Innovation Payments Initiated2011. április 18.
"The government has implemented changes to the system of innovation policy and in the future payments of the innovation fund tenders will be initiated based on a strategy devised for a unified development policy", said Ágnes Molnár in an interview.
In the interview given to MTI the State Secretary of the Ministry of National Development (NFM) pointed out that the previous government left a difficult legacy regarding innovation and the tenders of the innovation fund. ‘We face a situation in which each and every tender requires screening before payments can be initiated’, said Ágnes Molnár. The State Secretary of NFM emphasized that the government of national cooperation made a decision when it took office to operate the innovation fund in a new structure in the future. The screening process of the tenders proved that innovation and science policy must be carried on, and the sources of the innovation fund have to be used based on a well-devised strategy.
Talking about the new structure, she said that new innovation policy was defined by the National Innovation Office under the control of the Ministry for National Economy, and the innovation fund was administered by the Ministry of National Development that selected National Development Agency to manage the fund, and MAG Zrt and Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) to act as intermediate bodies. Ágnes Molnár said that at the takeover of the innovation fund the number of tenders having a grant contract was 3,612, while the number of tenders waiting for approval was 2,528. For those tenders that were taken over and had an approval payments were initiated after the legal and structural reform. Current status is that 1,014 contracts are marked as payable, and the National Development Agency has already initiated the payment of 391 projects in a total of HUF 3.018 billion. ‘To secure legitimate payments in the future administrative modifications are needed in the contracts.
To do this, fast and positive cooperation is needed from the contracting parties’, Ágnes Molnár added. The State Secretary said that she reviewed the OTKA tenders of the Academy with the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and payments were initiated in a total of HUF 553 million. Furthermore, payment of HUF 470 million was initiated to the research institutes of the Academy. As for the future, payments will be continuous for committed tenders in line with the budget, and changes will be implemented to make the system of tendering and the payments effective, uncomplicated and transparent. Regulations for the use of Hungarian innovation sources will be simplified in a similar manner to that of EU tenders. ‘Our goal is to coordinate and integrate the sources of the innovation fund and the R+D tenders of New Széchenyi Plan's economic development programmes’, Ágnes Molnár emphasized. Supporting research and innovation is a crucial part of the new development policy and the most important basis for economic growth. We have to find the means to extend the sources available for this purpose. ‘Nevertheless, to reach this goal we also have to create a transparent institutional system and a legally impeccable support system’, the State Secretary pointed out.