The Lithuanian Parliament is set to refine the criteria for classifying companies as startups eligible for state support and will introduce regulations for artificial intelligence (AI) usage.
Following a proposal from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Parliament reached a consensus to advance the initiatives, which will be reviewed by the Economic Committee and return for discussion in mid-December.
According to Deputy Minister Neringa Morozaitė-Rasmussen, the goal is to establish a legal framework for the Innovation Agency to assess whether a business seeking state aid has significant innovation-driven growth potential.
Currently, a startup is defined as a very small or small enterprise registered for no longer than five years. The Deputy Minister noted that evaluating companies solely based on size and age poses a risk of misallocating funds.