Review of MINOX 2023 Invention Festival
On September 9, the XII International Invention and Innovation Exhibition MINOX 2023 and the Regional Invention and Innovation Festival “MINOX Zemgale 2023” took place in Jelgava, on the Pasta Island, within the framework of which a Master Class “Experimental and innovative experience in the gastronomy industry” was organized under the leadership of the creative association “Skudras Metropole”, encouraging to look creatively at the synergy possibilities of gastronomy and technology. MINOX 2023 was part of a large Mechatronics open-air Festival taking place annually on the Pasta Island.
In the festival of “Inventions and Innovations MINOX 2023” 51 inventors with 28 inventions participated, representing Jelgava 5th Secondary School, Riga Anniņmuižas Secondary School, Riga Technical University, University of Latvia, Latvian Inventors Association, Society “CONNECT Latvia”, Design and Ergonomics Center, Companies – SIA “WILEG”, SIA “Bruntor”, IK VAAV, SIA “Spiiid Botanics”, SIA “EVO Group”, SIA “Smart Clast”, SIA “PrintyMed”, as well as individual inventors. Two inventions were presented to the festival by inventors from Taiwan – “Intelligence Deep Brain Stimulation Image Processing System” invented by Syu-Jyun Peng, Fu-Yuan Shih and Chun-Chun Huang, and “AIoT Intelligent Sustainable Green Wall” developed at the National Taichung University of Science and Technology by Yuan-Hsiou Chang, Hsiao-Ling Lu, Zhi-Jia Feng and You-En Zhong. Those interested had the opportunity not only to see the newly created inventions, but also to meet their authors and participate in various activities. Attendees were able to try out a variety of technological devices with learning content, including virtual reality glasses and a modular robot. There was also the opportunity to view and try a wide range of developmental wooden toys, verify the operation of a durable wind turbine, create the desired decorative Venetian plaster, test the operation of a versatile computer keyboard and test the closed cargo scooter in action.
At the same time, visitors to the exhibition were invited to vote for the best invention. According to the audience's evaluation, the Jelgava 5th Secondary School students Denis Melup and David Richmel received the Letter of Appreciation for creating an energy-smart house. The Silver diploma was won by Edgars Brokāns with the brand “EpoxySvete” - interior design possibilities were demonstrated by creating original Venetian decorative plaster and imitating marble coating. Two inventions received the Gold diploma this time, having won the same number of audience votes – Riga Technical University representatives Laimdota Vilcena, Zane Zelča and Silvija Kukle with betulin nanofiber cosmetic face mask and Jelgava 5th Secondary School students Demids Kaidalovs, Toms Kaidalovs, Andrejs Deikuns and Ivan Gribanovs with pedagogue Josif Spirt for LED cube – drone program simulator-debugger. Society “CONNECT Latvia” awarded special Golden Prize to both inventions from Taiwan. There were no age or other restrictions for participating in the exhibition, therefore anyone who has created an invention could participate in it, thus popularizing inventiveness and promoting its use in the national and international economies.
In order to motivate both festival visitors and inventors to become even more creative, an opportunity was offered to go on a creative journey together with the team of the creative association “Skudras Metropole”, who invited to see the synergy solutions of different industries – gastronomy and technology. Together with the globally award-winning event producer Gundega Skudriņa, the event's visitors worked at the mobile fork stand, the technology stand, at the DJ table and played gastronomic checkers. The greatest interest was generated by a unique innovative solution - an ice cream piano. As a result of the performance of a professional pianist, ice cream was prepared, which the attendees could immediately taste. Visitors could gain new experience and motivation to look at common things in a broader and more creative way, resulting in innovative solutions. The event was attended by more than 600 people.
The event was organized by project no. LVIII-068 “Development of business environment of Zemgale and promotion of competitiveness of entrepreneurs” / within SMEPRO-2. The aim of the project is to capitalize, use and multiply the results of the successful experience and practice of the SMEPRO project in order to promote the development of the Zemgale region's business environment in municipalities and provide support to SMEs.
This publication has been prepared with the financial support of the European Union. The competence development center of the Zemgale region and Society “CONNECT Latvia” are fully responsible for its content, and it may not reflect the opinion of the European Union.
Silver Financing Mechanisms - Latvia Report
The report follows two seminars about the “Silver Financing Mechanisms” held on
in April and May of 2020. The report answers to the following research
questions:
-
What are the existing funding and financing mechanisms in the region?
- What are the present and future needs in the silver economy, and what are the
possibilities to finance and fund those needs?
- What are the barriers and possibilities in the present and the future financing
and funding mechanisms?
- Is there a possibility to have a single window services for finance and fund
new products, services and processes?
- Other findings and remarks
- Recommendations to the future financing and funding mechanisms
What are the existing funding and financing mechanisms in the region?
In Latvia, innovation ecosystem has seen tremendous development in the recent decade. This has been possible due to many reasons. We name a few. After becoming part of the European Union (since 2004) it took some years of learning how to swim together with more developed countries before the development could start accelerate in Latvia. Thanks to the extensive international collaboration and participation in multitude of European projects by all actors of quadruple helix (academia, public institutions, business and NGO). We must acknowledge the welcoming attitude towards Latvia from the European countries, whose international and free trade collaboration lasts for many decades and in some cases for centuries. Another reason we have to note is that a new generation born in Latvia in the years of the collapse of Soviet system (1989 - 1992) is in their graduate and post-graduate years. This generation very much differs as they have been raised in a highly enthusiastic and open system that was not possible for several predecessor generations. The new generation has taken lead and is providing a completely new mind-set in adapting and creating the systems of innovation ecosystem development.
With a short historical background we can understand why today there is a striving
innovation ecosystem in Latvia. Not flawless or complete, but still developing,
adapting and changing to face the new challenges and environments around.
