The Ministry of Education and Science with support from European Union funds, will increase the funding available to Latvian scientific institutes by €14.2 million for conducting applied research, with priority given to projects in the fields of external and internal security. As a result, the total funding for practically oriented research in the second round of the EU funds programme will reach €29.3 million.
This is provided for by the amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers regulations approved by the government today, 3 March 2026.
The strong interest in the first project call demonstrated that the available funding was insufficient — 100 high-quality project applications were not supported due to a lack of available funds.
At present, the country’s internal and external security is one of the government’s priorities. Therefore, the second project call will place a particular focus on dual-use research that contributes to the development of technologies important for the security and defence sector, while not supporting purely military solutions, which have other sources of funding.
“Latvian science is an investment in our country’s future — both in economic growth and in security,” emphasises Lana Frančeska Dreimane, Deputy State Secretary for Higher Education, Science and State Language Policy at theMinistry of Education and Science.
“The first selection round showed strong interest in implementing a variety of initiatives. Today, the government has supported our vision for enabling more high-quality scientific research that will promote the country’s sustainable development,” Dreimane adds.
By increasing the funding by €14.2 million, it will be possible to support several dozen new research projects, enabling the implementation of studies that have already received high evaluations for scientific quality. The additional funding will allow research to focus on national security, dual-use technologies, and other areas of strategic importance to society.
Given the scale of the programme and the available funding, it is planned that several hundred researchers will be involved in the projects, including scientists, early-career researchers, doctoral candidates, and technical specialists. Research teams from scientific institutions will work on the projects in cooperation with companies and/or other scientific institutions as partners.
The amendments provide for a reduction of the administrative burden and a more flexible approach to project implementation, for example in staff recruitment. The volume of mandatory cooperation documentation to be submitted (contracts, CVs, etc.) has also been reduced. In addition, shortening the monitoring period from five to two years reduces the administrative burden for both funding recipients and administering authorities.
The additional funding has been secured within EU fund programmes, using unallocated funding from the first call, flexibility funding, as well as remaining funds from other EU fund programmes.
Amendments to the regulations provide for project [LV]:
“Grozījumi Ministru kabineta 2024. gada 25. jūnija noteikumos Nr. 407 “Eiropas Savienības kohēzijas politikas programmas 2021.–2027. gadam 1.1.1. specifiskā atbalsta mērķa “Pētniecības un inovāciju kapacitātes stiprināšana un progresīvu tehnoloģiju ieviešana kopējā P&A sistēmā” 1.1.1.3. pasākuma “Praktiskas ievirzes pētījumi" īstenošanas noteikumi” un “Grozījumi Ministru kabineta 2025. gada 4. februāra noteikumos Nr. 82 “Eiropas Savienības kohēzijas politikas programmas 2021.–2027. gadam 1.1.1. specifiskā atbalsta mērķa “Pētniecības un inovāciju kapacitātes stiprināšana un progresīvu tehnoloģiju ieviešana kopējā P&A sistēmā” 1.1.1.7. pasākuma “Inovāciju granti studentiem” īstenošanas noteikumi”
