Vidzeme is developing creative entrepreneurship using design thinking principles
At the end of October, the second Mentor club of the project “Creative Bloom: Empowering female creative entrepreneurs” took place. This time, the participants got to know the basic principles of design thinking, hosting Līga Lētiņa, the design manager of “Printify”, in Cēsis.
At the beginning of the meeting, the project partners from Ida-Viru Ettevõtluskeskus Entrepreneurship Centre in Estonia presented the design aspects to give an idea of the various events to visit when coming to the neighbouring country. Project participants from Estonia also joined the meeting to learn about design in both countries.
Līga Lētiņa gave Estonian and Latvian participants an insight into the design situation in Latvia. We learned that the joint mission of the Latvian Design Centre and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia is to promote the strategic use of design in various sectors, from the creative industry to the state administration, making design a powerful engine of development in Latvia. According to the Design Centre, design is not just about how things look, but also about how they work and how they can affect everyday life, improving both the user experience and promoting innovation and sustainability.
Design thinking is an approach to problem solving that focuses on user needs and creative solutions. It is based on understanding what is important to people and generating, testing and refining ideas to find the best solution. This process often involves prototyping and experimenting to quickly adapt and refine ideas. Design thinking fosters collaboration and helps in creating solutions that are both practical and aesthetically pleasing.
“When speaking about design in Latvian, we always think about aesthetics, appearance, however, in my opinion, successful design begins with how things work. The design must be functional and must solve a specific problem,” said the expert. “People are self-centred and design thinking helps you step back and look at your idea from the outside.“
L. Lētiņa emphasized how important it is to visually represent what we have imagined, for example by drawing the end users or using sticky notes on the wall to help plan the next steps for the implementation of the business idea. Most of all, it is necessary to slow down a little and look at the idea from as many sides as possible, finding the most suitable solution.
The activities of the mentor program take place from September 2024 to June 2025. It is expected that group members will receive support from mentors during the mentoring program, with mentors sharing various tips and recommendations.
The activities are organized by Vidzeme Planning Region’s Entrepreneurship Centre in the project “Creative Bloom: Empowering female creative entrepreneurs,” in collaboration with Ida-Viru Ettevõtluskeskus Entrepreneurship Centre in Estonia, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
More information: Arta Indriksone, Training Program Coordinator at Vidzeme Planning Region, arta.indriksone@vidzeme.lv
