The project “Increasing the competitiveness and export capacity of the information technology sector” has been completed

In October 2022, the almost 6-year-long IT cluster support program project “Increasing the competitiveness and export capacity of the information technology sector” No. 3.2.1.1/16/A/004 ended, the aim of which was to promote an increase in the turnover of cluster members by developing local and international cooperation between cluster members.

In total, during the project implementation, 49 entrepreneurs have received support in the form of a grant, while 58 entrepreneurs have received non-financial support. At the time of project submission, the IT cluster planned that 16 entrepreneurs would receive a grant, while 30 would receive non-financial support. In turn, one of the main outcome indicators “Increase in export volume in supported enterprises” at the end of the project has been significantly exceeded and reaches the value of 21.7 million EUR, although initially planned was 360 thousand EUR, which shows that enterprises that have united in clusters are more competitive, as well as significantly affect the results of export capacity at the level of the whole of Latvia. It should be mentioned that the initial implementation period of the project was until the end of 2020, but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was extended until the end of 2022, keeping the total budget of the project unchanged at 552,140 EUR, including the amount of ERDF support – 414,105.00 EUR.

The project implemented measures to promote the export capacity of cluster members:

• Export experience and expertise (competence) exchange events in the form of seminars, webinars, informal breakfasts on export markets, skills needed to increase companies' export capabilities, as well as interest working groups in specific areas (e.g. Intelligent Transport Systems). A total of 27 events have been implemented, the initially planned number of events – 12 events.

• Export masterclasses, which included mentoring and intensive training in small groups to improve the skills and knowledge of company representatives about export markets and the positioning of their products in them. In total, 85 people participated in the masterclasses, the initial planned number of events was 30 people.

• Geographical and economic potential of export research trips or visits to export markets for IT cluster participants, organized by both IT cluster experts and the companies themselves. The visits were carried out if at least 2 companies were interested in the specific market. A total of 24 trips took place, the initial planned number of trips was 4 trips.

• Market research of the geographic and economic potential of exports, focusing on markets in Europe. The total number of studies carried out is 4 studies, conducting research on a total of 9 companies.

In turn, as measures to promote productivity growth among cluster members, 3 productivity and labor cost studies and 4 research presentations have been conducted.

Another important direction of the project activities was the promotion of local and international cooperation between the cluster and cluster members, within the framework of which 2 sectoral digitalization publicity campaigns were carried out, the competence of cluster members (152 people) on sustainable development, environment and climate change was increased. 34 cross-sectoral cooperation promotion activities were also implemented with several sectoral associations in the fields of food, chemistry, health, medicine, mechanical engineering, as well as in mixed groups in cooperation with planning regions. The initial planned number of activities was 12 activities. In addition, 14 new project applications were prepared during the project to ensure the diversity of cluster activities and attract additional funding outside the project framework.

In cooperation with educational institutions, both in-person and online events have been implemented to attract young professionals to the ICT sector (career days, ICT Professionals Day, guest lectures, development of export or digital transformation strategies as part of the study course), reaching a total of 31,284 people, instead of the initially planned 2,300 people.

Within the framework of the project, four SMEs collaborated to develop a new joint product - an open source data integrator between 2 (two) of the most popular accounting systems in Latvia and a cash register management portal. The joint product is an interface - a separate independent web software that allows the exchange of product and accounting data between APIs available to the client, replacing manual data processing work to provide information from the accounting system to the store management portal and vice versa (e.g., printing daily Z reports (financial report) and manually entering it from each cash register into the accounting system). The beneficiaries of this integrator are small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in Latvia who use the most popular accounting systems in Latvia in their business and cannot invest in computer systems to ensure the development of this type of integrator only for their needs. The data integrator has been developed as an open source or open source solution, and it is published on an open source website and is freely available for download to any user.

Also, within the framework of the project, the IT cluster's performance was evaluated within the framework of the European Cluster Excellence Initiative and a Silver level certificate was obtained. No other cluster in Latvia has previously received a Silver level certificate, thus the IT cluster has proven itself according to the common European cluster management guidelines as a strong and competitive cluster, a reliable partner.

Project No. 3.2.1.1/16/A/004 was one of the instruments to carry out the activities and operations of the Latvian IT cluster, in accordance with the association’s – cluster’s – strategy, expanding its services to members and cluster participants, as well as reaching other target groups in accordance with the nature of the cluster. Upon completion of Project No. 3.2.1.1/16/A/004, the IT cluster will continue its ongoing activities, as well as attract the necessary additional funding to ensure its services to members, taking into account their interests and the cluster’s common strategic directions.

The article was prepared within the framework of the project "Increasing the competitiveness and export capacity of the information technology sector" (project No. 3.2.1.1./16/A/004).