The NRDI Fund, managed by the NRDI Office, is a separate public fund under the Public Finance Act that provides public support for research, development and innovation from domestic sources and is used exclusively for this purpose. The innovation contribution paid by businesses and the complementary contribution from the central budget provide a significant part of the NRDI Fund’s resources.
According to the RDI Act, the annual detailed programme strategy of the NRDI Fund, including both incentive and support programmes, is approved by the Government after consulting the National Science Policy Council.
The NRDI Fund, established in 2015, provides predictable funding for RDI, with increasing resources every year.
The NRDI Fund’s 2021 programme strategy already included calls for proposals with a total budget of more than HUF 182 billion, as detailed in Government Decision 1077/2021 (II. 27.).
In 2020, the NRDI Fund was split into two parts.
The Research Sub-fund finances socially useful research projects, programmes to support excellence in higher education and research institutions and individual researchers.
The Innovation Sub-fund supports business innovation and market-oriented R&D activities, partly carried out in business-academia cooperation, through programmes with an investor approach.
The NRDI Office evaluates proposals submitted to calls announced on the basis of the annual programme strategy in a multi-stage peer review system, in accordance with the rules of the NRDI Act and the Government Decree 380/2014 (XII. 31.) on the rules of operation and use of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.
The NRDI Fund has a role to play in complementing and balancing EU funding based on the specificities of the domestic RDI system. Operational programmes financed by the EU Structural Funds are primarily designed to help less developed regions catch up. RDI capacities and activities in Hungary used to be concentrated in the central region, and after its split, mainly in the capital.
The coordinated and effective use of the NRDI Fund resources will contribute greatly to enhancing Hungary’s scientific performance and competitiveness, and to the effective integration of the research community into the European Research Area (ERA).
Disbursements from the NRDI Fund and its legal predecessors |
Number of proposals submitted and funded under the NRDI Fund calls and amount of funding requested and awarded in 2018-2020
Source |
Number of project proposals (pcs) |
Amount of funding requested (HUF bn) |
Number of funded projects (pcs) |
Amount of funding awarded (HUF bn) |
NRDI Fund – Research Sub-fund |
8922 |
173.9 |
3 329 |
73.0 |
NRDI Fund – Innovation Sub-fund |
2 650 |
511.1 |
1 179 |
206.4 |
Total |
11 572 |
685.0 |
4 508 |
279.5 |
Compared to previous years, researchers, research centres and businesses applying for funding from the NRDI Fund received significantly more funding in 2020, totalling more than HUF 153 billion. This amount is more than two and a half times the HUF 67 billion paid out in 2018, and three times the average of the previous five years.
Beneficiary target groups of the NRDI Fund in 2020 |
One of the criteria for the peer review of several proposals is the existence of project designs that fit with the priorities set out in the National Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) as a policy instrument, and the applicant’s commitment to the practical (business) usability of the product, technology or service that will result from the projects.