Sir

Your News Feature “Dreaming on the Danube” (Nature 427, 94–95; 2004) painted a grim picture of Hungarian science, reflecting the frustration of young scientists with the funding system.

Having returned to Hungary in 1995 and established a laboratory with mostly foreign support, I agree that without this it is almost impossible for young scientists to return and establish independent research. But the real problem is the serious underfunding of research, especially basic research, which affects scientists of all ages.

In my opinion, Hungarian science should be discussed in its context within the European Union (EU), which could play a much greater role in revitalizing science in a country with a record of producing high-impact research for low cost.

In 2003, the average Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) grant was roughly US$10,000, minus 20% for value-added tax. In my experience, it takes at least ten times more to establish a competitive life-sciences research laboratory in Hungary. Fortunately, many foreign grants offer funding in this range for scientists under 35 who want to return to Hungary, but Hungarian science cannot rely for ever on the generosity of foreign charities. The question is: in a small country with a low gross domestic product (GDP), where will the money come from?

When I returned to Hungary, I hoped that this help would come eventually from the EU. But the EU has indirectly made matters worse, because the modest increase in Hungarian science funding has been used to emulate EU Framework programmes in supporting applied research, ignoring the needs of basic science and distributing disproportionately large funds to a lucky few. This approach is particularly problematic for a small country, which has its main strengths — as your “Eastern promise” Editorial points out — “not in technology development, where existing policy has its focus, but in basic research” (Nature 426, 369; 200310.1038/426369b).

The same Editorial mentioned that the European Commission is finally starting to recognize the importance of the “untapped scientific potential” of newly joining countries for the competitiveness of the EU.

Currently, support for basic research is left to the member countries in the EU, not all of which can afford it. To allow fair competition for EU money in both applied and basic research, specific funds should be established to support basic science in new EU member countries whose per capita GDPs are well below the European average.

Private organizations in Europe and overseas already support basic science in Hungary. In my view, if the EU is serious about expanding the European research area, it must do more than simply drain talent away from the new member countries. The cost of such investment would be minimal, because 0.25% of the EU's annual €178-billion (US$227-billion) expenditure on research and development would create a fund ten times bigger than OTKA, and the EU could guarantee that the system would be fair and merit-based. Then we could start working for Europe instead of dreaming about it.