Prime Minister Viktor Orbán officially opened an innovative new laser research hub in Szeged on Tuesday.
The prime minister said the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Laser Research Centre is the largest scientific development project in modern Hungarian history.
“The research center is not a project enabling us to catch up with Europe, but one with which Europe is catching up with the world," the prime minister said.
“Hungary will be one of the future’s winners if it establishes a whole network of research centers enabling the country to not only be a center of production, but also a center for research and development," he added.
PM Orbán pointed out that R&D is a crucial part of pushing a nation, and its economy forward. He said that Hungary decided upon this project when "we were closer to going bankrupt than Greece was", but decided it would be better for Hungary in the long-term.
“The research performed at the center could pave the way for technologies based on atomic processes, and could place outstandingly effective instruments at the disposal of other scientific fields, such as biology and medicine," the prime minister added.
The ELI Laser Research Centre occupies a site of 24,500 square metres, and five buildings in Szeged, which houses laboratories, preparation workshops, research offices, a conference hall, library and seminar rooms.