The first regional fund to connect science and business, worth at least €40 million, is being launched in the EU while at least €15 million will be invested in projects by Croatian scientists, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) said on Monday.

HBOR on Monday signed an agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Slovenian Export and Development Bank (SID) on the establishment of the first regional platform to launch a fund to finance commercial innovative technological and scientific solutions by Croatian and Slovenian universities, research institutes and centres, worth at least €40 million.

The agreement for the Central East European Technology Transfer (CEETT) investment platform was signed by EIF director Alain Godard, SID management board president Sibil Svilan and HBOR management board president Tamara Perko.

The CEETT will be established with a €20 million contribution from the EIF and €10 million from both SID Banka and HBOR. These funds will be invested in regional venture capital funds that finance research projects and the development of technologies.

Funds will be available for projects developed at Croatian and Slovenian universities, research institutes and centres requiring funding to assess the feasibility of their concepts and to transfer research results to commercial projects. Croatia will have at least €15 million available for its projects.

The EIF estimates that the universities and research institutes in Slovenia and Croatia targeted by the platform will generate more than 350 patent applications and 100 spin-off companies in the next five years.

The EIF will conduct a call for expressions of interest from fund managers and venture capital funds for technology transfer that will be open until October this year, while the selection process will be completed in the first half of 2022 after which the fund will be able to start operating and generating the first investments.