The project with the goal to create and offer to the market flexible technological systems for products development.
“Altas komercinis transportas” is a well-known and highly regarded Lithuanian automotive company manufacturing mini- and midi-buses. They are one of the largest producers of various purpose vehicles in Lithuania, currently operating in 18 European markets. The company considers R&D activities and environmentally-friendly solutions to be the core of their business, as it is able to implement large-scale, complex projects in conjunction with international partners.
The company implemented a project with the goal to create and offer to the market flexible technological systems for product development. They produced a new generation lightweight hybrid body and developed an innovative external element frame reinforcement technology using low-density materials and already available R&D potential. During the project, exceptional properties like resistance to external influences, high strength, high deformability, light composite and construction materials were studied in order to create balanced construction prototypes, whose resistance to external influences, durability and reliability could be tested in the natural environment. In order to implement this project, company used the financial instrument “Intelektas. Bendri mokslo-verslo projektai”under the Lithuanian Operational Programme. The policy instrument is dedicated to encourage business R&D activities and science-business cooperation.
Resources needed
The total value of this project was €711 621,28, of which €433 782,27 was funded from ERDF.
Evidence of success
The project helped to expand the existing company's R&D and innovation infrastructure and contributed to the implementation of the objectives of the Lithuanian Innovation Development Program for 2014–2020. It also contributed to the innovation policy (the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region), as it resulted in the development of innovative products that will improve the situation in the market and increased competitiveness.
Potential for learning or transfer
This good practice has the potential to be interesting for other regions due to the support measure, which was used in order to implement the project. Analysis of project partners regions indicated the issues related to insufficient financial support in order to develop transport-related innovative products. In this case, the company used financial measure “Intelektas. Bendri mokslo-verslo projektai” which is directly dedicated to foster: business investments into R&D activities, initial investments by enterprises to expand or develop R&D and innovation infrastructure, certification of new products and related activities.
Tags: Industry, Support
