Development of Innovation centre in Daugavpils city

About this project

<p><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt">The pre-defined project will focus on the entrepreneurial side of STEM, with special focus on how young people can develop careers in the sector. The activities include:</span></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Developing education and training programmes for teachers on how to promote values of curiosity, innovation and entrepreneurship in a school environment;</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Developing workshops, extracurricular activities and science camps and other outreach activities for pupils and students and others; </span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Developing ‘makerspace’ and ‘makerlabs’ and other interactive thematic exhibits, including acquiring necessary mobile equipment; </span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif"><span style="font-size: 11pt">Evaluate activities and measure impact of the innovation centre on society. </span></span></span></li> </ul>

Bilateral cooperation results

The project implementation rule stated that there must be bilateral cooperation and the partner must necessarily be from the donor country. The cooperation was successful, because Daugavpils had signed a memorandum of cooperation with Trondheim in 2016, and since then good cooperation had been formed in the implementation of scientific activities. A great benefit is the Norwegian experience in organizing the activity of science centers, which do not consist only of exhibits, but are full-fledged knowledge and learning centers. Based on the Norwegian experience, it was possible to create an efficiently working center where every purchased exhibit is used in the learning process. It was valuable for our teachers to learn on the spot from experts how to organize STEM lessons, because they were innovative solutions that are not in our traditional education system.

Project partners

• Trondheim Science Centre Donor project partner· Norway
• Daugavpils University Project partner· Latvia