At its meeting of 12 April 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the information report “Review of the Topicality of the Initiative of the Latvian Innovation and Technology Support Fund” prepared by the Ministry of Economics (ME), which marks a new model for better and structured cooperation and governance of the public sector, enterprise and science sectors, with a view to promoting greater innovation development and deployment.
During the new programming period of the EU funds (2021-2027), funding for research, development, innovation (R&D&I) and digitisation of more than 700 million euro is available at the department of the Ministry of Economics alone, as well as funding for research and development (R&D) is also available to the Ministry of Education and Science. The report emphasises the need to develop better institutional governance and Latvian Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) governance. It will provide an opportunity not only to improve cooperation between key R&D&I policy-making and implementing institutions, but also to better plan R&D&I funding investment, and to create a clear framework for cooperation between entrepreneurs, scientists and the state to promote R&D&I.
The Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs: “Promoting cooperation between entrepreneurs, researchers and the public sector, which would lead to new, innovative products, technologies and services, is one of my priorities and priorities of the Ministry of Economics. In order to strengthen this cooperation, we have developed a solution that enables entrepreneurs, scientists and the public sector to interact in a structured way – to create new, joint projects, identify existing barriers to innovation development and, above all, develop joint strategies and action plans that serve as a basis for attracting public funding for research, development and innovation. At the same time, we have offered a clear framework for strategic monitoring of Latvia’s innovation performance. We expect this model to provide a basis for the rapid development of innovation in Latvia.”
In 2022, a new innovation institutional governance and RIS3 governance model is expected to be launched. The purpose of this reform is to ensure both better cooperation between the institutions involved in the development and deployment of innovation and research policy, and to improve cooperation between the partners of the innovation system – enterprises, representatives of the science and research sector, as well as public administration.
In the field of RIS3 governance, it is intended to develop value chains for innovation ecosystems in each field of RIS3*, which will be monitored by steering groups for each RIS3 field coordinated by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (IDAL). The task of RIS3 steering groups will be to develop medium-term strategies and annual action plans, identify barriers hindering the innovation and research environment and make proposals for changes to the innovation system.
It is planned that a council will be created for the approximation and creation of closer cooperation between innovation and research/science policies, including in the field of RIS3 monitoring. It will consist of two ministers – the Minister of Economics and the Minister of Education and Science, as well as directors of two agencies – IDAL and the Latvian Council of Science. Finally, it is planned to review the functions of the Latvian Research and Innovation Strategic Council (LRISC) headed by the Prime Minister in order to ensure that LRISC decides only on strategically crucial matters of R&D&I policy and RIS3.
At the same time, the Ministry of Economics informed about a new initiative to create a National Research Programme (NRP). In 2022, it is planned to launch the implementation of the NRP “Innovation Fund – Sectoral Research Programme”. The initiative is intended for carrying out studies that meet the needs of the Latvian industry, European or global scale technologies, and contribute to resolving societal challenges, as well as correspond to a specific, defined long-term technology development mission. Over the next three years, annual public budget funding intended for the NRP amounts to 4 million euro. As part of the financing of the NRP, practical, commercialisable research projects corresponding to two RIS3 fields approved in Latvia will be implemented – biomedicine, medical technologies, pharmacy; photonics and smart materials, technologies and engineering systems. The Cabinet of Ministers is expected to approve an order on the establishment of the NRP in the near future.
*5 RIS3 fields are defined in Latvia and enshrined in the National Industrial Policy Guidelines for 2021-2027, and the R&D&I funding for 2021-2027 will focus on them. These fields are: (a) Knowledge-intensive bioeconomy; (b) Biomedicine, medical technologies, pharmacy; (c) Photonics and smart materials, technologies and engineering systems; (d) Smart energy and mobility; (e) Information and communication technologies.