of digital transition of the economy and society and innovations promoting healthy living. For the development of products, technologies or services with significant scientific or technical novelty, the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office) provides non-reimbursable funding of up to HUF 300 million per project.

Under the programme, support for innovative technology start-ups ensures not only an economic but also a social impact: the KIM and the NRDI Office support forward-looking developments that contribute in some way to improving the health, environment and sense of security of the population, and the overall well-being of society.

The winning projects are working on topics such as innovative detection of gynaecological abnormalities, further development of diagnostic methods to detect the ageing process based on specific practical criteria, making drug discovery more efficient by combining advanced laboratory techniques and modern digital technologies, development of automatic collision avoidance software for the automotive industry or the development of telemetry systems for continuous monitoring and measurement of emissions from industrial sites, and the determination of pollutant content.

The list of funded projects is available on the NRDI Office’s website.

Source: Ministry for Culture and Innovation