{"id":33917,"date":"2026-04-13T11:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/?p=33917"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:22:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:22:33","slug":"51-applications-submitted-to-rural-up-open-call-showing-strong-interest-from-rural-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/51-applications-submitted-to-rural-up-open-call-showing-strong-interest-from-rural-smes\/","title":{"rendered":"51 Applications Submitted to Rural-UP Open Call, Showing Strong Interest from Rural SMEs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"912\" height=\"463\" src=\"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rural-UP_RGB_PNG.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31519\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.9698616267296658;width:540px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rural-UP_RGB_PNG.png 912w, https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rural-UP_RGB_PNG-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rural-UP_RGB_PNG-768x390.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 912px) 100vw, 912px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Open Call of the Rural-UP Scaling-Up Programme has officially come to a close, with a total of <strong>51 applications received<\/strong> from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the partner regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The level of interest was visible not only in the number of applications, but also during the Open Call period itself. A series of informational seminars organised by the project attracted <strong>more than 100 participants<\/strong>, indicating that many rural businesses are actively looking for ways to grow, adapt, and explore new opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Applications were received from Finland, Estonia, and Latvia (Latgale and Vidzeme regions), with slightly different dynamics in each region, but overall a consistently strong response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the evaluation process, <strong>32 companies have been selected<\/strong> to join the programme:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Finland: 11 applications received, 9 approved<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Estonia: 11 applications received, 8 approved<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Latgale (Latvia): 13 applications received, 7 approved<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vidzeme (Latvia): 16 applications received, 8 approved<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\" data-src=\"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-33918 lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1080px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1080\/1350;aspect-ratio:0.799812212652982\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-1.png 1080w, https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-1-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-1-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-1-768x960.png 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The applicants represent a mix of sectors \u2013 from small-scale production and local services to more innovation-driven and digital businesses. What they have in common is a clear intention to strengthen their operations and look beyond their current markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-ast-global-color-5-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-0bc1fb1b341b1adcb51f06d5777a698f wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#17bba8\"><em><strong>\u201cWe saw a genuine interest from companies that are ready to take the next step. Many of them are already established locally, but are now thinking about growth in a more structured way,\u201d<\/strong> said Madara Nar\u0146icka, Valmiera Development Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The results of the Open Call suggest that rural SMEs are not only interested in funding opportunities but are also increasingly looking for practical support, knowledge, and tools that help them scale in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The selected companies will now enter the next phase of the Rural-UP programme, where they will work with experts, test new approaches, and further develop their business potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This activity was supported as part of RURAL-UP, an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021-2027 project co-funded by the European Union.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Anete Todu<br>Valmiera Development Agency<br>Communication Manager<br>+371 26394380<br><a href=\"mailto:anete.todu@valmierasnovads.lv\">anete.todu@valmierasnovads.lv<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Open Call of the Rural-UP Scaling-Up Programme has officially come to a close, with a total of 51 applications received from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the partner regions. The level of interest was visible not only in the number of applications, but also during the Open Call period itself. A series of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":33920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rural-up-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-1024x1024.png",1024,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Anete Todu","author_link":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/author\/anete\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Open Call of the Rural-UP Scaling-Up Programme has officially come to a close, with a total of 51 applications received from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the partner regions. The level of interest was visible not only in the number of applications, but also during the Open Call period itself. A series of&hellip;","rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-300x300.png",300,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video-1024x1024.png",1024,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OPEN-CALL-RESULTS-Facebook-Video.png",1080,1080,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Anete Todu","author_link":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/author\/anete\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/category\/rural-up-en\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Rural-up<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The Open Call of the Rural-UP Scaling-Up Programme has officially come to a close, with a total of 51 applications received from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the partner regions. The level of interest was visible not only in the number of applications, but also during the Open Call period itself. A series of&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33923,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33917\/revisions\/33923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developvalmiera.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}