Living Lab research concept in Rural Areas – “LIVERUR” Dissemination: ZSA
October 20, 2021 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm UTC+1
Latvian Farmer’s Parliament organized the LIVERUR project discussion workshop with stakeholders on the of 20th October 2021 in Rozmalas, Bauska County.
The main aim of the event was to raise awareness and encourage discussion about the tools developed within LIVERUR project and to detect how to encourage stakeholder cooperation down the line. This would provide the sustainability and further innovation development in agriculture, horticulture and continuously rural development
Organisation team
– Latvian Farmer’s Parliament, Maira Dzelzkalēja-Burmistre, Inga Bērziņa, Liga Kruklite, Sandis Liepa, Valters Zelcs
Support team
– Latvian rural entrepreneurs
– Researchers from Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies
– Local Authority staff
– Advisors
– Citizens
| 11.00 – 11.30 | LIVERUR project implementation in Latvia (https://liverur.eu) – Inga Bērziņa, Project Manager, ZSA |
| 11.30 – 12.00 | LIVERUR RAIN Platform and MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) – Sandis Liepa, PR specialist, ZSA (https://rainplatform.wtelecom.es) |
| 12.00 – 12.15 | Practical use of LIVERUR RAIN Business model – Inga Bērziņa, Project Manager, ZSA |
| 12.15 – 13.00 | DISCUSSION: Cooperation Possibilities in Innovation and Agricultural Production. Moderator: Maira Dzelzkalēja – Burmistre, Deputy Chairman of the Board, ZSA |
| 13.00 – 13.30 | Lunch break |
| 13.30 – 14.30 | DISCUSSION: Cooperation Network – How to Make It Work in Latvia. Moderator: Līga Krūklīte, Finance Director, ZSA |
| 14.30 – 15.00 | A Look Around the Recreation Complex “ROŽMALAS”. Cooperation. Traditions. Culture – Ilze Djačuka, Manager of The Recreation Complex “ROŽMALAS” |
Experience and lessons learnt:
- Participants are interested in cooperating with a goal to implement innovations in Agriculture
- Good cooperation traditions are not yet well established in Latvia, but there are good examples
- A great motivation mechanism to encourage any cooperation in Latvia is experience exchange activities.
- Sharing experiences is the only way to get across the message that cooperation is possible and needed to achieve goals, implement innovations and support each other
- Entrepreneurs, stakeholders and policymakers need to be well informed about the RAIN platform and the possibilities that it provides – the information flow must be regular
- Policymakers have big hopes for the platform in order to broaden knowledge and create a common understanding, but are a little sceptical about pooling ideas
- Participants agree that a common platform is a great starting point for cooperation in agriculture for innovation implementation
- Rural entrepreneurs are interested in the RAIN platform, particularly – a possibility to establish collaborations between businesses for maximum use of resources
- Stakeholders are supportive of the idea of adopting a roadmap towards a circular economy; they point out how important is to motivate more and more people to adopt the related ideas as it can be discouraging to operate separately
- Overall, the discussions led to conclusion that, in order to cooperate successfully, more success stories need to be shared on a regular basis.
- In addition, all stakeholders should encourage each other to participate in collaborations.
- The stakeholders evaluated the seminar positively, mostly appreciating a chance to network, share ideas and be listened to.
- The tools developed within LIVERUR project will be useful for future activities of the stakeholders.