Viktor Orbán at the Academy: 1200 billion for R&D until 2020

In his speech on Monday delivered in the ceremonial hall of the Academy, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his appreciation regarding the century-old alliance between science and politics. During the 187^th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences he also affirmed that the fact that Europe has been able to preserve its competitive advantage for centuries is probably due to its ability to turn the results and innovations of science into economic advantages in the fastest and most effective way possible.

Science and politics: mutual tasks and responsibilities

The Prime Minister stated that the quality of Hungarian science is a question of national policy. Hungary does not possess an arsenal of nuclear weapons, it does not have endless reserves of oil and the country’s population is not in the hundreds of millions: “We must rely on the resources we have. And what we have is a unique set of mind and serious scientific traditions.”

“We are living in an era of constant struggle to retain scientific minds”, he added. “Presently, the question is what we can do to prevent Hungarian scientists going abroad. This is a task which is easy to talk about but difficult to achieve. The brain drain is a reality: talented scientists are being attracted west and slowly but surely to the east as well. The public must be made aware of the fact that the Academy and the government have not accepted this intellectually subjugated and vulnerable position”, said Mr. Orbán, who thanked the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for having launched the Lendület (Momentum) Program in 2009.

He expressed his gratitude to researchers who had decided to stay in the country and to researchers who had returned from abroad: “To pursue a scientific career here in the country implies patriotic thinking. It means the researcher is ready to serve the interests of Hungarian science and the nation as a whole.”

Alliance between the Academy and the government

According to the Prime Minister the prerequisite for being competitive in the new era following the financial crisis of late is to be innovative. To achieve this goal, it is crucial to lay down the institutional and financial foundations necessary for world-class research.

“That is why we decided years ago to forge an alliance with the Academy.

As a result of this alliance, the Hungarian government provided a grant of 9.5 billion forints for the building of the Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It also supported the founding of the CERN Wigner Datacentre with 8.5 billion forints and allocated 12 billion forints for the Hungarian Brain Research Program for the period between 2014-2017.

Besides these programs, an increasing part of the budget is dedicated to research, development and innovation. While in 2010 hardly 1 per cent of the budget was allocated for this purpose, today this amounts to 1.4 per cent”, the Prime Minister added.

According to Mr. Orbán, the money spent on science in the past years has proven to be a profitable investment.

1200 billion forints for research, development and innovation until 2020

“The aim of the government is to make Hungary the most competitive country in Central Europe.

Therefore, the government is to spend 1200 billion forints on research, development and innovation. This amounts to 1.8 per cent of the GNP, which means we are approaching the 1.9 per cent average of the EU. To reach this goal, we conferred with President Lovász and agreed that we shall collaborate with the new programs of the Academy as well”, said Mr. Orbán.

In his opinion, the most constructive solutions regarding the challenges facing science from the Academy’s point of view are always the same. “We must keep returning to the original intentions of the founder, both in politics and in science. It is his personality that perhaps best embodies the co-dependency between these two fields. It is his energy and intellectual vigour we require in our quest to cope with the hardships and stick to our purposes.

In the days when politics and the Academy both adhered to the mentality of Széchenyi, our country always found the answers even to the most difficult of questions.

I do hope this will continue in the future. We expect the Academy to be a clear-headed overseer of the government: it should never forget that it is obliged to support science and research and guarantee its independence in order to ensure the growth of the nation. Contrarily to common belief, we cannot make neutral decisions or choices. Science and politics cannot be self-centred, it must serve public needs. Consequently, the general assemblies of the Academy, while also evaluating the past, are also constantly concerned with the future.

I was happy to hear from the President that they are ready to take significant steps in the fields of hydrology, agrarian innovation and didactics in the immediate future.

The problems arising in these disciplines influence the everyday lives of Hungarians”, said the Prime Minister.

Climate change and its consequences – a major challenge

Mr. Orbán also informed the General Assembly about his meeting with President Lovász that very morning. “I wish to tell you that in the course of our preliminary talks with the President of the Academy we agreed that even in the medium term the greatest challenge for Hungary is climate change and its consequences for the Carpathian Basin. We must understand this problem, we must study it and we must answer the challenges we face – I believe, by joining forces.”

To conclude his speech, the Prime Minister thanked the Academy for its work in the name of the Hungarian nation and wished the Academy further international success.