2ND REGIONAL STAKEHOLDER MEETING IN LITHUANIA

On December 18, 2023, the second regional stakeholder meeting for the CROWDFUNDMATCH project took place in Vilnius, Lithuania. Hosted by project partner INVEGA, the objective was to identify, test, and assess regional potential for crowd funding. Stakeholders from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation shared their experience and discussed the potential use of crowdfunding for the financing and implementation of projects in energy, environment, renovations, and business sectors.

The project aims to unlock crowdfunding's potential as a financial matching tool for ESIF, contributing to smart growth and digitalization. It also facilitates policy learning on matching public and private funds through various crowdfunding approaches.

The meeting took place online, where discussions revolved around the goals and activities of the CROWDFUNDMATCH project. Additionally, crowdfunding loans, exemplified by -crowd funding loans “Aviete” as a successful practice in Lithuania, were presented.

Topics covered included the potential utilization of crowdfunding instruments in projects funded by the European Union or the Lithuanian state budget. The discussions encompassed the regulatory framework, final beneficiaries, challenges, and benefits associated with crowdfunding. Also, it was discussed the possibility to use crowdfunding instrument when the short-term financing is needed in the case of public renovation project or multiapartment buildings renovation project. In this case crowdfunding instrument could serve as a bridge loan.

An agreement was reached to collaborate with stakeholders, sharing experiences on crowdfunding loans like crowd funding loans “Aviete” in dedicated meetings with ministries. The aim is to analyze the feasibility of replicating this instrument in various sectors, involving different ministries.