EIMIN to fund development of 10 new defence products
The evaluation of applications for the highly successful Defence Innovation Vouchers call has been completed and 10 defence companies will receive funding. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation is also considering funding additional companies from the reserve list.
"Until now, the defence industry has not been supported, so this year we created a measure for the development of innovative defence products. This has clearly paid off, with four times more applications than we expected. This measure must become an ongoing and priority instrument to enable both experienced defence companies and companies that have not been active in the defence sector to develop innovative solutions and expand their product range," said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
"Although we can only support 10 companies with the planned funding, the importance of this measure means that we will look for ways to fund as many companies on the reserve list as possible. We want to help defence companies grow and develop innovative solutions," said Erika Kuročkina, Vice-Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
Companies will receive vouchers worth up to €30,000, which they can use to purchase innovative services from scientific institutions or mature innovators to develop and advance defence technologies in line with the priorities set by the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
"This year, the Lithuanian Armed Forces, the Innovation Agency and the Defence Resources Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Innovation, agreeing to strengthen cooperation between science, business and the Armed Forces in the development of advanced defence solutions that meet the needs of the Armed Forces. On the basis of this agreement, the defence innovation priorities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces were defined, and companies applying for defence innovation vouchers were evaluated on the basis of these priorities," says Sigutė Stankevičiūtė, head of the ManuFuture Lab department at the Innovation Agency.
The Ministry has consistently made efforts to promote the growth of the defence sector in the country. To this end, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, together with the Ministries of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, has drawn up guidelines for the development of the defence and security industry, with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of the country's defence and security industry, attracting investment and promoting innovation in this field.
The establishment of MILInvest, a €13 million venture capital fund to support the growth of defence start-ups, is helping to strengthen the defence innovation ecosystem. In addition, the Innovation Agency plans to establish a Miltech Lab to support the development of innovative dual-use products.
This year also saw the adoption of legislative amendments to facilitate the development of large defence industry projects by simplifying procedures related to spatial planning, land parcelling and construction, and to enable defence industry activities in Lithuania to start in the shortest possible time. Amendments to the law have also been adopted to allow defence companies to operate in free economic zones. This is expected to encourage more companies, including foreign ones, to invest in the defence sector.
Lithuania's defence sector is growing rapidly, with the turnover of companies operating in the sector almost doubling in the last five years to around €700 million.