Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, introduces the new ambassadors of the European Innovation Council (EIC), including Liene Briede, Vice-Rector for Innovations at Riga Technical University (RTU). The EIC is Europe's most ambitious innovation initiative, aiming to foster research, innovation and start-ups to achieve Europe's technological breakthrough.
L. Briede is the first EIC Ambassador from Latvia. She previously served on the EIC Board, where she was also confirmed as the first Latvian representative.
The EIC Ambassadors group consists of 48 people - both current EIC Board members and high-level entrepreneurs, innovative business leaders, innovators, scientists, innovation experts with competences in Europe's future innovations. They promote the EIC nationally and globally, provide their vision and recommendations to improve its performance.
The EIC, established in 2021, is further strengthening its position as Europe's leading high-tech investor. Last year, the EIC Fund made more than 100 investments in advanced technology companies worth around €1.2 billion. The total value of the EIC-backed portfolio is close to €70 billion, up by €20 billion in the last two years, according to the EIC Impact Report.
RTU has a well-developed innovation environment, which offers knowledge, support in product development, a variety of tools to develop ideas from early stage to global market entry, collaboration with industry and the opportunity to be part of an international innovation ecosystem. As a testament to the strategic role of innovation in the development of RTU and Latvia as a whole, last year the Innovation Office of the Vice-Rector L. Briede was established. Previously, under her leadership, both the Science and Innovation Centre and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Knowledge Commons activities were established, enhancing innovation capacity in various sectors of the economy. The RTU Innovations Vice-Rector has extensive experience in improving the innovation ecosystem in Latvia and the Baltics by implementing and improving various business development and support programmes for students, scientists and start-ups.
