OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2015. The new call for applications of the Vega fund of the SEB and UT Idea Lab is open until 1 March. This time, only development projects are supported. On 20 February at 14, an information event is held at the Idea Lab that gives an overview of the conditions of applying for the Vega fund development project support.

So far, Vega fund has supported the development of eight prototypes: the first time with 14,300 euros and the second time with 22,900 euros.

The Vega fund, created by the SEB Bank and the University of Tartu Idea Lab, is the first funding facility for knowledge-intensive ideas, including the creation of prototypes. Through the fund, the SEB Bank gives 150,000 euros over a period of three years to support the transfer of innovative solutions to everyday use.

“The ambitious teams that have received the support of the Vega fund in the previous calls have already concluded agreements and marketed their ideas internationally. This shows that the support of the Vega fund inspires the teams to think big and encourages them to establish new knowledge-based enterprises that support economic growth,” said the Project Manager of the Vega fund Heili Ollin.

Ollin added that the Vega fund wants to be a partner of development project teams whose innovative ideas are revolutionary and change global practices.

The application deadline for the Vega fund support is 1 March. The submitted applications will be first evaluated by a group of experts: an international jury consisting of the UT Vice Rector for Development Erik Puura, the Head of Business Innovation at SEB Baltics Mart Maasik, the COO of the Estonian Development Fund Pirko Konsa, business angel at EstBAN Erki M?lder, business angel at Gorilla Ventures Petri Lehmuskoski and Neil Thomas from Ventac Partners.

Ten best teams will introduce their ideas to the jury on 23 March.

The maximum amount to be divided between the applications of this call will be 18,000 euros. The volume of one application should not exceed 10,000 euros.

The jury evaluates the innovation of the development projects, the teams’ ability to implement their project and the business plan. The application form has been updated and is now more compact, but due to its simpler form, requires more effort from the applicants to clearly express their ideas.

In the previous call, the biggest support, 8300 euros, went to the team of Copernicus Urban Development Analyser (CUDA). CUDA is a global information system for monitoring urbanisation, which simplifies the work of city governments and countries’ regional planning units as well as large real estate and infrastructure companies. CUDA uses satellite images for mapping buildings and the road network and anonymous mobile positioning data for mapping population.

Everybody is welcome to attend the information event of the Vega fund taking place on 20 February at 14:00-15:30 at the UT Idea Lab (Narva mnt 5). To participate, inform the Project Manager Heili Ollin at heili [dot] ollin [?t] ut [dot] ee.

Additional information: Heili Ollin, Project Manager of the Vega fund, tel: +372 5362 9365, email: heili [dot] ollin [?t] ut [dot] ee.