On 24 February, the Riga Technical University (RTU) Science and Innovation Centre hosted a BioPhoT platform workshop. During the seminar, Tamar Raz and Daniel Carew, members of the BioPhoT second call industry expert panel, looked back at the results of the second call, analysing the strengths of the project applications and providing practical recommendations to increase the competitiveness of the projects in the global market.
The workshop was opened by Dace Kārkle, Director of the Organic Synthesis Institute (OSI), while Andris Baumanis, Coordinator of the BioPhoT Mentor Network, and industry panel experts presented the statistics and qualitative evaluation of the second call. Out of the 99 research and innovation project applications received, 71 passed the scientific evaluation and were promoted to the second round of evaluation, while 26 projects were approved and funded. In total, 66 projects have been implemented under both calls, with €12.7 million invested in their development.
When analysing the applications, the experts stressed that the scientific quality of the Latvian projects is high, but that a number of critical aspects need to be focused on in order to successfully commercialise ideas:
- Technological progress: The actual stage of development of the project should be clear, including the preliminary data obtained to date.
- Market scale: Experts urged researchers to think beyond the Baltic borders, pointing out that investors are interested in solutions with high market potential.
- Intellectual property: Experts pointed out that many teams lack in-depth knowledge of IP strategies - it is not enough to have a patent, you need to understand how it will protect the product in a real business environment.
Due to the interest of the participants, the number of points awarded for the second call for proposals is detailed below in the table below.
The workshop concluded with an outline of BioPhoT's future plans. The next call for projects is scheduled for August 2026, and competition promises to be even fiercer. Experts pointed out that in the future, it is the implementation potential and the ability of teams to present their idea in business language that will have a greater weight in the evaluation.
To help scientists bridge the gap between the lab and the market, BioPhoT offers to strengthen the capacity of teams by bringing in professional business developers. This initiative will allow researchers to focus on developing technological advances by entrusting market validation and investor attraction to industry professionals. The offer can be found at here.
