Kings
Kurzeme Innovation Grants for Students (KInGS)
The aim of the project is to encourage young people to become aware of their abilities and skills to engage in real-life problem solving by innovating in both process optimisation (Student Lab) and new product development (Start-up School) as early as possible, so that upon graduation, students build as many success stories as possible based on the practical experience they have already accumulated.

The KInGS project is open to students of all levels and programmes, students of vocational education competence centres (technical colleges), as well as final year students of vocational and general secondary schools throughout the Kurzeme region.

Students have the opportunity to choose one of the KInGS project development directions:
  • the "Student Lab" - a research-intensive process where a business, an educational institution or the student himself defines a problem or an idea and conducts practical research to solve the defined problem or to develop a new technology or product/service.
  • "Start-up school - where students plan the creation and development of a potential business (student pre-incubator), practically develop an idea for the commercialisation of a product or service with the aim of creating start-ups and bringing a new product to the market as a result of the project.
Regardless of their chosen field, students are given the opportunity to form teams and, together with their team leaders, apply for a Grant where the team will be eligible for €2 956 for initial research (TEP) or €11 127 for a more mature idea (e.g. leading to a prototype). In addition to the financial support awarded, students will have the opportunity to receive monthly stipends of €200 throughout the duration of the Grant.

The project is implemented in six cycles, where new students and teams will develop their ideas in each cycle. At the end of each cycle, an award ceremony will reward the best and most innovative teams from both streams:
  • A prize fund of €7,500 is available for the top three teams in the "Student Lab".
  • The three most promising teams in the "Start-up School" will receive a prize fund of EUR 15 000.
A grant for the purpose of this project is financial support, which includes:
  • Materials, equipment and premises for the achievement of the result - provision (financing) of the necessary materials and equipment for the work of the team, as well as the rental of premises for working purposes and the purchase of the necessary licence for the web platform for a period of up to 6 months. 
  • Business support services - expert advice, mentoring, marketing and other services.
  • Mobility costs in Latvia - transport expenses for trips, conference participation fees, costs for participation in information events.
If you have already defined your idea or problem to apply for the Student Lab, or you have an interesting idea that could be implemented in a Start-up School, fill in the application for the Ideas Bank and the KInGS project team will help you to get to the Grant application!

Project partners:
  • Ventspils University College (VeA)
  • Foundation "Ventspils High Technology Park (VHTP)
  • Liepaja University (LiepU)
  • Kurzeme Business Incubator (KBI)
  • Ventspils University of Applied Sciences
The Kurzeme Innovation Grants project is funded by the ERDF. The total budget of the project is EUR 3 318 318.00, 75% of which is financed by the ERDF and 25% by the private sector.


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