“Such a high interest in the measure shows that businesses operating in Lithuanian regions are creative and strive to create innovative solutions and develop technologies that meet market needs. We have therefore decided to increase the amount of the call by EUR 5.78 million and to fund more projects that will open up more opportunities for Lithuania and increase the competitiveness of businesses in the market,” says Iveta Paludnevičiūtė, Chancellor of the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation.
As many as 97 project implementation plans (PIP) were received, of which 47 were eligible for funding and met all the conditions set out in the call. The highest scoring projects have already been distributed the full amount of the call, i.e. EUR 1.71 million, while the remaining projects will be allocated additional EUR 5.78 million, which will be distributed in the near future.
“We have been pleasantly surprised by the activeness of young businesses in the regions. The decision to provide additional funding was taken to help enterprising young businesses to grow and add value in the regions. The high activeness confirmed that businesses operating in the regions are waiting for investment and have the potential that funding mechanisms such as “InoStart” can help to unlock,” says Inga Lukošiūnaitė, Head of the Science and Innovation Projects Division of the Innovation Agency.
In terms of project specialisation, the field of information and communication technology (ICT) received the highest number of project implementation plans (37 PIPs), followed closely by health technology and biotechnology (32 PIPs), and third being the field of new production processes, materials and technology (28 PIPs).
“Health sciences cover a relatively large part of the submitted project implementation plans, even though they were less popular in the previous calls. Traditionally, ICT has been the dominant theme, accounting for around half of all projects. However, although the overall popularity of ICT has dropped this year, the most popular theme was artificial intelligence and big and distributed data – we received 28 project implementation plans on this topic,” comments Ms Lukošiūnaitė.
The call was open to startup innovators operating in Central and Western Lithuania. These are enterprises that have been operating for less than a year and have an operating income of at least EUR 3 000. They are also enterprises with no previous experience in R&D, but which have been operating for more than a year and have an operating income of at least EUR 3 000.
In addition to R&D activities, “InoStart” was also open to patenting of the products developed and making the products ready for the market. 9 businesses applied for funding for product patenting and 2 were successful.
The maximum amount of funding available for a project is EUR 200 000 and the minimum is EUR 40 000. The maximum amount of funding available for patenting activities is up to EUR 30 000 and for the preparation of the developed product for the market – up to EUR 80 000. After receiving funding, applicants will be required to implement the project activities within 18 months.
After evaluation of all project implementation plans, funding has been awarded to enterprises operating in the cities of Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai, the districts of Alytus, Klaipėda, Mažeikiai, Panevėžys and Utena, and the municipality of Kazlų Rūda, which will design and develop innovative technologies in the fields of medicine, transport, energy, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and others.
Ambitious projects
The “InoStart” call will support the design and development of innovations in the medical field, such as a non-invasive intracranial pressure pulse wave and brain fluency monitor, measures to verify the safety and efficacy of clinical trials, and an innovative biosensor for gluten levels in the human body. This area also includes the development of new and improvement of existing medicinal products.
A vertical wind turbine will be substantially improved in the field of energy, and an innovative multi-layered distributed data transmission and processing system for real-time behavioural recognition and decision making will be developed in the field of transport and technology.
An AI-based system for the identification and optimal route for the collection of stones that interfere with agricultural activities is planned to be developed in the field of agriculture.
“When evaluating the project implementation plans, we took into account the level of innovation of the projects. Out of 47 projects that were positively evaluated, 27 are innovative at global level, 17 at market level and only 3 at company level. This shows that Lithuanian businesses are able to think globally and create innovations that strengthen the position of the country in international value chains,” adds Ms Lukošiūnaitė.
To strengthen the Lithuanian economy, the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation will launch calls for funding totalling almost EUR 1 billion by the end of 2023. Around EUR 365 million has been earmarked for business, innovation and investment, EUR 320 million for the digitisation of the state and business, and EUR 268 million for the greener economy.
Funding under the “InoStart” measure comes from the Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments 2021–2027.
