Following the evaluation process of the first call for research and innovation projects, 40 projects have been selected for further implementation under the "Biomedical and Photonics Research Platform for Innovative Products" ("BioPhoT"). They represent a broad spectrum of research, focusing on smart specialisation areas such as biomedicine, medical technologies, photonics, materials science, energy and the environment.
"The first call for BioPhoT research and innovation projects has received an overwhelming response in the academic community, with more than 120 research groups responding to the invitation to take part in a competition format that has never before been seen in Latvia. A third of these groups have received funding to implement their ideas. This is a clear demonstration of the great potential of our scientists for applied research and innovation, if properly supported. Our challenge now is to highlight the themes of the supported projects both nationally and internationally, and to convince industry partners that Latvian scientists are ready to tackle high-level practical challenges and create innovations with global potential," says Osvalds Pugovičs, Platform Manager.
Due to the high quality of the applications, the Platform's Project Steering Group, after assessing the density of the results, decided to increase the original funding from €6 million to €8 million.
Around a quarter of the projects supported are biomedical and healthcare related, such as innovative approaches to sepsis, cancer and infection diagnostics. The same number of projects represent medical technologies, including the development of new devices, sensors and diagnostic solutions. There is also a strong focus on photonics and optical technologies, solutions for fibre optic sensors, fluorescent coatings and infrared spectroscopy. A further eight projects are on smart materials, including innovative biomaterials and sustainable composites, and four on environmental and energy topics such as CO2 capture and renewable energy applications
The largest project promoters are the University of Latvia with ten funded projects and Riga Technical University with nine. The Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Latvia will implement seven projects, while the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis supports six research groups. Three projects will be implemented by Riga Stradiņš University, two by the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, and one project each by Daugavpils University, the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry and the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies.
"The BioPhoT platform is open to all Latvian research organisations, for example, in this call for proposals, support was also granted to scientists from Daugavpils and Jelgava, which confirms the quality of the projects submitted, while sending an important signal to all regional universities," emphasises O. Pugovičs.
The broad institutional coverage demonstrates both the potential of Latvian science and the high level of engagement across disciplines. The competition attracted considerable interest, with 122 applications from a wide range of research fields, including biomedical, pharmaceutical, photonics, medical technology and materials science.
The evaluation of the submitted projects took place in two rounds: initially, the innovative potential of the applications was analysed by industry, commercialisation and innovation experts, while in the second round their scientific quality was assessed by foreign scientific experts attracted by the Latvian Council of Science.
This is the first of three calls for the first phase of the BioPhoT platform until the end of 2026. More than €12 million will be available for innovation projects, and almost €5 million more for training on technology transfer, IP protection and commercialisation skills. The next call for research and innovation projects is expected in early October, with a conference at the end of November to give everyone the opportunity to get a closer look at the projects supported under the first call.
By 2032, the platform plans to develop at least 35 new technologies, more than half of which will be developed to validation in real or full-scale conditions (TRL 5-6) and at least four to commercialisation. This will significantly strengthen Latvia's competitiveness in high-tech areas.
The project "Biomedical and Photonics Research Platform for Innovative Products" or "BioPhoT" is implemented under the National Research Programme "Innovation Fund - Long-term Research Programme". Platform number: IVPP-EM-Innovation-2024/1-0002.
Supported projects:
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Project No. IVPP-EM-Innovation-2024/1-0002 “Long-term national research program project “Biomedical and photonics research platform for the creation of innovative products”
