Klaipėda ID and Klaipėda City Municipality participate as partners in the Interreg Europe project Inter Ventures with partners from Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain. The Inter Ventures project started in August 2019. The overall goal is to promote the internationalization of small and medium-sized businesses by improving municipal policy documents and the support mechanism for business. In the case of Klaipėda, this is the part of Klaipėda Economic Development Strategy (KEPS 2030), which focuses on the growth of the blue economy and the implementation of the vision that Klaipėda can become a world-class blue economy city.
During the Inter Ventures project, the partners collected and analyzed good practices. The joint infographic brought together 13 examples of good practices that revealed key information on the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises in each partner region. In addition, each project partner also developed action plans to improve policies for business internationalization. The Klaipėda Action Plan drew attention to the issue of internationalization of Klaipėda city business, as a result of which all KEPS 2030 partners agreed to supplement the strategy with new criteria aimed at promoting internationalization.
This year In February, the project entered the second phase of implementation, which focused mainly on the implementation of the action plan, the monitoring of the process, and the application of good practices. One of the main indicators of the Klaipėda Action Plan is the development and implementation of a pre-accelerator program in Klaipėda. A working group is currently being set up to prepare and implement the pre-accelerator purchase. This procurement aims to create a start-up ecosystem in Klaipeda, to promote the establishment of high-value-added companies in the city. It is planned that the pre-accelerator services provided in the Klaipėda Economic Development Strategy KEPS 2030 will be provided in 2022. in the fall
Also, in January of this year, another measure of the action plan was launched - Klaipėda municipality's new incentives, aimed at increasing the city's attractiveness for businesses and talents in the target areas.
1. The incentive is intended to attract highly professional specialists and encourage them to come to Klaipeda to work and live.
The new financial incentive of Klaipėda City Municipality can be used by companies registered in the city, which seek to attract the necessary employees both from other Lithuanian cities and from abroad. Representatives of as many as 64 specialties (who have decided to come to live and work in Klaipėda) can apply for the motivational incentive. One applicant is provided with EUR 2,000 to cover the cost of renting housing and EUR 400 for Lithuanian language courses if the person comes from another country. Klaipėda ID specialists are ready to help settlers settle in the city and provide all the information about the city.
Since the beginning of the year, 15 people have been interested in this incentive and have been provided with professional information. The incentive was given to 1 highly qualified specialist who moved to Klaipeda and 1 application is currently being filled out.
2. The incentive is intended for the creation of new jobs - encouraging high-value-added businesses to create new jobs in Klaipeda.
This is not the first time such an initiative has been launched: in 2020. a decision was taken to reimburse the costs of renting office space to companies that created 20 new jobs each. Under the new regime, compensation is paid to companies that create at least six jobs, up to a maximum of € 1,800 per year. The maximum amount of the incentive per application can reach EUR 36,000 for 20 new jobs. The average salary of an enterprise applying for the incentive payment must be not less than the average monthly salary of the city of Klaipeda published by the Lithuanian Department of Statistics. Compensation for office rent has been chosen in a targeted way to enable companies to rent the highest quality offices. Thanks to this incentive, companies can create new jobs. This incentive is focused on target businesses - service centers that consolidate companies providing IT, financial, cyber security services, and information communications and technology services.
Since the beginning of the year, 17 companies have been provided with targeted consultations on the incentive, 2 applications have been evaluated and 2 incentive agreements have been signed during the two months of the first half of the year.
Both incentives have already provided financial support of € 17,840 in the first half of 2022.
We hope that by the end of 2022, most of the prepared and approved action plan of Klaipėda City Municipality and Klaipėda City Mayor, aimed at improving the municipality's political documents and improving support mechanisms for business, will be successfully implemented.
