The first meeting of the competition commission for the selection of projects for state incentives for the creation and use of inventions (utility models) and industrial designs was held on the 21st of December under the chairmanship of the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv.

At its first meeting, the commission approved the mechanism and conditions for selecting applicants, criteria for evaluating the best projects, recommendations to the fund operator regarding the organization of selection procedures, etc.

The evaluation of projects will take place on a number of criteria, such as "novelty", "readiness for commercial implementation", "social or market feasibility", "availability of law enforcement documents", "deadline" and other indicators.

"This is an experimental project of state support for innovations and inventions initiated by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade together with the State Innovation and Credit Institution. The project will help inventors to implement their inventions, developments, utility models, not just on paper, but to implement it in real production", - commented Stepan Kubiv.

Stepan Kubiv stressed that the acceptance of applications for a competition of projects with a total budget of UAH 100 million will begin on January 1 and will last until September 30, 2019.

"Applications will start on January 1, 2019. This is the first stage of competitive selection when the inventor - a natural or legal person can send his application for participation in the competition and compete for one of the state grants in the amount of up to 500 thousand UAH each. We expect applications for inventions, know-how, other results of the intellectual and creative activity, which will then be the basis of the business model for implementation in practice", - said Stepan Kubiv.

The First Vice Prime Minister stressed that the state support for the invention would involve the procurement of services for selected projects in a transparent and public manner, using the ProZorro platform in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement".

More about the Fund and the competition can be found on the official page of the operator of the fund of the State Innovative Financial and Credit Institution at the link.

For reference

In 2018, the Ministry of Economic Development initiated an experimental project on the organization of a state incentive fund for the creation and use of inventions (utility models) and industrial designs. The budget of the fund is UAH 100 million, the initiative was introduced in accordance with the Government Resolution № 500 of June 20, 2018. The Fund's operator has been designated the State Innovative Financial and Credit Institution. Implementation of the project will contribute to improving the investment climate and the implementation of an effective mechanism to support and protect intellectual property rights in Ukraine.