Innovation: Connect Latvia and the senior expert network
Latvia
AAI Domains:
Employment
Participation in society (voluntary activity)
In an increasingly global economy all EU member states face the many challenges of creating new businesses based on the knowledge economy that provide well-paid jobs for highly skilled workers. Successful economic development based on adding value through knowledge-based skills is critical in order to enable the principles of social protection and solidarity to be realised. Across Europe there is a wealth of experience and knowledge that can be harnessed to support the development of new businesses and how this process can be supported is where social innovations can play an important part.
Connect Latvia was established in 2003 as a non-profit organisation that seeks to build links between innovators and entrepreneurs to experts in universities, research institutes and senior people with experience of running businesses. Connect Latvia follows in the footsteps of similar Connect organisations that started in 1985 at the University of California San Diego and spread to Scandinavia in the late 1990s.
The aim of Connect is to improve knowledge transfer and support the commercialisation of innovation by providing advice and support for the benefit of society. Connect Latvia works in partnership with a range of public, private and civil society organisations including
the Latvian Investment and Development Agency
the Latvian Chamber of Commerce
the Latvian Inventors Association
the Young Entrepreneurs Centre
Ventspils High Technology Park and
Zinis, a knowledge and innovation non-governmental organisation.
Connect Latvia provides a range of information, training and matching services to foster the development of new businesses that will provide economic opportunities for Latvians of all ages.
An innovative feature of Connect Latvia is the senior expert network that was created through the Baltic Sea Region transnational cooperation programme ‘Best Agers’ project. It consists of 20–30 expert consultants, usually older business people with many years of managing organisation, who support entrepreneurs in developing their businesses through up to three voluntary consultation sessions.
The ethos of the senior expert network is active ageing and mobilising the wealth of experience that they have accrued to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators to develop their work. Although the ‘Best Agers’ project ended in 2012 there was a legacy for a further two years – Best Agers Lighthouses – that supported the development of age-friendly work practices and encouraged the employment of older people.
In relation to active ageing, Connect Latvia and the senior experts network is likely to have positive effects on the employment of older people and to promote economic development through inter-generational activity. It connects the energy of younger entrepreneurs with the wisdom of senior experts which is given on a voluntary basis for the benefit of wider society and demonstrates the potential for mobilising older people in the development of future waves of businesses.