Spending on research and development in Hungary approached HUF887bn (€2.27bn) in 2022, according to the yearly report of the Central Statistics Office (KSH) shows.

Businesses accounted for 72% of R&D spending, universities for 16% and the state for 13%. R&D spending was equivalent to 1.33% of GDP.

The structure of R&D funding gradually shifted towards the private sector since the mid-2000s, the KSH said.

The top 100 companies accounted for 73% of the R&D expenditures in the business sector and 52% of the total national R&D expenditures. They employed 33% of the workforce, including more than a third of all researchers and almost two-thirds of the researchers in the business sector.

This concentration underscores the dual structure of the Hungarian economy. The lack of competitiveness of small businesses remains a key problem. Hungarian micro, small, and medium-sized businesses employ two-thirds of the workforce but contribute less than half of the total value added, their share within investments is approximately one-third of the total.

Almost 92,000 people were employed in R&D, some 4.5% below 2021 levels, and close to three-fourths were researchers.

Between 2016 and 2022, the growth of the private sector R&S staff was mainly driven by large and medium-sized enterprises.

Companies employing 50-249 doubled their R&S staff during the period, while growth in businesses with 1-9 employees had the smallest increase of 9.0%.