"We need to invest in people now to be competitive now and in the future. That's why, by providing funding for employees of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, we hope to accelerate their development and progress in adapting to today's changes. To this end, we will provide a range of training courses to up-skill and re-skill employees, with a particular focus on digital skills. We will train around 6,000 employees in this way," said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
Skills will be developed in line with smart specialisation priorities. Most of the projects will train workers in information and communication technologies, especially cybersecurity.
"In view of the increased demand, we have increased the amount foreseen in the call for this facility by €720,000 to ensure that all successful projects receive funding. This will further stimulate the necessary changes related to digitalisation, robotics or the demand for sustainable jobs. We will also enable companies to become more innovative and their employees to upgrade their skills to meet the needs of the market," said Iveta Paludnevičiūtė, Chancellor of the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation.
Most of the projects will be implemented in Vilnius and Kaunas districts. In terms of areas of activity, skills will be upgraded mainly for workers in metal products and furniture manufacturing, computer programming and consultancy, food production and printing.
Other areas of skills development will also be developed according to the nature of the activities: product and concept development, product life cycle, engineering and information modelling, product life cycle management, information systems implementation, data, analysis and databases, resource and waste management, information technology systems development and artificial intelligence cycles, materials processing and machine tool manufacturing.
The scheme received 354 applications requesting almost €18 million in funding.
Up to EUR 2.5 million was to be distributed in the Capital Region and up to EUR 5 million in Central and Western Lithuania under the "Skills for SMEs" facility.
The SME Skills facility is funded by the European Union's Investment Framework Programme for the period 2021-2027.
