National Laboratory for Social Innovation (TINLAB) launched

2021.02.22.

At the end of 2020, the development of eighteen knowledge centres in a field that is particularly promising for the national economy, was initiated by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) and coordinated by the National Office for Research, Development and Innovation (NKFIH).

With the emerging National Laboratories, the goal is to create science and innovation hubs in Hungary that provide answers to global challenges and become internationally recognized. In addition to summarizing the scientific results so far, their role is to coordinate the specific educational, scientific and practical results.

The government launched the network of National Laboratories from HUF 14 billion and will support it with a total of HUF 90 billion in the coming years. The labs focus on four main areas of research and development: industry and digitalization, society, health, and a secure society and environment. The 18 projects cover topics such as autonomous systems, climate change, artificial intelligence and virology.

The consortium partners of the National Laboratory for Social Innovation (TINLAB) initiated and coordinated by ELTE are the University of Miskolc and the University of Pannonia, as well as a non-governmental research and knowledge transfer organization, the Harp Foundation.

One of the main goals of the project is to propose a definition and to support the framework for social innovation at the national level, but at the same time to embed Hungarian social innovation research and development and innovation efforts in international cooperation systems. Within the framework of the laboratory, several thematic RDI forums and professional workshops will be established, the aim of which is to develop truly innovative solutions in response to social problems on the one hand, and social needs related to technological change on the other. In a later phase, these developed innovative models, products and services will be tested in real environments, settlements, regions and institutional systems with the involvement of the civil sphere.

The project can cover very broad thematic areas, such as (but not limited to): social welfare, the social impacts of digitalisation, local social innovations, environmental social innovations or the communities and labour market of the future.