Increasing Digitalisation Awareness & Readiness of Latvian Communities

Digitalisation support tools and Digital Twins

Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, Peldu Street 25, April 15, 2025

Description: Under this European Commission's initiative, events organised in each Member State are dedicated to the implementation of digital tools and digital twin technologies, as well as the use of related support instruments. The aim of the event is to support European cities and regions on their digital transformation journey. Forum participants will gain practical knowledge about the latest support instruments and strategic digitalisation planning using tools such as LORDIMAS, the Online Procurement Helpdesk, Living-in.EU knowledge resources, and other support mechanisms offered by the EU.

VEFRESH is contributing to this initiative as a member of the Smart Communities Network: the network of networks endorsed by the European Commission, whose primary goal is to involve all EU local communities in the European green and digital transformation. On 30 October 2024, VEFRESH held a hybrid dissemination session to engage with their cities and local communities and enhance the awareness and preparedness of Latvian communities in their digital and green transition journey.

On 15 April there will be a follow-up hybrid training session with the following agenda:

(Fully in Latvian and hybrid)

Agenda

10:00-10:05 Forum opening

Viesturs Celmiņš, VEFRESH, Smart Communities Network Latvia

10:05 -10:15 Digital Transformation in Latvia and the Role of Local Governments in Digital Transformation

Inga Bērziņa, Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia

10:15 -10:25 EC Support Instruments for Promoting Digitalisation

Viesturs Celmiņš, VEFRESH, Smart Communities Network Latvia

10:25 -10:40  Who Needs Digital Twins: A New Generation Digital Infrastructure Planning Network in the EU

Arnis Gulbis, Director of Riga Digital Agency,

Inga Barisa, Riga Digital Agency, “EDIC on Local Digital Twin & Citiverse Latvia”, Living-in.EU Finance Working Group Leader

10:40 -11:25 Latvian Local Governments' Experience in Developing Data Governance: EC Support Instruments for Digital and Smart Communities Living-in.EU

Artis Gustovskis, Head of Kuldīga Digital Center

Liepāja Municipality (TBC)

Diāna Korbe, Head of Board of Geomatics at Riga City Development Department

11:25-11:40 Opportunities and Challenges in Developing an EU Open Data Governance Platform in Latvia

Jānis Krakops, Data Management Division, Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development (TBC)

11:40 -12:20 Discussion: "How to promote the digitalization of services, competence building and open data management in regions and cities?"

Viesturs Celmiņš, VEFRESH, Smart Communities Network Latvia,

Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia,

Riga municipality,

LVC, LPS

Event Goals:

• Introduce next-generation digitalization tools for infrastructure and social services.
• Present the digitalization support instruments available from the European Commission (Lordimas, Living-IN.EU, Online Procurement Helpdesk, EDIC).
• Learn about opportunities to develop a personalized digitalization roadmap for local governments using the EU methodology.
• Gain knowledge about EU open data management platforms, their development perspectives, and the unified EU standards (MIMs).

Target Audience:

• Representatives and planners of local governments
• Sustainability and innovation managers
• Smart city and digitalization experts
• Data and ICT management specialists
• Public procurement experts
• Representatives from academia and the research sector
• Technology and digitalization companies and associations