ERAF PROJECT MAKEIT
Project "Innovation grants for students in the interdisciplinary areas of art, culture, economics and IT (MaKE IT)” (Agreement on the implementation of the European Union fund project No. 1.1.1.3/21/A/003)
On November 17, 2021, the Limited Liability Company "EKONOMIKAS UN KULTŪRAS AUGSTSKOLA" (EKA University of Applied Sciences) and the Central Finance and Contracts Agency (CFLA) signed an agreement on the ERDF project "Innovation Grants for Students in the Interdisciplinary Areas of Art, Culture, Economics and IT (MaKE IT) ”, No. 1.1.1.3/21/A/003 implementation.
The project will last for 24 months (22.11.2021-21.11.2023) and will be implemented in cooperation with partners: "Foundation of the EKA University of Applied Sciences" (EKAF), BA School of Business and Finance (BA), Ventspils High Technology Park Foundation (VHTP), Limited Liability Company "ALBERTA KOLEDŽA" (AK), Limited Liability Company "Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences" (LAS EI), LLC "EUROLCDS".
The aim of the project is to increase the entrepreneurial capacity of students by promoting cooperation between universities, students and businesses. The project will implement the student innovation program “Innovation Grants for Students in the Interdisciplinary Fields of Art, Culture, Economics and IT (MaKE IT)”, developed by EKA in the pre-project period in cooperation with project partners and strategic partners (EKA, AK and BA student councils, Latvia Union of Designers, Association “CLEANTECH LATVIA”, Association “Latvian Information Technology Cluster”, Latvian Open Technology Association (LATA) and Association “ABSL LATVIA”).
The main target group of the project is students of all levels and programs, as well as students of the last grades of vocational secondary schools and general secondary schools. Scholars and other support for the implementation of an innovative idea or grant will be available to the participants of the project′s target group.
The main activities of the project:
- Activity 2: “Implementation of student innovation program MaKE IT activities” - within it 11 motivation, involvement and networking events will be organized - 8 hackathons, 3 networking events or Competence Fair and 1 idea repository - database will be created and maintained;
- Activity 3: “Selection, evaluation and implementation of student innovation applications” - within the activity at least 56 small grants will be implemented (at least 168 students involved), 29 innovations will be created (large grants; 87 students involved), 5 new companies of student teams will be created, involving at least 15 students;
- Activity 4: “Communication and publicity measures on the implementation and results of the Student Innovation Program MaKE IT” - within the activity one website will be developed, which will reflect the implementation of the MaKE IT program and provide information and publicity measures for the project.
Total costs of the project: 1 075 534,72 EUR (of which total eligible costs: 1 075 534,72 EUR):
- ERAF funding: 83.68% of eligible expenditure - EUR 900,000.00;
- private financing: 16.32% - EUR 175,534.72.
Project partners:
- BA School of Business and Finance
- Alberta College
- Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences
- Ventspils High Technology Park
- Foundation of the EKA University of Applied Sciences
- „EUROLCDS" Ltd.
Information published on 22.11.2021.
PROJECT NEWS
Acceptance of student applications in the “MaKE IT” Innovation Grant Programme begins
Starting Monday, February 28, the acceptance of student applications for the 1st cycle of the Innovation Grant Programme of the project “Innovation grants for students in the interdisciplinary fields of art, culture, economics and IT (MaKE IT)” is launched. The application will be valid until 18th March 2022.
To apply to the programme:
1. The student can submit his/ her idea to find a team or collaboration partner for its implementation here. The claimed idea will come to the Repository of ideas.
2. If you want to work on the ideas put forward by others, you should get acquainted with those that are available in the project′s Ideas repository. If the idea seems interesting, you should contact the applicant of the idea by pressing the button “I am interested” and discuss the possibilities of working on the implementation of the idea with the applicant (company, institution or other student).
3. If students already have an idea, or when the development of the idea has been discussed with the applicant of the idea and a team is created, then the application form with attachments should be filled in.
4. In preparing the application, be sure to consult with the project activities implementation coordinators, collaboration partners and other possible advisors.
5. The completed application form with attachments in word and pdf formats should be sent by e-mail to the address: pieteikties.makeit@augstskola.lv. After that, the organizers will contact the team about the next steps.
