Government launches HU-rizont programme to boost international research

The initiative was announced by Balázs Hankó, State Secretary for Innovation and Higher Education at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) at the Educatio Exhibition on Friday. The State Secretary stressed that the Government will also finance the research costs of foreign universities in partnership with Hungarian universities. “If they try to lock us up, we will open to the world, which is why we have announced the Pannonia Programme for international exchange, for which applications can already be submitted in January, and we are launching the HU-rizont programme to promote international research cooperation”, the State Secretary said. 

According to the announcement, the new programme will give continued support for international research collaborations with proposals from Hungarian universities that concentrate on the three focus areas of the Neumann János Programme – healthy living, digitalisation and green transition. The HU-rizont, however, will not only finance the research costs of Hungarian universities but also those of European and non-European universities. “In other words, it invites international universities to become research partners in order to produce research that is not an end in itself, but is beneficial for Hungarian society and the economy”, the State Secretary added. 

He emphasised that, in addition to the HU-rizont programme, 6 billion HUF has been earmarked to support international researchers to continue their research in Hungary. In addition, universities that did not receive support under Horizon Europe will also be supported this year. Out of the 5 billion HUF available last year, 43 research projects from 12 universities were supported, and this programme will be continued this year with a budget of 5.4 billion HUF. “All in all, this year we are spending an unprecedented 24 billion HUF to strengthen the international cooperation of Hungarian research”, Balázs Hankó stressed. 

Balázs Hankó recalled: 2023 was a year of successes for Hungarian science and Hungarian higher education, with two of our most distinguished researchers, Ferenc Krausz and Katalin Karikó, winning the Nobel Prize. In addition, 12 Hungarian universities are ranked in the top five percent of the world’s universities and the number of Hungarian scientific publications is also rising steeply. He pointed out that every third Hungarian scholarly publication is produced in international cooperation. “We are the best performing of the V4 countries in this respect,” he said, adding that among young researchers, one in four young doctoral students is a  foreign, international doctoral student, which is “slightly” above the OECD average. “In other words, Hungarian research is not only effective, but its international cooperation is also extensive,” he emphasised.