Latvian Food Cluster

📣 The INNOVATE-EU project, funded by Horizon Europe, officially launched with a successful kick-off meeting held on February 4-5, 2025, in Stuttgart, Germany. The event gathered eight project partners from five European countries—Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Latvia, and Romania—along with Project Officer Oliver Kozak. 📌 The European Union faces several societal challenges, including the need for a sustainable green and digital transition. To overcome these challenges and maintain the EU's competitiveness and strategic autonomy, innovative and disruptive solutions are crucial. Start-ups and Scale-ups, particularly in the deep tech sector, are key drivers for these solutions. However, the EU lags behind innovation leaders like the US in terms of start-up ecosystems and deep tech investments. As a result, improving the EU's innovation performance has become a top priority, leading to the creation of the "New European Innovation Agenda." 📌 To address these challenges, the INNOVATE-EU project will strengthen and connect five local innovation ecosystems: the innovation leader region of Baden-Württemberg (BW) in Germany, the moderate innovator regions of Lithuania and Aragon in Spain, and the emerging innovation regions of Latvia and Northeast Romania. The goal is to reduce the innovation gap between these regions, link them to a broader EU network of innovation ecosystems, and support deep tech start-ups and scale-ups by focusing on three key pillars: 📐 A comprehensive analysis of the target groups and needs within the local innovation ecosystems, followed by knowledge exchange and the development of an action plan to address disparities. 📐 The establishment of the INNOVATE-EU innovation support community, which will foster interconnectedness and inclusivity, linking local ecosystems with broader European communities. 📐 Direct support and training for promising deep tech start-ups and scale-ups, providing them with the essential knowledge, tools, and contacts. 📌 The two-day meetings included interactive workshops, speeches, and networking sessions, setting the stage for impactful collaboration over the project’s 24-month duration. Moving forward, the consortium will implement targeted actions to enhance regional innovation capabilities and create a lasting impact on Europe’s innovation landscape. 📎 About INNOVATE-EU: ➡️ Project title: Strengthening European Start Ups through interconnected and inclusive Innovation Ecosystems (INNOVATE-EU), Project ID: 101193439 ➡️ Funding: European Commission, Horizon Europe – European Innovation Ecosystems ➡️ Project funding for all partners: 1.46 Mio € ➡️ Participating countries: Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain ➡️ Project duration: 01/2025 – 12/2027 Latvian Food Cluster, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Grünhof, Cluster IDiA, CLUSTERO - Romanian Cluster Association, AgriFood Lithuania, Cluster Imago•Mol, IMAGO-MOL Cluster, Fundación Zaragoza Ciudad del Conocimiento

Great interest in the competition “Young Baker 2024” organised by Latvian Food Cluster 🍞 The annual competition “Young Baker 2024” organised by Latvian Food Cluster brought together the most enterprising young food industry specialists from all over Latvia. The competition was attended by students of vocational education institutions aged 17 to 23, a total of 11 future food production technicians, confectioners and cooks from the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School, Valmieras tehnikums, as well as Ogres tehnikums, Smiltene Vocational School, Restaurant Service School, ventspils tehnikums, and Kuldiga Vocational School of Technology and Tourism. 🥐 The winners of the professional skills competition “Young Baker 2023/2024” were students of the Kuldiga Vocational School of Technology and Tourism. The winner and the title of the best young baker was Dana Zēģelniece, who was trained by teacher Dace Šēna. 2nd place won student of the Kuldiga Technology and Tourism Vocational School, Dženija Brūvele, whose teacher was Dace Šimkeviča. 3rd place won Andrija Marija Reinfelde, a student of the Restaurant Service School, who's teacher was Iveta Penele. 🧇 The winners of the competition received cash prizes, and their teachers received special prizes. In turn, the special prize of the Minister of Agriculture was received by Paula Marta Alksne, a student of the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School, whose teacher was Līga Rugāja. 🥯 The competition was organized by LFFC (Latvian Federation of Food Companies) Latvian Food Cluster in cooperation with the Latvian Bakers' Association and the Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School. The competition with ingredients was supported by Dobeles dzirnavnieks and Latvian Bakers' Association.

