Our key question is: how can we identify people with potential exceptional cognitive talent from an existing pool of 30,000 top 1% talented individuals? The Hungarian Templeton Program is a unique pilot program, which was publicly launched on September 15, 2015, and will continue until February 28, 2017. Its primary aim is to develop and support exceptional Hungarian cognitive talents in the 10-29 age group. Between September 2015 and January 2016, 300 young Hungarians will be identified with exceptional (1 out of 10,000) cognitive talents – becoming Hungarian Junior Templeton Fellows – to take part in the program.

The Hungarian Templeton Program has developed, and will implement, a new selection and talent support methodology, which is designed to act as a sustainable model that can be adapted to other countries. We will put together a one-year personalized talent development program for each of the 300 Hungarian Junior Templeton Fellows. The goal of the program is to set up a creative community network of exceptionally talented people, who will become the leaders, researchers and entrepreneurs of Hungary and Europe over the next 10 to 30 years. It is also important to assist participants in using their talents in a responsible manner for the greater good of society, as well as to encourage society to better appreciate the enormous potential of these talented individuals and support the development of new talents.

As a pilot study, the program also provides assistance to 150 underprivileged children aged 5 to 8, who show exceptional cognitive talents.