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Sustainable Impact Using Country Systems
Through the support and work in the three leading sectors in the country such as Sustainable Agribusiness, ICT and Adventure/Active Tourism, building strong, transparent and effective institutions is key priory for long-term development. To help relevant institutions in designing, executing, and monitoring the impact of support programs, IME established direct partnership and cooperation with the Innovation Fund towards improving its prospects calls and activities and measuring the results of the support that the Fund is distributing to the private sectors.
As digital innovation has been identified as a mutual goal, through IME and the Ministry of Agriculture support, FITD, in its annual program included support for digitalization in the agriculture.
Key immediate results of this partnership included improved content of the call criteria and strengthening the evaluation process of received applicants. This helped FITD select four advanced start-ups (Dron-OPS, 8TEK DOOEL, AG Futura and Agridadem tehnologija) to work on finalizing their prototypes and promote new innovative product/service. In addition, the cooperation enables mentorship and feedback gather from the sector on the functionalities of the proposed solutions and connect start-ups with companies or farmers who would be potential users of their digital solutions/ services. Wider adoption of these digital solutions will contribute to increase productivity and income of agricultural holdings, provide sustainable food production systems, and accelerate digital transformation of the agricultural sector.
Aligned with the strategy and annual plans, IME and FIDT co-created the “Startup Heroes” challenge focusing on domestic micro and small manufacturers who have turned their innovative idea into an attractive product with potential to correspond to retail requirements and be competitively placed in TINEX supermarkets. As a result, FIDT improved evaluation criteria to enable more favorably companies to apply that have potential for better inclusion of gender and youth. IME also assisted FITD in strengthening the criteria on assessing potential environmental and social impact of projects. More effective systems in place will assist innovative micro and small food manufacturing companies to grow more rapidly, expand their know-how and create new jobs.