Getting now to a financing of new companies in Latvia. As of today in Latvia there exist miscellaneous instruments that have been internationally approved and tested. Incubators, accelerators, grants for business starters, soft loans, venture capital and private investment possibilities, cross-border international, European and regional programmes are available in Latvia. Different business support organizations have been created and operates in all regions of Latvia. Public institutions are more and more recognizing entrepreneurship as an important part of the society development efforts.
Among state institutions we have to mark out the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, a special unit of the Ministry of Economics, that is the most known public business support organization in Latvia. It deals with an immense number of programs and initiatives to encourage business development, business growth, exports and investments into business advancement.
Another strong organization that is operating country-wide is the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is the largest NGO for businesses in Latvia. They have been building organization basically from the scratch since 2000’s. In the last decade, the number of members has increased from hundreds to thousands. The Chamber is running an event (on all sorts of business aspects) almost every working day throughout the year.
Universities are playing key role in stimulating entrepreneurial growth. They are now involved in many European wide competitions and programs for business mind-set development. Universities established their own business incubation and technology transfer units. A remarkable input is an enormous infrastructure development in almost all universities in the capital city Riga and regional centres. The two largest Latvian universities – University of Latvia and Riga Technical University – have built number of new houses for teaching, research and society outreach purposes. University of Latvia has decided to build entirely new campus on a new territory that is now at about 30% completed and is already operating with two large and modern university buildings. These infrastructure developments brings new passion to the students, professors and society at large, and motivates for self-development and innovative thinking.
In the picture we can see financing ecosystem in Latvia that was prepared by the Latvian Startup Association, another recently established and active organization in the business startup sector in Latvia. It shows the different dimensions, angles and scope of the financing instruments across the development stages of a startup company.
Picture 1. Investment opportunities and financial support for startups in Latvia. Prepared by the Ministry of Economics of Latvia and Latvian Startup Association “Startin.LV”.
Another excellent example of the financing programs that are available in Latvia and in particular, non-capital regions, is shown in the table below (author Andris Kucins, the head of Latgale Entrepreneurship Centre at Latgale Planning Region). It shows municipalities of one of the four administrative regions of Latvia – Latgale, which is located on the south-east of the country. Almost every municipality nowadays organize larger or smaller funding program for business startup in the respective municipality. And the popularity of these instruments is growing.
Picture 2. Business support in Latgale. Prepared by Andris Kucins, Latgale Entrepreneurship Centre of Latgale Planning Region.
What are the present and future needs in the silver economy, and what are the possibilities to finance and fund those needs?
At present we can split the needs and opportunities of the silver economy and senior citizens into three categories:
1) Additional income for seniors. In Latvia the silver economy must focus not on the products and services for seniors to consume, but on creating options and systems in place, where seniors can get additional financial income. This primarily includes more opportunities to work, favourable legal and other type of conditions for senior employment facilitation. In example, fostering technological change in companies or embodying employee and employer business relationships based on trust and sustainability. It is important to create business environment that encourages gradual retirement instead of sudden retirement. This must involve change of task setup at the working places (rotation of processes to reduce risks for getting chronic diseases, physical tasks mixing with non-physical) and most importantly, change of mind-set in the society in all quadruple helix types of organizations. Here we have two concrete proposals:
Proposal No. 1
One important way, in addition to different financing programs and support from funds, is effective organization of cooperative activity. Based on practical experience, jointly collected funds constitute a part of equity capital for larger projects and together with flexible credit system it is possible to undertake economically profitable and future-targeted projects that guarantee the members of credit unions stable additional income. Such economic model has worked very efficiently and raised economical insurance and well-being of elderly people in many countries.
Concrete example is the wave energy farm founded on a cooperative basis. Ca 1500 people, ¾ of whom are older than 55 years, have put together their savings. This investment brings them annually up to 10% of profit and they all have shares in cooperative project that also has, in addition to profitability, certain market value.
Proposal No. 2
Another specific proposal here is to create local employment projects for elderly people based on and assisted by local authorities. For that it is necessary to create workshops for people with different qualification in the framework of social projects and to offer them social orders e.g. to solve topics related to urban environment; for example to make decorations for public space (bus shelters, recycle bins etc). Introducing such social mechanisms will guarantee the employment for elderly people and also save budgetary funds of administrative units as using employment of elderly people replaces the payment to private companies.
2) Support functions to enable seniors’ wellness and increased quality of life. This include green walking areas or parks near residential housing, availability of public transport infrastructure, affordable and healthy food options, adapted infrastructure conforming with the needs of senior citizens, various support instruments such as IT help desk, apartment amenities improvement services, public space enhancement to put up benches, ensure fresh air, reduce unnecessary noise etc.
3) Empowerment of senior dreams. It is important to equip seniors with tools and instruments they need in order that they can fulfil their passions, hobbies, expertise in whatever field each one of them is good at. An example of a senior who pursues his engineering passion and travels through the life approaching all sorts of financing instruments on his way, is attached to this report as Appendix 3. Following this example, we can learn a lot about senior thinking and approach that can make them fulfilled in the journey of life.
What are the barriers and possibilities in the present and the future financing and funding mechanisms?
We believe that there are significant opportunities for new companies in Latvia. At first, as discussed during the seminars and as generally accepted current truth, there is a lot of money available in the market. There are different instruments available for specific purposes and stages of the company development. The success lies in the business plan and the determination of the person to realize it. The rest are technical details. Everyone with the right attitude, valid business idea and advice from experienced colleagues is capable to realize the business plan. If the mission of a newly organized company is to change the world for better or to make the world a better place, then nothing is impossible. Decision, determination, discipline and details are things to write on one’s shorts who wants to make things happen. Secondly, in Latvia there have been enormous growth in entrepreneurial mindset training and most of the people have the possibilities to undergo very high quality business startup training. These programs include topics from market research to branding, from finance planning to investor relationships management, from networking to mentoring, and so on. It makes up the hope of the business community that founders of new companies are well prepared to dive into this, sometimes complex, business world. Thirdly, Latvia and it’s quadruple helix members have built strong and close relationships with the partners in Europe, and beyond. These connections, linkages and friendships have enabled and will continue to enable Latvia to be part of the wider entrepreneurial and innovation community that is sharing and caring for each other.
