After closing the call of the SK-NIC Fund for small projects 2020, we can state that another record number of applications had been received. This number also exceeded the call for large projects during spring – a total of 286 applications had been received this time! And what did they look like?
- The most frequent topic became again „education through information and communication technologies” (more than half of the applications).
- Special topic „projects introducing artificial intelligence or machine learning“ which was announced for the first time, inspired 10% of applicants, which is an interesting number.
- One hundred applications related to communities support through ICT had been received.
All applications are being formally checked during these days. They will be forwarded to the evaluators afterwards, who will assess them according to a pre-approved mechanism. The best projects will be approved and will receive financial support from the SK-NIC Fund.
The amount allocated in this call is 100.000 EUR and we will certainly distribute it in its entirety.
During the call of the SK-NIC Fund for large projects in spring, we were surprised by the number of applications. This time we are literally excited. Due to the pandemic situation, we assumed that we would receive a significant number of applications, especially in the area of community support through ICT, but we had received fairly more than expected in all areas.
We also hoped to get at least few projects introducing artificial intelligence as it is quite new topic. Their final number again exceeded our expectations. There are many projects to compete, but only the best ones will be shortlisted. We are already looking forward to the winners and we will happily provide them our support.
„We are hopefully looking at projects that are to introduce artificial intelligence or machine learning. Slovakia needs to push itself further in the field of digital transformation and artificial intelligence, which have a huge potential for our economy. I believe that the evaluation will be done quickly and the projects will move from the proposals to the implementation phase as soon as possible,“ said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Informatization Mrs. Veronika Remišová.
The list of approved projects will be provided on the relevant page of portal virtualno.sk (Slovak only) and also at the Pontis Foundation website after their evaluation.
