Salary increases, performance-based funding, and AI revolution coming to HUN-REN

“On Monday, we signed the public task financing agreement that will underpin the operations of the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network. This allows us to build a stable, predictable system for our researchers and everyone working at HUN-REN. It’s a 25-year framework agreement under which the Hungarian state commissions HUN-REN to carry out modern research, and within this structure we will conclude public task financing agreements in six-year cycles,” emphasized Roland Jakab, CEO of HUN-REN, in an interview with portfolio.hu about the significance of Monday’s signing.

Responding to the fact that the research network will receive 76.8 billion forints from the state in 2026 and 89.3 billion forints annually from 2027 onward, Roland Jakab stressed that this increased funding will make it possible to build new capacities as well.

“We want to offer researchers services that actively support their scientific work. We’ll be putting AI applications and new tools in their hands so they can reach results faster,” he emphasized, adding that a key future goal is to establish a dedicated AI research center. This center would both study research driven by AI and develop specialized models that can provide higher-level support for research in specific scientific fields, be it biology, chemistry, or physics.

The interview also revealed that, in addition to artificial intelligence being named a key strategic focus area, HUN-REN is launching a new institute dedicated to researching healthy living, with the goal of helping Hungarians live longer, healthier lives.

During the conversation, Roland Jakab also noted that the network’s 3,500 researchers are already working on numerous developments with real market potential - from the zero-magnetic laboratory in Sopron that supports space research, to drought-resistant plant varieties, new energy-storage solutions, vaccines, as well as pharmaceutical and diagnostic innovations. All of this will be backed by high-performance computing capacity.

The planned 20-petaflop “Levente” supercomputer - along with Hungary’s connection to the European exascale system - will strengthen digital sovereignty and support applied AI and data-driven research.

The full interview (in Hungarian) can be read here.