Hungary can continue developing its knowledge economy on the basis of its scientific excellence and traditions, said the Director General on all the three events. He also referred to Hungarian Nobel laureates and highlighted some world famous Hungarian innovations such as the Vitamin C and the Rubik’s Cube.
The Peer Review, requested by the NRDI Office’s predecessor and prepared by independent international experts, acknowledges the ongoing reform of the Hungarian research, development and innovation system and concluded in seven policy messages: among others, Hungary should broaden its innovation base and implement framework conditions that stimulate innovation, promote a risk taking culture and foster innovation demand. The document also stresses the importance of a stronger and more impactful cooperation between the publicly financed system and that of the innovative businesses and suggests the need for higher investment in both areas.
The conclusions of the Peer Review were first presented by the expert panel to the representatives of the Government – Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office; István Lepsényi, State Secretary of the Ministry for National Economy; and Zoltán Maruzsa, Ministerial Commissioner of the Ministry of Human Capacities – on 20 September, 2016. József Pálinkás, President of the NRDI Office, as well as Ferenc Friedler, Vice President for Innovation and General Affairs, and Gyula Szigeti, Vice President for Research and Development were also present at the meeting.
In his response to the recommendations Deputy Minister Nándor Csepreghy highlighted the role of the NRDI Office in the coordinated use of R&D funds and added: just like during the establishment of the NRDI Office and the renewal of the system of competitive calls, Hungary should continue to rely on international best practices and feedbacks. István Lepsényi pointed out that the Government has launched several initiatives to encourage innovative industrial technologies, the Irinyi Plan for industrial development is also aimed to increase industry contribution to the GDP. Ministerial Commissioner Zoltán Maruzsa announced that the Ministry of Human Capacities intends to study the conclusions of the Peer Review with a focus on how these recommendations can be transferred into practical measures within the Ministry’s scope of duties.
After the meeting, Director General Robert-Jan Smits, Mark Ferguson, Chair of the independent panel, and József Pálinkás, President of the NRDI Office held a joint press conference. In response to a question, Mark Ferguson emphasized they met internationally competitive research institutions and innovative businesses both in the convergence regions and the Central Hungary Region. Responding to another question, President József Pálinkás announced that the funding of discovery research remains to play a substantial part within the calls of the NRDI Fund. In the future, some new schemes would also serve to boost innovative businesses, he added. With the financing of venture capital funds, innovative businesses could also be strengthened.
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The recommendations of the Peer Review were presented by the Director General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission and by the independent experts in front of the representatives of Hungarian higher education and research institutes and enterprises taking part in the consultations as well.
”Europe can mainly compete with the rest of the world, e.g. with China, with its knowledge base and talent, and Hungary has a rich history in these fields. I am impressed by the Hungarian Government’s ambitions, vision and measures towards the development of its knowledge economy.”- said Robert-Jan Smits in his key note address.
Mr. Smits acknowledges the bravery of the decision makers responsible for R&I funding, thanks to which they undertook to participate in the Peer Review process, even in the midst of the establishment of the NRDI Office and reforming the system,. He has been assured several times that the management of the NRDI Office is committed towards the transparent, coordinated and excellence-based use of funds.
The Chair of the panel, Mark Ferguson emphasized that they conducted interviews with more than 50 representatives of the Hungarian R&I system; beyond the analysis of facts and figures, these consultations formed the basis of the report and the recommendations.” Hungary has talent”. It is a favourable starting position, the already started processes show the right path. Significant progress has been achieved but there is a need for further reforms.” Sectoral policy should decide on the priorities, what it wants to achieve and by when in the field of R&I.
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”Hungary’s best practice: Momentum” Several questions were raised by stakeholders at the workshop: Responding to a question regarding the low success rate of Eastern European participants in H2020, Robert-Jan Smits underlined that the aim of H2020 is to finance world class research because Europe can only stay competitive this way, so the excellence criteria can’t be modified. Eastern European countries can use the Structural Funds to improve the innovation capacity of their innovation environment and institutions (enterprises, universities, research institutions) which enables international success. An often highlighted criteria of the use of R&I funds is that universities can spend research funds solely on research and not for institutional financing. Responding to the possibility of the implementation of this criteria in practice, it was reinforced again: if the institutions use their R&I funds for other purposes, they will have to return those funds. There was a question regarding the possibility of access to venture capital for companies outside ICT, e.g. biotechnology innovations. In his response the Chair of the panel mentioned the Irish example as a best practice where the state is involved in venture capital firms. Responding to a question whether the experts have found an example in Hungary which can be mentioned as best practice in other countries, the panel members unanimously mentioned the „Momentum” programme. Referring to the recommendation of broader involvement of international evaluators, the panel members agreed that this process entails costs but international evaluators could be motivated by the fact that they can contribute to the strengthening of new institutions of Hungarian R&I. Also, it’s worth noting that an excellent researcher is not necessarily an excellent evaluator. Referring to this, President Pálinkás added that the NRDI Office continuously monitors the evaluators and evaluations so that the evaluation activity would serve the system the best way possible. |
„We asked them to show the mirror and we are not afraid of looking into it. The Peer Review report on the national RDI system suggests the increase of public and private resources for research and innovation. In addition to that it proposes continuous and more structured dialogue between the NRDI Office (which is responsible for the RDI policy) and the scientific and innovation community, as well as more intensive cooperation between the scientific community and enterprises. The experts summarized their opinion in 7 points and made several recommendations which were explained by Mr. Mark Ferguson, the chair of the expert panel:
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Members of the independent panel of experts:
The independent experts were assisted by external peers: 4 government officials from other EU member states who are renowned experts in the field of RDI governance:
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Policy Support Facility, PSF The Policy Support Facility is a tool set up by the the European Commission, to support EU Member States in improving the design, implementation and evaluation of national R&I policies. The Peer review process is one of the services offered by the PSF, that constitutes an in-depth assessment of a country’s R&I system. The predecessor institution of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office requested the assistance of foreign experts in the end of 2014 with the identification of national strengths, restructuring national RDI policy and institutional system. |
Previous news related to the peer review process:
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EU experts urge enhanced economic utilisation of the considerable domestic scientific and innovation potential and increase of public spending on RDI
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Commission helps EU Member States reform their research and innovation systems
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Panel of international experts review Hungary’s RDI system
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PSF Peer Review: consulting with Hungarian Academy members, startuppers and managers
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PSF panel also visits the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest
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EU Innovation Commissioner visits Budapest