TA-Institutionen und -Programme

by Lajos Nyri

In the December 1994 issue, the TA-Datenbank-Nachrichten have already published an article on TA in Hungary by Tibor Laslo (reprinted in the EPTA newsletter). The contribution by Lajos Nyri describes the major events since then.

OMFB is a government agency with national authority - supervised by the Minister of Industry and Trade. The prime mission of OMFB is to develop and oversee - in cooperation with the ministries concerned - the implementation of a strategic view of the contribution of science and technology to Hungary's life. It is responsible for advising the government on technology development and innovation policy, for raising the nation's technological level, for providing assistance relating to the development of processes, products and services embodying highly advanced technologies.

The actual state of OMFB that is valid from December 1994, contains TA as a field of responsibility for OMFB. This is the first legal document in Hungary dealing with TA on the governmental level. Since there are several transition difficulties in our economy, the establishment of an advanced TA culture cannot be a rapid process, only the first steps are taken.

The first results in this field, which are mainly of a theoretical and conceptional nature, can be summarised shortly as follows:

1. Involving Hungarian and foreign experts, the international practice (goals, methods, etc.) of TA has been surveyed. The experiences have been published in a study entitled "Introduction to Technology Assessment" and was distributed to a wide circle of experts and decision makers (Members of parliament, government officials, teams).

2. In order to establish the knowledge base and culture of TA in Hungary, good cooperation with Germany in TA which is also included in the German-Hungarian bilateral science and technology programme, plays a significant role.

3. The new technology development policy program of the Hungarian Government was completed recently, in which the necessity of TA among other related fields (Technology Audit, Technology Foresight) is mentioned with strong emphasis. The government approval process of this document is underway now.

4. An international workshop was held on 10 - 14 October 1995 organised by NATO, IATAFI, OMFB and the Innovation Research Centre, Budapest, with the main topics of TA, technology transfer, forecasting and knowledge. The workshop gave a good opportunity to discuss the situation of these related topics in Central and Eastern Europe [for a report on the workshop see TA-Datenbank-Nachrichten, Nr. 4, 4.Jg., December 1995, S. 44 ff.].

Although at present the establishment of a Hungarian TA institution is not on the agenda, all national preparation activities in order to create the relevant knowledge base and implementation are coordinated by OMFB.

For further information, please contact

Lajos Nyri
OMFB
Szervita t_er 8
H-1052 Budapest
Hungary
Tel.: ++ 36-1-117 4084
Fax: ++ 36-1-266 0800
E-mail: H1727NyiCly8∂ella hu