Taking into account the possibilities described above and what financing instruments can provide today and in the nearest future, there are no realistic barriers that can stop a determination of a company founder and his/her team. As it was said during one of the mentoring sessions to nascent entrepreneurs by one of the entrepreneurs, who have been through number of his own projects startups and failures: “There are so many things at the initial phase of your company set-up that you can do without money! You cannot blame anyone for having no access to money. If you do all your home works diligently and prepare well then the money will come to you sooner or later once the project setup has proved to have competitive advantage.”
Is there a possibility to have a single window services for finance and fund new products, services and processes?
In today’s open access, big data, sharing economy world there is no possibility to have a single window service for new business and SME finance. It is simply impossible. Just imagine, there is no possibility to attract funding for your company in your country and the foreign support offices cannot help you either. Should you give up? No, as of today, there are no borders for communication, and anyone with a connection to internet (for a few dollars or even for free from public space), and a decent skills of language (or a friend who knows languages well), can go out and reach possible financiers and partners in the whole world, from Taiwan to South Korea, U.S. or U.K., and not the least, all across Europe.
In an open innovation ecosystem, where all players develop and change over time, one can only improve systems and services provided and thus become a main entrance point for companies seeking finance. But surely there will be other side doors (i.e., smaller and more efficient organizations, specific purpose players, regional expertise carrying organizations) where deals will be made too.
Other findings and remarks
There are two other findings and remarks following discussions at the seminars. One is related to the international community of companies and organizations with a vision to strengthen senior citizens in a digital world by providing access to senior-friendly services (and tools) for fulfilment of miscellaneous life, business and communication objectives. The Program is called Active and Assisted Living.
The Active and Assisted Living Program is a European initiative that aims to support better quality of life for older people and to strengthen industrial opportunities while ensuring sustainability of our health systems.
The AAL Programme promotes innovative technological product ideas and services for active and healthy ageing, supporting them until they launch on the market, by funding projects that work towards creating market-ready products and services for older people. Each project consists of SMEs, research bodies and end-user organisations. Since 2008, we have funded over 220 projects.
Latvia could make a leap step forward for senior citizens wellbeing by joining this European community. It is the right timing to take it to the agenda of respective Ministries in Latvia – Welfare, Education and Science, and Economics.
Another remark is concerning the welfare and social services for senior citizens in Riga city. Currently city council has outsourced these services to several NGO’s. However, in practice, this has shown that information exchange among the city council, NGO’s, their staff – caregivers, and senior citizens, goes slowly and sometimes does not circulate at all. For example, a caregiver of the NGO is not aware of what kind of technical assistance is available to a specific person in need and how this can be arranged. The suggestion thus is either to remove the intermediary NGO’s and employ caregivers directly by the city council, or to significantly improve, better to transform, the information flow processes and develop a culture of learning and “Yes, I can” among the caregivers and their employers.
Recommendations to the future financing and funding mechanisms
In order to give recommendations to the future financing mechanisms, a broader study is required. One of the recent books, actively used in Latvia, written by some of the dedicated mentors to Latvian nascent entrepreneurs, is “Show me the money” by Alan Barrell, David Gill and Martin Rigby. The book reveals in detail all the processes from assessing your business idea to preparing the fundraising and planning the future money supply chain. The book also includes a chapter on new and innovative finance sectors, including crowdfunding. This may well be one of our key recommendations to use the opportunities provided by crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and cooperative activity instruments in order to improve the well-being, access to services and possibilities to reach small and large personal goals of our senior citizens in Latvia.
We will wrap up this report by a quote of a typical, but famous Latvian senior Mr Miervaldis Rozenbergs: “If I had money, I would travel around the world, but with my pension I cannot travel anywhere. Therefore, to live a better life, you have to work to add to your pension”. Full story about Miervaldis can be seen on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmUK4JXY7YY.
This report is prepared by Elmars Baltins, Rimis Vaitkus and Aarne Toomsalu on behalf of CONNECT Latvia team for the OSIRIS Project Group of Activities concerned with “Silver Financing Mechanism”.
Riga, 26th November 2020
Silver Entrepreneur’s Case Study
The case study describes the progress of a senior citizen during the last decade as he walks through the process of developing an innovative ideas whilst seeking and facing various support instruments on his way.
“My name is Rimis Vaitkus. This year, on September 12th, 2020, I will become 78 years old. I am a working pensioner. I have been one of the founders and a member of the board of the Latvian Inventors Association for the last twelve years. I was accepted as a member of this society of Inventors because I am the author of several patented inventions. During my work in the Association of Inventors, I participated in many international exhibitions of inventions in China, Indonesia, Germany and Russia.
One of my patented inventions, a device for converting the energy of the movement of water waves, which converts this energy into electrical energy, was awarded gold medals by the jury of various exhibitions.
Thanks to such an assessment by various international juries, today I work at the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as an engineer and participate in the further development of the project of this invention.
This summer, on the 11th August 2020 was a big day for me, as we did an important prototype experiment in natural conditions in the Gulf of Riga at the Mangalsala pier.
At my age, I am happy that I can take part in the development of such projects so that in the future such projects will bring people around the world more comfort in life and reduce their dependence on payment for energy sources.
