Case Studies

Latvian Investment and Development Agency

05/07/2006

Chris Price-Jones and Mel Edwards from BIC Innovation delivered a "Food/Bio Tech Sector Development Programme" in collaboration with the “ Latvian Investment and Development Agency” (LIDA), based in Riga, Latvia.

The project scenario

BIC Innovation was commissioned by LIDA to prepare and run 2 workshops as part of a sector development project called “Food / Bio-Tech Sector Development Project”. The intention was to focus one workshop on the food sector and the other on biotechnology.

LIDA approached a number of companies and sector specific organisations during November 2005 to invite them to the workshops - 10 food companies and 8-10 others expressed interest in attending. However, as the non-food respondents were not all from the biotechnology sector it was decided to broaden the focus of the second workshop to include organisations from a cross section of different sectors.

The objectives

The project aimed at encouraging companies and other organisations involved in the food / bio-tech sectors to “innovate” in terms of new products, markets and operating methods, at working with companies creatively to develop concrete ideas likely to be relevant to their individual businesses and meeting their own aspirations and at exploring the potential of establishing a food/bio-technology cluster.

The brief

LIDA contacted potential companies/organisations from the food / bio-tech sectors, these included companies with growth potential that would benefit from creativity and innovation. The list of selection criteria was designed by BIC and complemented by LIDA. Our experts designed a simple questionnaire which LIDA circulated to potential participants in the project. This asked organisations to give a brief description of activities, aspirations and key challenges for the future and also consider opportunities to use existing state aid programs for new product development and training of personnel. BIC Innovation analysed the completed questionnaires, discussed with LIDA and presented findings at the workshop session.

The workshops

The workshops were held in the LIDA offices in Riga on 29 and 30 of November 2005. BIC experts followed up the project drawing up recommendations for next steps for each organisation present at the workshop session. BIC also discussed after-care requirements with LIDA so that LIDA could be responsible for elements of after-care and discussed proposals for establishing clusters in the food / bio-tech sectors with LIDA.

Results and feedback

79% of respondents to the feedback forms rated the workshops as “very good” or “outstanding”, the remaining 21% rated the workshops as “good”.

The materials distributed at the workshops was rated as “very good” or “outstanding” by 64% of respondents, with 21% rating them as “good” and 14% as “satisfactory".

When asked about the quality of the presentations 86% rated them as “very good” or “outstanding”.

Respondents were also asked to indicate whether the workshops fitted their expectations, 86% indicated that they did “fit” or that they “fitted well”.

Over 15 contacts were established during the events, 4 deals were discussed and at least 3 other potential joint ventures will be considered.  

To conclude, the workshops were very well received with a large majority of participants (especially those established in the food industry) rating the event and the presentations as very good or outstanding. Most participants will use the materials supplied during the workshops to assist them in developing ideas within their organisation. The workshops have stimulated a number of organisations to consider/re-consider innovation.