17 national laboratories, out of which two belong to the University of Pécs, and a research laboratory started operating on 25 September. László Palkovics, minister of innovation and technology has officially opened the Human-Reproduction and Virological Laboratory at the UP Szentágothai János Research Center on 25 September. The government supported the laboratory’s work with 14 billion forints and in the following years, they are planning to give 90 billion forints to the cause. 

“The fact that in Europe the birth rates are drastically low is a huge problem, unfortunately our rates here in Hungary are suboptimal as well. We want to see Hungary prosper in terms of population as well. The other problem we are hoping to solve in the coming half-year period is the coronavirus.” - described rector Attila Miseta the research fields of UP’s two laboratories, then he added: “We have achieved serious breakthroughs in both fields.”

“It is not a coincidence that we announce the opening of the national laboratories here, in Pécs.”

– said minister László Palkovics. “In 2018, when the Ministry of Innovation and Technology was established, some of our goals were aimed towards bringing universities onto the same platform as industry representatives. We wanted to concentrate our resources in order to become more competitive. The soon to be established national laboratory network will be able to perform better in a more effective cooperation with each other and on the international level as well.”

As the minister said, 18 laboratories are included the current structure, out of these 18, two are in Pécs. These laboratories concentrate on topics of industry and digitalization, social and environmental safety, culture and family and healthcare.

Two national laboratories will begin working under the supervision of the University of Pécs: The Human-Reproduction National Laboratory, which is already an internationally acknowledged scientific laboratory and research network, led by Prof. Dr. Gábor L. Kovács, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; and the Virological National Laboratory led by Prof. Dr. Ferenc Jakab, which gained presence in the press and popularity due to the COVID epidemic.