In the fall of 2024, the Ministry of Economy will start the implementation of the first long-term national research program "Innovation Fund - long-term research program" in Latvia. 22 million euros are available for the first stage of the program from 2024 to 2026.
The program is intended to support early-stage of applied science and commercial-oriented research in two promising areas of development for Latvia:
- in biomedicine, medical technology, pharmacy;
- in photonics, smart materials, electronics, electrical engineering, technology and engineering systems.
The program plans to create a platform created by research organizations of these two fields, which will closely cooperate with the Latvian industry representing the relevant field, in order to form a joint order of the state and industry for research work and to select perspective research projects together with foreign experts, while applying flexibility in project monitoring.
The long-term national research program created by the Ministry of Economy is planned to be implemented in several stages in cooperation with the Latvian Science Council. For the first stage from 2024 to 2026, 22 million euros are available to the Ministry of Economy. For the next three stages, it is possible to increase the funding by eight million euros annually - a total of 24 million euros in each three-year stage.
Minimum results of the program to be achieved by 2032:
- one research platform established;
- at least 45 technologies and prototypes have been developed, including at least 30 technologies that correspond to the 5th and 6th technology readiness level;
- at least five new commercialized technologies, including prototypes.
Introduces a long-term national research program model
Despite the fact that the total research and development expenses in Latvia are slightly increasing, additional incentives are needed not only for the promotion of research and development investments by companies, but also for resolute action of the state investments, moreover, planning these investments with a long-term approach. One of the ways to increase state investment in research and development is state research programs created by sectoral ministries, which are a state order to carry out research work in order to create new knowledge, skills and innovations, develop new products, processes and services, including developing human resources for sectoral problems for solving.
Therefore, in June 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a long-term national research program, the aim of which is to develop academic research and applied science competences for the development of innovative and commercializable products and technologies in close cooperation with Latvian biomedicine, medical technology, pharmaceutical, as well as photonics, smart materials, electronics, electrical engineering, technology and engineering systems industries.
The Minister of Economy, Viktors Valainis, previously stated that the Ministry of Economy saw the need to change the model of the national research program, ensuring that commercially oriented national research programs are implemented with a long-term approach, putting the platform model at the center - the associations of research organizations and platform cooperation partners, which implement the state order and monitors the implementation progress of projects submitted and supported on these platforms.
"Furthermore, it is planned to involve the Latvian industry in the work of the platforms, which would have the opportunity to define scientific problems, the solution of which requires early-stage research, which ensures that the work of the platforms can also contribute to the Latvian industry, if it shows interest in the research results and is ready to purchase these results and commercialize after the implementation of the projects," the minister emphasized.
Each program has its own tasks
The main long-term tasks of the program in the field of biomedicine, medical technology, pharmaceuticals are to improve the availability of therapy for the increase of survival and working capacity, developing technologies for the production of drugs, their transport forms and vaccines, implementing the re-profiling of medicinal substances, the discovery and development of new drugs, as well as identifying new biomarkers and developing precision medicine solutions.
On the other hand, in the field of photonics and smart materials, technologies and engineering systems, the main tasks are the development of solutions for optics, photonics, microelectronics, microfluidic devices, smart materials, data transmission and communication technologies, sensors and engineering systems, robotics and future internet of things.
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