Inviting Daugavpils residents to take part in the radi!2018 practical design thinking seminar

Next Thursday, 31 May, as part of Creative Action Week radi!2018, a practical design thinking seminar will be held at the LIAA Daugavpils Business Incubator “From a Creative Community to a Creative Quarter?”, during which local residents, together with experts, will generate and present ideas throughout the day for creating a place in their city where creative potential can be developed. The Daugavpils seminar is the first of a series of four radi!2018 regional events, and young people, entrepreneurs, representatives of local government and the non-governmental sector, as well as other interested parties from the city and region, are invited to participate free of charge.

In April, Creative Action Week radi! began in Latvia for the eighth consecutive year. Its aim is to promote understanding of and interest in the development and interaction of the creative and cultural industries, actively involving the people of Latvia in various activities focused on co-creation, thinking and doing. To mark the centenary of the state, the radi!2018 programme has been planned to be even more interactive and focused, because, unlike in previous years, the centres of various Latvian regions have been chosen as the venues for its central events. By involving local representatives of various sectors, professions and institutions, issues important to each city will be addressed and solutions generated, in order to jointly create a better and more orderly surrounding environment. Following the successful experience of last year’s seminar held in Daugavpils and taking into account the response from residents, the city has once again been chosen as one of the main venues for regional events, where the application of design thinking, initiated last year, can continue to be developed to promote overall quality of life and entrepreneurship.

“To promote initiatives related to creative cross-sectoral entrepreneurship, residents need a place for generating ideas and developing creative potential. One possible solution could be the creation of a creative quarter, which would provide added value to the city and offer entrepreneurs and active residents a place to meet and express themselves creatively. Thus, during the practical design thinking seminar, we will seek answers and innovative solutions to these challenges, based on the ideas and projects developed by the participants. The seminar’s main objective is to introduce participants to design thinking methods that would help them successfully implement ideas and projects, taking into account the needs of the local community and attracting an audience to them; this is what we will actively work on during the day,” comments Līva Stūrmane, project manager of radi!2018.

The seminar will be led by experienced design thinking experts—the founder of the Creativity Lab foundation, Signe Adamoviča, and the head of Design Elevator, Čārlzs Bušmanis. Signe is the coordinator of Demola Latvia and works daily with mentoring student teams and leading workshops in innovation projects that address companies’ problem areas. Signe also provides design thinking training for various target groups in the private and public sectors. Čārlzs, meanwhile, has worked as a design consultant in Switzerland, the Netherlands and, currently, Latvia. In his daily work, he works with start-ups, the public sector and other companies and their representatives, sharing his experience as a designer and helping companies develop products and services. Čārlzs views design as a tool that can be used to address complex challenges meaningfully, conduct research and prototype solutions in order to achieve the best possible results.

The Daugavpils practical seminar will take place on 31 May from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and its primary working language will be English. Prior registration is mandatory. Participation can be confirmed by 27 May by completing the online form here: ej.uz/radi2018.

The event is organised with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture - NDPC), the British Council in Latvia, the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO and the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA). Event partner: LIAA Daugavpils Business Incubator.