Early December, the STEP taskforce of the EU Commission toured Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to meet with public authorities (Ministries, promotional banks) and private stakeholders (investors, startups, confederations) to promote STEP and gather views on EU funding today, and on how next long-term budget could best support EU competitiveness.
In Latvia, the STEP taskforce met with representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Economics and the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In Estonia, the STEP taskforce met with the Ministry of Finance, the Employers’ Confederation, three startups (PowerUp technologies, Efenco and Ragn Shells), and with the LHV bank.
In Lithuania, the STEP taskforce met with ILTE - the national promotional bank, the Lithuanian Ministries of Finance, of Economy and the Innovations’ Agency, and the Investors’ Forum, an independent association of investors in the Lithuanian economy.
All counterparts were highly supportive of the STEP approach. Public stakeholders are well aware and expect to support the STEP objectives mainly by reprogramming national funds. To do so, they count on the assistance of the STEP Taskforce. Private stakeholders were very interested in STEP, in particular in the STEP portal, that was considered crucial for disseminating funding opportunities to project promoters. The STEP taskforce will continue awareness-raising actions in Member States through the STEP National Contact Points.