If every pensioner felt that he/she, with his/her life experience and knowledge, is needed by society, he/she would definitely be happy, like me!
Here are some pictures from the experiment.”
Please tell us more about your journey as an entrepreneur seeking for financing for the de-velopment of your project!
Since I cannot rely on a regular financial income through projects funding (like university based inventors) or other regular income being an employee in some big organization, I have been very active in promoting my project in many different ways. Often I arrange a business to business meetings (b2b) with potential partners. I use opportunities that arise from being an active member of the Latvian Inventors Association. Thus I was able to present my innovative solutions in many parts of the world at the recognized international exhibitions. It makes me smile to recall even getting the first prize as the best attended booth in Germany at its’ largest new product, inventions and innovative solutions exhibition in Nuremberg – IENA. Eventually, the big meeting came within my own country, during the international exhibition MINOX 2016. This was definitely the milestone exhibition that directed my projects into absolutely new dimensions. At the MINOX 2016 exhibition I was happy to meet and make close connections with two important persons, Assoc. Prof. Janis Kleperis from Latvia and Assoc. Prof. Chien-Heng Chou from Taiwan, with whom we have been working together for the last four years and applying to many international financing and funding programs. It was not an easy start as we faced many rejected proposals from the juries. However, then we succeeded in a small university pre-incubation program and then we succeeded again in another regional pre-incubation program, and soon after we succeeded again in a new product development program with more funding available.
Participation in MINOX 2016 and funding programs “Latvia-Lithuania-Taiwan”
I met Assoc. Prof. Chien-Heng Chou from Taiwan, Vanung University, who participated in the International Seminar on “Conversion of Water Wave Motion Energy into Electrical/Pressure Energy” during the MINOX 2016 exhibition organized by the Society “CONNECT Latvia” and Latvian Inventors Association. Prof. Chou was one of the initiators of the joint project application to apply for funding program competition: MUTUAL FUNDS “TAIWAN – LATVIA – LITHUANIA” COOPERATION PROJECT APPLICATION. We started the first attempts for our participation in this competition with Dr. Nerius Blažauskas of Klaipėda University in Lithuania, Dr. Janis Kleperis of the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia together with Elmars Baltins from Society “CONNECT Latvia” and Assoc. Prof. Chien-Heng Chou from Taiwan. And we did it for three consecutive years in the period from 2018-2020. We failed to succeed every time for three years in a row.
Please tell us about your perseverance in searching for other programs!
It was the continuous inspiration from my colleagues – Prof. Chien-Heng Chou, Elmars Baltins and Dr. Janis Kleperis, and the wider team and the passion about our common dream to make water waves energy possible. My colleagues’ experience and knowledge about different funding programs helped to identify various programs to apply. Dr. Janis Kleperis also showed great interest in my ideas and tried to convince the management of his Institute of Solid-State Physics of the University of Latvia to look for funding opportunities for my (to make it clear – I do not call it anymore “my” – it is ours, our team’s project) project.
Tell us about your first success by winning in a funding program “Greenhouse”? How did it come about?
Working on another project of my invention “flexible road and square pavement RUBBRU” together with the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia and Society “CONNECT Latvia”, we participated in a 48 hours hackathon organized by the Institute of Solid State Physics, where we met one of the hackathon participants – entrepreneur Imants. He was the man who gave our “RUBBRU” team a reference to a completely new project funding program "Greenhouse", which is a university run pre-incubation and incubation program.
I would like to notice that one of my colleagues reminded me of this “Greenhouse” program for several times and also on the day before the deadline that we should apply for a project! Elmars Baltins helped to prepare the application for the competition, we submitted it to the jury, and we were awarded a "Greenhouse" Grant in the amount of 2500,- EUR. This was really the first success that has also spurred up Dr. Janis Kleperis trust in our joint efforts. We used these funds to purchase a large, hydraulic press, to create moulds for the element of the lower layer of flexible pavement, we established Limited Company “RUBBRU” together with colleagues from the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia, as well as purchased the necessary tools and accessories for further project development.
Almost simultaneously one of our colleagues, Eng. Vladimirs Nemcevs, now the elected Chairman of our Company Ltd “RUBBRU”, came up with an initiative to apply for the pre-incubation program at the regional incubator in Madona which is run by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency. And we succeeded again. There was no cash support available, but the recognition of our efforts and project was likewise important for us to strengthen our self-confidence. Eng. Vladimirs Nemcevs took part in the business study program of the pre-incubation and participated at the master classes to refine and learn key business development aspects.
Meanwhile, Dr. Janis Kleperis prepared another application for funding for the project “RUBBRU” in the Latvian Investment and Development funding program. It was rejected.
Tell us about "admission" (without an employment contract) to the Institute of Solid-State Physics of the University of Latvia? How did "friendship" and "trust" developed?
After the MINOX 2016 exhibition we started with a meetings on a bi-weekly basis at the premises of the Institute of Solid State Physics. Slowly our team expanded to include few more members of Dr. Janis Kleperis closest colleagues. I believe that we have brought in a fresh energy, passion and dreams to the somewhat routine project work of the Institute. We started with practical, physical making of models and prototypes, on a bootstrapping mode, using our own money and handwork. This has created a mutual trust among our team members and even not being an employee of the Institute I spent quite a lot of hours in a workshop of the Institute and also working at home to build real models of our inventions. So after half a year or so I was able to work in the premises of the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia though not being employed at the time.
How did the work and team evolved?
Once being “unofficially” admitted to the Institute of Solid State Physics, I helped and collaborated with one of the colleagues of Dr. Janis Kleperis, an electrical engineer Mr. Vladimirs Nemcevs on the development of his hydraulic ram project. We created a small model for a new hydraulic ram at the laboratory premises in the Institute of Solid State Physics, where we could perform scientific experiments.
