WATERIGA Technologies: innovation voucher was the right tool at the right time

WATERIGA Technologies is a Latvian company that, in close cooperation with its partner company WATERIGA and U.S. manufacturer Industrial Test Systems, ensures the availability of water testing products on the European market. WATERIGA offers a variety of water quality testing solutions used in swimming pools, aquariums, food production, and industrial water monitoring. Approximately 95% of the company’s sales consist of exports to Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, Poland, Romania as well as Azerbaijan and the Baltic states. Alongside exports, the company is also developing innovations in Latvia. Last year, with the support of an innovation voucher from the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), a digital computer vision solution was developed for the automated reading of water test results on mobile devices, while a new radiation meter prototype is being developed in the business incubation programme at the LIAA office in Liepāja. 

Regarding the collaboration with the LIAA, company CEO Māris Egle says that the innovation voucher programme was the right tool for developing a specific technology. In his view, it is particularly important for a small business that the support tool be easy to understand and allow for quick implementation. He notes that this is precisely what set the Innovation Voucher Programme apart: once the initial procedures were understood, it was clear how the process would go and when it would be possible to focus on the development itself. 

“As entrepreneurs, of course, we always want everything to go faster: where do I sign so we can move forward? But overall, the process was clear: once everything is approved, you can work with confidence and then submit the results,” Mr Egle explains. 

He acknowledges that communication with LIAA representatives also played a key role: in cases of uncertainty, it was always possible to get an explanation and understand the next steps. “If something wasn’t clear, you could call, and they always explained it. In that regard, the collaboration was very smooth. We can certainly debunk the myth—much more complicated stories have been heard, but I can confirm that for us everything went excellently!” 

This positive experience has encouraged the company to use this tool again—WATERIGA Technologies has already applied for another innovation voucher project related to the further development of a photometric water testing solution and is currently awaiting approval.

Information material prepared with the support of the European Regional Development Fund