The 1st round of industry panel presentation sessions for the BioPhoT Research and Innovation Project (PIP) call has concluded!
Over the course of three intensive days, more than 100 project teams presented their ideas in the RIS3 smart specialization areas: biomedicine, medical technologies, pharmacy, photonics, smart materials, and engineering systems.
Each project is eligible for up to €200,000 in funding from the total first-call budget of €6 million. The expert panel – Irit Janiva, Matīss Neimanis, Barak Azmon, Peter Birk, and Martin Askne – praised both the quality of applications and the innovative potential of the ideas presented.
The results of the first round are expected to be approved by the Platform’s Project Steering Group on May 30. After that, applications that pass the qualification threshold will undergo scientific evaluation by an expert panel appointed by the Latvian Council of Science. Final results are expected in September 2025.
And this is just the beginning – two more calls are planned by 2026, with over €12 million allocated to innovation support. Additionally, nearly €5 million will be invested in upskilling researchers in areas such as technology transfer, commercialization, and intellectual property protection.
Among the presenters were researchers from the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry – Dr. chem. Laura Andže, Ph.D. Mārtiņš Andžs, and Ph.D. Aleksandrs Aršaņica.
The first BioPhoT PIP call received over 120 applications, offering researchers and industry representatives in RIS3 fields the opportunity to access part of the €6 million in state budget funding. In the first round, held from May 26–28, an independent expert panel assessed the innovation potential and market relevance of the submitted ideas.
The evaluation panel included five experts in industry and commercialization:
- Irit Janiva, M.D., MBA – healthcare executive, investor, and entrepreneur
- Matīss Neimanis – managing partner and CEO of Buildit Latvia VC fund and accelerator
- Barak Azmon – physician and founder/CEO of several medtech startups
- Peter Birk – life sciences strategist, investor, and advisor
- Martin Askne – startup coach, innovation lead, and business angel
Presentations were moderated by Andris Baumanis.
“This is the first stage of project selection, to be followed by an in-depth scientific evaluation. Based on this brief round, it’s still early for definitive judgments, but while some applications were less convincing, others clearly stood out. Our panel is a strong and experienced team, each with domain-specific expertise – and the deeper the knowledge, the sharper the insights,” the panel concluded at the end of Day 1.
Each approved project may receive up to €200,000 for implementation within a 12-month period, extendable by an additional three months. The second round of evaluations will be conducted by the Latvian Council of Science, with final results expected in October 2025.
No IVPP-EM-Innovation-2024/1-0002 "Long-term national research programme project "Biomedical and Photonics Research Platform for Innovative Products"