Working on the hydraulic ram of Vladimirs Nemcevs, we got introduced with Prof. A. Pasilis from Lithuania, Klaipeda University, during the MINOX 2018 exhibition, in a scientific seminar on magnetic blocks. Such an opportunity was provided at the exhibition by Elmars Baltins (one of the organizers of the exhibition), who suggested to organize a seminar for the participants of the exhibition about Prof. A. Pasilis “Use of magnet blocks in a linear electric generator”. Together with Eng. Vladimirs Nemcevs we tried to use the principle of the patented invention, proposed by Prof. Pasilis, in our new invention “Magnetic accelerator WILEG”. Thus another new potentially impact project was born. And our team is becoming even more solid and joined together.
Finally a larger success came after the project application (on behalf of the Institute of Solid-State Physics of the University of Latvia) in the funding program of Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIDA) for new product development was approved and subsequently you were officially admitted and employed by the Institute of Solid State Physics!
Yes, while me and Eng. Vladimirs Nemcevs and other colleagues were working with “hands” in building models and prototypes, the head of the unit at the Institute Dr. Janis Kleperis con-tinued to search for funding opportunities of some of our projects. Eventually, after several rejections, Dr. Janis Kleperis informed the members of our team about the allocation of fund-ing from LIDA for the project "Water wave movements for energy conversion into electrici-ty". Then the management of the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia decided to hire me at the Institute as an engineer with a small monthly salary for the 6-month financing period of this project.
What about the future plans, perhaps you can also outline your thoughts on funding programs!
At present, many funding programs have appeared both in Latvian Investment and Develop-ment Agency and in various incubators. The OSIRIS program, where I was invited to be in-volved as a senior and as an entrepreneur, thanks to my close connections with the Society “CONNECT Latvia”, may also come up with a funding program where anyone could simply write a project application with a good idea of improving the quality of life of seniors. The money allocated to this project is good, but it is worth thinking that we can save a small part of these funds for the creation of “road” map for national seniors' fund. In example, me, per-sonally, I could put 10 euros into this fund every month from my earned salary. If the other participants in this project would do the same, a decent amount will be put together during the year, which then can be spent on a real project for seniors good.
Written and edited by R. Vaitkus, V. Obuka, E. Baltins – CONNECT Latvia team in the OSIRIS Project
Riga, 9th September 2020
Pavel from Kohtla-Järve has a “crush” on household trash
From left: Pavel and one of the mentors Aarne Toomsalu in Cambridge
“I saw information about the program at my college, the Tallinn Technical University branch in Kohtla-Järve, attended it and won a competition that gave me a chance to go to Cambridge,” Pavel (in the photo in the middle) said.
While many young entrepreneurs dream of the next killer smartphone app or a fintech solution that lives in the “cloud”, Pavel’s idea that got him to Cambridge was the down-to-earth, day-to-day stuff also known as…rubbish. While aspiring programmers are working on the next great space fantasy game, someone must take care of all the pizza boxes from their three-day marathon brainstorm as well as get rid of leftovers, bottles, cans and whatever else from the rest of the apartment or office building.
Consumer societies – perhaps emerging ones like the Baltics more than others – generate lots of trash which requires a trash collection system with lots of capacity for taking away all the stuff we no longer need. Capacity means handling volume and the less volume our thrown-away waste takes up, the more efficiently the capacity of containers and rubbish removal trucks can be used.
This, as Pavel explains, is the basic idea of his ongoing project, a new and better trash compactor for multi-dwelling residential areas. Mechanically compacted trash takes up less space and can be stored and moved more efficiently with fewer trucks needed to take away the same amount of trash – now crushed much smaller – which earlier required more vehicles and workers.
Pavel is cautious going into much detail about his project. Trash compacting is not a new idea or new technology, but Pavel’s innovation impressed his instructors at the Tallinn Technical University course and the instructors in Cambridge. In general terms, he says it is a “closed electromechanical and hydraulic system to improve trash collection in housing areas”. He needs to finish work on a prototype, and, as his Cambridge instructors told him – to work on funding so that he can present the prototype and do marketing of the system to target customers.
Finishing the prototype needs additional financing, so Pavel explained that he is exploring some new opportunities, such as crowd funding. Currently, he is working with Enterprise Estonia (EAS), which provides various kinds of funding for new enterprise development. So far, he is making a video to promote his trash compacting innovation, and is doing all the marketing himself. If he gets more funding, Pavel hopes to engage someone to do marketing for him.
Pavel’s hope is that the trash compacting device could be manufactured in Kohtla-Järve, a city in Estonia with an industrial tradition and a Russian majority population.
As in its Baltic neighbor country Latvia, the Russian minority, many of whom arrived during the Soviet era, or are descendants of these arrivals, is the source of some ethnic and political tensions, so the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp has tried to include entrepreneurs of Russian descent or from outlying regions.
The Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp moved to Estonia to offer entrepreneurship training to young entrepreneurs from Kohtla-Järve. It is an informal education program, which takes place in leading universities, business incubators and innovation centers in Riga, Latvia and Cambridge, UK. The Venture Camp in Estonia was held at a branch of the Tallinn Technical University and provided an opportunity for cross-disciplinary students to gain practical insights into the local and global business world from experienced entrepreneurs/lecturers in Riga and Cambridge. The program has been aimed at stimulating enterprise and innovation in the Baltic area’s outlying regions, starting in 2016 with Latgale in the east of the country.
The founders of Connect Latvia include the Riga Technical University, the University of Latvia, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga), Connect Sweden and the Riga City Council.
The young IT specialist from Latgale learns to present ideas to investors
During 5 weeks, with sessions 2 days a week, 50 selected participants were inspired and equipped with the skills and information needed to set up a company and run a business. However, the long-term goal of this SSE Riga initiative was to strengthen entrepreneurship culture in Daugavpils City and the Latgale region and to engage participants in entrepreneurial networks.
