Hungary first time applied for locating the EIT in 2005. After the session of the EU’s Competitiveness Council on 25 February 2008, the Hungarian delegation confirmed the country’s wish of locating the institute in Budapest. Minister Gordon Bajnai, responsible for national development and economy, introduced the Hungarian bid in Brussels, 29 May 2008. This presentation was recognized as the best one from those were given by the candidates, said the representatives of EU member states.

The main points of the Hungarian bid were: the scientific achievements of Hungarian brains are acknowledged worldwide, the wide campus network of Budapest, central geo-political location and excellent infrastructure of Hungary.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology will be the centre of the European innovation activities. The institute will be responsible for the European research and development (R&D) sector, EIT will finance different projects and decide where the R&D centres would be planted in Europe.

According to the plans EIT will start operating in 2009, in Infopark. The Hungarian Government will pay the rental fees of the building for twenty years and the salaries of approximately twenty employees of EIT for five years.

EIT will be financed from the collective budget of EU by EUR 308,7 million till 2013. Private sources will also be involved in financing. Although, the EIT headquarter will be a relatively small EU institution, it will colligate the whole European innovation activity through Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). It is expected to have 3 KICs operating by 2013 on the field of climate change, energy and infocommunication.