At its meeting of January 10, the Cabinet of Ministers supported a new Recovery Fund Support Programme developed by the Ministry of Economics (MoE) for entrepreneurs “Support for digitalisation of processes in commercial activities”, within the framework of which entrepreneurs will have access to support for introduction of new software and equipment in their companies, ensuring digitalisation of internal processes in commercial activities and increasing productivity.
Nowadays, digitalisation affects all sectors of the economy and transforms our lives, work and communication. Digitalisation issues gained newfound relevance due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reaffirming the need for both businesses and the population to be able adapt and use digital services, tools and adapt to changing conditions in general. Therefore, support for the digital transformation of entrepreneurship as well as development of digital services and necessary capabilities and skills has been defined as one of the main priorities of the Recovery Fund,” the Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone emphasises.
Within the framework of the new programme, merchants will be able to receive support for improving administrative, personnel management, sales, resource management, data management, transport and logistics, production and quality control, operational management (business management, business analytics, big data analytics, etc.), strategic management processes and other improvements related to information and communication technology products, technologies, security or processes.
The support will be granted in the form of a grant voucher:
- micro and small merchants will have access to a small voucher of up to EUR 5000,
- SMEs, large merchants, NGOs, state-owned enterprises will have access to a large voucher of up to EUR 100,000.
To help merchants to make targeted and thoughtful investments that are effective and make a real contribution to digital transformation, the merchant will have to pass a digital maturity test to assess the current digital technology situation and identify areas where investment is needed and fill out the Digital Development Roadmap. A digital maturity test will need to be repeated after the investment project closes to assess the degree of increase in digital maturity (the beneficiary shall conduct the second test either independently or together with an expert from the European Digital Innovation Centre).
Support to merchants will be granted by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (IDAL). It is planned that merchants will be able to apply for the support in February 2023 (the IDAL will informed about the commencement of the acceptance of project applications separately). The total funding of the support programme is EUR 40.140 million. It is expected that at least 280 merchants will receive support within the framework of the programme until 2026. The draft Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers “Rules of Implementation of Investment 2.2.1.2.i. “Support for Digitisation of Processes in Commercial Activities” of 2.2.1.r. “Establishment of Full Cycle Support for Digital Transformation of Entrepreneurship with Regional Scope” of reform and investment direction 2.2 “Digital Transformation and Innovations of Enterprises” of component 2 “Digital Transformation” of Latvia’s Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan” can be found on the Portal of regulatory enactments.
As previously informed, to promote the digital transformation of enterprises, the MoE has planned to develop five new support programmes of the Recovery Fund. Currently, three programmes have already been approved by the government:
- “Support for the Creation of Digital Innovation Centres and Regional Contact Points” to promote European Digital Innovation Centres (EDICs) within the single European Union network by promoting a single and coordinated support ecosystem to promote digital transformation. The European Digital Innovation Centres will work to raise awareness of digital transformation among businesses and society.
- “Financial instruments for promoting the digital transformation of merchants”, within the framework of which merchants will have access to support for the promotion of digital transformation of merchants;
- “Support for digitalisation of processes in commercial activities”, within the framework of which entrepreneurs will have access to support for the introduction of new software and equipment in their companies, ensuring digitalisation of internal processes in commercial activities and increasing productivity.
And in 2023, two support programmes are planned to be approved by the government to promote the digital transformation of enterprises:
- support programme “investment 2.3.1.2.i. “Development of Digital Skills of Enterprises” of reform and investment direction 2.3 “Digital Skills” of component 2 “Digital Transformation” of Latvia’s Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan”, the objective of which will be to improve digital skills of micro, small, medium-sized and large Latvian enterprises, including skills that contribute to export promotion, high-level digital management skills at the level of enterprise management and skills for the use of digital technologies in different business processes;
- as well as support programme 2.2.1.3.i. “Support for Introducing New Products and Services in Business” of 2.2.1.r. “Establishment of Full Cycle Support for Digital Transformation of Entrepreneurship with Regional Scope” of reform and investment direction 2.2 “Digital Transformation and Innovations of Enterprises” of component 2 “Digital Transformation” of Latvia’s Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan”, which will aim to provide grants for the development of new digital products, technologies and services to increase private R&D expenditures through targeted public investments.
At the same time, we remind that in autumn 2022 the Ministry organised five forums for entrepreneurs, where we talked about all upcoming support programmes; a video presentation about them: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ekonomikasministrija