"The project's aim is to spur entrepreneurship in the Latgale region and to encourage prospective business owners. People with entrepreneurship education are more likely to set up their own companies; therefore, it is important to advise those who don't have a business education. By providing this intensive training course and making entrepreneurship education more accessible, we want to give them the confidence, skills and knowledge to develop their own business ideas and make them work. This is also a great opportunity for them to exchange ideas, advice and questions with other like-minded individuals from the Latgale region," explains the Rector of SSE Riga Anders Paalzow.
The Entrepreneurship Training Course in Daugavpils was organized by the joint efforts of the Embassy of Sweden, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and CONNECT Latvia.After completion of this course, the most adventurous participants could take the next step and apply for the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp – an informal education programme which takes place at leading universities, business incubators and innovation centres in Riga, Latvia and Cambridge, UK. The Venture Camp is an opportunity for cross-disciplinary students to gain practical insights into the local and global business world from experienced entrepreneurs/lecturers in Riga and Cambridge. The programme has been aimed at stimulating enterprise and innovation in Latvia’s regions, starting with Latgale in the east of the country.
Below, we look at the experience of an aspiring entrepreneur from Latgale – Krišjānis Daugulis. His story started with the Entrepreneurship Training Course in Latgale and continued with the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp.
Krišjānis Daugulis, who has spent some years working various jobs in information technology (IT), participated in the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp with a clear goal – to learn how to present his startup company to investors and sources of financing.
“Amber Housing is a Rezekne startup with 10 people working on IT solutions for building management. We are in an active search for financing, the Cambridge Venture Camp gave us a look at the investor involvement side. This was the main purpose for my attendance,” Krišjānis says.Despite his focus on learning to present Amber Housing to investors, Krišjānis speaks well of the first session of Venture Camp, which was held in Rezekne and attracted a wide range of active and potential local entrepreneurs.
“What I liked in the Rezekne part of the course was that there were so many ideas, but mostly leaning toward IT, and there were also local, non-global ideas, such as tourism and opening cafes,” Krišjānis recalls.The young IT specialist is from the eastern Latvian region of Latgale, where he also earned a bachelor and master’s degree from the Rezekne Higher Education Institution (RHEI), whose engineering and science departments are commonly called the Rezekne Technical Academy. Born in 1989, he has already held a number of IT related jobs in the Rezekne area as a programmer, business analyst and quality manager. His current project is the recent startup Amber Housing, which offers building management software tools and solutions in a cloud-based environment.
Building management in the cloud“We launched the system some months ago, free of cost. Any building management company can start an account,” he says, and tells that as of mid-July, “there are three active users in Latvia and Britain, our golden customers.” The idea of the service is to bring transparency to costs and functions in managing or owning a building or a house, with many functions and indicators defined by the users/building managers themselves. “If they need a lawn mowing schedule, why not?” Krišjānis says.
The presence of a British customer gave a certain sense of urgency to the Cambridge part of the Venture Camp. Krišjānis says that he got his chance to present Amber Housing as if to potential investors. However, pitching the company to a large panel of business lecturers left him with slightly mixed feelings.“It was a simulation before our teachers, who are not our company’s target audience. In their comments, they always sought to find points where they could teach us something. That made some of the presenting seem a little pointless,” he says.
The ideal test would have been to ask potential “investors” for EUR 100 000 and discuss the terms of an investment deal, the return they would expect on this sum and the like,” says Krišjānis.
Learning to present ideas to investors
But overall, Krišjānis was pleased with the Cambridge Venture Camp experience. “For us Cambridge was valuable from the startup, not the technical side, it was about getting investors, where we have little experience, and learning to present ourselves.” He also remembers meeting with the Cambridge Design Partnership “for whom innovation itself is a product.”
Upon first seeing the famous university town, Krīšjānis though that “Cambridge was not much bigger than Rezekne and full of cyclists and bike paths.” It soon became apparent that Cambridge was much larger, but with good bike paths “where even high managers ride to work.” Cambridge also buzzed with enterprise and innovation, much like the circles in which Krišjānis moved and worked in Rezekne.
While he still plans to open some foreign offices, including in Britain if Amber Housing takes off, Krišjānis came back from Cambridge convinced that “Rezekne (in Eastern Latvia) is not out of the way. In a globalized world it could attract IT workers, offering a quieter life and a lower cost of living. Combined with the Technical Academy, it is a strategically good location for IT companies,” he says.
Starting a new business: A story of an aspiring entrepreneur from Latgale
Through the initiative of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga), the Entrepreneurship Training Course for aspiring entrepreneurs was run in the Latgale region for the second consecutive year.
During 5 weeks, with sessions 2 days a week, 50 selected participants were inspired and equipped with the skills and information needed to set up a company and run a business. However, the long-term goal of this SSE Riga initiative was to strengthen entrepreneurship culture in Daugavpils City and the Latgale region and to engage participants in entrepreneurial networks.
"The project's aim is to spur entrepreneurship in the Latgale region and to encourage prospective business owners. People with entrepreneurship education are more likely to set up their own companies; therefore, it is important to advise those who don't have a business education. By providing this intensive training course and making entrepreneurship education more accessible, we want to give them the confidence, skills and knowledge to develop their own business ideas and make them work. This is also a great opportunity for them to exchange ideas, advice and questions with other like-minded individuals from the Latgale region," explains the Rector of SSE Riga Anders Paalzow.
The Entrepreneurship Training Course in Daugavpils was organized by the joint efforts
of the Embassy of Sweden, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and CONNECT
Latvia.
