Mission and goals
The Fund for Innovation and Technological Development is a leading government institution for supporting startups and innovative companies in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Currently, the Fund, through its financial instruments, co-finances 686 projects with a joint investment of 86 million euros. As much as 51% of the FITR portfolio, ie 326 supported companies are startup companies, mostly founded by young people. With almost 1.5 million euros, the Fund also supports the development of three accelerators in the country: X Factor, Seavus Accelerator and Business-Technology Accelerator UKIM.
The main priorities of the Fund are improved access to financial support for innovation and technological development and promotion and encouragement of innovation activity in North Macedonia.
Our activities include:
- Co-financing of startups, micro, small and medium enterprises, registered in the Republic of North Macedonia.
- National Startup Council whose goal is the transformation of the Macedonian startup ecosystem
- Corporate Innovation Program to encourage collaboration between the private sector and startups
- Partnership with Amazon Web Services through which the Fund provides loans for the use of this global platform in the amount of 10,000, 25,000 and 100,000 US dollars
- Separate portfolio for investments in digitalization of agriculture and public institutions
- Development of a National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence
- Mentoring support for potential and current users
The fund also supports talented elementary, high school and college students.
As part of the four Challenges for Young Researchers, 109 school projects were awarded to over 728 students and mentors from across the country. For the first time, we implemented a Challenge for the establishment of production laboratories “Young people create”. Through the support of Junior Achievement Macedonia and the Entrepreneurship Education Program in all high schools across the country, 728 students and 100 teachers. Under the UPSHIFT program, the Fund awarded 32 most successful ideas.