On August 23, 2018, the Ministry of Economics hosted a meeting between representatives of InnoEnergy, an innovation fund for energy sustainability, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and representatives of the Ministry of Economy during which a memorandum of cooperation was signed. It aims to ensure further partnership by promoting the exchange of resources, knowledge and experience among start-ups in the field of energy.
Based on the memorandum of cooperation, the parties undertake to jointly integrate existing knowledge and experience, exchange views, information and lessons learned in order to foster innovation. InnoEnergy intends to provide the Latvian start-ups with access to the resources available to the organization, including participating in various international contests and conferences, in order to facilitate the access of new and existing energy companies to multinational companies.
Raimonds Aleksejenko, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics, points out: “The memorandum of cooperation signed today will strengthen Latvia's closer ties with the InnoEnergy consortium, thus allowing both the Ministry of Economics and InnoEnergy to build closer contacts, use the competences and knowledge of both parties to promote the development of new and innovative ideas while ensuring the coherence of the activities implemented and non-overlapping. Already in 2017, the InnoEnergy accelerator was launched in Latvia supporting the financing of new and innovative business ideas in the field of energy, and it is considered to be a good supplement to the portfolio of innovation support activities offered by the Ministry of Economics to start-ups and businesses active in the field of innovation. We hope that this cooperation will result not only from the perspective of policy making, but will also ensure implementation of new, innovative energy and intelligent solutions projects in Latvia.”
In turn, Head of InnoEnergy in Latvia, Viesturs Zeps, emphasized that “a more active cooperation with the Ministry of Economics is a logical step towards the development of the energy sector and stimulation of the new business environment. The signed memorandum is a positive signal for young innovators to further develop their ideas, gaining new perspectives, network of potential clients, partners and experts at the international level within the framework of cooperation. It also allows Latvian companies to access a range of international initiatives, such as new networks within the European Battery Alliance. The Innovation Ecosystem created by InnoEnergy already comprises more than 300 partners, including major industrial enterprises, research institutes and universities in Europe.”
In May 2018, InnoEnergy also signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania, thus contributing to the improvement of the energy sector in the Baltic region.