Three Pillars
Three Pillars
The primary role of the National Scientific Research Programs (OTKA) established in 1986 - and later regulated by the provisions of a corresponding Act as of 1991 - is to support basic research following the intrinsic logic dictated by scientific development. Based on the initiatives of individual researchers or research groups – mainly at labs situated at HE or research institutions – , the programs finance scientific work resulting in world-class results, or the creation of instrument/equipment bases, with amounts falling between (somewhat simplifying the scheme) HUF 1-10 million/year/program. The budget support for OTKA will increase to HUF 5.2 billion (HUF 7 billion) in 2001 (2002), compared to HUF 3.3 billion in 2000. The role of the Central Technical Development Programs (KMFA) is to facilitate the realization of applied research and public-oriented technical development, promote infrastructural development, and accelerate the dissemination and practical exploitation of useful results. The group of potential grantees is much larger here than it is for OTKA. Starting with university labs, the scope encompasses small-to-medium-sized enterprises as well as the R&D locations of major Hungarian or multinational companies. Again with a little simplification, grants per topic range from HUF 10 to 150 million. The budget support for KMFA will increase to HUF 8.7 billion (HUF 11 billion) in 2001 (2002), compared to HUF 6 billion in 2000. In response to a governmental resolution, the Ministry of Education announced the first round (submitting statements of intent) of the application for grants for multi-disciplinary National Research and Development Programs. The Invitation for Tenders will be issued in the first quarter of 2001. The budget support available for application granting will be HUF 6 billion in 2001, and the amount will be increased to HUF 10 billion in 2002. For the first four National Research and Development Programs, the requested funding is at least HUF 100 million/project, while for the fifth Program this minimum is HUF 10 million. During the evaluation of the project proposals, such projects will be preferred that are based on the consortium-type co-operation of enterprise(s) and public purpose research location(s). Through these programs, we wish to start such over-arching development activities where the entire development chain starting from basic research and extending to a marketed products or services is present within a single program, the enterprises are active partners of the R&D locations, and the programs aim at producing specific results. Putting the grant support of research and development on the three pillars described above and simultaneously strengthening its bases, the long-awaited potential for a true breakthrough in terms of financing is finally at hand.
The European and international embedding of Hungarian science is excellent, and this is one of the strengths of Hungarian scientific life. However, we are still affected by a certain shyness when we touch upon the issues of financing international programs and relations. In these programs, Hungarian researchers are the partners and competitors of researchers of countries that are considerably richer and spend a great deal more on research. Consequently, international programs are expensive. At present, Hungary is already a full member of the 5th RTD EU Frame Program, and submits its financial contributions accordingly. The magnitude of this contribution is given by the ratio of the GDP of Hungary to that of the EU. The discount we received gradually decreased between 1999 and 2001 (from 60% to 40% and then to 20%), which translates into contributions of HUF 1.98 billion, 3.1 billion, 4.6 billion and 5.9 billion, respectively, between 1999-2002. Forty-six percent of this contribution for the period 1999-2002 was/is/will be covered by the PHARE Program. Hungary actively participates in the 5th Frame Program, and its extension, the next Frame Program of the European research region.
