Mr Béla Kardon was born in Budapest on May 2, 1964.

Studies: He studied Physics at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest (ELTE) Faculty of Science (TTK), received his MSc in 1989, dr. of Technology in 1995, PhD in 2003.

Career: From 1989 till 1997 he worked as a Scientist at the Gödöllő University (GATE), from 1997 till 2001 as Attaché for Science & Technology at the Hungarian Embassy in Bonn. In 2001 he joined the Hungarian Ministry of Education (OM) as Program Director for International Bi-lateral R&D Cooperation. In this position he was was responsible for the bilateral activities and the respective funding programs with 30 Countries. In 2004 he took office as Head of Unit for Key Technologies, responsible for the National Strategic Reference Frame (NSRF; GOP: Operational Programme for Economical Development, part Research & Innovation) in the National Office for Research & Technology (NKTH). In 2007 he became Senior Scientist and Program Manager at Collegium Budapest, Institute for Advanced Study, in 2009 Senior Scientist and International Expert in the Institute for Applied Telecommunication Technologies of the Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research. 2008 – 2010 he was invited lecturer of the courses Innovation Management and Hungary and the European Union at the ELTE TTK. In September 2010 he became Head of the Department for Science Policy in the new formed Ministry of National Resources. In this position he was responsible for governmental science policy and the planning of the higher education development part of the Structural Funds in Hungary. Since 2015 Dr Kardon is Chief Scientific Officer at the Regional Centre for Information & Scientific Development Ltd.

E-mail: bela.kardon@rcisd.eu