👏 We were delighted to participate in Value4Pack event, which brought together 30 innovative solutions aimed at addressing food packaging challenges. The hybrid event attracted over 60 participants and featured a diverse range of creative proposals aligned with the 4Rs, all focused on shaping the future of sustainable food packaging in the EU. 📖 The next step is to support the companies behind these groundbreaking solutions, helping them to connect with the partners across Europe to develop the ideas in a new level. 🧐 You can still check all the applicants and connect them and collaborate: https://lnkd.in/dTzFXfhj #Value4Pack #SustainableFoodPackaging #CollaborationForChange #I3Instrument #EISMEA #Value4PackCooperationProjectIdeas

✨Successful Value4Pack Event in Budapest! ✨ We’re thrilled to share the success of the Value4Pack event held in beautiful Budapest! 🌟 The highlight of the event? An inspiring pitching event, where 30 innovative cooperation proposals were presented by forward-thinking organizations. These proposals showcased creative solutions - aligned with the 4R’s - to drive the future of sustainable food packaging in the EU. The Value4Pack consortium is now more enthusiastic than ever to support these collaboration proposals, helping them connect with the ideal partners across Europe to bring their ideas to life. Curious to explore the innovative pitches and discover how they’re shaping the future of sustainable packaging? Check them out on https://lnkd.in/eg4yik3a and connect with our Value4Pack food packaging innovators! #Value4Pack #SustainableFoodPackaging #CollaborationForChange #I3Instrument #EISMEA #Value4PackCooperationProjectIdeas NATUREEF Association| Pack4Food|Flanders' FOOD|Packaging Cluster I Lithuanian food exporters association (LitMEA)|Valorial, le réseau innovation agri-agro| Agrifood Clust-ER| Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna | DBH Group| Omnipack Packaging Technology Cluster| Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije| CLIC Innovation Oy| Packbridge| Galicia Food Cluster |POLYMERIS|Latvian Food Cluster

It was a pleasure to meet our new friends from Denmark in Latvia. We are look forward to new joint projects to start soon!

🥁 Latvian Food Cluster supports innovations in Latvia   As part of the annual exhibition Riga Food 2024, the Latvian Food Cluster in cooperation with the Latvian Food Competence Center organized a panel discussion "Innovations in food – new products and future opportunities developed at the Latvian Food Competence Center", where the following participated: Evita Strausa, board member of SIA Tērvete food, Janis Endele SIA Co-owner, sales and marketing director of KARAVELA, Agnese Jankūna, member of the board of the meat processing company Gaļas pārstrādes uzņēmums Nākotne, Ltd., Toms Auskaps, director of communication and development and member of the board of Balticovo AS, Agita Kulikovska, manager and owner of FIDEA SIA. The moderator of the discussion was Armands Lejas-Krumins, director of the Latvian Food Cluster and the Latvian Food Competence Center.   The audience's interest was particularly attracted by the part of the discussion about the introduction of innovations in the company and the experience of Latvia's leading food producers in the development of innovations at the Latvian Food Competence Center. Since 2016 via the Latvian Food Competence Center projects local food producers have received support from EU structural funds of more than EUR 9 million and 320 new products and 39 new technologies have been developed. https://lnkd.in/dEPqaX-G www.latvianfoods.eu

🚨 New SME & Artist Collaboration Guide launched by Better Factory to transform European manufacturing! https://lnkd.in/dhcZVfWr

Value4Pack's Call4ProjectIdeas is officially OPEN! 🌟 Got an innovative food packaging idea? Let's drive sustainable solutions together! 🌱 Don't miss out—submit now! #Value4Pack #Value4PackCall4ProjectIdeas #SustainableFoodPackaging #CollaborationForChange #I3Instrument #EISMEA

Mònica Riera, European Projects and Entrepreneurship Manager, participated in the Value4Pack project #workshop held in Helsinki, Finland, last month. At this meeting, the interregional analysis of the #foodpackaging #valuechain was addressed, with the aim of identifying commonalities through collaboration between the different participating regions. The ultimate goal was to jointly close the innovation gap in the food packaging sector. #Value4PackInterregionalWorkshop #Value4Pack #SustainableFoodPackaging #CollaborationForChange #I3Instrument #EISMEA NATUREEF Association Pack4Food Flanders' FOOD Lithuanian food exporters association (LitMEA) Valorial, le réseau innovation agri-agro Agrifood Clust-ER Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna DBH Group Omnipack Packaging Technology Cluster Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije CLIC Innovation Oy Packbridge Clúster Alimentario de Galicia POLYMERIS LATVIJAS PARTIKAS UZNEMUMU FEDERACIJA