Detailed information on the programme itself, participation opportunities, available funding and documentation is available here.
Project “Innovation grants for students in the interdisciplinary fields of art, culture, economics and IT” No. 1.1.1.3/21/A/003.
The project partners are Bank School, Albert College, the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Ventspils High Technology Park, the EKA University of Applied Sciences Foundation, EUROLCDS Ltd. The project will be implemented over a period of 24 months, from 22 November 2021 to November 2023.The total cost of the project is 1,075,534.72 EUR, incl. ERDF funding - EUR 900,000.00 (83.68%) and private co-financing - EUR 175,534.72 (16.32%).
Information published on 08.03.2022.
Seminar on the launch of the project “Innovation Grants for Students in the Interdisciplinary Fields of Art, Culture, Economics and IT (MaKE IT)”
On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, the start-up seminar of the project “Innovation Grants for Students in the Interdisciplinary Areas of Art, Culture, Economics and IT (MaKE IT)” of the EKA University of Applied Sciences (No. 1.1.1.3/21//?003) took place online on Facebook www.facebook.com/makeitstudents.
During the seminar, representatives of the EKA University of Applied Sciences, as well as project partners - "EKA University of Applied Sciences Foundation", Bank School, Ventspils High Technology Park Foundation, Albert College, Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and EUROLCDS Ltd. provided information on the project - aims, activities, funding, as well as information for students on applying for the project, planned activities and benefits, but for companies - on the opportunities for their involvement in the project.
The seminar was opened by the Rector of the EKA University of Applied Sciences, Associate Professor Oksana Lentjušenkova, emphasizing the benefits of participating in the project. This was followed by Associate Professor Līga Peiseniece’s, Rector of Bank School; Member of the Board of Ventspils High Technology Park Foundation Ilze Valdmane’s; Director of the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Nina Linde’s and Acting director of Albert College, Vita Vežanova’s salutations.
In the second part of the seminar, Kaspars Šteinbergs, project activity coordinator at the EKA University of Applied Sciences and project manager at the EKA University of Applied Sciences Foundation, presented detailed information about the project, its activities and target groups, as well as general information to students, telling about the application procedure, evaluation of applications, scholarships and other benefits. During the seminar, a story of students′ experiences from KInGS (Kurzeme Innovation Grants for Students) project was presented - Monta Krilova, a representative of the SubliMe team, shared her experience on motivation, challenges, the process of implementing the idea and future plans, and invited every student to try and participate to realize their business ideas.
In the final part of the seminar, a specialist from the EKA University of Applied Sciences Foundation Jelena Budanceva presented information to entrepreneurs, explaining the opportunities for participation, benefits and other aspects. Throughout the seminar, the project implementers and partners actively answered the submitted questions about the application procedure, benefits, scholarships, knowledge required to participate, etc. The online seminar was available on the project Facebook page www.facebook.com/makeitstudents from 12.00 to 14.00 and was watched by 437 people. For those who did not manage to connect online, the record of the seminar is available HERE.
The project “Innovation Grants for Students in the Interdisciplinary Areas of Art, Culture, Economics and IT (MaKEIT)” (Contract No. 1.1.1.3/21/A/003) will involve 47 companies that will provide ideas for student projects, and their representatives will be involved as mentors and student group leaders. Several networking events for students and entrepreneurs are planned, such as competencies fairs, hackathons, etc. It is planned that students will work in interdisciplinary teams - the Project will allow to combine students with different competencies in one group and will promote communication and teamwork skills.The project partners are Bank School, Albert College, the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Ventspils High Technology Park, the EKA University of Applied Sciences Foundation, EUROLCDS Ltd. The project will be implemented over a period of 24 months, from 22 November 2021 to November 2023.
The total cost of the project is 1,075,534.72 EUR, incl. ERDF funding - EUR 900,000.00 (83.68%) and private co-financing - EUR 175,534.72 (16.32%).
The recording of the seminar can be viewed in the project′s YouTube account :
Presentations:
- Kaspara Šteinbergs: about the project, its activities and target groups, general information for students
- Jeļena Budanceva: information for entrepreneurs - opportunities for participation, benefits and other aspects
Information published on 22.12.2021.