PROJECTS

Common activities in Valmiera

On June 7 and 8, 2024, representatives of Free Riga visited Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences to help transform the building at Tērbatas iela 10A into a laboratory of sustainable construction.
The building was cleaned and in the future workshop area the interior decoration was removed. The work plan for the development of the building is based on the ideas developed by Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and Romanian Polytechnic University of Timisoara architecture students in the 2023 E³UDRES² living laboratories. But in the end of July, representatives of Vidzeme University will visit Free Riga to help implement the ideas of Viskaļi - Life Quality Design Institute.

The activities are implemented by the Erasmus+ project “Building Alternative Skills to Implement Creativities and Commons, No. 101111802” and are co-financed from the European Union budget.

Knowledge and experience during the Riga session

From 23.04. to 26.04.2024. several ViA employees and students (Marija Katrīna Dambe, Linda Murāne, Alīna Beitāne and Liene Goļča) participated in the Riga session of the "BASICC- Building Alternative Skills to Implement Creativities and Commons" project.
Project representatives from Latvia, France, Italy, Belgium shared their experience and knowledge, learned about the situation in Latvia and Riga in relation to empty, abandoned buildings and building communities, as well as visited and analyzed several places in Riga: the Quality of Life Design Institute "Viskaļi", Briana quarter, creative quarter "Provodniks" etc.

The activities are implemented by the Erasmus+ project “Building Alternative Skills to Implement Creativities and Commons, No. 101111802” and are co-financed from the European Union budget.

BASICC: Building Alternative Skills to Implement Creativities and Commons

The Aim and description: BASICC develops skills for the organization of vacant spaces in Europe, in connection with the European ecosystem of "social and proximity economy".Project will develop pedagogical innovations: university degree sessions on vacant places and their reuse in shared spaces, a work-based learning for access to a professional title of digital mediation space managers, a university course on acquired reflexive skills and a digital narrative platform. Dissemination strategy is addressed through a protocol for designing national training courses on the management of common spaces. Communication with the general public will happen through the production of a documentary on the skills developed by the learners. Evaluation is oriented towards policy makers, to whom project members will provide comprehensive analyses of the learning associated with occupying vacant spaces and the economic impact of the ecosystem created.

Project period: 01.08.2023.-31.07.2025.

Project number: 101111802

Project partners: 15 project partners from Italy, France, Latvia, Turkey, Belgium and Germany. Lead partner: Coop Eskemm

Project total budget: 1 250 000.00 EUR

ViA project budget: 28 783.00 EUR

Programme: Erasmus+

Involved staff: Marija Katrīna Dambe, Linda Murāne, Krišjānis Zaķis, Liene Golča

PROJECT NEWS

Transformation of abandoned buildings

11 October 2024

How often have you heard or caught yourself thinking that there are so many places around that are abandoned, but could be inhabited or restored in some other way. In the 6th episode of the 4th season...

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The experience of the Brussels communities

15 July 2024

At the beginning of July 2024, Linda Murāne went to Brussels, where the next experience and research visit of project partners was held within the framework of the BASICC project. Two communities MONA...

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Common activities in Valmiera

10 June 2024

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Knowledge and experience during the Riga session

30 April 2024

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Meeting in Italy

05 February 2024

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (ViA) representative Marija Katrīna Dambe went to the meeting and work seminar in Italy from January 29 to February 2, 2024 to agree with the partners on the nex...

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Project progress presentation in France

15 December 2023

In the period from 12.12.23. -15.12.23. ViA representative Linda Murane went to the Frence, Rennes to meet BASICC project partners from France, Belgium, Italy and Germany. During the meeting, the wo...

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Common tour

27 November 2023

In November, representatives of ViA together with the organization "Free Riga" went on an experience exchange tour to get to know each other and better understand the experiences and needs in the rest...

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Meeting in Brussels

16 October 2023

From 11.10.23.-13.10.23. Linda Murāne went to Brussels, where with the organization "Free Riga" and other project partners, she had the opportunity to "step into the shoes of French students" and part...

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Optimising the Governance and Management of the Natura 2000 Protected Areas Network in Latvia (LatViaNature)

The overall objective of the LIFE-IP LatViaNature is to ensure implementation of the PAF specifically addressing gaps and shortcomings and ensuring favorable conservation status of the natural and semi-natural habitats and species of Community interest by developing best practices, and creating and adopting innovative solutions.

The proposed IP will include the following specific objectives:

To improve the conservation status of habitats and species through wise planning and effective management;
To improve the efficiency of Natura 2000 network;
To improve the nature planning system at site level by making it more flexible and user-friendly;
To develop motivating mechanisms to support effective nature conservation on private lands;
To develop an effective system for control and management of invasive alien species;
To create a modern, centralized data portal for nature conservation sector;
To strengthen the capacity of administration and to enhance collaboration among governmental, non-governmental sectors and scientific institutions;
To increase the stakeholder involvement and to raise awareness of specific target groups, especially private landowners, regarding nature conservation in general and specific areas of the IP;
To raise awareness of the general public on nature conservation issues and to increase their knowledge and voluntary involvement in biodiversity conservation.

