New Recovery Fund support programme has been approved

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a new Recovery Fund support programme. The initiative aims to foster collaboration among companies, research education, and science institutions on both the local and international scale and to increase company investments in development and innovation.

Several factors impact the low level of investments in research and development, one of which is company investments in activities with low knowledge capacity and profitability. The limited number of export-capable companies and the high proportion of microenterprises do not favor the shift of Latvian companies towards a knowledge and innovation-based economy.

To help Latvian manufacturers develop competitive advantages related to technology and innovation, it’s crucial to ensure internationalisation opportunities and increase private research and development investment volumes.

“Therefore, the support programme is proposed to enhance the competitiveness, productivity, internationalisation activities, export capability and innovation development of our companies,” emphasised Economics Minister Viktor Valainis.

The programme is designed as a support tool for cooperation networks, which are associations or foundations that bring together companies, research and knowledge sharing organisations, associations, foundations, and other institutions operating in mutually related sectors, economic niches, product or service groups, value chains or regions.

Support will be available to small (micro), medium, large companies (including state capital companies) and research and knowledge sharing organisations for:

• Cooperation with research and knowledge sharing organisations;
• Experience and knowledge transfer activities;
• Activities related to scaling a new or existing product;
• Receiving consultations to promote involvement in European Union level innovation programmes;
• Activities to promote the industry.
• To distribute the funding, the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) will first select a cooperation network, which will then provide support to the its participants in the form of grants and non-financial assistance (training, seminars).

The total available Recovery Fund financing within the programme is 5,248,431 euros, with a per-project limit of 437,369 euros. Overall, it’s planned to support at least 12 project applications, thereby providing support to at least 240 companies by June 30, 2026.

It’s anticipated that the export volume in supported companies will increase to 100 million euros two years after receiving support. The programme also plans for organising 1000 visits to potential cooperation partners, including trade missions, and conducting at least 60 market studies.

The CFLA is expected to select the cooperation networks in December this year, so that companies can access the support in the first quarter of 2024.

The rules for implementing the third round of investments “Support tool for research and internationalization” under the direction of reform and investment 5.1 “Increasing productivity through investment volume increase in R&D” 5.1.1.r. reforms “Innovation management and private R&D investment motivation” 5.1.1.2.i. are available on the unified Legal Act Portal.

Source: Press release 
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