After completion of this course, the most adventurous participants could take the next step and apply for the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp – an informal education programme which takes place at leading universities, business incubators and innovation centres in Riga, Latvia and Cambridge, UK. The Venture Camp is an opportunity for cross-disciplinary students to gain practical insights into the local and global business world from experienced entrepreneurs/lecturers in Riga and Cambridge. The programme has been aimed at stimulating enterprise and innovation in Latvia’s regions, starting with Latgale in the east of the country.
Below, we look at the experience of an aspiring entrepreneur from Latgale – Deniss Kuznecovs.
His story started with the Entrepreneurship Training Course in Latgale and continued
with the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp.
Ambassador of Sweden in Latvia Henrik Landerholm, Deniss Kuznecovs and Anders Paalzow
Deniss Kuznecovs found inspiration for a future enterprise when his daughter, a primary school pupil, was asked to research her family name. Kuznecovs, or Kuznecov in its Russian-Slavic version, is an unremarkable last name, except for one thing in Latvian history. There was a famous Kuznecov Porcelain Factory dating back to the mid-19th century, when Latvia was a province of Czarist Russia and the entrepreneurial Russian Kuznecov family opened a porcelain factory in Riga.
By the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Kuznecovs practically had a
monopoly on making porcelain and faience (a special kind of earthenware) in the
whole Russian Empire. Kuznecov porcelain was exported to England and other European
countries and was a top luxury brand at the time. The communist revolution and
the collapse of the Russian Empire saw the Kuznecovs concentrating on what was
left of their business in Latvia. When Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union
in 1940 and again in 1944 after a brief German occupation, the factory was nationalized
and carried on as the Riga Porcelain Factory until Latvia regained its independence
in 1991. In the 1990s, the enterprise gradually ceased to exist and a shopping
centre was built on the site of the factory.
Policeman, lawyer, porcelain maker…?
Deniss Kuznecovs, who claims no direct descent from the famous Kuznecovs, seems
an unlikely person to take the idea of someday bringing back the Kuznecov Porcelain
Factory to the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp. To be sure, he is a Latgalian, born
in the eastern Latvian region of Latgale, known for its potters and ceramic artisans,
but his career so far has had little to do with ceramics or the porcelain industry.
A graduate of the Latvian Police Academy with a law degree, Deniss worked for
some time as a police officer, but then moved on to practice law because it gives
him more time to develop his entrepreneurial side. He now works as a lawyer for
the municipality of Aglona, known in Latvia and to some extent in the Catholic
world for an annual pilgrimage each August 15 to its basilica and a September,
1993, visit by Pope John Paul II.
The business idea that Deniss has had and which he presented at both stages of
the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp is to make porcelain objects with a 3D printer.
3D printing is a technology buzzword and “the idea was received as interesting,
because 3D printing is emerging, it is done with polyester, metal – and it can
also be done with clay; porcelain is kaolin, a special kind of clay,” he recalls.
The Venture Camp gathered people with different kinds of ideas, “helping the sight-impaired,
all kinds of software for phones, 3D visualization of blueprints on a phone,”
said Deniss. For him, one important aspect was getting to know a woman who, as
a scientist, studies silicates, clays and nanotechnology. She is a contact who
can help develop the idea of 3D printing of porcelain.
Brushing up English and burning some cards
The Cambridge part of the Venture Camp in early 2016 was exciting, Deniss remembers
– he met young entrepreneurs from all over Europe and quickly refreshed his knowledge
of English in order to make presentations and speak with his fellow “campers”.
He even ran across another guy from Latvia working at a Cambridge nightclub who
noticed him speaking Latvian to some of the other Venture Camp participants from
Latvia.
Some real “excitement” happened when a Dutch camper tried to demonstrate card tricks
but dropped some cards in the kitchen sink. Not much of a scientist, the clumsy
card magician put his wet cards in the microwave oven to dry and went back to
chatting with the others until the conversation suddenly stopped as the room
started to fill with smoke from smouldering playing cards. It ended well and
the Dutch guy later came back with a box of candy to make up for the temporary
mess in the common kitchen of the residence where the Venture Camp participants
were staying.
Putting Latgale back on the porcelain map
Although the idea of resurrecting porcelain manufacturing in Latvia is a medium-to-long-term
project for Deniss, he sees potential for making the idea a reality in his home
region of Latgale, near the town of Rezekne. “The new porcelain factory would
combine old and new technologies and make use of the ability to find people in
the ceramics industry near Rezekne, where there was a ceramics factory as well
as many artisans working in ceramics. The Rezekne College of Art has a programme
in ceramics and there are engineers and a 3D printing lab at the Rezekne Academy
of Technology.” 3D printing would be used for exclusive, custom designs and prototyping
of porcelain items, while most production would be through conventional methods,
he says.
Deniss believes the Kuznecov brand has not been forgotten in export markets and
could be successfully revived in Russia and elsewhere. As an example, he points
to the revival of the Latvian Erenpreiss bicycle brand, which was relaunched
in 2012 by a distant relative of the founder Gustavs Erenpreiss. Before 1940,
Erenpreiss was the largest maker of bicycles in the Baltic countries.
Outside of the Venture Camp, Deniss has been doing research on porcelain manufacturing
from time to time. He visited the only remaining porcelain manufacturer in Latvia,
the Piebalga Porcelain Factory, a small-scale maker of artisanal porcelain and
a potential competitor or cooperation partner for his long-term dream of reviving
the Kuznecov Porcelain Factory. The small porcelain plant is located in the town
of Vecpiebalga.
For now, Deniss has founded an innovators’ and entrepreneurs’ club to promote entrepreneurship in the Latgale region after his participation at the Venture Camp in Latvia and Cambridge. Spreading the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit is what the region currently needs, but Deniss’s longer-term goal is still to see Kuznecov porcelain selling on the international market again – some of it made on 3D printers.
