On Thursday, the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development (FITD) will celebrate ten years in business.

The Deputy PM for Economic Affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi, the Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, Festim Halili, the Director of the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development, and Marvin Liao, the Chairman of the Investment Approval Committee, will all speak at the event to commemorate FITD’s tenth anniversary.

FITD was created in December 2013 to support further financing sources for innovations that are motivated by the need to develop a competitive, knowledge-based economy.

Currently, the Fund is contributing €118 million in joint investments to 985 projects. Notably, startup businesses—mostly started by young people—represent 43 percent of the ITDF portfolio. The Fund distributes around €1.5 million to support the development of three accelerators in the country: X Factor, Seavus Accelerator, and the Business Technological Accelerator at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, as highlighted on the website of the FITD.