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Latvia, together with partners from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and Hungary, has committed within the Interreg Europe project "Skills and Scale to Connect for Business Acceleration Services policy transfer" to explore the experience of other countries and seek additional solutions to further promote the startup ecosystem development and attract investments in Latvian startups.
The Latvian side in the project will be represented by the Ministry of Economics and the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; other participating countries in the project will be represented by state institutions and non-governmental organizations, as well as business organization representatives.
National representatives have engaged in the joint project to familiarize themselves with the experience of other countries in existing startup policy and support tool development and to improve the capacities and capabilities of public and business support organizations to improve the business environment, especially focusing on the startup ecosystem. For this purpose, the project will form a partnership of public and private organizations with complementary experience and competence.
Currently in Latvia, the Startup Support Act only stipulates support allocation criteria, risk capital investor qualification requirements, procedures, and competences for establishing a startup evaluation commission. It is planned that as a result of the project, guidelines for further development of the startup ecosystem and additional proposals for support measures will be developed with the aim of contributing to the improvement of the startup ecosystem operation and ensuring investment attraction in Latvian startups.
During the first meeting of the project partners, Latvian representatives had the opportunity to get acquainted with all project partners, their organization strategies and specifics, as well as exchange best practices and get an idea of the issues faced by partner countries that will be addressed within the project. The course of project implementation was discussed, partners' experience in project implementation was acquired, and the next project activities were planned.
This was also an opportunity to get acquainted with the Talent House in San Sebastian, where residents conduct research and visit their intended living spaces. The aim of the Talent House is to promote the employment of high-level professionals and researchers, as well as to attract international researchers. Additionally, there was an opportunity to learn about the nature of two startups "Onena Medicines" and "i2U" from the acceleration program.
During the project, workshops will be organized with policymakers and stakeholders to improve startup support measures for project partner countries. At the end of the project, each participating country will present the developed solution for the development of the startup sector in their country; Latvia plans to develop guidelines for further development of the startup ecosystem and additional proposals for support measures.
To strengthen the competitiveness of EU region manufacturing companies both at the local and global level, the main factor is scalability. It is important because expanding the business means that SMEs will be able to work with more clients, resources, and data. By effectively supporting them in this process, EU companies will be able to maintain the quality of their product or service and overall efficiency, as well as maintain their growth and impact on employment.
The project is financed by the Interreg Europe program."