Spending on research and development will rise to HUF 1.2 trillion by 2020, close to the EU average, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the opening of the 187th general meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
In order to make Hungary the most competitive country in the region, the government is committed to allocate Ft 1.2 trillion in spending for research and development and innovation by 2020, or 1.8% of the GDP, which is close to the EU average, Orbán said, adding that the government will continue to financially support MTA's excellence programme Lendület (Momentum) for young researchers. The scheme launched in 2009 with five working groups and HUF 500 million financing has grown multifold over the years.
In next year's budget, the government is planning to spend 1.4% of the GDP on R+D+I, Orbán added.
The government has signed a cooperation agreement with the Academy several years ago, Orbán said. The cabinet has helped the construction of the CERN-Wigner Data Centre by HUF 8.5 billion and the the new facility for Research Centre for Natural Science from HUF 9.5 billion. Under the National Brain Research Programme, the government will spend HUF 12 billion until 2017.
MTA president László Lovász spoke of the importance of education for the future supply of scientists. "Young people need to learn how to see things in context and cooperate and gain knowledge from own sources and communicate their own ideas", he said.
