Innova-FI: Third exchange of experience
Between 15th and 17th July, we attended the third Exchange of Experience of Financial Instruments for Innovation in Vilnius. The event was a mix of workshops, presentations and even speed dating exercises.
After the opening, the representatives of Baltic Innovation Fund introduced the pan-Baltic cooperation for equity development and private equity fund manager Invalda INVL. KEPA introduced SmartFI which is a project aiming to contribute to the efficiency improvement and to the risk minimisation of Financial Instruments. SmartFI aims to achieve this by preparing the ground for user centred financial instruments for SMEs.
The final part of the first day of the event was a learning workshop on design of thinking. The focus was on how to use its principles and techniques for designing and implementing better financial instruments.
Jekaterina Govina introduced Bank of Lithuania’s initiatives on crowdlending and fintech and the representatives of crowdlending operator Finbee talked about tackling their main challenge which is matching supply and demand.
Chief project manager of INVEGA followed up with a session about crowdlending financial instrument “Avietė“ which is facilitating the access to finance for SMEs business development projects. Avietė does so through crowdfunding platforms and contributing to the development of fintech sector in Lithuania.
The second half of the day was dedicated to Equity instruments for innovative SMEs. We learned about how Koinvesticinis fondas co-invests with venture capital funds and groups of business angels into Lithuanian start-ups and growing medium-size enterprises. The last session of this Exchange of Experience of Financial Instruments for Innovation was an introduction INNOVA-FI Tool for Financing Innovation.
