Science and technology is one of Hungary's most developed sectors. The country spent 1.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on civil research and development in 2015, which is the 25th-highest ratio in the world. Hungary ranks 32nd among the most innovative countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, standing before Hong Kong, Iceland or Malta. Hungary was ranked 36th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.
In 2014, Hungary counted 2,651 full-time-equivalent researchers per million inhabitants, steadily increasing from 2,131 in 2010 and compares with 3,984 in the US or 4,380 in Germany. Hungary's high technology industry has benefited from both the country's skilled workforce and the strong presence of foreign high-tech firms and research centres. Hungary also has one of the highest rates of filed patents, the 6th highest ratio of high-tech and medium high-tech output in the total industrial output, the 12th-highest research FDI inflow, placed 14th in research talent in business enterprise and has the 17th-best overall innovation efficiency ratio in the world.
The key actor of research and development in Hungary is the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI Office), which is a national strategic and funding agency for scientific research, development and innovation, the primary source of advice on RDI policy for the Hungarian government, and the primary RDI funding agency. Its role is to develop RDI policy and ensure that Hungary adequately invest in RDI by funding excellent research and supporting innovation to increase competitiveness and to prepare the RDI strategy of the Hungarian Government, to handle the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, and represents the Hungarian Government and a Hungarian RDI community in international organizations.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences and its research network is another key player in Hungarian R&D and it is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary, with the main responsibilities of the cultivation of science, dissemination of scientific findings, supporting research and development and representing Hungarian science domestically and around the world. In 2018, Hungary's parliament allowed transferring a large part of the budget of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to the country's newly established Ministry of Innovation and Technology.
Research universities and institutions
A mining school called "Berg Schola", the world's first institute of technology was founded in Selmecbánya, Kingdom of Hungary (today Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia), in 1735. Its legal successor is the University of Miskolc and the University of Sopron in Hungary.
BME University is considered the world's oldest institute of technology which has university rank and structure. It was the first institute in Europe to train engineers at university level.
Among Hungary's numerous research universities, the Eötvös Loránd University, founded in 1635, is one of the largest and the most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hungary. The 28,000 students at ELTE are organized into eight faculties, and into research institutes located throughout Budapest. ELTE is affiliated with 5 Nobel laureates, as well as winners of the Wolf Prize, Fulkerson Prize and Abel Prize, the latest of which was Abel Prize winner Endre Szemerédi in 2012.
Semmelweis University in the recently released QS World University Rankings 2016 listed among the world's best 151–200 universities in the categories of medicine and pharmacy. According to the international ranking in the field of medicine Semmelweis University ranked first among the Hungarian universities. The "Modern Medical Technologies at Semmelweis University" project ensuring institution's place among the leading research universities in four main areas: Personalised medicine; Imaging processes and bioimaging: from molecule to the human being; Bio-engineering and nanomedicine; Molecular medicine.
Budapest University of Technology and Economics's research activities encouraged and is present on all levels from the B.Sc. through to the doctoral level. During the 1980s the BUTE was among the first in the Eastern bloc to recognise the importance of participating in research activities with institutions in Western Europe. Consequently, the university has the most well-established research relationships with Western European universities. There are many famous alumni at university: Dennis Gabor who was the inventor of holography got his Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971, George Oláh got his Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994. Nowadays the university has 110 departments, 1100 lecturers, 400 researchers.
University of Szeged research activities are important parts of its educational mission. Its research include basic and applied research, creative arts, product and service development. University of Debrecen with a student body of about 30 thousand is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Hungary and its areas of research include: molecular science; physical, computational and material science; medical, health, environmental and agricultural science; linguistics, culture and bioethics. University of Pécs is one of the research universities in the country with a professional research background. The Szentágothai Research Centre of the University of Pécs covers aspects of education, research and innovation in the fields of biomedical, natural and environmental sciences. The infrastructure, instrumentation and expertise of the 22 research groups operating on the premises provide important research facilities for Hungary as well as in Central Europe with an extensive network.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences's research network also contributes significantly to research output of Hungary. It comprises 15 legally independent research institutions and more than 130 research groups at universities co-financed by the academy. This research network focusing above all on discovery research is unparalleled in Hungary, accounting for one-third of all scientific publications produced in the country. Citation indices of publications posted by the academy's researchers surpass the Hungarian average by 25.5%. The research network addresses discovery and targeted research, in cooperation with universities and corporations. The main components of the network are the MTA Szeged Research Centre for Biology, the MTA Institute for Computer Science and Control, the MTA Rényi Institute of Mathematics, the MTA Research Centre for Natural Sciences, the MTA Institute of Nuclear Research, the MTA Institute of Experimental Medicine, MTA Wigner Research Centre for Physics, the MTA Centre for Energy Research and MTA Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (involved with Konkoly Observatory).
