ABSTRACT
Attempts towards an economic cooperation have been made with the Central European Free Trade Association’s (CEFTA) initiative involving the economically most developed Central and Eastern European Countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The CEFTA agreement has been slowly but steadily advancing in its main task to reduce constraints on mutual trade. Austria had increased the relative importance of its heavy industries in comparison to its other manufacturing sectors. Hungary, equally, had enlarged its heavy industries, largely at the cost of food production. Perhaps more importantly, Hungary has began to shift its export specialization towards more human capital and technology intensive goods as early as in the first years of the latest transition. The chapter looks at the Hungarian knowledge base by analyzing the in- and output factors of the science and technology system. Of similar interest as the input are the output factors of the CEFTA Fives’ S&T systems.
