VIESOJI ISTAIGA KAUNO MOKSLO IR TECHNOLOGIJU PARKAS

Their core work

Kaunas Science and Technology Park is a Lithuanian innovation support organization that helps SMEs and startups scale, internationalize, and connect with corporate partners and investors. They operate as a technology park and incubator, providing hands-on business support services — from marketing tools and service portfolio management to investment readiness programs and soft landing services for companies entering new markets. Their work focuses on bridging emerging urban technology industries (health tech, smart city, greentech) with business ecosystems across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Kaunas STP entered H2020 with a focus on foundational SME support — marketing tools, communication activities, and service portfolio management (TargetSME, 2019). By their later projects, the focus shifted significantly toward startup ecosystems, international scale-up, corporate collaboration, and emerging urban industries like health tech and greentech. The trajectory shows a clear move from internal capability-building (how to support SMEs better) toward outward-facing ecosystem orchestration (connecting startups to markets and industries across Europe).

Moving toward sector-specific innovation support in urban technologies (health tech, smart city, greentech), suggesting future collaborations should target these verticals rather than generic SME support.

How they like to work

Kaunas STP exclusively participates as a partner rather than leading consortia, which is typical for technology parks that contribute regional ecosystem access and SME networks rather than driving research agendas. With 15 unique partners across 10 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in mid-sized, geographically diverse consortia — indicating they are well-connected across Europe and comfortable working in multinational teams. Their value in a consortium is as a regional deployment node, not as a technical lead.

Despite only 3 projects, they have built connections with 15 distinct partners across 10 countries, showing a broad European network relative to their project count. Their reach spans well beyond the Baltic region.

What sets them apart

As one of Lithuania's established science and technology parks, Kaunas STP offers direct access to the Baltic startup and SME ecosystem — a region with strong tech talent but often underrepresented in EU consortia. Their combination of incubation infrastructure, internationalization experience, and growing specialization in urban tech industries makes them a practical partner for projects needing a Central/Eastern European deployment or pilot site. They bring ecosystem orchestration rather than research capacity, which is valuable for innovation actions that need market-facing partners.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Scale-up Champions
  Pan-European scale-up program connecting incubators and corporates, demonstrating their role as an ecosystem connector beyond Lithuania.
• URBAN TECH
  Their largest project by far (EUR 1.29M), marking a strategic shift into sector-specific emerging industries — health tech, smart city, and greentech value chains.