Hungary: NRDIO announces 30 projects under 'Hu-rizon' backup scheme

A total of 30 projects will be implemented in Hungary’s HUF 12 billion alternative to Horizon Europe, the Hu-rizon Programme, the minster for culture and innovation, Balázs Hankó said on Saturday, speaking in Debrecen.

Hankó pointed out that after  Brussels excluded Hungarian researchers and universities from the Horizon and Erasmus Programmes, HU-rizon was launched as an alternative. Due to the large number of project proposals, funding for this new Hungarian programme was increased from HUF 8 billion to HUF 12 billion, and of the 112 project proposals received, 30 winners were announced. As he explained, all are collaborations involving the best 100 universities in the world together with Hungarian universities.

Hankó also emphasised that for a year Brussels has not responded to Hungarian legislation and the proposals of the Hungarian Government for a compromise, and that is the reason why the Pannonia Scholarship was launched as a replacement for the EU Erasmus programme and which will enable 3,000 instead of 2,000 students to go to the best universities in the world.

Hankó said, “We have proof”, that unlike Brussels, the world and the scientific community of the EU counts on Hungarian researchers, with top universities in the world lining up to participate in research led by Hungarian universities.

Among the winning Hu-rizon proposals, he mentioned Óbuda University, conducting research on medical robotics and artificial intelligence in collaboration with Stanford University in the US and the University of Singapore, ensuring cooperation between the west and east; the University of Szeged will work with Cambridge University and the University of Ulm on the impact of micro- and nanoparticles in plastics on health; and the University of Debrecen will build a research community with the University of Seoul and the University of Florida on driverless vehicle development.

“We are focusing on themes that are genuinely aimed at tackling digitalisation, healthy living and the green transition, so the winning projects could be launched with the support of the Hungarian Government,” the Minister said.

Ádám Kiss, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office), stressed that the Hungarian Government is spending more than HUF 150 billion from the national budget on science policy, research and innovation this year. He pointed out that there is a huge over-demand for all calls for proposals, as evidenced by the HU-rizon Programme, for which 112 applicants submitted proposals for over HUF 40 billion, and from which 30 winning proposals were selected.

In these research projects, the Hungarian partner sets the direction of the research, and the Hungarian Government provides funding not only for Hungarian universities, but also for the entire budget of the associated top 100 research institutions, he said. He explained that the call for proposals required Hungarian universities to involve foreign institutions of similar type at least in 50 percent and such collaboration must last at least 2 and at most 3 years.

This will also allow Hungarian higher education institutions to conduct larger research projects independently in the future, with up to 5-10 consortium members, he added. Kiss noted that it is important for universities to cooperate with economic actors, and that they should not only carry out self-serving research, but that their research should have a social, economic and financial impact. He stressed that competitiveness is key, and that all the funding schemes offered by the NRDIH contribute to this and will continue next year, together with the HU-rizon Programme.