Ministry of Finance for the fifteenth time raises European Sails 2023
The Ministry of Finance awarded the most value-creating promoters of projects funded by the European Union (EU) Structural Funds at the European Sailswhich have become a tradition taking place for the fifteenth year.
This year, at the EU+U international conference on the future of the EU investments and Cohesion Policy, the European Sails 2023 attracted a record number of participants. More than 130 projects were presented for evaluation by both the expert commission and the public.
“Lithuania makes the most of the opportunities offered by the European Union – we are the leaders in the implementation of investments in Europe. We have the opportunity to rejoice that our investments are relevant and necessary. A great proof of this is a record number of participants in the European Sails, said Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė. — I am delighted that seven winners of the competition are developers of modern and innovative projects able to inspire others”.
Lithuanian scientists Mr Marius Bauža and Ms Julija Krupic working in England were awarded for investments in innovative solutions. The scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system designed to assess animal behaviour. This system is very helpful in clinical drug trials.
For investments in sustainable environment, the most important award was granted to the Inland Waterways Authority for the project, during which more than 500 artificial piers were installed in the Nemunas section from Kaunas to Klaipėda, which make the river suitable for navigation. Portal Lietuvos rytas readers have also expressed their views in this category. They considered the arrangement of Pašešupis Park in Marijampolė as the most valuable.
For investments in the school of the future, the project from Daugai School of Technology and Business turned to be the most valuable. The development of infrastructure of this vocational training institution has been recognised as the most successful project of this year.
In the category of modern medicine, the members of the commission were fascinated by neuroscientist Emilė Radytėand her team which created a headband for headache. Researcher Darius Viržonis with a team from Kaunas University of Technology were awarded for investments in innovation in business. They have developed a technology that measures gaseous and biological pollution of the environment. According to the developers, this technology will be interesting due to the ratio of its price functionality to data accuracy. This project was also appreciated by lrytas.lt readers.
The most anticipated categories in the European Sails for many years in a row has been investments in people and community. In these categories, the awards were granted to a numerous group of young people. Public institution Liberi from Klaipėda, which provides assistance to children and young people experiencing social exclusion, and public institution Actio Catolica Patria from Kaunas, which takes care of the young people who grew up in care, works to help them live and work independently. At the centre of both nominations are young people who need help.
Symbolically this year, all winners received the awards from the best last-year project promoters. This is how the European Sails club is born, uniting creative, courageous people who will be able to share their success stories over this entire year and to inspire others to look for opportunities and EU investments.
This year, as a year ago, the awards were created by a famous sculptor Artūras Žilinskas. This year he raised brass sails over granite.
The Ministry of Finance thanks all the members of the European Sails 2023 commission who were sincerely interested in EU investment projects and evaluated them, namely Ms Lineta Ramonienė, Ms Marija Burinskienė, Ms Egle Coppa, Ms Ruth Reches, Mr Jonas Venius, Ms Greta Ališauskaitė-Bagušauskienė, Mr Tautvydas Mikalajūnas and Mr Rolandas Mackevičius. This year, portal Lrytas.lt readers were equally important. In total, 20 articles have been prepared about the winners of the European Sails. On average, 16,000 readers read each success story. Half of them participated in the selection of the best EU investment projects.
We have been part of the European Union for 20 years. During this period, Europe invested more than twenty billion euros in Lithuania’s welfare. That’s one billion a year. In the last financial period, nearly 40 thousand applications were received, more than 26 thousand projects have now been completed.
Last updated: 04-12-2023
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