Venture capital market According to the HVCA (Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association) report joint efforts of the venture capital and private equity industry and the Hungarian government, the access of Hungarian enterprises to venture capital and private equity funding could be significantly increased. During the past two decades these financial intermediaries have also played an increasingly important role in the Hungarian economy. During this period, venture capital and private equity funds invested close to 4 billion US Dollars into more than 400 Hungarian enterprises.
However, so-called buyout transactions have accounted for about two thirds of the total volume of those investments, which were aimed at the acquisition of shares in mature companies that have been operating profitably for several years. The volume of investments in early and expansive stage companies was significantly lower. Only about 30% of the total volume of investments was directed at companies in the expansive stage and less than 5% at early stage companies. This is also reflected by the fact that over the last two decades slightly more than 10% of the total volume of venture capital and private equity investments came from funds focusing on early stage companies. The remaining close to 90% was invested by private equity funds focusing on more mature companies with greater economic strength. As for the number of transactions, companies in the expansive stage were targeted by the largest number of venture capital and private equity investments: such investments accounted for almost 60% of Hungarian transactions. Nearly a third of transactions involved early stage companies. Buy-out deals represented approximately 10% of transactions by number. Several factors have contributed to this growth. These include tax exemptions on Hungarian venture capital, funds established in conjunction with large international banks and financial companies and the involvement of major organizations desirous to capitalize on the strengths of Hungarian start up and high-tech companies. In recent years, the share of venture capital invested in the growth stages of enterprises has flourished at the expense of early stage investments.
Nobel Prize laureates
Since the first Hungarian won a Nobel Prize in 1905, the country has added a further 14 to its cache. With scientists, writers and economists all honored in the prestigious awards: Year Winner Field Contribution 1905 Philipp Lenard Physics "for his work on cathode rays" 1914 Robert Bárány Medicine "for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus" 1925 Richard Adolf Zsigmondy Chemistry "for his demonstration of the heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions and for the methods he used, which have since become fundamental in modern colloid chemistry" 1937 Albert Szent-Györgyi Medicine "for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid" 1943 George de Hevesy Chemistry "for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes" 1961 Georg von Békésy Medicine "for his discoveries of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea" 1963 Eugene Wigner Physics "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles" 1971 Dennis Gabor Physics "for his invention and development of the holographic method" 1986 John Polanyi Chemistry "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes" 1994 George Olah Chemistry "for his contribution to carbocation chemistry" 1994 John Harsanyi Economics "pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games" 2002 Imre Kertész Literature "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history" 2004 Avram Hershko Chemistry "for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation" 2023 Katalin Karikó Medicine "for the development of mRNA-based vaccine" 2023 Ferenc Krausz Physics "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter"
Hungarian Scientific Olympic Achievements
Hungary has excelled at the scientific Olympiads, ever since the beginnings. Best result is in maths with absolute cumulative 4th place until 2019, behind China, Russia and US. Per capita result is a world leader. Results in physics is just somewhat weaker. 9th place (3rd best in Europe). Per capita result is also a world leader. Chemistry (1968–2019) results give 8th place and 4th place in Europe. This is also a world leader per capita. However the results have weakened lately.
Hungarian inventions
The English word "coach" came from the Hungarian kocsi ("wagon from Kocs" referring to the village in Hungary where coaches were first made).coach. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved November 07, 2012.Definition "coach" in Merriam-Webster Dictionary.