About how you can find detailed information on the webpages of our projects Innosutra, and InnoLocalSupport. Below you will basically find the information related to Hungary in place since 1st January 2012 with some complementary information about the above mentioned projects.
Research+development and innovation are intellectual activities carried out by individuals. Therefore within its costs staff costs are relatively high compared to other costs. As a consequence of being an intellectual activity, to reach good results can fundamentally ensured by having adequate human resources. Thus one (and perhaps the most important) conditions of the success of the D+R activities is to select the qualified and experienced as well as creative workforce.
So far so good, but how can I know that my project really is an R+D project? If considering the above mentioned contents I judge my project as an R+D project, and pursue tax base and tax benefits, in case I was mistaken, I will have to repay the sums, even could be fined.
The National Office of Intellectual Property has the right to recognize your project as an R+D project. This recognition cannot be overjudged by any other authority. You have to pay for this recognition if you decide to have it.
You will need to provide the following information to the National Office of Intellectual Property:
Personal data of the applicant and its representative, the title of the project or project part, its scientific category, the starting and end date of the project, the objectives of the project, the description of the project with milestones and work packages, the content of the project, the State of-the art, number, qualification, of participants in the research, R+D costs of the project, etc.
Based on the provided information projects are grouped into two academic categories:
a) Projects related to technical, scientific, medical, and agricultural-that is economy-based innovation
b) Projects related to social and human sciences- that is social innovation
Interestingly, the following question is needed to be replied related to content description:
How innovative is your project or what scientific uncertainty can it resolve?
This is extremely interesting, as it is very similar to the beginning of the sentence of point 84 of Frascati Handbook. The main difference is that while in the Frascati Handbook novelty and scientific uncertainty are presented with an “and”, the questionnaire of the National Institute of the Intellectual property has it with an “or”.
As understanding and answering this question-especially in case of an experimental development, could be problematic, we hereby quote it with the second, explaining part of the sentence. (in bold letters)
2.3 „Boundaries of R+D
2.3.1. Criteria for defining R+D and related activities
84. The basic criteria for defining R+D activities and related activities is whether novelty and significant elements of resolving a scientific dilemma could be found in the respective R+D, that is, when the solution for a certain problem is not immediately evident for a person, who is acquainted only with basic scientific knowledge and techniques of the given field.” (Frascati Handbook)
This way, understanding and answering the question becomes much easier. As the activity which is not immediately evident for one person, who is acquainted only with basic scientific knowledge and techniques of the given field can be regarded as new and as one resolving a scientific/technical dilemma. We can, however, lament on what we consider as basic scientific knowledge and what is not immediately evident.
(When in doubt whether a project can be regarded as R+D project, Hungarian authorities used to refer to decide upon this question to the Frascati Handbook until 2011. The Frascati Handbook has no longer been used as a document supporting decisions since 2012.)
Recognition is not compulsory, but please note that in doubt about the R+D feature of your project, the National Tax Office will turn to the National Office of Intellectual Property for justification.
Don’t forget that recognizing your project as an R+D project or own R+D project only means that this recognition cannot be questioned by NAV or any other authorities. However, in case of a tax audit, you will need to prove that the tax and tax base allowance costs are real, direct costs and are related to the research and development project. Therefore it is useful to make a document annually on real activities and real costs related to each project. In our terminology this is called an R+D report.
Even if you don’t make your project recognized by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office it could be advisable to make an R+D plan with a similar structure to the data form composed by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office. Naturally, in this case it is also useful to make an R+D report.
If you have a problem that requires research and development or innovation and you do not have the intellectual capacity to solve it, contact us.
This way, you can set your problem as a task or a diploma project/thesis task for university students. Trust that young minds may be able to help solve your problem with revolutionary new solutions. In this box, you can observe how active, precise and creative each university student is trying to solve the task. If you need new workforce (human resources), you can also offer a job to the selected one(s).
