The Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (HSRF) was created in the last years of the party-state in Hungary. Beginning in the early 1980s, support for academic research was cut. The Hungarian government created an independent fund to support researchers and to help them catch up with sciences in the West (it was the first government of the Eastern Bloc to do so). Established in 1986, working as an independent as of 1991, and based on a law since 1993, the HSRF is the only source of funding exclusively for basic research in Hungary. The system of applications helps prepare Hungarian scientists for participation in international research organizations. Like the European Research Council (ERC), it supports high-level basic research. HSRF’s work is mainly financed out of the state budget. Its grants provide extra resources for the best researchers and research institutions in Hungary. The institution represents the sciences in Hungary through active participation in international organizations, as well as participation in jointly financing cooperative research programs launched by European research funding organizations. HSRF’s proposal system has developed flexibly in recent. The call system contains two types of proposal and one supplementary type since 2012. The first and most popular type is the research proposal. The second type is calls in support of young researchers. The supplementary proposals provide assistance with publication.
In 2015, the Office of the HSRF and the National Innovation Bureau, which is a central government organ, were united, and the National Research, Developmental and Innovation Bureau was established. Now, the Office of the HSRF is part of this organization.