Application process for the “Innovation Academy” pre-acceleration program begins

The Innovation Academy entrepreneurship promotion program is entering the second phase of the program and we are opening the application process for the “Innovation Academy” pre-acceleration phase. Anyone with a business idea and a team for the implementation of this idea can apply. In *the program, the ideas and their teams will receive support for research, development of ideas, and prototyping, and for the transformation of Latvian science success stories into competitive business projects. Applications for participation in the pre-acceleration program can be submitted starting from 19 December, until 8 January 2023. decembra, līdz 2023. gada 8. janvārim. Developers of the program plan to enrol up to 40 teams in the pre-acceleration phase.

You can apply for the program here: https://business.gov.lv/pakalpojumi/apmacibas-ino-proj-pirmsakceleracija-ino-akad-2cikls?tips=atbalsts

Innovation Academy is in its second year. It is funded by LIAA Technology Business Centre and implemented by Riga Business School as a structural unit of Riga Technical University. The second program of the Innovation Academy started by enrolling 158 participants in the first phase of the program where participants learn the basics of innovative entrepreneurship. During the program, participants use what they learn, to work practically on generating and validating the ideas.

During the first phase of the program, participants studied about defining solutions and team building. In the introduction, practical master classes about ideation were organized for the participants, as well as several lectures held where representatives of industry familiarized students with the culture of innovations, team and culture building, and leadership. Participants were introduced to the challenges of the urban environment and urban mobility, energy sector and sustainable industries, and were exposed to the latest information about various machine-learning, AI, robotics and health technology trends.

In total 34 lecture hours, master classes of 14 hours, and 140 mentoring sessions with the participation of 24 mentors were held during the first phase.

I am truly delighted that we can start the application process for the second phase of the Innovation Academy. During the first phase, excellent teams with great ideas were already set up, and now is the time to proceed toward the implementation of these ideas. What we really want is to achieve that all these Latvian inventions and innovative business models enter the global market and are used to solve important problems – environmental, energy sector, health, productivity, management, and others.

Andrejs Berdņikovs
Head of LIAA Technology Business Centre

35 innovative ideas and their teams were enrolled in the first year of the “Innovation Academy” and proceeded to the next phase – the pre-acceleration part. In the course of the process, teams studied early-stage prototyping tools and methods, as well as developed the first prototypes of their ideas. Prototypes were used to further continue the development and testing of the viability of their ideas.

It is very satisfying to work with the participants of the Innovation Academy on a daily basis, as these are people with ideas and the willingness to implement them, as well as a purpose to learn the latest in creating businesses and ensuring growth. If I have to evaluate the performance of the first year of the program, then I want to point out that the achievements of several participants of the Innovation Academy serve as evidence of its success, starting from the winner of the EIT Jumpstarter program Bruntor up to the graduates of ESI incubators Fluffy, Jollity and Fat Cat Leaves, as well as Mylome that is already offering its product to the market. Innovation Academy was the turning point for all these companies.

Viesturs Sosārs
Innovation Academy Director and Riga Business School Entrepreneur in residence

Mylome is a sustainable, natural and women-friendly intimate lube. We have developed and manufactured the final version of the product, and it will be available in the stores of Latvia next week, and starting from the first months of 2023, also in Lithuania and Estonia. After the Innovation Academy program we also participated in the ESI incubator where we attracted funding for prototyping and manufacturing, and further, we enrolled in the LIAA Ogre Business Incubator where we continue the development of business and the product.

Dace Minikoviča
Creator of Mylome

During the first year of the program, 107 participants started the pre-acceleration; they joined in 35 teams, 27 of which successfully graduated from the Innovation Academy. Program participants developed new products and solutions in green technologies, audio technologies, life science and health technologies, education, advertising, financial technologies, and robotics. In the program participants had an intensive training cycle, acquired new knowledge, and received valuable advice from mentors.

Find out more about the opportunities provided by the Innovation Academy and the program on the website: www.inovacijuakademija.lv. Innovation Academy is implemented with the support of the Latvian LIAA Technology Business Centre and EEA and Norway Grants Latvia.