National Innovation System in Hungary [antikvár]

I. íntroduction During the 1980's OECD concentrated a lot of efforts on identifying the RD - research and development - activities of the economically advanced countries and on developing a uniform system of concepts and postulates for the terms and a comparable data base. The result of these efforts is the so called Frascati Manual disclosing international methodology recommendations, the latest (1994) version of which provides the following definition for RD which has gained world wide acceptance. Research and experimentál development (RD) is identical to the creative work pursued on a regular basis which is aimed at enhancing the stock of knowledge, including that on humán beings, the culture and the society, as well as the use of such knowledge for the development of new applications. RD includes three types of activities: basic research, applied research and experimentál research (ibid p. 29). The relevant Hungárián institutions - the National Committee for Technical Development (OMFB) and the Hungárián Central Statistical Office (KSH) - have alsó aáopted the recommendaíion presented above and percept the term of RD according to the definition mentioned above.1 The precise definition of the currently used term of innovations is somewhat more difficult than that of R+D. According to the Frascati Manual, it reads as follows: Innovation is the conversion of an idea into a new or modernized product iniroduced in the markét, or into a new or further developed process applied in industry or commerce, or it is a new approach to a social service' (ibid p. 19). The so called Oslo Manual (1994) which is an OECD document aiming at summarizing the techniques of analyzing innovations, alsó emphasizes that 'RD is only orie of the innovative activities\ and it alsó notes that 'the spectrum of 'innovation beyond RD is very wide, it includes factors like design, equipping machines, engineering, the launching of production, the marketing of new products and the purchase of technologies not yet applied in production, 1 See: OMFB (1997) p. 9; KSH (1997) p. 75