CONNECT Latvia – supporting entrepreneurs
The article is copied from European Commission Promoting Enterprise website:
CONNECT Latvia is a non-profit membership association with the objective to help create and develop new and innovative companies in Latvia. The founders of Connect Latvia include Riga Technical University, University of Latvia, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Connect Sweden, IVA Sweden and Riga City Council. In this interview, entrepreneurs and Connect ambassadors Alexander Efremov and Madara Mara Irbe talks about the motivation behind the organisation and the importance of nurturing young entrepreneurs.
CONNECT Latvia appears to
be a hybrid organization – part membership association and part
incubator and training provider. Could you explain exactly what you are
and how you operate?
Yes, CONNECT Latvia is a truly hybrid organisation, as is innovation itself. CONNECT’s mission is to stimulate new entrepreneurial ventures in our region. Even though entrepreneurship is usually associated with starting up a company, it’s meaning is much broader. It could be a social venture or pursuing someone’s dreams in research. The first, original CONNECT network was established in San Diego, USA back in 1985, where it is still operating and has reached a broad community by providing technology entrepreneurship development. Core to CONNECT’s growth and development is a culture of collaboration, fostered by San Diego CONNECT’s first director, Bill Otterson.
Still alive in our minds is his vision, which could be described as ‘networking is what makes us a community.’ Bill would, during an important event where high-level executives have gathered, spend hours talking to a young man or woman who is just starting his/her first entrepreneurial venture. These are heroes to whom we look up and follow, and they lead our next generation in the entrepreneurial journey. Another inspiring leader, friend and role model for CONNECT Latvia is Professor Alan Barrell from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the initiator of the Cambridge Venture Camp programmes that are run in Cambridge for students from many different parts of the world, e.g. China, Vietnam, Finland, Portugal and Latvia. Alan’s passion for entrepreneurship and innovation cannot be summed in a few sentences, but one example stands out: “The concept of the world without borders – the entrepreneurship world today can become the world that unites nations and countries, despite and even encouraged by differences that will make all of us richer, firstly in our minds.”
Alan Barrell and I both meet with young entrepreneurs and inventors to discuss their business or invention ideas, trying to develop the essence of entrepreneurship and make young innovators ready for real life and for successful business life.
What were your objectives when you set up the Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp and what do you hope to achieve from it in terms of sustainable development in the SME sector?
The Riga-Cambridge Venture Camp is a new project undertaken by CONNECT Latvia. It is an informal education programme, which takes place in leading universities, business incubators and innovation centres in Riga, Latvia and Cambridge, UK. The Venture Camp is an opportunity for cross-disciplinary students to gain practical insights into the local and global business world from experienced entrepreneurs/lecturers in Riga and Cambridge. It’s also an opportunity for lecturers to foster their methodology and expand their knowledge in their area of expertise, which they can, in turn, implement into their daily lecturing activities.
We’ve come to realise that cross-disciplinary students have little or no knowledge about doing business or of commercialising their ideas and inventions. The usual scenario is either thinking that an idea is unreal and, therefore, no effort is put into actually testing that hypothesis, or the other storyline is often by investing time and money into a solution that nobody needs. What we want to refine here is the attitude and potential of our young and talented by explaining vital business development processes with real-time work on the business ideas with which students come into the Venture Camp. Our participating lecturers, entrepreneurs and mentors are dedicated to helping the Venture Camp participants succeed. Success for some is the first failure, the chance to learn and do better in the next business project, and for others it’s a prosperous SME. Some of our programme graduates have launched booming SMEs, such as ICT Amber Housing in the housing sector; VIVIDLY, a virtual reality platform for architects and their clients; KnoqEyes, an application to assist the blind. These are just some examples, and even those who are still in the midst of their way to success have gained the necessary boost to strive for their goals. Our mission is to be there and give a helping hand throughout the programme and beyond.
Is there anything that you feel the European Commission can do to assist you achieve your objectives for Latvia?
Support incentives through visiting experts, co-organising workshops, promotion of activities, programmes, experts, members, organisation…
Such activities like the EU-co-financed project under the Interreg programme, ‘Best Agers’ or another project ‘Connect Baltic Sea Region+’, have played crucial roles in forming CONNECT’s vision and activities. Leaders of these projects and the international team around them have influenced development of the mindset, capacity and passion for entrepreneurship and innovation in all aspects of the life cycle. For example, the Best Agers project focuses on how to engage seniors aged 55+ in business activities at a broader, deeper and larger scale. Some activities were focused on using the skills and experience of best agers to become mentors for young people and entrepreneurs; others brought to the table issues on safe and adapted workplaces for elderly people. One noteworthy example of this was the City of Kiel Waste Management project in which they redesigned and rebuilt waste collection machines so that people who work them could get into and out of them more easily by simply making one small step up/down instead of three larger steps. We call it ‘making the world a better place to live.’
A perfect pitch
Together with innovator and inventor Rims Vaitkus we had an opportunity to participate at the KIC InnoEnergy KICkoff Competition. It is a business idea challenge in CEE countries aimed at sustainable energy development. Teams from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are invited.
With project "Floating island LUCKY DUCK" we have made it to the semifinal, that took place in Kaunas, Lithuania, from 30th of June to 5th of July.
As the main benefit of the event we definitely perceive the two-day pitch training session under the leadership of Estonian expert Gleb Maltsev. There were no slides and projector used for the whole training period. Instead, we focused on making a short, concise, clear oral presentation. Each of the participants could present his business project for a few times, receiving valuable feedback both from Gleb and the audience.
In the end we came up with a "perfect" 4 minutes pitch:
We did not make it to the Final, that will take place in Warsaw, in September. Our wish for the next time is to see more Latvian startups participating.
Elmars Baltins, Rims Vaitkus