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“Hungary has talent!” Review of the Hungarian research and innovation system with recommendations
“Hungary has talent!” Review of the Hungarian research and innovation system with recommendations
22 September 2016
Modified: 14 December 2017
Reading time: 18 minute(s)
The Peer Review of the Hungarian research and innovation system based on consultations with Hungarian stakeholders and prepared through a multistage process, was presented by the members of the independent panel of experts at three consecutive events to the representatives of the government, the press and the RDI community. Robert-Jan Smits, Director General of Research and Innovation of the European Commission also participated in the events where the conclusions and recommendations of the document were presented.

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.

Mark Ferguson professzor, a panel elnöke
Mark Ferguson

A jelentés bemutatása a kormányzat képviselői előtt




Jakob Edler és Erja Heikkinen
Jakob Edler and Erja Heikkinen

Szigeti Gyula Péter és Csuzdi Szonja (NKFIH)
Gyula Péter Szigeti and Szonja Csuzdi (NKFIH)



Lepsényi István (NGM)
István Lepsényi (NGM)

Robert-Jan Smits (EB)
Robert-Jan Smits (EB)



Maruzsa Zoltán (EMMI)
Zoltán Maruzsa (EMMI)

Csepreghy Nándor (Miniszterelnökség)
Nándor Csepreghy (Prime Minister's Office)



Krzysztof Klincewicz
Krzysztof Klincewicz

Pálinkás József (NKFIH)
József Pálinkás (NKFIH)



Peer Review

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.

Peer review sajtójékoztató
Press conference

Peer Review sajtójékoztató
Press conferenc

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.

Robert-Jan Smits (EB)
Robert-Jan Smits (EB)

Mark Ferguson
Mark Ferguson



Jakob Edler
Jakob Edler

Eszmecsere a fórumon
Forum



Erja Heikkinen
Erja Heikkinen, Krzysztof Klincewicz, József Pálinkás

Pálinkás József
József Pálinkás (NKFIH)

”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:

  • The competitiveness has its price, but the financing alone is not enough. Priorities have to be set to enable Hungary to meet high international expectations in the chosen areas. The research system shall be more competitive and more international which will attract companies into the country. The question: What do we want from our research and innovation system and by when?
  • During the preparation of decisions it is necessary to listen to the stakeholders of the research and innovation process – representatives of universities, research institutes, enterprises of different size from different locations. It is impossible to accept everyone’s suggestions, but stakeholders shall understand priorities and the background of decisions. Not everybody will be satisfied after consultation, but participants could more easily accept decisions. 
  • The key to quality is international evaluation. It’s worth involving the best international experts into the evaluation of programs and proposals. After some years we have to evaluate how our expectations concerning the research system are fulfilled, whether the scientific results and the number of jobs created are satisfactory. If not, then modification is needed. Evaluation culture shall be strengthened.
  • The most important element of the research and innovation process is the human capital, the young researcher and the entrepreneur. Mr. Mark Ferguson experienced that many enthusiastic and smart young researchers and entrepreneurs had a vision about the future. The government has to ensure them that they have a future in Hungary and they can receive acceptable salaries in public research institutes or in the private sector. In addition to keeping the youth in the country, proper conditions should be established for each player of the research and innovation process (teachers, researchers, company employees and founders). University students and PhD students should be prepared to find a job in enterprises, therefore teaching of entrepreneurial knowledge shall be started early.
  • Innovation is needed everywhere, not only in science but in the industry, in the health sector and in services. According to Mr. Mark Ferguson and other panel members intelligent risk taking shall be encouraged and we have to learn from mistakes. Sometimes the research does not progress as expected, but the participants, especially the youth can learn a lot from it..
  • State financed research and development shall be linked to industry. Partnership with SMEs and large companies helps to meet the priorities and to reach international level. 
  • Research and innovation is underfinanced in Hungary. The research and innovation spending as percentage of GDP is under the EU average. The research and innovation system needs more funding- draw one of the main conclusions Mr. Mark Ferguson.

 

After the presentation of expert recommendations, Prof. József Pálinkás, President of the Office emphasized that the strategy and program definition went parallel to the review. We asked to show the mirror and we are not afraid of looking into it. We are glad that experts in many aspects confirm our notions: the sustainable financing of research and innovation and more intensive cooperation between research institutes and businesses shall be ensured- summarized Prof. József Pálinkás. The President of the Office underlined that the collaboration with experts preparing the review went smoothly, therefore during the strengthening of the RDI system the Office have utilised some of the recommendations in parallel with the situation analysis made by experts.
 
The President said concerning the recommendations on stakeholder consultations and on the evaluation system that the Office had organised an applicant-evaluator forum in April 2016, which is only one of the open consultations organised by the Office with the stakeholders of research and innovation system. The „RDI competitive call mirror” type forums aim at the evaluation of evaluators as well, providing feedback for indulgent or inconsistent evaluators.  It was mentioned that the evaluation based on the written application should be complemented by organisation of face-to face interviews with applicants in order to introduce projects. It has been used in some support schemes (innovation ecosystem call, higher education - industry cooperation call), but due to the large number of applications it could not be applied in every scheme. Prof. József Pálinkás emphasized, that programs and initiatives launched in several areas by NRDI Office are in line with the recommendations. The renewal of call for postdoctors who are at the beginning of their carrier aims at increasing the attractiveness of science careers. The calls for supporting thematic research projects was modified to avoid the disadvantageous situation of excellent young researchers compared to experienced researchers. The Office supports those applicants as well who were ranked among the best by the European Research Council, and received seal of excellence last year but due to lack of funding not received EU grant.  The Office supports the innovation activity of start-ups and well established companies as well. One of the calls aims at the strengthening of incubators which help the foundation and mentoring of start-ups. The Office helps the closer cooperation between research and industry. Research infrastructure development of Higher Education and Industry Cooperation Centres call stimulates universities to deepen the collaboration with the industry. The competitiveness and excellence call also boost collaboration of researchers and employees of innovative companies.
 
Achieving internationally outstanding results is a serious challenge even so we discuss our expectations from our research and innovation system in a new round of stakeholder consultations – said Prof. József Pálinkás. The goal is to create competitive research results as well as to further develop results on which new innovations can be built in the industry and the service sector.
 

Members of the independent panel of experts:

  • Mark Ferguson (Chair – Director General Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland)
  • Krzysztof Klincewicz (Rapporteur of the panel; professor of the University of Warsaw, Poland)
  • Jakob Edler (Professor of the University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
  • Marjan Oudeman (Professor of the Utrecht University, Netherlands)

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:

  • Andrea Höglinger (Head of department, Austrian Research Promotion Agency, Austria)
  • Urban Krajcar ( Director-General, Science Directorate, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Slovenia)
  • Erja Heikkinen( Head of Department, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland)
  • Benoît Legait, (Member of the General Council of Economy, Industry, Energy and Technologies, Ministry of Economy, France)

 

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:

Updated: 14 December 2017
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