Residents of Jelgava Invited to Participate in a Practical Design Thinking Seminar

On 19 June, as part of Creative Action Week radi!2018, a practical design thinking seminar will take place at the LIAA Jelgava Business Incubator "Jelgava 2.0: A Playground for Smart Innovations", during which local residents, together with experts, will generate and present ideas for a smart city development concept. The Jelgava seminar is the third in a series of four radi!2018 regional events, and young people, entrepreneurs, representatives of the municipality 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! was launched 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 sectors by actively involving Latvia's residents in various co-creation, thinking and action events. In honour of the centenary of the state, radi!2018 has been designed 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 main events. By involving local representatives from different sectors, professions and institutions, issues important to the city will be brought to the fore and solutions will be generated in order to jointly create a better, more orderly and more modern surrounding environment.

“Smart cities must use intelligent methods to generate and validate ideas. We can be proud that progressive Jelgava is truly a smart city striving for the maximum possible integration of technology to improve the quality and security of life in society. By capitalising on the strengths of the city and incubator and combining them with design thinking methods, together we will be able not only to spend time creatively, but also to arrive at timely, feasible and ambitious ideas for Jelgava 2.0,” comments Nikita Kazakevich, head of the LIAA Jelgava Business Incubator.

The main aim of the event is to familiarise participants with design thinking methods that will help them successfully implement future ideas and projects, taking local community needs into account and attracting an audience to them. The seminar will be led by experienced design thinking experts – the founder of Creativity Lab, Signe Adamoviča, and Charles Bushmanis, head of Design Elevator. Signe is the coordinator of Demola Latvia and works daily mentoring student teams and leading workshops in innovation projects that address companies’ challenges. Signe also conducts design thinking training for various target audiences in the private and public sectors.

Charles, meanwhile, has worked as a design consultant in Switzerland, the Netherlands and, currently, Latvia. In his daily work, he works with start-ups, public-sector organisations and other companies and their representatives, sharing his design experience and helping companies develop products and services. Charles views design as a tool for meaningfully addressing complex challenges, conducting research and prototyping solutions in order to achieve the best possible results.

The practical seminar in Jelgava will take place on Tuesday, 19 June, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will be held in Latvian and English. Prior registration is mandatory. Participation can be confirmed until 18 June by completing the online form here: ej.uz/radi2018.

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

News about Creative Action Week radi!2018 can be followed on the website www.radilatvija.lv, as well as on social media: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. #radilv. The final seminar in the radi!2018 regional events programme will take place in Cēsis (20 June).