Support per project ranges from EUR 200,000 to EUR 600,000 with an aid intensity of:  

• 55% of the eligible costs for micro, small enterprises; 
• 45% of the eligible costs for medium-sized enterprises. 

Project activities to be supported by the “Application of green industry innovation and ICT products and technologies” open call for proposals: 

• The purchase of new equipment, software, licences and patents for the green innovation sector, which ensures a new product (including new technology related to the new product) being introduced into production and reduces the impact on the environment; 
• The purchase of new equipment, software, licences and patents for the ICT sector, which is related to the use of ICT products in the production process, and which ensures the introduction of a new product; 
• The information and communication activities for an open call for proposals, which are indicated in the open call project application and are necessary for the provision of the mandatory information and communication activities of the open call project; 
• The activities related to introducing a new product or technology into production; 
• The financing of knowledge transfer activities with an open call project partner, which is necessary for introducing a new product or technology into production; 
• The receipt of an advance guarantee from a credit institution registered in the European Union. 

Within the programme, a new product is a good or service that meets one of the levels of innovation: 

• New to the economic operator or, where the economic operator is an affiliated enterprise, to a group of affiliated enterprises; completely new, or has significantly improved functional characteristics and intended usage, such as significantly changed technical characteristics, components and materials, added software, user-friendliness or other functional characteristics; 
• New to the market. The economic operator is the first to introduce something to the market, into production or to the world. The market is simply defined as the merchant and its competitors, and it may include a geographic region or a product line. The market for new geographic scope is thus subject to the merchant’s own views on its market activities and can therefore include both domestic and multinational companies. 

To qualify for co-financing, a project applicant must, at the time of being granted aid, meet the following requirements: 

• The project applicant is a enterprise registered in the Commercial Register of the Republic of Latvia, which corresponds to the status of a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) as defined in Annex 1 of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014 of 17 June 2014
• The project promoter has not been declared insolvent by a court ruling, a legal protection process has not been set in motion by a court ruling, and its economic activity has not been terminated; 
• The project applicant does not owe taxes or fees administered by the State Revenue Service (SRS), including mandatory payments of state social insurance debts exceeding EUR 150; 
• The project applicant, by a decision of a competent authority or a court judgment that has entered into effect and has become incontestable and unappealable, has not been found guilty of any of the following offences: employing 1 to 5 persons who are not entitled to reside in the Republic of Latvia; been punished for the criminal offence referred to in Paragraph 2, Section 280 of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia; has no coercive measures regarding the commitment of the criminal offence referred to herein applied to it;
• The project applicant does not have any of the sanctions outlined in Article 11.2. of the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia imposed against them, the project applicant does not have the sanctions laid down in Article 11.2. of the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia imposed against them.

If an applicant is granted aid under Commission Regulation No. 651/2014 (other than de minimis aid), then in addition to the requirements set out above, an applicant who does not qualify as a enterprise in difficulty (as defined in Article 2(18) of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014) at the time that the aid is granted, can also qualify for co-financing.

As part of the open call for proposals, a project can be submitted in cooperation with a project partner that can be any public or private body, commercial or non-commercial and non-governmental organisation registered as a legal entity in the Kingdom of Norway or the Republic of Latvia. If the applicant has a partner from the donor country (Norway), this criterion will grant extra points. The project partner and applicant will work together within the framework of the project, and the partner will share best practices in the development of a specific product and/or technology, knowledge in product/technology development, and perform product/technology development activities (such as reduction of environmental indicators) to develop a variety of possible scenarios related to the development of the new product/technology in order to achieve the project objectives. 

The project should lead to a new product being introduced into production. In addition, the person implementing the project will ensure that at least one new full-time job is created, which is directly linked to the implementation of the open call project.

Open call project activities and costs are eligible if:   

1. The initial investments originate from third parties not associated with the co-financing beneficiary;  
2. The maintenance and use of the initial investment is ensured in accordance with the objective of the open tender project for at least 5 years after the approval of the final report of the open tender project;  
3. The equipment is insured against losses during the implementation of the open call project and for 5 years after the approval of the final report of the open call project;  
4. The initial investments will be included in the co-financing beneficiary’s assets as depreciable long-term investments. They will remain in the property of the open call project co-financing beneficiary in Latvia and will not be transferred to any other legal or natural persons for 5 years after approval of the final report of the open call project;  
5. The co-financing beneficiary provides adequate resources for the technical maintenance of equipment for at least 5 years after the approval of the final report and submits confirmation regarding the resources for equipment maintenance at his/her disposal at the end of the open call project;  
6. The initial investment is directly related to the introduction of a new product and technology into commercial activity.  

The objective of the open call for proposals is to increase of productivity and competitiveness of merchants by introducing new products and technologies in production. 

The project should lead to the introduction of a new product into production. 

As part of the understanding of the regulation project of the planning period programme, the 2014-2021 period “Entrepreneurship Development, Innovations and Small and Medium Enterprises” of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, a new product is a good or service that meets one of the levels of innovation: 

• New to the economic operator or, where the economic operator is an affiliated enterprise, to a group of affiliated enterprises; completely new or has significantly improved functional characteristics and intended use, such as significantly changed technical characteristics, components and materials, added software, user-friendliness or other functional characteristics; 
• New to the market. The economic operator is the first to introduce something to the market, into production or to the world. The market is simply defined as the merchant and its competitors, and it may include a geographic region or a product line. The market for new geographic scope is thus subject to the merchant’s own views on its market activities and can therefore include both domestic and multinational companies. 

The Programme is regulated by Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 4 “Rules for the Implementation of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Programme of the 2014-2014 period “Entrepreneurship Development, Innovations and Small and Medium Enterprises”” (adopted on 7 January 2021).

Documents related to the open call for project applications and other annexes can be found at eeagrants.lv.

• The unified website for the Norwegian Financial Mechanisms
• NACE Rev. 2 statistical classification of economic activities to identify your company’s NACE code
• Information on determining SME status
• Database of tax (fee) debtors administered by the SRS (the amount of the debt must not exceed EUR 150)
• Calculator for determining whether a company is in financial difficulty