On February 9-12, 2010 the delegation of association LINPRA visited the Swedish Industrial Development and Innovation Network (IDC Network) centers. The delegation was represented by A. Barakauskas (JSC Precizika Metrology), K. Maknys (PI Intechcentras), K. Jasiunas (JSC Ekspla), G. Trinkunas (Institute of Physics), T. Jaskelevičius (JSC Arginta), G. Rimsa (JSC Baltec CNC Technologies), R. Lepardinas (JSC Proftools) and the director of the association H. Mykolaitis as a head of delegation. 3 regional IDC centers were visited: Skelleftea - IDC of Bothnia, Luleĺ – Norrbotten and Finspang IDC - IDC Ost.

The uniqueness of these centers is that they were set up by businesses shareholders’  initiative (mainly SMEs) therefore the needs of industries have priority importance. Each center works according to their business model - provides consultations, training, runs projects based on new product development and production efficiency. Both, Lithuanian and Swedish parts, shared their experiences during the visit. The delegation also visited the best companies in the region and discussed opportunities for cooperation. On the last day of travel the delegation of LINPRA met representatives from the Swedish innovation support agency VINNOVA and the Swedish Ministry of Economy, where regional co-operation possibilities, plans and activities in the Baltic were discussed. Lithuanian Economic Attache in Sweden S. Brazinskas attended this meeting.
To sum up, the visit, which is partly supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers' Fund, has been very useful for LINPRA to continue it’s system-building of business innovation support.

Information of association LINPRA