To increase capital investments for the commercialization of science and the establishment of science-intensive and technological start-ups, the business incubator of Latvian universities «UniLab» will sign an agreement with Scandinavia's leading venture capital and acceleration fund Accelerace, agreeing on cooperation in the creation of an investment fund.
The signing of the contract will take place on January 17 at 12:00 in the RTU Science and Innovation Center, Ķīpsalas Street 6A, in the 2nd floor Hall «Moon».
«UniLab» consists of RTU, the University of Latvia (LU), and Riga Stradins University (RSU). The Latvian University of Biosciences and Technologies (LBTU) will also participate, making it a national initiative of science universities for the development of science-intensive and technological business ideas and the establishment of high added value start-ups in Latvia.
«Innovation and the development of high added value products are the basis for the transformation of Latvia's economy. Universities play an important role in this process - they concentrate scientific excellence, innovation, and founders of future startups. UniLab's vision is to create at least one unicorn of the university ecosystem within a decade - a start-up with a market value exceeding one billion dollars. The world's leading universities, such as the University of Cambridge, have produced 12 unicorns, and another 22 companies are potential unicorns. Therefore, we will continue to identify technological business ideas at an early stage and provide all the necessary support for their commercialization, but in cooperation with Accelerace, we will create a full-cycle acceleration and investment tool. Fund investors recognize deep-tech as one of the most promising verticals of business opportunity capital,» emphasized head of UniLab, Andris Baumanis.
UniLab's support has already been received by 43 budding startups that develop high added value products and services. For example, «Smart Packaging» has created biosensor technology for quality control of food products, «SUBmerge Baltic» - for underwater drone search and survey operations, while «P-Agro» «Minerals» has developed the phosphorus recovery technology for wastewater in industrial conditions. The technology developed by «Bdetect» for the diagnosis of skin cancer and many others have also received support.
Upon agreeing upon the cooperation, the contract will be signed by A. Baumanis, and Peter Torstensen, executive director of Accelerace, on behalf of Latvian universities of sciences. RTU rector Tālis Juhna, LU vice-rector in the field of natural, technological, and medical sciences Valdis Segliņš, RSU vice-rector for academic work Dins Šmits, and LBTU vice-rector of sciences Irina Arkhipova, as well as representatives of the state institutions and start-up ecosystem, will also take part in the event.
The event will be held in English.
