The Latvian-American Innovation Award is organized by the Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF), AmCham Latvia, and the U.S. Embassy in Riga, together with TechHub Riga and the Latvian Startup Association since 2018 to promote entrepreneurship, research-driven innovation, and closer economic ties between Latvia and the United States.

Who can apply?
The award will be granted to a Latvian individual, organization, university, or firm that has developed a cutting-edge technology or innovative solutions in collaboration with a U.S. partner. The Award seeks to inspire and recognize innovation across business and commerce, academic and scientific research, medicine and health, the environment, energy, and education.

Award
The winner will receive €10,000 (gross) and the runner-up €5,000 (gross). The award is intended to recognize innovative thinking and project design, as well as strong collaboration between Latvian and U.S. developers; it is not intended as seed money for start-up companies or to support specific organizational plans or models. The latest Award Ceremony took place on December 9, 2021 online.

Jury
The applicants are evaluated by the professional jury including:

Olga Barreto Goncalves, CEO of the Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV;
Andris Bērziņš, Co-Founder of TechHub Riga;
Atis Hermanis, CEO of HackMotion and the winner of 3rd Latvian-American Innovation Award;
Tālis Juhna, Vice-Rector of RTU;
Sandis Kondrats, Co-Founder of Exonicus and the winner of 2nd Latvian-American Innovation Award;
Gunita Kuļikovska, CEO of Vividly;
Jānis Putrāms, Co-Founder & CEO of Aerones and the winner of 1st Latvian-American Innovation Award
Peter Ragauss, Board Member of BAFF;
John Tully, Chairman of the Board of MikroTik and Board Member of AmCham Latvia;
Clare Zimmerman, Economic Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Riga.

Guidelines
The Award guidelines with selection criteria as well as terms and conditions are available: HERE

Past winners:
UAV Factory, winner of the 4th Latvian-American Innovation Award in 2021 for their long-endurance aircraft “Penguin C Mk2 VTOL”. Read more: HERE

HackMotion , winner of the 3rd Latvian-American Innovation Award in 2020 for their innovative tool for learning new movements. More information: HERE

Trauma Simulator, winner of the 2nd Latvian-American Innovation Award in 2019 developed a virtual reality training system that allows medical students to practice and improve their performance in emergency situations. Read more: HERE

AERONES, winner of the 1st Latvian-American Innovation Award in 2018 for their newly developed heavy-lift drones designed to help clean and de-ice wind turbines. Read more: HERE

Organizers

Latvian-American Innovation Award

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