Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

Development of economic incentives

The Hungarian Government provides economic incentives to promote the IP activities of SMEs.

• A special type of tax, the innovation tax was introduced in 2003 to raise the national level of innovation. The tax flows into the innovation fund, which supports different innovation developments, programs, and investments.
• The government encourages industrial property activities of the SME sector. Applications for international protection are aided by a fund, while national protection will be aided by a new tax refund system from 2005.

According to the renewed application fund system, which has been in force since 2003, 90% of the costs related to obtaining international patent protection are subsidized by the state.

A new parallel application fund system became available in 2004, which financially supports prototyping, the preparation of the 0 series, and utilization by SMEs.

The expected results of the VIVACE Program are as follows:

• Innovative SMEs are becoming aware of how to manage their intellectual property,
• Increased number of patented products,
• Increased recognition and use of intellectual property protection,
• Increased licensing activity.

The industrial property information network, education and tax benefits help to improve the competitiveness in the innovative activity of SMEs.

It is well known that this process requires longer time, now we are at the beginning, but we are working on it.

VIVACE Program - details