Implementation period: 01.11.2020. - 31.12.2028.

Funding/ programme: EU Life Environment Programme

HESPI role: Project partner

Cooperation partners: Nature Conservation Agency (lead partner), Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, University of Latvia, Daugavpils University, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, JSC “Latvia’s state forests”, Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre, Latvian Fund for Nature, Pasaules dabas fonds

Project funding: 19484173.00 EUR

Project scientific manager (e-mail): Agita Līviņa (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Involved staff: HESPI research staff Andris Klepers, Anda Arkliņa

More information: https://www.daba.gov.lv/public/lat/projekti/aktualie_projekti/latvianature/

Acceleration Services in support of the institutional transformation of Higher Education Institutions - Accelerate Future HEI

Accelerate future hei

Higher education institution (HEIs) are crucial drivers of knowledge ecosystems, and increasingly also of innovation ecosystems possessing the potential to impact through education, research and regional development. Through Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funding, the European Commission has been active in supporting HEIs to increase the engagement and impact in the context of their region, by fostering innovation and entrepreneurship activities. The new European Research Area is expected to strengthen the Research and Innovation dimension of HEIs through a comprehensive institutional Higher Education Transformation Agenda in synergy with the European Education Area, reinforcing their role as drivers of change, fostering their recovery, enabling shared objectives between the EU and Member States’ initiatives to support higher education institutions in their efforts to transform on their education, research, innovation and service to society missions. Given that that impact is achieved through active engagement of the knowledge and digitally-driven HEI with its environment, understanding the context in which the HEI exists and aims to impact is vitally important. Initiatives such as the EC’s Smart Specialisation recognise the symbiosis between the HEI and its region, whilst the existence of ecosystems in both university-business cooperation and entrepreneurship are recognised. To engender transformation within HEIs to create better impact pathways, is an exercise in change management and processes. To drive change then, a comprehensive series of sequential and parallel activities need to occur that raise Awareness, Desire, Knowledge that lead to Action, which then needs to be measured to enable the new behaviour to be Reinforced. This can be achieved through a focussed support system that builds on the status quo, develops a vision and activities described in a roadmap and then executed in application projects supported with coaching, training and international exchange.

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Objectives:

1. To identify the status quo of the HEI and their ecosystem with regards to entrepreneurial and innovative activities through a comprehensive Scanning and Scoping phase

2. To develop an acceleration development roadmap that incorporates a vision, realistic activities to be executed through a transformation acceleration project within the Developing phase

3. To test and implement acceleration services that help institutions implement a transformation strategy and roadmap, by creating a shared knowledge base, coaching service and virtual meeting place for HEIs to connect with peers and external stakeholders such as other ecosystem actors, investors and public funders. The acceleration services will provide: access to coaches, mentors, expertise and facilitated discussion from academia or outside academia, with different profiles that match with the areas from the transformation agenda. These individuals should provide support for

i. strategy development,

ii. roadmap development, and

iii. implementation of the above roadmap (through institutional transformation acceleration projects and mapping the required support resources), as well as provide

iv. detailed advice on access to funding from EU, national, and regional sources to allow the HEIs to deliver on the transformations. This advice should enable HEIs to formulate standard methodologies to develop specific investment agendas that consist of different funding and financial instrument branches, aligned with the priorities and areas of the common transformation agenda.

4. To include an evaluation mechanism that enables partners to assess the strategies from HEIs

supervised by an ‘acceleration board’ of independent experts. The evaluation mechanism will monitor

progress of the HEIs in the implementation of the chosen areas from the transformation agenda.

5. To generate policy feedback to the European Commission and Member States, as well as to provide

widespread dissemination of the pilot results to other target groups

Implementation period: 01.01.2023. – 31.12.2026.

Funding/ programme: Horizon Europe programme, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. /European Research Executive Agency

Aim: Together, we aim to develop and pilot test a methodology for acceleration services to support HEI institutional transformation

Leading partner: Coordinator: UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY INNOVATION NETWORK BV (UIIN

Cooperation partners:

TUM International (TUMint)

Momentum Consulting (MMS)

Instituto Superior Técnico (IST)

Université de La Reunion (UR)

Universidad Europea de Canarias (UEC)

Universidade da Madeira (UMa)

St. Pölten University of Applied Science (STPUAS)

UC Leuven-Limburg University of Applied Sciences (UCLL)

Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE)

Politehnica University Timișoara (UPT)

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (ViA)

Project funding: 3 197 063.75 (for ViA 208 750.00) Project manager (e-mail): Iveta Putniņa (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Involved staff: Agita Šmitiņa, Vera Grāvīte-Lapere

More information: Home - Accelerate Future HEI

News

1. Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences launches new project to accelerate the future potential of Higher Education institutions in Europe. Read here

2. Testing partner ViA explores best practices in university transformation during its international week. Read here